The Owls Approve: December 2015

Baby Miles.

4:42 PM
By Beka Burke
14 Comments

Like just about everyone else, I rely on lights in order to ride after work during the week. Given the amazing days off work lately (thanks, municipality), I've been able to ride more when the sun is actually out. This means hitting the trails.

This is actually the scariest part, because the neighbors shoot guns on the left.

Unlike everyone else, this El Nino crap has meant that when I'm riding, it's like 80°+. I know you snow-bound and flooded people think that sounds marvelous, but our damn hairy horses are sweating. And the bugs. Roar.

Before petty things like selfies with horse butt were sacrificed to devote hands to swatting insects.

It's also been a little wet around, so one day I took Archie on a different part of the dirt road. To make it the slightest bit exciting, we cut across a field and looped back to the dirt road. This required my old man to walk through four dry ditches (mostly, at least). Just as I was marveling that he seemed to understand the necessity of taking it easy on himself and not jumping, he did a little airs above ground to celebrate crossing the fourth ditch.

I think that's fourth ditch that he's staring at? Fourth ditch is obviously the best ditch.

What's that?

A couple weeks ago, another boarder and I walked in the woods together. Her horse was content to follow and Archie was determined to lead (as is the natural order in their pasture together) and my old man bravely marched the entire way, only losing his shit at a recently cleared field and a new tractor.

Stealth tractor is obviously horrifying.

So when that same boarder asked if we wanted to hit the trail across the street, I said sure. I had a little tightening in my gut, but I need to relish every opportunity. Archie led again (even across the scary road, over the new gravel and around two gates he's never really seen before) and he let us both know that her gelding was not to get in front and also, could she stop with the crop, thanks. He did those same airs above ground a couple times and got popped with his own crop for the antics. Pony feels good. The only issue we had was when he wanted to speed home and threw another tempter tantrum.

Bugs.

Ignore the protruding hip/butt.

And then we went back out yesterday, just to the river, where I reminded him that frisky ponies busted their asses in mud. And played with the camera sync on my Apple Watch.