Woke up to another beautiful day, though there is a forecast for possible showers this afternoon, so we saddled up and headed out around 11:00. Headed west out of the back of the campground from Site 3, going down a beautiful trail that led us to Chicken Creek Trail. Though we put boots on the horses, most of the trails were dirt with only a few, occasional spots with rocks. At the bottom of the hill we made a left to continue following Chicken Creek Trail south where we followed the creek and even crossed it a couple of times, weaving our way through a gorgeous aspen and spruce forest. When we reached the first intersection, we turned north again on the Rim trail, because we just wanted a short exploratory ride today. As we climbed gradually up the hill, we passed some beautiful bushes of wild roses, with the kind of wonderful aroma that you just don't get in store-bought roses anymore. When we reached the top, the trail opened up into some beautiful open meadows, and we got in some FABULOUS canters for quite a ways. Finally we crossed a creek and ended up on the road, where the trail crosses. Unfortunately, in a freak accident, Apollo got his foot caught in a cattle guard, and we spent the next ten heart-stopping minutes trying to keep him calm and get his boot off and his foot out, which we finally accomplished, though not without some minor injuries. His foot was scraped and was starting to swell at the hairline at the top of his hoof, Hubby got a cut over his eye which I sealed with a butterfly tape, his chest was bruised where Apollo put his foot on it, and his calf was banged up. I was flung onto the grate and started to get a bruise on my hip that was 8 inches long by the end of the day, and my hand was sprained so that it could hardly move. After walking a bit to see if we could walk it out, it became obvious that Apollo's foot couldn't take too much weight, so I ended up leading him the half mile back to the camp. Though he wasn't limping badly, he wasn't picking his foot up as well as he needed to, dragging the toe slightly, so I don't think it's too bad, thank goodness. Once there I treated his foot with Vetericyn and wrapped it up in an ice pack for a while, and doing the same for my hip. We were concerned, but there wasn't much we could do except let it rest. When I took off the ice pack, I rubbed in down with Absorbine as well, figuring better circulation is always a good thing. Hubby and I both felt like we'd been in a car wreck, with bruises and aches and pains we couldn't even identify, they were just there. We rested the rest of the day, checking on Apollo throughout the evening to make sure he didn't worsen. A great ride until the incident, which could have been a disaster, which we narrowly averted. Whew! Meanwhile, the local dude ranch had indeed brought some horses up for a ride tomorrow, and had filled the water tank, so that was one less worry for us. We had a few rain showers just after we arrived, but nothing of any consequence. Shortly afterward, an RV came along with a family and four more horses, and eventually the dude ranch had to move some of their horses together to make room for them. Hubby spoke with the young cowboy tasked with keeping an eye on things overnight for a few minutes before we retired for the night.
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