Hiya Darlin'!
What a crazy, busy day! I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and then woke up before the alarm, so I started out a bit tired, but I got the horses fed before heading over to breakfast, which turned out to be a MUCH longer affair than I supposed. With the new health restrictions, they couldn't do a buffet, so the process of getting food was so much more complicated, so then I was almost late getting Flash saddled up and out to the start of the ride. I had decided to take the full day ride, because what I thought I heard at the meeting last night was that it was a fast ride, but I evidently heard wrong, it wasn't fast at all. Poor Flash, he did his best, but I spent all morning having to hold him back, and the trail was full of downed trees they hadn't had time to clean up yet (we've had so many storms this year, and saturated ground with straight line winds and tornadoes make for a LOT of downed trees). It wasn't a bad ride, though we stopped more than I typically like. They did a great job with lunch, though, they had some tables and chairs gathered in a wooded area that was apparently going to be where Loretta's husband was going to build her a house, so we got some local color along the way, and brought hamburgers hot off the grill, so it was pretty good. After lunch, though, Flash was getting more antsy from the slow pace, and finally we ended up on some open fields and he started going nuts. He was prancing, dancing sideways, cantering in place, until finally I just had to apologize to the trail boss that I just had to let him run before he got any worse, so I passed everyone and just started gaiting him fast, and cantering, and whatever it took, up a few hundred yards, then back again, up and back, until we finally reached the turn back into the camp. He calmed down a little, so I decided to take him into the extreme trail competition elements, I particularly wanted to see what he would do on the teeter-totter, and I was amazed! He went up with very little hesitation and just a bit of urging before it flipped down, and he stayed with it! I ran him through it half a dozen times, and he only hesitated briefly before doing what I asked. He was brilliant! Now if I can only get him to side pass, it would be great! Anyway, I got back to camp, rinsed him down and put him away, got back to the trailer and discovered that the little leak I had under the trailer had turned into a leaking hose, and my neighbor had turned the water off, so that was my first chore. Fortunately I only had to take the clamp off, cut the hose a few inches, and clamp it back up again. It was a job I knew I had to do but hadn't gotten around to, so I was glad to get it done. Then I put on my bathing suit and Lola and I went down to the creek for a session of frisbee-throwing, and ended up joining a group further down the creek and chatting with them for awhile, all the time Lola was getting some exercise. After awhile, we came back and I got dressed for dinner, another long line for spaghetti, and sat by myself at a picnic table. As I was walking back to camp afterward, Callie and her mom came by in the truck, evidently they were so bored this afternoon they came down and cleaned the paddock and brought the hay bags back to the trailer for me, how nice! They parked the truck and helped me finish feeding the horses, then we chatted for awhile before calling it a night. After taking Lola on her last walk, I went around to a couple of the other camps and mentioned the ISS was going to do a flyover, and several people were interested (though some were decidedly not), so we watched a perfect four minute pass before I came back in the house. Now it's just shower and bed, I need a good night sleep! Off I go! Love you, babe!
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