We did it Again!

Went out on another ride today with the girls. Lakota did much better than the other day, she settled down much quicker, but unfortunately I couldn't find a place to get on! So I walked, and walked, and walked, we did 3 trails today before turning around, I think each trail is about a mile. We followed some tracks by what looked like 2 horses, one shod one bare, and they looked like they were really moving out from the prints, and were very fresh tracks.

We went over the bridge again with no fuss/no muss, walked past the horse farm, and Lakota had to call over there, as she remembered the buckskin she saw over there the other day, so she had to see if he will still there. LOL! Went down the 2nd trail, no dog this time, but I had a stick just in case. So we continued on through that trail no problem, crossed the road again by my mothers house, heading up the third trail (which is the beginning of the trail we walked on back in April, we parked at a different spot and did it backwards). Remember that these are old railroad bed, partof the "Rails to Trails" railway system. So it is narrow, a trains-width, very windy, with lots of turns, and some areas have a very, very steep drop off, and there are some washed out areas, so you do need to pay attention.

So we get about halfway through the 3rd trail, and I hear horses coming. I'm still leading Lakota (very glad, too!) where it is very steep and narrow, and there is a bend coming up. Mandy and I pull over as close as we can to the side of the trail, because they are MOVING! Suddenly I see two young girls come around the bend, at a flat out gallop! The first one yanks back on the reins, the horse semi-rears, head flilpping around, the thing is completely lathered in sweat. The next girl pulls up behind her, and the horses are really worked up, spinning around, etc. They barely were able to get their horses by us without spinning around. And they are off again. Whinney was a little bit concerned about this, and Lakota was a little snorty too. They probably thought those horses were being chased by a mountain lion by the way they were acting!

So we continue along, next we come upon a couple walking about 6 mini greyhounds. We chatted with them shortly, they said the girls just about ran them down a little further up the trail. So Mandy and I then went on up to the end, took a little break and had a snack and drink, while the girls had a pee (lol).

So there I was able to mount up (finally! I'm exhausted! But then I need the exercise anyway).





We get a few hundred feet down the trail, and here comes a pack of woman, I think there were 6 or 8 of them, all hooting and hollering, laughing and having a good ole time! So again we pulled over to let them by. They stopped and chatted for a bit, said Lakota looked great for only her 2nd time out, and loved Whinney and commented how each of them had a pony like that as a kid. They continued on, and I had all I could do to keep Lakota heading the opposite direction! She wanted to turn around and go with them, lol! OMG, she is sooo funny on the trail, she just wants to go explore. There are a bunch of houses whose backyards butt up to the trails, and many of them have little paths to the trail, and there are a few other paths off it. Lakota wants to go investigate all these little paths, and I have to remind her that "no", we are only allowed to stay on the marked trail. There is one path that goes down to the brook that we used to swim in as kids, we took the horses swimming down there, but it is very washed out, the bank looks like its very steep and you couldn't get a horse down there. AFTER I get her to learn that she cannot go off bushwacking whenever she feels like it, I'll take her down there to investigate. But there are a few very, very steep paths that people walk, that she was looking at, I was like NO WAY!! I mean, WICKED steep, you would have to slide down on your bum.

Lakota was getting pretty sticky with forward, wanting to turn around, then stopping at every curve, and not wanting to move forward. It was getting Whinney upset, who would not move ahead of Lakota at all and lead, and when Mandy tried to get her to move, she would dance sideways a bit, and we were at a very narrow area with a washout on once side, and very, very steep cliffs on either side. So I made the executive decision and hopped off for more walking , and led the two of them for a bit to get their minds back with us and not the group behind us heading the other way.

We crossed the road to the 2nd trail, and within a short distance I found a rock, and climbed back aboard. Then we met up with a group of older folks walking their dog. We stopped and chatted with them for a bit, and they told us about an accident up ahead. Sure enough, the two girls galloping around had gotten themselves in trouble, one of the horses had flipped over and sent the girl flying, the horse took off, crossing a bunch of roads, including I-84!!! They said that the girls almost ran these walkers down, then the horse either slipped on the bridge, or just freaked out over being galloped over it.

We stood and chatted for quite awhile, and I rewarded Lakota a LOT of standing still, quietly while I talked. Then we continued on, and Lakota went along very, very nicely for the rest of that trail (including by the horse farm, and back over the bridge) all the way back. Two of the older folks with their dog had turned away from the rest of the group, and were walking along with us, chatting, mostly with Mandy. They were very nice. We saw the tracks and commotion at the bridge where the accident was, and when we got back to where we were parked, I could see the firetrucks up ahead, and of course the group of a zillion women came up behind us, and another truck/trailer had just pulled in. So there was a LOT of commotion going on, there were about 10 horses altogether, an elderly couple walking their ancient dog, a trailer loaded with horses, firetrucks with lights going, and firemen milling around, and couple of cars parked, all in the space where you can park like 2 rigs.

So, I got off, so did Mandy, and we let them out of the trail. I saw Vic's friend Lyman (who is the Fire Chief in the town we were in), and talked to him for a minute. Apparently one of the girls was the daughter of one of the members of the FD, he told me this after I had told him how I saw the kids galloping recklessly all up and down the trails. He said he's going to talk to the father about it, but I would imagine that they have already learned their lesson. Some of the women in the large group said they were pretty sure they knew who the kids were.

So the group of women went on ahead across the road to the next trail, the ambulance pulled out and the fire dept. was gearing up to leave, and we were ready to untack and load up, and I saw someone I recognized from my long ago past. It was the woman that originally introduced me to horses!!! She used to babysit myself, sister and brother back when we were kids (I think I was 11/12 or so). So we got to talking for a bit, and that was kinda cool.