Horse Back Riding!

I give it an exclamation mark because I was very happy to get to go. My horse riding tendencies, which have been with me since my earliest days, are always simmering under the surface. Around 2002 I couldn't ignore them anymore and bought a horse, Ranger, who didn't work out. I seemed to be spending more time getting thrown off than riding. Plus, I was in school full time and working full time. So he got sold.

Since then I went riding at least one time in Big Bear, but I don't think I've been on a horse other than that. A few dog people are also horse people, and I've been plotting how to worm my way into their horse riding circle.

Well, a chance presented itself and I eased gracefully into the conversation. "I'd love to go trail riding." I said. Simple, direct, and it worked!

Today I went for a couple hour trail ride. The trails were very close to the stable, but we trailer-ed to the trail head rather than ride to save time. The lady I was riding with actually owns the stable and the other lady is a dog and horse friend. My mount was owned by neither of them but is frequently used when someone needs to borrow a horse because his owner has 2 horses and needs someone to ride him. Hmmm.... sounds promising- now I need to quit my job to find time for riding.

The other 2 horses out with us was a paint colored Missouri Fox trotter and an Arab who was the mom of several other horses on the ranch. It is an Arabian ranch. My horse was a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Mustang! So cool. He was a wild horse until he was captured at 2 years old. They told me he was so easy to break to riding that they joke he wasn't really a wild horse, he was a tame horse who someone abandoned and he joined up with the wild horses. They also said he loves captive life because he was on an overnight ride near where he used to roam free and he got loose at night, but instead of heading for the hills of his youth, he spend the rest of the night pilfering the feed bags and was still hanging around in the morning.



I illegally stole this photo of him from a website. Shhh... His owner (and a lot of the people at this ranch) do endurance riding and he has done the 100 miles in one day ride. Crazy. He was very kind to me and didn't throw me off or try to run away with me. Which happens to me with horses more than I like to think about.


We almost didn't get to go because heavy rains was predicted but that did not come to pass. I can't describe the ride too much because nothing really noteworthy happened. We went up some hills and down some other hills. We had some trotting. We went through a little creek. We saw a few other riders but not very many. The strangest part of the ride was all the tennis balls abandoned along the trial. There must have been at least 10. All brand new looking.

It was a great time but it only encouraged me to want to ride more. I really, really wish we still got to work 4 10 hr days because then I would have time. In winter it gets dark so early that even if I rushed over from work I don't think there would be enough time to get a ride in.

I hope to get to go again before too long. The owner of the horse is always looking for new "victims," so it could happen. But when?