Forget the Setbacks

Despite...

...having to go all the way to work on a Sunday;

...a little timing misunderstanding;

...the forecast for rain;

...needing to stop and eat;

...not exactly remembering the way;

...forgetting the map; and

...the stable being an hour behind

we did get our ride! (Sorry, Fox has all the pictures.)

I went to work in the wee hours of the morning and gave them five hours of my day. Pat was here and another came in during that time, but it was otherwise rather quiet. The three of us left together as another was coming in, and I called Fox on my way. He thought when I said "I'll be home around 1100" meant "I'll leave the office around 1100." It doesn't matter, we both pulled into my drive around 1130.

We lingered in the house a little bit; I showed of some of the crochet I've been doing (I think you, dear blog readers, need pictures!) and Fox got to watch Naggy and Vox hunt down some yummy crickets. I picked out a selection of coats and jackets because it was rather chilly out and there was no telling what it would be like at the stable, then it was off to Panera for lunch, where we lingered a little bit too.

After eating and stopping for gas, we were merrily on our way for a 1430 ride. At times, it looked like it would actually rain, but it really didn't do more than a few drops here and there. We forgot the Carroll County map and had to get to the stable just on memory. Thankfully, we did remember the roads we needed to be on as we came upon them and got to the stable exactly at 1430, to watch a group of riders head out on the trail.

The owner told us they were running behind, so we stood around in the cold for an hour. It wasn't so bad. We watched Ghost escape the pasture and one of the young stable hands nearly get trampled by Dakota. We met a few of their rescue dogs and I almost got a kiss from a Great Dane mix (yike!). Then the trail riders came back and we were mounted and off.

Fox rode Alaska, who I think was a leopard appaloosa mare, and I was riding Lopez, a sooty bay gelding. There was a group of three other riders and a front and rear trail guide. The front trail guide rode one of the most beautiful horses I've ever seen. He was a dark liver chestnut (a very dark, almost black, brown color with flashes of bright burgundy in the light) and walked with his head held high.

One of the other riders was terrified of her horse, claiming in a rather questionable way that she had been thrown two times prior, so they put her on the mellow Bonanza. You may remember Bonanza as Fox's first mount, in 2006 when we started riding. She wasn't the being in control, however, and Bonanza took the trail at his own extremely slow pace. Thankfully, I wasn't going to let her get in front of me, and Lopez was happy to oblige. Fox wasn't going to let her in front of me either, and Alaska reluctantly hung behind me.

During our rather slow ride, we saw a beautiful whitetail deer, and there was another on the ridge, but I missed that one.

It wasn't so cold once we were out on the trail, and we were fairly hungry after our ride. We spent an hour in a New Age bookstore then met Fae for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

There could have been a lot of setbacks today, but we didn't let anything get in the way of a much-needed outing. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since we last rode a trail together. I hope we can do it again too. I really enjoy it, and I really like going to this stable. Every time I'm there, I feel like I want my own horse someday (that would, of course, have to be boarded there). Well, maybe some day.