A Mare, some Mushrooms and one Misadventure

This post is a tale of this mare and her adventure on the trail. Throw in a few mushrooms and I will have made my post complete. Here is my brumby this past Sunday morning getting ready for a jaunty trail ride. MMmmMmmmm Yummy water!

Christine had gotten QTee from the BP and soon we were together on the trail. Our summer has been very hot and dry. But then we had a few storms and suddenly, the mushrooms began to appear. This one greeted us right away. Brandon reports it is an amanita of some kind. Apparently in the Land of Mushroom Identifying, the bulb at the base of this mushroom is significant. The tops of these mushrooms were soft and velvety...like my brumby's nose.

And there s a little Russula Tenuicops.

Christine is always very patient while I get out of the saddle and snap pictures. This ride I was also sending Bill a few texts to show him what fun we were having. But you can see from this picture how marvelous it was. Blue sky, not too hot, darling brumbies....oh, we had it all!

Here's another amanita. A very handsome specimen in my opinion. Christine and I made our way through the upper and lower trail, and discovered a huge tree had fallen across one of our usual paths through Carrot Creek (my own name for it). The great thing about riding with QTee and Lilly is that, as a pair, they are really up for anything. Rain, snow, fallen trees--- they handle it all with curiosity and grace. So we maneuvered around the log and crossed the creek with no incident.

 Brandon could not identify this mushroom by the photo. But, back  in the Land of Mushroom Identifying, where Brandon often lives, he said that little ring around it's stem is very important. Not all mushrooms have them. It is called an annulus which I think sounds very naughty.

Here we are trotting across the blueberry pasture! Shortly after this we were back at the BP, where Christine left QTee. And since her car was there, she went on home while I took the short trail and headed back to the barn. On the short trail, I dismounted once because Lilly seemed to have gotten stung by a bee while nibbling ferns. She suddenly started shaking her head violently. I got off and she began to rub her face against me, like she was trying to get something off of her. When it seemed back to normal, I got back on again and we carried on.

Now I hate to blame these delicious lobster mushrooms (Hypomyces lactifluorum) for what happened next, but in a court of law I probably could make a strong case for it. I dismounted again to look at these mushrooms. While I did that, Lilly grazed on ferns. I should have been watching her reins, but I was not. They slid down her neck, over her ears and onto the ground, where she unknowingly then stepped one foot right into them.

Can you imagine the freak out when she put her head up and found herself trapped with the reins wrapped around her leg and pulling on her bit? Oh no, not a good scene at all. Immediately she reared. It was the biggest rear I have ever seen on any horse that was not a circus performer or at Pfiszer Fantasia! UP into the air she went, front hooves over my head!! I was face to face with my horse's belly button! Oh, not good at all. Three times I told her to whoa. I wondered why the clips were not breaking. Three times she reared--tall as a grizzly bear. Bah! Thank goodness her saddle stayed on. After the third rear I said to her: WHOAH, LILLY! You MUST STOP SO I CAN HELP YOU!!

Miraculously, she stopped. I knew I had one second to unclip the reins. I did it! And she was free! In a moment she carried on as if nothing at all had just happened. I said to her, Brumby, you scared me! And then I texted Bill who loves adventures of all sorts--especially the kind with happy endings.

 Later in the week, after work, I was dashing over to groom Lilly and check up on her. I know she is on good hands with Jackie K at the farm, running the show, but after all, I had to try my brumby's new fly mask on. Looks pretty good. And so does the cute husband next to her.

But, uh-oh! Looks like Cinderella is missing one of her slippers! Jackie K filed down the rough edges. But the new slipper will have to wait for Bill to get back.


And finally, it's Friday! A new weekend of riding is just around the corner!