LobLilly Pine

There is nothing better than a Friday afternoon when I know Lilly Time is right around the corner. This Friday as soon as 5 o'clock rolled around, I was zooming out to my car and heading over to the barn. Lilly and I worked in the ring, practicing trotting and side passing. Here is what Lilly must look like to a frog.

Bill came down to the ring and took Ruby into the round pen to see if she would lay down for him on cue. Naturally, Lilly and I went over there as spectators.

Ruby didn't lay down immediately like she had last night. So while Bill worked with her, I got a few more frog's-eye view pictures of my brumby who was probably pretty happy to be a spectator and not a participant in Bill's lesson.

 It does not get any cuter than that! In all of these pictures Lilly does not have her reins hooked in. Because I use roper's reins and not split reins, I am forever worried they'll fall over her head and entangle her feet. So I don't hook them up until right before I climb on her.

 Looks like I'll have to complain to the management that the ring has some crabgrass in it! Ho ho! Guess we've been spending too much time out on the trail and not enough in the ring!

But Saturday came around and I passed up the ring for a ride on the trail! I was all alone so I decided I was really going to get some good tree learning in. Unfortunately, my tree guide is for all regions of the US. So right after I named a tree as a Loblolly Pine, I realized it could never be. Disgusted, I shoved the tree guide in my pommel bag and carried on.

So I cannot tell you what that tree is...but I think it might be a Beech. Right after I took this picture, my camera went dead. No battery. I had burned it out trying to film something earlier. Shortly after this moment, the weather changed dramatically. Suddenly there was a huge storm cloud moving in and it became super windy. The sky darkened. And I was in the woods so it seemed even darker. So we hurried home.

OK, so maybe it wasn't like this--but it felt like a real storm was coming! We got to Bill's neighbor's house and they have chickens so I jumped off Lilly and put Getty on her leash. Two minutes later, in front of Bill's, Getty ran behind Lilly and the leash crossed Lilly's back legs. Hello, Meltdown! Lilly hated that! In her haste to get away, she swung her hind end around so fast that my tree identifier came flying out of the saddle bag like a spooky white flag. Lilly DID NOT LIKE THAT EITHER! But she was so close to an electric fence she was afraid to bolt. So she jumped up and down in place a few times. It was all over in a few seconds. I like to think Lilly was comforted by seeing me there and telling her to whoa. I like to think she trusts me enough that if I tell her everything is fine, than it really is fine. But who knows what she is really thinking.

On my way home from the barn a giant limb fell out of a tree and flopped on the road in front of my car before splitting into a dozen pieces! OY VEY!

See you next time!