Water Anyone???

Amber and I went on a really cool ride the other day, and I thought I would share a bit of that with you. First though, I wanted to mention one thing.... For those of you who read Chelsi's blog, you know that she recently asked the question of why we like to ride horses.
That was relatively easy for me to answer right now...I like to ride because it gives me a release from the stressors in my day to day life. And while I may have once enjoyed spending a lot of time working with my horse, I now like to ride a well trained, dependable one that doesn't require a lot of energy from me. (Acting out every now and then is fine, but I spend a lot of time disciplining and training my kidlets, and I don't want to do the same with a horse; at this time in my life anyway!)Right now, my time and energy is pulled in so many directions, that I honestly don't have a lot to offer anyone...or any horse that needs a lot of help/work either. Bo and Wasksa are great for me then, because they don't require that I work with them a ton; I can just get on and go. (Makes me sound kind of boring, huh??)

Don't get me wrong though, Bo and I have really developed a lot of trust between us, and he does things today that he would not have done with me a year ago. (It will be one year in May since we got him back) He loves me and I love him, and he is always happy to see me when I pull up at Amber's house, it is just that most of the work and relationship building that we do is while I am on his back, not on the ground, and thankfully he doesn't require that I need to do groundwork with him (Ahhhh...the joys of riding a seasoned show and trail horse...lol!!!)(Above:Bo wolfing down fern fronds on the trail the other day, while Amber and I took a potty break) Anyway...sorry to digress, I just thought that I would mention Chelsi's thought provoking post, because it was well written, and well....though provoking....lol!!!!! (Hey there Chelsi!!!)

Where was I again???? Oh yes...our ride!!! See??? I am a total space cadet. It is a wonder that I can even remember how to ride a horse...lol!!!! On Friday, my mom and dad took my kidlets, so Amber and I could ride without any time constraints, and we had a lot of fun. It had rained all morning, so we waited until around noon to head out. We saw a ton of wildlife (out moving after the rain), and cruised along at a relaxing pace...kinda!!

One of the trails we went on takes us down and then up about a 1/2 mile, and Bo decided that he wanted to canter and/or prance the whole way up. It is kind of fun when he is in one of his crazy moods, and I am always amazed at the stamina of Arabian horses. Thankfully Bo calmed down once we were done with the steep trails. (You can see the base of that trail in the picture above, and Bo sure was eager to get to the top...lol!!)
So we rode up trails, and we rode down trails, and we crossed trails, and even made a few of our own trails....lol!!! When we finally came out to a main line, Amber asked if I wanted to ride down to a lake that I have not been to in over 20 years, and I said "sure." She mentioned that a good part of the trail was through a swamp (over 100 yards of it), and that it may be too deep to get through this time of year.
(Above is a picture from the Internet of a swamp in the Hoh rain forest. ..sound familiar Twilight fans???) Down, down, down we went, until we came to what looked like a lake/swamp that stretched out further than my eyes could see (it went around a bend), and Amber said that she could not believe how much water there was. (They ride their quads on this trail, so she knew where it was, but said that usually there is only about six inches to one foot of H2O)

(Above is just another picture from the Internet!)

Amber looked at me and asked if I wanted to attempt to follow the trail, and again, I said "sure." We were not sure that the horses would go for it though, because it looked like it may be about 2-3 feet deep. Would they trust us???

Yes they did, and we were quite amazed that they walked through a swamp trail that had water that was so deep that we had to lift our legs. The deepest spot was about three feet deep, and they had to walk through an area that was over 100 yards of total water. And...there was no dry ground to be seen...anywhere.

They never once even acted the slightest bit spooked, or weirded out, but it was kind of a creepy feeling to be surrounded by all of that water. I think that I watch too many horror movies, because I kept waiting for a hand to rise up and grab one of the horses legs...lol!!!

Amber and I really praised the boys while we were going through it, and when we were done, because I am not sure that a lot of horses would have trusted their riders to get them through that. It made me feel good to know that even though I don't have a lot to offer old Bo Bo right now (and of course he doesn't ask for much!) he still felt like I wouldn't ask him to do something that would put us both in danger...either that or he and Waska are just plain stupid...lol!!! Just kidding!

Well it is back to school tomorrow, so I will probably fall behind again. I am apologizing ahead of time...kay???