A week of wonderful riding weather

This would have been the week to take some time off with absolutely perfect weather for riding or any other outdoor pursuit. Saturday I biked out to the barn to feed--a nice 16 mile ride round trip. Then I spent the afternoon putting up tomatoes and making granola. Needless to say, I didn't get in a ride too, but sometimes, just being at the barn counts as quality time with the horses.

Sunday's ride was a short jaunt into the woods. Neither Rolex, nor Harley seemed inclined to go too far--too buggy, and too close to dinner time! But it counted as at least a little exercise. We'd spent the day doing barn chores and John got a good portion of one field mowed. Then Pete took over and got the mower stuck in some muck under the fence. Bucky the Trucky to the rescue! John pulled the mower out and proved to me that my little 4 cylinder Tacoma can do more than I give it credit for.

Gray tree frog

This little tree frog has been hanging out by the back of the barn, chirping up a storm for a couple of days. Today, I caught him snoozing in the afternoon sun. Once the sun lowered and it got cooler, he began singing with his brethren in the neighborhood. If I'd taken the photo later, his bulbous pouch would have showed up!

We took Ruffy and Harley on the Tatnic loop ride today, up through Orris Falls and down the road through Tatnic Woods. A number of dogs kept things interesting; some fenced, some not. Harley had to go out front for a ways, past a scary little camper trailer, and then a lady sitting in a lawn chair in the sun, reading. Oh, and then two little poodles tore out of the house--egads, Harley! He can be such a chicken at times, but then he can also be such a sweetie, like when I needed to get off and retrieve a lost Easyboot for Ruffy. He stood quietly for both the dismount (with me nursing my bum shoulder) and the remount (from the right side no less). He can be a good boy. But when he gets his goat up, and I'm using the bitless bridle, he can be headstrong and curmudgeonly. Such as--Ruffy turned around, so I will too!, or I need be next to Ruffy; I don't care if the moving van is taking up the entire road! Hmmm--the look of eagles or chickens? Sometimes I wonder. Friday night he was being a goof ball and spooking at who knows what in the barn. I almost chickened out on riding as he swung left and right in the cross ties. I finally tied him in his stall to tack up. But I had the gumption to get on and go, albeit a schooling session rather than a trail ride! He might have been in a dither because the newbie was turned out with him--the proverbial apple upsetting the Harley's cart.

Harley having a moment--the day of the ill-fated shoulder injury