You are so Brumbiful to me

I have to start tonight's blog post with these sunflowers. Every Friday I take my dog to a dog daycare near where I work. On the way there and then back again we pass three giant fields of friendly sunflowers. This past Friday I could not resist. I pulled over and got my camera out.

They were so neat that before I knew it, I was actually in the field itself! Now that's a great way to get the weekend started.

This weekend was great because Karen P came for a visit! She was just here for the film fest, but this time she made the trek out west to be with the horses. An experienced rider, Karen has her own horse Misty who is lucky enough to live right on Karen's property. Karen doesn't have a trailer, but if she did, she'd bring Misty right along with her.

We started by setting up the obstacle course. We assembled the whole course and even had a hula hoop in the mix. Here is Karen on Glitter getting her GoPro helmet cam ready. It looked so cool I began to really crave one for myself. That's Bill on Jodie.

Bill did the obstacle course with Jodie. Then I did a walk through with Lilly. I thought the umbrella would frighten her. It made her eyes get VERY WIDE but she was good and offered no drama. She even walked across the teeter totter on the second attempt! This is Karen doing the cones with Glitter. All looked great until Karen asked Glitter to canter. Then Glitter gave a big buck (out of nowhere--Glitter is not a bucker) and down Karen went.

Karen fell so gracefully I didn't think she was hurt at all. I have seen Christine fall too and it was like ballet, I'm telling you. Well, this was not Karen's first rodeo, as they say. She's been bucked off horses before in her long career as a horseperson. Still, who likes to get bucked off? No one. It was just so uncharacteristic of Glitter to buck at all. So in addition to being alarming, it was baffling. Bill took her right into the round pen. In the round pen Glitter got the party started by bucking Bill off. Then she got put to work, Chris Cox style.

Karen and I watched Bill and Glitter. Brandon showed up for obstacle course Olympics and we sent him up to the house to get some Advil for Karen. Even a graceful fall can mean injuries. It was clear something was not right with Glitter. How could she go from a mellow trail horse into not wanting someone on her back?  She has never been like that. Not once.

This new development was an unhappy one. Everyone felt bad. Maybe Glitter has Lyme disease. Maybe when she is asked to run, she is in frightful pain. It makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. I just want Glitter to be OK.

Karen and I decided to abandon the obstacle course. Another day. Glitter was put back in the pasture for now. We (mainly Bill of course) will need to think about what the next steps will be. Karen and I then decided to go out on the trail. We were just walking, but we took Lilly along for company, like a big ole painted dog. Up near the BP, we met Yogi and QTee. They ran right over to visit.

Lilly was too interested in nibbling grass to hardly even say hello to Yogi and QTee. We walked the Short Trail and then walked the Ridge Trail backwards. Back at the barn, Karen had brought yummy peppermints for each horse. Sophie wasn't sure what to do with hers and let it fall right out of her mouth! It ended up being a day very different than what we had planned, but these things happen. Every day is its own adventure.

The next day while Karen was probably on her own horse and glad to be back in a familiar saddle, I was back over at the barn. That's Lila on Jodie, with Bill helping get her stirrups right. She came over to see if Jodie might be a good fit for her. A dressage rider, Lila thought she might also like to have a nice trail horse. Well, Jodie is about as nice a trail horse as you can find.

Bill rode Cody who as usual was dreamy. I was riding my brumby who was also very dreamy. I mean, even objectively, she is The Dreamiest. We took the Short Trail, veered off on the Parallel Trail and followed that to where it hooks up with the far end of the Ridge Trail.

Then we ventured into Trollwood. The weather could not have been more beautiful. And even though two bears and a few deer were in the mix, all three horses were remarkable. Well, to be fair, Lilly and I did not even see the bears. Bill and Lila reported that one was quite large. That's what I get for dawdling and lagging behind!!!!

Now here is something that you do not want to see on the trail! Or worse, have it flop down into your saddle! Luckily, this was not something I saw while riding horses, but later in the day when Brandon and I took Getty out for a romp through the woods. Brandon loves this thing so much. He is waiting for when the weather gets cold enough so the hornets leave the nest and he can grab it for his natural curiosities collection. Oy vey. All I can say is there were PLENTY of hornets in residence today!

Look at this cute little family of mushrooms I noted in a dead tree! Much more friendly than a mess of ole hornets!

After that, Brandon wanted to try out the atlatl that he made so we went to the neighbor's cornfield to fling it. An atlatl is a throwing device that came before the bow and arrow. You can use it to throw a dart very far and with great force. Some people think the atlatl predates homo sapiens.

Although I find atlatls very interesting for their place in history alone, I was not paying too much attention.

Good bye for now, dear blogging friends!