The Last Hurrah of the leaves

The weather the past few days have been glorious for the first part of October. Partially warm nights with no frost and wonderfully ~~ almost ~~ hot days.

I did do other things besides ride.
But those were household and farming chores.

Opal, Siera, and Badger all got workouts these past few days. Lots of saddle time.

I got to see the last hurrah of the fall colors.



The winds on Saturday blew most of them down.

Yesterday I rode in a mostly bare forest, except for the oaks and some of those trees in the valley that were still clinging to their leaves.
I have a love~hate relationship with fall. I love to see all the beautiful colors in the trees. I love the autumn weather [warm days, cool nights].

But in the end, when the leaves have fallen, the land looks still and somewhat barren. Frost comes along and turns everything a sullen brown. The forest looks abandoned of life, yet I know too well that it isn't.

But for now, I'm going to grab every luscious moment of October and enjoy it to the fullest.

Beautiful Morning

I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed up towards the ridge top before dawn.

I wanted to sit and watch the sun come up in all of its red glory.
It did not disappoint me.
The leaves have blown off on most of the trees on the ridge.

I stood and watched from the corner where the ancient tobacco shed used to stand.
There was a haze like a faint fog that graced the horizon.
The colors kept changing, the clouds added an interest to the sky.
My one ridge neighbor brought his son out to the cross roads to meet the bus.
I reflected on what it may be like in the dead of winter...and then let that thought pass.
This morning was warm ~ like an Indian Summer.
I thought.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
The pastel colors after sunrise tied it all together for me as a photographer.

When I at last went back home ~~
My husband said to me...
*Well was it worth it?*

I sighed and nodded.
Of course it was.
Dawn and sunset are the most beautiful times of the day.
No matter what season it is.

I felt complete.
I felt whole.
I felt happy.

All because I was able to stand and watch the sun begin my day.

It is too Windy to Ride ~ so they say

The winds were gusting about 32 mph.

But the training must go on, right?

Siera has experience, she needs more.

So today I decided to continue with yesterday's work.
She had absolutely NO reaction to being saddled.

This was a good thing that made me smile.
It also meant that we could go ahead and do a brush busting ride through the creek bottoms.

Solo.

That means me...and her.
Alone in 500 acres of woods, doing deer trails and brush busting.
Yup, that is my ugly mug with my orange vest, extremely cool helmet and a hanky to mop up blood or make a tourniquet.
Kidding!

We would not go solo if she wasn't ready.
And believe me, Siera is willing and ready.


We got down in the valley and into the deep woods. We jumped up deer three times.
Siera?
No reaction other than to stop and watch them run through the woods.

The wind blew on the top of the ridge, sometimes roaring. Leaves rained down upon us.

What was Siera's main concern?

Nothing really. She was concentrating on what I was asking of her. Which trail to follow...or to perhaps resist going down.
She is of course not in any way like Badger.
But she does gets 'nerved' up when away from home.

In short, she sweats around the head and neck.
[Of course it was also 80 degrees!]
She did all of her creek crossings without much pause.

She stopped, looked, and at my urging, went forward as if she'd never had any fear of crossing little creeks.

She's fast. She walks fast and is full of energy.

So we did practice standing still 3 times.
The first time for 1 minute.
Second ~ 2 minutes.
...well you get the idea.

It was a delightful ride. A wonderful ride.

We'll be going again soon.

[Siera...one ear listening to me and one ear cocked forward]

Until next time...

Working with Siera

It is odd how one mule can have such a reaction from one person to another.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons I enjoy interacting with them so much.

A few weeks ago I tossed a saddle on her and took her for an awesome ride.

Last week we went to the 'Secret Place' where I let my hubby ride her. For some odd reason, when he saddles her, she is an unhappy mule.
Is it because she just has picked a 'favorite' person?

Mules do tend to do that.

Or is it a new problem?
Today I took her over to the trailer to see if she'd react any differently to my saddling her.
To my surprise, she did have a reaction and leaned back against the halter as I slowly tightened the cinch.

She then gave a half hearted rear and stared at me with a wild look in her face.

Well instead of riding, I decided to do a 'session' on saddling and un-saddling.
About 45 minutes later after repeated saddling and un-saddling...along with a 'time out' for patience while tied to the trailer,
I pronounced the exercise complete.

I gave up the ride to work with a possible issue to keep it from happening again.

This is satisfying work.

Next time, if hubby rides Siera, I'll ask to saddle her for him.
Perhaps our body language is different and that is what makes the difference.

Yes. I can saddle her untied in the round pen without any problems, for those who are wondering.
But that is not always going to be the case when you are trailering somewhere to ride.

Tomorrow we saddle up and see how it goes. We should have a good day to get some brush busting in.

One year ago

One year ago I was ending my 'last' adventure in Hawai'i with the self promise that I would go back in two years.

Today marks one year.

I really did love my time there. It was adventurous and wonderful...and at times, it felt like a visit that was too short.
That is, considering that as a child we would rent a house and spend a month there.

No question in the back of my mind...I will go back.
And I won't wait until I am too elderly to take adventurous hikes.

A Mule ride in the 'Secret Place'

There is a secret place that we've known about and heard from some local riders...well.
It isn't really secret.

It is on the map. It is a county park. After all we have the Kickapoo Reserve, Wildcat Mountain, and Horseman's Park to ride in.
All fabulous and awesome places to ride in.

BUT
but
but
we'd never gone to this place.
Where the Bad Axe River flows hard, creating a dull roar of watery music as it rushes over rocks.
The trails are switch backs and if your equine is in fair shape, they can march right along the 3 mile loop with ease.

Warning.
The 3 miles does not feel like 3 miles.
It is up, down, around rocks, around ridges, over logs...

it crosses the Bad Axe. In one place it was up to Siera's belly.


She handled it well after the first refusal.
Opal did her usual self and simply took it all in stride.

In the valley and above us the trees were touched with brilliant gold.
Too hard to get on a Pink Fugly point and shoot camera.

The trails were fun. Challenging to an equine's physical fitness.

Am I going to disclose this place?
No, I'm not.
On a Saturday we ran into one other couple that were riding.
We saw one hiker.

...and we only covered half of the trails available to us.
On the way home we talked excitedly about what a great find this was.
Heck, though...we'd known about it for 15 years.
We just thought it wasn't worth our time.
We wanted miles and miles of trails.

What we found was plenty of trails with fantastic scenery. And a wonderful place to get Siera and others in tip top shape.

We are eagerly putting this 'Secret Place' on our favorite list.


I still wonder at how we could have ignored this gorgeous place that is nearly in our 'backyard'.

Whoops I forgot my camera!

I ran to town to do some quick errands.

As I drove back I admired the colors of the leaves and the incredible skies.

Why oh why did I not bring my Olympus or Nikon?

Duh.

All I had was my cheapo Ugly...Fugly Pink Camera.

So I managed some shots anyway.

I think everyone should challenge themselves with a cheap P&S and see what they can get.

I was happy with the results.