If you were wondering what Kelsey did today, here is the briefest description. Getting blisters on his @$$.
How?
So I caved in to my step-son this morning when I found out that the temperature outside felt really good for a horseback ride. “Why not?” I thought. I saddled up Patches and Umber and off we went! We left the house at about 9:30 in the morning!
The first quarter of a mile was not too good. Patches kept playing me up, and Umber and JJ kept trying to run around. But after we got over the first hill, and into the sound shadow so they could not hear Precious back in the home arena, they both settled down fairly well for us. I did let Patches have a run to get ‘it’ out of his system. We went via the power line road to the electrical sub-station, then took the north road up to the top of the Mormon Mesa. I called home to check in from there and was happy to report that in the end, the horses were doing very well, and that we intended to ride around on top of the mesa for a bit. Not long after, we stopped off to let the horses eat a bit, and I took these pictures…
Yeah, what a horrible life I lead! That last photo, by the way, is of particular interest to this article. That is where I earned my blisters after a grand total of five hours of riding today!
We did go up further on the mesa and found some cows and a solar powered weather station. Then, after finding the watering hole there empty, I said to JJ that we should turn round and go home now. Well, I think Patches speaks more English than he lets on because he turned and started running where there were no trails to run on! I grabbed out the GPS, which I had earlier set to find home so I could tell how far away we were, and he was heading to within five degrees of straight on to home! Mind you, this was a place he had not been to before very recently, if ever at all, and we were almost five miles as the crow flies from the house! Or maybe it is five miles as the horse runs!
Getting home was grueling, because by the time I stopped Patches from this last run, I had already earned my blisters!
We came off the mesa where there was no road, but only an old trail used by some form of animal or another. Patches was excellent on the hillside, and through the washes. Whenever we crossed over a five or six foot drop in the bottom of the wash, as he stepped out onto the adjacent hillside, all I had to do was close my eyes and let him walk, and he did just fine!
It was with great jubilation that we finally crested the last hill and came home. JJ and I were both bushed while we unsaddled and brushed both horses down, giving them time to cool down a bit before turning them into the arena and letting them water.
Well done JJ for such a long ride, and well done Patches and little Umber for taking us over the top!
Kelsey J Bacon
Happy Trails!