Saturday, 19, 2014 – Ride and Disaster Day

Decided to take a short exploratory ride today, just a small loop, barely 3 miles long, just to get a feel for the terrain. We're both still a bit tired from the non-stop pace this week, so we didn't want to do anything strenuous, and the next smallest trail loop is over 7 miles. We headed out around 11:00, taking a trail that took us to an old homestead ruin. The trail was really good, better than we expected, mostly dirt with only a few spots of rock. It curved around a hill, followed a small creek, then opened up into the valley where you start to understand the name Castle Rock. There were a pile of rocks in a bunch of strange configurations, worn down by the weather into all kinds of name-able shapes. The trail brought us to an old stone house that was still partially standing, with a marker that said it was built in 1909 and the initials of JHH. Oddly, the terrain actually reminds me of Texas Hill Country, with cacti and short evergreens everywhere (though here they are pinyon trees). Well, everything was going fine up to that point. My plan was to go up along the road for about a quarter mile, then take a connector trail back to the campground. The road looked so inviting, that we decided to get a nice canter in, and headed out, with Clio uncharacteristically in front. Immediately on the right was a large boulder, which was just the kind of thing Apollo would decide is a horse-eating monster, so I was holding on tight, when suddenly, Clio side-stepped. Evidently she was drifting toward the right, and Hubby started to steer her to the left, and she suddenly caught sight of a large drainage pipe shining on the left and stopped or veered or something. Apollo veered a little in response, but not violently, so I was fine. Hubby, on the other hand, was not. He went flying, and not just to the road, but a few extra feet down into the deep ditch next to the road. He was is excruciating pain, and it took us a good 20 minutes to get him up and back on his horse for the 1.5 mile ride back to camp. We walked the whole way, because any jogging just pained Hubby too much. Got him slowly settled into his recliner before unsaddling the horses and putting everything away. It's funny, he's been having premonitions about something happening just before our Alaska vacation ever since we left Austin. We've been pretty careful because of it, but we got a little overconfident with a clear road ahead, I guess. Anyway, we'll see how he feels tomorrow before we decide what to do. Chances are we'll be staying past Tuesday, though!