The Monsters vs. Siera

I went to get Siera and take a nice little ride before my husband and I tackled moving our bedroom from upstairs to downstairs.

Mica was near the gate and Fred was down in the apple trees. I didn't see Siera anywhere.
So I called out.
From behind some brush some long ears appeared. She seemed to tilt her head and think about it for a moment.

Next thing I knew, she was loping towards me. Odd. Siera is pretty lazy and she is gaited so she rarely lopes unless there is a reason.

She stopped at the gate and turned her head to me.

You came! You came!

I showed her the halter and the lead rope. She stood still while I put it on her.  Fred came walking up and tried to push his way in. Siera dropped her ears and bobbed her head.

Fred backed off.

Mine, mine. My person. Go away.

Silly mule. I was happy to see that she hadn't gotten full of burdocks again and in no time at all we were saddled and headed up the driveway.

Heavy shots rang out not far away from our mailbox. Siera tilted her ears towards the noise and kept walking.
I heard a combines to the west and I thought I heard them to the east too on Peterson's. 
Well, that would stink as I wanted to ride down the camp road to the creek.

I dismounted Siera in the hay field on the ridge and decided to check out her saddle cinch and think about things for a moment.

You may notice that Siera is wearing what may appear to be a 'necklace'. It serves more than one purpose. When we are riding solo, it is nice to have a little bell to keep deer from leaping out of the corn in front of us. I used to have that occur on Opal. The result was an airborn 180 degree leap. Opal, Badger, Sunshine, and Fred rarely startled but when they did it was a real quick reaction.
The bell also provides a rather pleasant noise. I used bells on my old mare Cheyanne and found that they distracted her from traffic noise when I rode her on the roadsides in Kenosha.

Siera on the other hand generally freezes when she is startled.

Siera took the opportunity of the equipment check to see if the field contained any good food. 

Yummy! Good! Let's just stay here!

I remounted and we headed up the field and out towards 'PeeWee's' ridge so I could see if they were indeed combining the cropland.

And they were. And now that we were on the driveway it seemed the combine, tractor, and a truck were headed our way. 

The shots behind us kept ringing out. I knew it bothered me more than it bothered Siera.

Monster. Monster. Monster Alert. 

I moved Siera into a field and close enough to the road to get a good look at the equipment, but not too close as to cause her to freak out. One thing she dislikes is machinery. 

Her ears perked forward and she stiffened up hard as a rock as the huge truck and hoppers came by. The jake brake rattled and rumbled. When the driver saw us in the field he eased up. 

I want to bite it. Let me bite it. 

One of Siera's reactions to scary machinery is to want to chase it. However I had her stand still. I could see that one of the combines was headed our way.

Siera stiffened again locking her hooves into the dirt below her. I don't think a logging truck could have moved her.

After all the machinery passed, we settled into a nice pace. Siera's long paso llano strides ate up the ground and we were soon on the trail into the woods.

Siera kept her ears perked for any disturbances in the woods. She did come to a halt and stared intently at the brush. A doe walked out, saw us and bounded back into the woods.

We headed down to the creek. The crossing was ruined in the last flood so Siera and I found another way around it.

Siera has moved into another phase. She trusted me enough to go through the mud sucking creek.

This creek will eat me. The mud will eat me.

"No Siera it is fine. It won't eat you. Honest. It will be fine. Trust me."

We messed around for a bit then headed back towards home.
I stopped in the combined section of the corn field. Siera found some goodies.
And it was all good.

We had a great ride. 
I let Siera go at the gate and she stood next to me.

Are you coming after the sun makes another round? Are you coming back? We can chase machinery monsters if you like.

I rubbed her ears. "Soon."