(no subject)
Here's to River, Sebastian, and Tonkaku- and to all the horses out there that can save the day when their riders screw up big time!!!
Yay a new milestone has been crossed. Two friends and I went riding yesterday on what started as a little one-hour trail. It turned out to be a 5 1/2 hour "OMG we're lost" lack-of-trail ride. Yeah. With no water (cause, y'know, it was only going to be an hour). In the desert mountains. One of us was bareback, too. Yikes. Don't ask me how it happened, it was a combination of "Hey let's see where that trail goes..." and us being retarded apparently.
SO after wandering up, over, and around mountain peaks- on and off various trails and washes- through cactus and snake infested land that inevitably always brought us to dead ends against barbed wire fences- we finally just left the trails alltogether. We knew home was "that way" (somewhere northwest) so we decided to just go UP and over the peaks in a straight line. THANK YOU RIVER. River was the most amazing horse on the planet. We stuck him and I in the lead and I swear he did almost all the work to guide us home. He took over Tonkaku and Sebastian's lead positions and charged straight up the mountains with no hesitation. He picked the best paths down the other sides and missed every cactus plant there was. Basically I was just leaning up on his neck, giving him the reins and dodging trees as best as I could (granted I'm still scratched to hell). Yay for that long thick mane of his that doubles as a great 'oh-shit handle' ;)
Finally after all of that, almost 5 hours later, we hit the trail that I guide from work. YAY civilization coming right up!!! We ended up coming out of the woods right by my work where we could stop and water everybody, including us. River's back shoe had come very loose right at the end of the trail, so I yoinked it off of him there and we rested before just riding along the roads back to our stable. So yeah, almost 6 hours after we got started we rode in, just in time for the sun to set.
I'm really sore today, banged up, sunburned and a little dehydrated still, but we're all fine. The horses were great this morning when I went to check them, and y'know- I swear River was having the time of his life out there. He was so frisky, even though we were all about dying. 4-5 hours of riding, and he was still trying to canter straight up the hills (STEEP hills)! I think we all owe River BIG time for practically saving our lives. He's been spoiled nonstop since then of course, and given extra hay this morning :) I have the farrier coming out this week to get both his back shoes re-done and things'll be back to normal.
Whew!
Yay a new milestone has been crossed. Two friends and I went riding yesterday on what started as a little one-hour trail. It turned out to be a 5 1/2 hour "OMG we're lost" lack-of-trail ride. Yeah. With no water (cause, y'know, it was only going to be an hour). In the desert mountains. One of us was bareback, too. Yikes. Don't ask me how it happened, it was a combination of "Hey let's see where that trail goes..." and us being retarded apparently.
SO after wandering up, over, and around mountain peaks- on and off various trails and washes- through cactus and snake infested land that inevitably always brought us to dead ends against barbed wire fences- we finally just left the trails alltogether. We knew home was "that way" (somewhere northwest) so we decided to just go UP and over the peaks in a straight line. THANK YOU RIVER. River was the most amazing horse on the planet. We stuck him and I in the lead and I swear he did almost all the work to guide us home. He took over Tonkaku and Sebastian's lead positions and charged straight up the mountains with no hesitation. He picked the best paths down the other sides and missed every cactus plant there was. Basically I was just leaning up on his neck, giving him the reins and dodging trees as best as I could (granted I'm still scratched to hell). Yay for that long thick mane of his that doubles as a great 'oh-shit handle' ;)
Finally after all of that, almost 5 hours later, we hit the trail that I guide from work. YAY civilization coming right up!!! We ended up coming out of the woods right by my work where we could stop and water everybody, including us. River's back shoe had come very loose right at the end of the trail, so I yoinked it off of him there and we rested before just riding along the roads back to our stable. So yeah, almost 6 hours after we got started we rode in, just in time for the sun to set.
I'm really sore today, banged up, sunburned and a little dehydrated still, but we're all fine. The horses were great this morning when I went to check them, and y'know- I swear River was having the time of his life out there. He was so frisky, even though we were all about dying. 4-5 hours of riding, and he was still trying to canter straight up the hills (STEEP hills)! I think we all owe River BIG time for practically saving our lives. He's been spoiled nonstop since then of course, and given extra hay this morning :) I have the farrier coming out this week to get both his back shoes re-done and things'll be back to normal.
Whew!