Trail Riding with Kelly and Michelle

Yeah!! Trail riding with Kelly and Michelle today!

Woke up around 5 am in order to drive Keith to work for 6 and then went back to bed until 8. Lol. Once I woke up, I did my devotions, did some stuff around the house and then got ready to leave around 10:30 for Kelly's barn to go trail riding today.

On my way out of town, I stopped by McDonald's for some breakfast and was trying to text Kelly, but my phone was being wonky and was sending it to different numbers, not Kelly's. Weird. Once I had gotten my breakfast, I hopped back into my car and headed on my way. Got to Kelly's with no problems, unlike last time I went there in winter. Once I had my car parked, I went inside the barn and said hello to Renegade, Skylla and Treble and upon not seeing Kelly around, I went and took a look in the riding arena. Yup, she was there and riding Weeper. She was almost done, so I just stood there and watched her.

Once she was done riding Weeper, we started talking about some shit that was starting on Face Book between her and another “friend.” I won't go into it, but all I can say it drama! Once Kelly had Weeper untacked and with a cooling sheet on, she brought out Skylla for me to get acquainted with and play with. I tried doing some tricks with her, but she was more interested in the treats than doing tricks. Then Michelle showed up and started talking while we were tacking up the horses. I had to quickly run back to my car and grab the rest of my winter gear so that I wouldn't freeze while we were riding, because who knows how long we'll be gone.

Skylla ready to go

Once I was all bundled up, I grabbed Kelly's 14” barrel racing saddle and started getting Skylla ready. Once we were all ready to go, we brought the horses outside and proceeded to mount up. Except that I found out that my winter riding boots were a tad too big for Kelly's stirrups. Oops. It took me a bit to get onto Skylla because my boot kept going into her side and she kept moving because of that. Sorry Skylla!! Kelly had to come over and hold Skylla for me so that I could get the tip of my boot into the stirrup and quickly hop on Skylla before the boot came out.

Once I was on Skylla, we headed on our way to Bird's Hill Park. I found out very quickly that Skylla likes to walk fast and ahead of everyone. Lol. We just kept the horses to a walk while we made our way to Bird's Hill. I had to keep laughing at Treble though. Seems that she was having a mind of her own while we were riding and tried to kick Michelle's horse Sonya. Well that little stunt earned her a trip to the other side of the road where she wouldn't try to kill anyone. Lol. And Kelly mentioned that Skylla must like me because she hasn't bucked me off yet. The other person to ride her last time (other than Kelly) got bucked off 4 times in one trail ride because Skylla can't stand stupid riders. Lol. We were chatting quite a bit and once we got to the highway, we waited for traffic to pass, which took a bit longer than usual because some deer were standing in the ditch.

Once we got across the highway, we went on some trails that were made this summer for riding and driving horses. And it was pretty. Sigh. I'll take the pretty winter trees anytime, but not the cold. Had quite a bit of fun going down the trails and then of course, something really hilarious had to happen. While Michelle was ducking underneath some tree branches, her toque got caught on one branch, came off and went on the ground. I was right behind her with Skylla and she kept kicking it on the ground and by this time it was on a little bit of a snow bank. I couldn't get off to grab the toque and Michelle couldn't either because of her knee and I wasn't sure about Treble, so I was going to walk Skylla up to it and stretch down to see if I could grab it. Well, Kelly hopped off of Treble and grabbed it for Michelle, all the meanwhile saying that she had the crazy 2-year-old who was just standing there wondering what we were laughing about. Once Michelle had her toque back, we continued on our way.

Winter prettiness

Michelle in front of us

And of course, Michelle had to get us partially lost. Lol. Happens almost every time. We did manageg to find the right trail and kept on going. The trail took us right to Bird's Hill Ranch, where we promptly dismounted and tied the horses up the tying pole. Michelle quickly ran in to see if we could tie the horses in the indoor arena so that they could stay out of the wind. We got told no, so we just tied them up to the pole outside. We went inside and ordered some food and hot beverages to warm ourselves up. We had some good conversations around the table there, talking about tattoos and stuff (I really want to get mine done now) and then got ready to go. One of Michelle's riding buddies from Miracle Ranch who now boards at Bird's Hill wanted to go for a short ride with us.

So we went back outside, got the horses untangled (Treble and Skylla manged to get their lead ropes tangled up) and mount back up. Again, I had trouble getting back up on Skylla because of my damn winter boots. Kelly had to hold her again so that she wouldn't move around so much while I was hoping on. I really hate winter boots. Once we were all mounted up, we headed to the indoor arena to meet Michelle's old riding buddy. Well, there was a small round bale in a pen by there, covered in snow a bit. Sonya and Treble didn't want to go past it, so i figured that I'd try to get Skylla. Nope, no way. So then Kelly tried with Treble again. Treble looked at it, walked forward 2 steps, reared up perfectly straight, came back down, and walked past it like nothing had ever happened. Wtf??? Kelly was laughing at Treble and then I asked Skylla to go past it. She did walk past it, but it her head turned and looking at it the entire time. Lol.

We went on the loop, which took us around the barn, but it was out in the bush kinda thing. Once we were done the loop, we said goodbye to Michelle's riding buddy and started our ride home. We had to go through some knee deep snow with the horses, and of course the horses wanted to jog because all of a suddenly, I felt Skylla going all floaty going through the snow and heard Kelly and Michelle laughing behind me as their horses did the same thing. Lol.

Winter trees

Once we got back onto the road, we made our way to the trail and kept to the trail going home. The wind had picked up a bit, so it was nicer in the bush without the wind. While we were walking, we saw some deer, and I had taken my camera out to take a photo of it. Skylla on the other hand, didn't want to be used as a tri-pod. She kept moving around and I was afraid that I was going to lose my camera. I finally got her to stop, but by that time, the deer had taken off. I silently swore at Skylla and put my camera away. Once we had put our camera's away, we continued on our walk home. And of course, the closer we got to home, the faster the horses wanted to walk. Which was fine by all of us, as long as they didn't run home.

Deer!!!

Skylla knew we were on our way home and just kept walking faster and faster while I was trying to talk with Kelly and Michelle. So of course, I had to hold her and tell her to slow down, otherwise I'd put her in the ditch to help her slow down. Kelly was laughing because she heard me say this to Skylla, and when Skylla kept walking faster, I put her in the ditch. All of a suddenly, we were walking slower! Hooray! Unfortunately, we made it back up to the road and then went back to our previous speed. * shake head *

Got back to the barn in one piece and then started putting everyone away. I gave Skylla some treats for being so good, talked with the girls some more, mostly about tattoos and then headed home. We had gone on a 4-hour trail ride!!

Puppies in the barn

And I know my hip is going to start feeling this tomorrow. Oh well, it was worth it. Next time, I'll bring Dollar out for some fun.