We're Not Very Nice Sometimes

A couple of weekends ago, Rachel, Mr. Daddy, and Itty Bit came for a visit.  We tried to do something for everyone; Swetsville Zoo for Itty Bit, shooting for Mr. Daddy (post on that coming soon, I promise), and riding for Rachel.

The last time Rachel came riding with us, it was kind of an adventure.  We put her on Baggins from the livery and he was a head-tossing fool.  It wasn't a lot of fun until Momma P switched horses with her, once Rachel was up on Timber, she started to have fun.  Especially when we crossed the water - the girl couldn't stop giggling.

This is a happy, happy Rachel
HCR 2010

This time, we didn't have the livery horses to draw from, just our herd, which isn't a problem.  We put Rachel up on the "wild Mustang" and sort of offered her a saddle.  Mom and I ride bareback, and we know that Rachel rides Kona bareback sometimes, too, so we kind of assumed it would be okay to let her ride Ranger Danger sans saddle.  We ride the trails so often, that it never crossed our minds that maybe Rachel might be a little nervous about riding our trails bareback.

See, Rachel is far too nice and easy going.  I had forgotten how she might have been traumatized by her last ride with us.  It wasn't until we were on our way back that she even mentioned the fact that she had done the entire ride bareback.  Sorry, Rachel.

Riding through the naked aspen

However, it all turned out beautifully.  Not only did she rock the ride, but she's a wildlife magnet!  I haven't seen much in the way of wildlife this summer (other than the moose at the beginning of the season).

She spotted four big horn sheep.

There was some initial confusion as to what we were looking at.  We saw their butts first and thought, "mulies!".  Then we saw the chest on one and thought, "elk?"  It wasn't until one picked its head up to look at us that we said, "SHEEP!"

Look carefully between the trees,
you'll see one was keeping a close eye on us as we rode away.
(You'll probably have to biggerfy the pic)

Rach did mention to me later that Ranger might still have some sore kidneys from her knees digging in, anticipating that he'd jump away from the sheep.  If she was worried, she sure didn't show it.



 

 

Rachel wasn't just a sheep magnet, she also managed to scare up some deer for us, too.

Mom scored this picture with her new camera.
Unfortunately, she had the wrong angle to catch both deer.

Rach has a lot of work to do -
she's not even close to embarrassing Ranger with her impression
of Beel stopping traffic.

It was a good day and a good ride and I'm thrilled that Rachel had a good time (or at least lied about it and told us she had a good time).

 

Rachel: I'm sorry we didn't even give a second thought to throwing you up on Ranger bareback and expecting you to keep up with us.  Next time we do something that isn't so nice, smack us, would you?