Cameras - Grrrrr!

I bought a new camera for the trip, so Bill and I could both get pictures while riding.  Yesterday, when we took off for our second ride at Ghost Ranch, I couldn't get the camera to turn on, so I stuck it in my pocket and decided to just enjoy the ride.  Good thing, because very soon the ride turned quite challenging.  I was riding Washoe this time so Bill could pony Jesse.  She's a  little better behaved when being ponied in rough country than Washoe.  She can handle any terrain, and will, without pulling her escort out of the saddle - and we were very soon in very rough terrain.  We never know what we will encounter when riding with this particular friend, and we were soon plunged into a deep, steep arroyo which was quite muddy from several recent rains. 

We got to practice a lot of evasive maneuvers back and forth across the stream bed, over shelves of shale, under low hanging shale ledges and sinking well over fetlock deep ooze, up and over steep banks to get around stuff we couldn't go through, then back down into the stream.  Now, Washoe is my horse that had some really bad experiences with water when he was young, taking us a couple of years to get him at all comfortable with crossing streams and rivers, even puddles, without going into a panic.  I must say, I was extremely proud of how he handled all this mess.  It did take a lot of two handed reining, so I figured it was providence that the camera wasn't working.  About the time things smoothed out, I put my hand in my pocket, hit the camera switch, and voila, it turned on and worked perfectly the rest of the ride!  I did get some pretty good pictures, so I was going to add them to the last blog, but guess what?  Again, the camera won't turn on.  As soon as I can get back to town, it's getting returned!  Hopefully, I can get the pictures downloaded first.

Our trip home today was uneventful, even with all the snow we had to come through.  There was a chain law in effect as we crossed LaVeta Pass, but we came across with no problems, driving in snow until just north of Pueblo.  The roads were wet, but got better as we got closer to home, until they were dry coming up the canyon.  What a switch; better roads higher up.  The horses were happy to be home...and so are we.

Juanita