Quite a Day

The afternoon after lunch looked good to ride my beautiful Fancy.  Terry and I got home.  I changed into riding clothes and went out to get Fancy.  I was going to ride in my nearby arena, first time since last Monday.  We have been in heat hell here, too hot to ride.

I got Fancy in the trailer and looked for Emma to get her in the house.  Oh, she must be in the house.  Sometimes she goes into the house before I get Terry and his wheelchair inside.  Fancy and I took off.  Hmmm, gates were closed at arena, it’s difficult to squeeze truck and trailer into the space available to park so I can open the gate.  I decided to return home and ride there.  Heck, it’s not raining yet and I really want to continue riding at home.  Even though it rained and pasture would be too wet, I have my long driveway and a half mile of road.  I’ve never ridden Fancy on my road, nor Lucky, nor Cisco.  I am an arena loving girl.

I came back and parked in front of the house.  I went in and called for Emma.  No Emma.  I searched the house.  No Emma. Good Lord!  Was she outdoors when I left in the trailer?  I hollered her name.  I walked to barn, yelling her name. Maybe she followed me when I left with the truck and trailer.  She’s lost!  Suddenly, I wondered if she had gotten out of the car when we came back from lunch.  GodDang!  Emma was in the car.  It was hot enough that she probably would have died of head in the car if I had rode in the arena for my normal hour.  Emma hopped out, seemingly unaffected.  Terry and I have a new rule, “Make Certain Emma gets out of the minivan when I open the door.”  Our other rule is “Make certain I put the credit card back in my purse at the restaurant.”

I saddled Fancy with the truck and trailer parked in front of the house.  I did the mandatory three saddle cinch tightenings with the mandatory canter.  She did canter both ways on a circle.  I have one nice large driveway area, big enough for her to canter on the gravel with the 12 foot rope.

I mounted from the trailer fender and off we flat foot walked down the driveway to the road.  What a time.  We went far enough on the road, but not to the end of the road where the skate park is located.  We turned around and fox trotted back.  This is heaven!  It was such fun.  I decided to do it again.  Fancy was fine when we turned around.  She gaited, but tried to veer off the road.  So I let her ride on the grass.  She liked that better.  Hmmm, she does have shoes on and the gravel road is smooth.  Oh well.  About half way up the road, she decided to stop and resisted my signal for forward movement.  Oh boy!  Fancy is arguing.  This is so much like Lucky Star, the Horse of No.  Fancy argue doesn’t have a chance with the pro Susan.  We did a hindquarter turn, go forward and No. We did a forequarter turn, go forward and No.  We did a few more tries of the turn with no success at forward.  So we backed up the road.  We turned around with her choice of going forward and it was a No.  We backed three times and on the third backing, she went forward.  I didn’t kick or beat her.  I won BIG TIME (Thank you Lucky Star for all my lessons)!  We rode to the same spot where I turned before and returned back to the home driveway.  I got off, took off her bridle and saddle and tried to have undemanding time with her on the rope and while I sat in my chair.  Sadly, my grass isn’t clover like at the arena.  She wasn’t excited or happy to eat normal grass.  She has all the grass she wants in the pasture.

I took her back to her pasture and let her go.

Later in early evening when we normally go to eat, it rained.  I wore my famous rain coat, Ole Yellow.  When we walked into the Wine Stop, a customer told me she love my rain coat.  I was taken aback, but strutted Ole Yellow like on a runway!  I kept thinking about the Ole Yellow story in one of my books.  What book was it?  Luckily, I made the Wine Stop display all my books.  Before the food came, I went and looked thru the books.  I found the Ole Yellow story in The Horse of NO.  I showed it to the customer and told her how amazed I was when she complimented Ole Yellow.  I bought Ole Yellow in the 80’s or early 90’s before moving to the country.  It is an old and wonderful Raincoat.

On the way out, the customer was still there.  I put on Ole Yellow and made the customer touch it to feel how nice it was.  I hope the customer will return to The Wine Stop where the crazy woman lurks.