Ride off into the Sunset

Sigh.
This is not Badger, it is Opal.
But let me say this, she is a hoot and we are learning each others idiosyncrasies.

She is still terribly shy around strangers, but a go-getter under saddle. She has no fear ...
unless it is a car parked on the side of our gravel road that doesn't seem to fit.
Then she will do the most smart looking sidepass and snort as she passes it by.

[Who knows? It could just be a mule eatin' vehicle waiting for a strawberry roan mule...or worse yet, it could be laying in wait for her innocent yet unaware rider!]

I have to give her that though, as she never even flinches when a vehicle goes by [not often on our roads].

We rode up to the ridge to visit with the two neighbors that live up there and to socialize a bit about the weather and ...
admire the sunset.

We could have just kept on riding...me and Opal. It was a beautiful night and if you stood still too long those pesky little gnats came along with fierce bites.

We watched the sunset and then headed home.

Where...
Badger gave me the 'evil' eye as if by riding Opal, I'd betrayed his trust.

Unfortunately his ROA or COPD has advance so that he is suffering from inversion which is:
A dangerous condition where a horse's respiration rate is higher than its pulse rate.

He is now permanently retired from riding and we are closely watching him with the heat and humidity.

All signs point to it being a matter of time.
So each sunset I watch now while mounted on another mule brings bittersweet memories of all the years Badger and I have done so together.

How many sunsets have Badger and I ridden off into?
Many, many.
I have the beautiful photos to prove it.