Stupendous September!

Look who has come into town! A little woolie bear! Well, you know what that means. Our dear friend Summertime is leaving soon. And beautiful Autumn is coming around the mountain.

Last week when I was putting my target away, I realized that if I positioned it just so....

That I could create a funny little optical illusion! If you look just right, it appears as though my brumby is....

 ...standing atop the target like a little darling circus performer! One Ring Circus at Bear River Horse Farm!!!

I have really been enjoying my time in the ring with Lilly lately. The trick is to have something planned for the big top.There is nothing that peeves Lilly more than just trotting around the ring in circles. In any event yesterday Kestrel wanted to go back-to-school shopping and in order to make this happen, I had to ride Lilly VERY EARLY in the morning. (That is, if 9am is considered early; Bill had already been up for hours by the time I arrived). The morning was so nice, and Lilly had her spiffy new shoes on, so we headed right out on the trail.

It sure was different to see the morning sun shining through the trees at a different angle. It was quite nice actually. We followed the short trail, crossed the road after meandering through the winter pasture, and then went through Trollwood.

Here is my brumby giving this lobster mushroom a good sniff. I am sure she was hoping it was something edible. Well, it is edible and delicious...but not to a horse.

Here is a nice pair of puffballs.

We always pass this stone wall. Now it is in the thick of trees so it is hard to imagine it bordering a pasture. Apparently, there are a LOT more trees around here than there were a hundred years ago.

Here is Lilly pausing for a nice cool drink. When she was done drinking at this little creek, then we plunged through it. It is at these very times that I love the fact she has shoes nailed on and isn't wearing a removable boot. There is a freedom in those nails, strange as that sounds.

We had just left Trollwood and were getting close to Carrot Bridge when way off the trail I saw this huge pillow of a mushroom. I had to go investigate for Brandon. Lilly is always willing to go bushwacking. It is one of her best trail qualities. I tried to take a second picture with her foot closer to the mushroom for scale, but in getting her closer she stepped on the mushroom and smashed it. Luckily, when you pick a mushroom (or accidentally smash it to oblivion), you aren't killing the fungus. The mushrooms we see and pick are just the fruiting bodies, like apples on apple trees. This one here is a coral mushroom.

Another drink at another creek. I love it when Lilly takes a big mouthful of water and pulls her head up, flaps her lips a few times and all the water just runs out onto the ground. Silly brumby.

Today I headed back over to hang out with brumby. Brandon and Getty were leaving at the same time.

Bill and his family had company when I arrived, so I was not sure what to do when I noticed Lilly had already lost one of her shoes! When Bill called over I was welcome to join them I blurted out that Lilly had a shoe missing. Poor Bill. He cannot ever be left alone. In between courses he came to the barn and in 5 minutes flat (I kid you not) had a new shoe on Lilly's naughty foot. He went back to dinner and I set up a timed obstacle course. First you weave through these cones as fast as you can. Then you run back to the starting place. You bring your horse to a complete stop. You back her up a few steps, and then...

..you have to zoom over there where you dismount.....

...and give your horse a treat. Then, while she is eating it....

...from the ground you fire all six arrows at the target. An arrow in the blue means 3 seconds are taken off your time. Red means you get 5 seconds from your time, and a bulls-eye means you get 8 seconds off the clock! How would you do? I had to play this game all by myself but really enjoyed it. After all, I wasn't alone--I was with Lilly! She was surprisingly into it!


What? It's almost Monday. How gross.
Good night for now!