Ride/Hike Sunday

Sunday afternoon, our normal “horse lesson” day, and grandkids were coming up. “Can one of them please have her horse lesson? The rest of us are going to hike”…or so we thought. By the time they arrived, one of the “hikers” had totally changed his mind and was pretty insistent he was riding! Problem: not enough horses. OK, they could share a horse; Jesse does well with double kids. Oops! Someone didn’t consider it riding unless he was steering. That sort of messes with the idea of “lesson time” for sister, although she was perfectly willing to share steering responsibilities. Mom steps in about this time and ends temper tantrum by enforcing the “hike” decision, so off we go, with one not-so-happy hiker. (“I hate, hate, hate hiking…with a capital H!”) We all ignore this statement and within five minutes the offended hiker has found a couple of sticks and is soon laughing and playing army man with his MK rifle.

Now, it was really fun watching Jesse watch this transition. While younger brother was upset, she was very watchful of where he was, sometimes beside her, sometimes in front, sometimes in back. As soon as he became engrossed in his new game, she totally relaxed and was not bothered in the least when he darted in front of her hooves to chase the enemy. She would hesitate with a foot in the air so he could get past without getting stepped on. We spent a good hour wandering around on the mountain, at the Clara Belle mine and across the meadow. On the way back he challenged Mom to a race up the last stretch of the trail. Sister, sitting on Jesse, was the goal. Watching these horses stand rock solid while people are running past, slapping hands and laughing makes you realize how great these Sunday afternoons are. Juanita