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May. 2nd, 2007 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIn other, less vitriol-laden news, the first May-Horse-Committment thing went surprisingly well. The trailer had a flat tire, the truck was mechanically unsound, we didn't pack any water, the IRH kept hitting me in my sore wrist, we got a late start, and we had to bushwhack our way back to civilization after giving up on ever finding Red Bank Trail in amongst the death-defying deer-exclusion areas.
Actually, it was a great outing. I could not have asked for a better outing. Things went great. The IRH was super, just rock-solid. She did a great job. She went forward, boldly but in control. She climbed steep hills. She went down steep hills. (Not kidding about the steep, btw.) She crossed water. She walked over lots-o-rocks (so many rocks that you couldn't see dirt) and leapt carefully over trees and totally was a Good Horse (TM). Yay!!
Also, Cass was a trooper. She got her horse caught, helped pack the truck, loaded her own horse on and off the trailer, provided moral support for my novice horse-trailer driving, and was perky, helpful, enthusiastic, and yadda yadda yadda for the entirety of the two-hour outing, including the part where we were lost (sortof) and going offroad in the woods.
But the IRH! Yay!!! Such a good horse!
For those of you who are confused about the deer-exclusion areas, those are fenced spaces put in by the forestry folks to help the forest grow back. (We have too many deer and they eat all the trees so that the forest can't regenerate. It's cheaper to kill the deer than to build fences but the fences are far less politically controversial.) Horses can't go through deer-exclusion fences. However, horses can go AROUND the deer-exclusion fences which have a semi-convenient trail thing built along the outside where the machinery that set up the fences was driven. It's kind of like a trail, or it would be if there were more level and less vertical going on. The deer-exclusion fences are constructed with absolutely no regard for things like "having a sensible slope". They go straight down over the side of the mountain and across the bottom of the fenced area and then straight back up. They're really quite scary. I only had the stomach for one-and-a-half of them. Apparently my memory of what they were like (Tasha and La and I rode 'em last summer. Once.) had faded over the winter because if I'd clearly remembered what they were like, I'd not have tried them again first thing out in the spring. But anyway, I got through one-and-a-half deer-exclusion fences and I was done.
At that point, I aimed the IRH down the hill, off the trail (such as it was), into the woods. When you're on Ray's Hill (east face), home is (1) downhill and then (2) upstream (a right turn) until you see the lake. It's pretty straightforward, really. I aimed the IRH downhill. She kept drifting right. I aimed her more downhill. She drifted right. We went on in this vein (with her winning most of the time) until we came out on the road halfway between Dad's house and Yuvola's creek. (That last will make no sense to anyone except relatives. Sorry. Take it as read that this was a very convenient place to arrive.) The IRH is a better navigator than I am. (Of course, this isn't difficult.) And she's brave. And bold. And sensible.
Yay!!!
Did not offer to buck once. Loped once. Rated at the trot, too. Good horse!
Full disclosure: There were absolutely no cars on this outing. It is possible that some settling of the brave/bold/sensible contents of the IRH may occur in the face of cars, probably because she'll be bucking. That always causes settling, dontchaknow.
Actually, it was a great outing. I could not have asked for a better outing. Things went great. The IRH was super, just rock-solid. She did a great job. She went forward, boldly but in control. She climbed steep hills. She went down steep hills. (Not kidding about the steep, btw.) She crossed water. She walked over lots-o-rocks (so many rocks that you couldn't see dirt) and leapt carefully over trees and totally was a Good Horse (TM). Yay!!
Also, Cass was a trooper. She got her horse caught, helped pack the truck, loaded her own horse on and off the trailer, provided moral support for my novice horse-trailer driving, and was perky, helpful, enthusiastic, and yadda yadda yadda for the entirety of the two-hour outing, including the part where we were lost (sortof) and going offroad in the woods.
But the IRH! Yay!!! Such a good horse!
For those of you who are confused about the deer-exclusion areas, those are fenced spaces put in by the forestry folks to help the forest grow back. (We have too many deer and they eat all the trees so that the forest can't regenerate. It's cheaper to kill the deer than to build fences but the fences are far less politically controversial.) Horses can't go through deer-exclusion fences. However, horses can go AROUND the deer-exclusion fences which have a semi-convenient trail thing built along the outside where the machinery that set up the fences was driven. It's kind of like a trail, or it would be if there were more level and less vertical going on. The deer-exclusion fences are constructed with absolutely no regard for things like "having a sensible slope". They go straight down over the side of the mountain and across the bottom of the fenced area and then straight back up. They're really quite scary. I only had the stomach for one-and-a-half of them. Apparently my memory of what they were like (Tasha and La and I rode 'em last summer. Once.) had faded over the winter because if I'd clearly remembered what they were like, I'd not have tried them again first thing out in the spring. But anyway, I got through one-and-a-half deer-exclusion fences and I was done.
At that point, I aimed the IRH down the hill, off the trail (such as it was), into the woods. When you're on Ray's Hill (east face), home is (1) downhill and then (2) upstream (a right turn) until you see the lake. It's pretty straightforward, really. I aimed the IRH downhill. She kept drifting right. I aimed her more downhill. She drifted right. We went on in this vein (with her winning most of the time) until we came out on the road halfway between Dad's house and Yuvola's creek. (That last will make no sense to anyone except relatives. Sorry. Take it as read that this was a very convenient place to arrive.) The IRH is a better navigator than I am. (Of course, this isn't difficult.) And she's brave. And bold. And sensible.
Yay!!!
Did not offer to buck once. Loped once. Rated at the trot, too. Good horse!
Full disclosure: There were absolutely no cars on this outing. It is possible that some settling of the brave/bold/sensible contents of the IRH may occur in the face of cars, probably because she'll be bucking. That always causes settling, dontchaknow.
