Two Blissful Hours...

Faith and I went on a five-mile junket this afternoon. 1.5 miles east, 1 mile south, .5 mile east, .5 mile north, 1.5 miles back west. I feel contented when I'm sitting in a saddle - you know, it just feels right. My legs aren't tired, my back doesn't hurt, my butt isn't sore. I'm comfortable...until we start fighting. And then my arms tire, my hands get raw, and my temper rises. I think the same goes with Faith. Her mouth gets sore, and her temper rises. I cannot say I always win these conflicts - we're pretty evenly matched. Today, however, I was the victor.

I took this picture with my phone, so I'm afraid the quality is poor. Hopefully you'll get the gist.

See? We are riding along the left hand side. Grassy, wide, picturesque. Now please look at the right hand side. It's hard to see, but the ground slopes steeply down, there is water at the bottom, and then the ground shoots back up again. My idea was to shimmy down, jump the water, and woosh back up. Sounds fun. To me. Not to Faith. Thus beginneth our battle. She did not decend the slope in the exact location I had asked for, but I did - after much time and a bit of frustration - get her down there, about fifty yards north. Which I call winning the battle. Next time it will faster and less frustrating. And the time after that, even easier. Soon I will have an all-star trail horse!

Farther on, I saw the larget patch of vicky-thoendels I have ever seen. Even farther on, I won another battle. I successfully navigated Faith through a ditch with water in the bottom. This is victory because Faith does not like to walk through water. When I pulled the saddle off, there was sweat in abundance. Sweaty horse (most often) = good ride.