Trail Ride with a Purpose

Conflicting items on my to-do list this morning, until I had a bright idea.

Ride to town to do the recycling and mail some letters.

Town is a little over three miles away, and the road from here to there is windy, paved, and likely to have a fair amount of traffic.

I figured if I attend to me-and-my-horse, and my karma is good enough, we would succeed.

And we did.

I only wish I had toted my camera so someone could have taken our picture there at the recycling center!

Before we left, I spent some time in the round pen with Kacee to see if we could progress some more with our getting together before heading out. Kacee will do most anything I ask, however I have discovered that she doesn't always feel really OK about things I ask. Time in the round pen asking her to connect with me at the walk and stop and walk and trot is enlightening. As we indeed made more progress today, I went ahead with my ambitious adventure.

Our ride was actually better on the way to town than on the way home. Perhaps she was listening to me as we headed to some unknown destination, and on the way home she was certain where we were going and eager to get there sooner than I planned.

We had a nice side trip through the property -- woods and fields -- of some folks we know, and I now have an open invite to ride through their property whenever I like. That saved about 3/4 mile of road travel, and added some lovely time along the edge of some hay fields that I never knew were there.

We surprised a turkey hen on her nest, and we caused a porcupine to climb up a tree. Many, many drivers slowed way down which I greatly appreciated.

I entertained a fantasy of offering local recycling trips each week, perhaps enlisting our driving pony and doing the trip with him!

I had about 2 1/2 hours of practicing 'speed, direction, and destination' with Kacee today. She got a hosing down and some lawn time after we got home. Then I had did my duty with the 89 bales of hay delivered this morning, carrying them one by one from the trailer and stacking them in the barn. Lovely hay -- I'd forgotten the smell of freshly baled hay! This should cover us until our hay field gets cut.

I am fatigued in a most satisfying way.