Last Day Of Summer

Yesterday we were supposed to have a showing in the evening. Originally they were supposed to have been here Saturday, but they had a family emergency and couldn't make it. So yesterday we're sitting here all ready and waiting and our realtor called to say they had cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday. This time apparently it was a "soccer" problem. Arrrrgh!

I decided to take today "off" and went to spend time with my horse. What better way to spend the last day of summer?

I thought I'd first pretend to do some dressage, since it's been forever since the last time I dabbled with it. When I first mounted I checked my watch. It was straight up noon o'clock.

We walked around this way and that, then moved to a trot. We did some circles, serpentines, and direction changes. Then we did some cantering and mixed it up with tempo changes. I was pleased to find that Star knew how to do a walk to canter transition. (I already knew she could do the canter to walk.)

When I thought about 15 or 20 minutes had passed we headed out of the arena for the river. I looked at my watch. It was 12:06. I am obviously out of shape!!!

We crossed the river and were heading up the bank when we saw a truck with a box utility trailer and *gasp* horror of horrors, a mini-horse pulling a little wagon! And then suddenly the truck pulled forward and dropped the trailer with a big BANG! and you would think that was the end of the world!

Star spun around and tried to head back across the river. Fortunately I didn't get unseated and I was able to urge her forward. We went a few feet but then she stood stock still staring at the anathema before her. I could feel her heart pounding! We had quite the power struggle with us going back and forth for a while before I was able to get her calmed enough to move forward. I felt very lucky not to have come off.

By this time I think the truck driver and the mini-horse driver noticed the commotion and decided it was in their best interest to move along (and thereby not be witness to any tragic calamity).

We eventually moved past the now abandoned trailer with just a bit of blowing, prancing, and bit chomping and finally got to the main trail. I thought it best to take a sedate pace and we just walked the entire way around. We met up with our farrier who was on her way in. So we stopped and chatted for a bit before moving on.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. As we got back around and within 1/4 mile of our stable the wind had picked up a bit. A blowing wind can be a bad thing for horseback riders. It seems to give the horses license to act up. With that in mind I became a little more vigilant and tried to keep Star relaxed, even though a horse from a neighboring stable was calling and she felt obligated to keep answering.

We finally got home and I brushed her down and put her away. I thought I'd take the opportunity to clean my tack and spent the next thirty minutes cleaning and oiling my leather.

So in spite of all the hullaballoo I still enjoyed myself on this last day of summer.

We have two showings scheduled for tomorrow evening, one at four and one at five. I hope the First Day Of Fall brings good news!