This Christmas Eve ride was pretty special, almost 50 degrees out. I felt so happy to be invited to ride with the farm group. When I got there I didn't think we'd be riding. It had been misting all night and for days it has been flooded all over the place. When Cathy got there she said the same thing. I got there early enough so that not too many people were there yet. I shared my hot cocoa that I Had put in the themos this morning. There were so many gifts for The family. The morning was so nice. I got there about 9:15am and we ended up going on the ride quite late maybe 1130. During the time I was putting Duke's take on he was constantly moving his butt in others faces. Cathy said I have to come down on him so he doesn't get fresh. Ill work on it. Today, I did head stall - bit all by myself. The breast plate seemed small today but Cathy showed me that I need tom ove the cinch so stat it is closer to Duke's front legs. He seems happy with me and is very cooperative.
He was ready so I put him in the corral with Bogie. Sandy still wasn't there. When she walked in then it started to buzz. There was a a lot of gifts on the tack room table along with my little tree sugar cookies and the Hot Chocolate with whipped cream. I was also albe to give Theresa her Peso and the little family of horses that she has down in the lower field. I guess there was a lot of socializing in the barn today.
There was a point that we were all waiting waiting for Kellie and Betty who was going to ride Duchess to get ready to ride. I was surprised that Betty was riding. I imagined with the mud conditions we would not go on very low ground. Sandi was up on Shenen and then Bob was on Mariah. I knew I had better get the reins and get going. I pulled the cinch tighter, it still needs some oiling.
We all started to head out to the trail. It was very disorganized. Strange that no one stayed in a line. Well I did because I can't help it. Fun to be riding with the guides today. Well as we went toward the opening of the trail, all the horses started to move together quickly and run with Bob and Mariah's horses quickly up the hill. Duke was able to pick up a canter across the field and up the hill. He was pretty excited. Well it wasn't good for the rest of the group. I believe that Angela hit a rock going up because she was out on the very edge of the trail and they had to stop and make sure she was ok.
As we got up the hill, Kanti mentioned that Betty wasn't not a rider so we were going to take it easy. I wasn't sure that she had ridden, does that mean we are not meant no trotting or what. As we went to the left and the rest went to there right, Duke kinda was sad. He wanted to ride with the other group. Anyway I like it easy with this mud and no solid ground. We went up the hill after the sand. It was strange, Sandy suddenly came racing out of the clearing toward u with Teddy and she said he was acting up. Bryce must have had some problems. It is a lot different out on the trails then it is in the ring. As we went up the hill and the group went out straight. After a moment, I could hear Bryces voice calling "Jules", to me asking if she could come with us. I said sure thing and her mom and her came barreling up the path. She was really mad at Teddy. She seems to have lots of anger sometimes with the horses. I would like to have her happier. Anyway we stopped so that they could calm down because Bryce was crying and angry and Teddie most likely was feeling the emotion from her. Cathy was trying to get the ride to stop and not continue until Bryce and Teddie felt better, were calmer. The ride got ever more interesting.
We were having a relaxing ride at this point. Duke started to move with some trots now and then He was exciting to ride today. Perfect horse. All was going well and we met up with the rest of the group. I said that I wanted to let them go on and we would take a turn. Sandi said we could go togehrer. I noticed they were not cantering anymore. And Sharissa and Bob were missing. Sharissa had to go back with Casey and Bob's knee was bothering him.
So we followed Sandi. We went to the right and and we followed. Amy was leading us because she is familiar with the trails on the hill. Then Sandi was leading now. I don't know how it happened but, Betty was now out in front with Sandi and Anja and Amy, Laurie, Kanti, Cathy, Bryce, Angela, Terry and I were on the back.
Well Betty on Duchess following on the trail went down a steep hill and Im sure the footing is not solid because the conditions are so wet the ground is almost fluid and the leaves are soaked too. Betty and Duchess walked down the hill and Duchess walked a little quicker and Betty bounced right off Duchy at the bottom of the hill. I could see how Betty was not staying on at all. It seemed that Betty was leaning forward and possible not slowing Duchess down. Betty toppled forward and then down down on the ground. She said she didn't get hurt it was just getting back on the large sweet Belgium Draft. As we waited to see if Betty was ok and for her to get back on the horse, we decided that the ride was too big and we should not continue down that embankment. They came up the hill and we went back to the farm.
The next thing that happened was that as we were coming down a long hill, Kanti Betty, Sandy went on one side and Amy, Laurie, Terry Bryce and Angela went on the other. First thing was Tulsa, the sweetest horse every was showing signs of rejecting Amy's requests. She was not going straight and I think may have had something this week upset her I remember when Sheila used to say when
Tulsa had a jerky rider she would not be herself for days. She said they would pull on her mouth and she gets very sensitive and rejects. She may need a break I reminded Amy of this and she seemed to understand. Then after that, I was up with Terry, Cathe and the rest and again, Betty had some problems with Duchess. We decided that it would be best to separate the horses because they may have been giving a vibe. We didn't want Teddy to start bucking again.
We headed back. Got to the back end of the trail by the outside rail, I tried to guide Duke to a spot where I could jum off him. I got off Duke. Im still not graceful but Im safe. As soon as I could I got his saddle off, brought him out back and gave him some snacks. He was a good boy.
The cocoa was good, all gone whipped cream too.
Before I left I gave Duke and Domino another snack. He came over to me when I called his name. It feels so good. I left to go home. It was a great day. Oh yeah I gave my little lamb some PB crackers and shared some snacks with the minis. Bob seemed in a good mood. Sandy bought him a gift a sign that said, "My Farm, My Rules". He was so dam happy. My camera just did ok, the new one.
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