Re: ridecamp-d Digest V00 #835

[Bob Keeffe <bkeeffe@nativeson.com>]

Title: Re: ridecamp-d Digest V00 #835

     From: "guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>
        Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 10:48:55 -0700
> Alison Dunn alCritters@hotmail.com
> There is a picnic area that we go through often on our rides.  It is
> frequently used as a girl scout overnight camping place.  One time I was
> riding my mare through there, and we were mobbed by horse-crazy girls!
> She can be flighty, and I thought 'Oh No!' and tried to say something.
> Penny just stood there calmly amongst the sea of eager reaching arms.  One of the
> girls was blind - she was petting and stroking her over every
> area she could reach - if she could have reached all the way around to hug
> her, she would have!  She had the most beautific smile on her face!


I love your story Alison.
It always amazes me to see flighty horses calm down when they know it's the right thing to do.

  My husband (Bob) and I have a nice 'walk in the park' ride just down the road from the ranch we live on.  The area has camping, boating, picnicking, trail use, water slide and a Scout Camp which is at the near end of the lake.  A great place to take horses so they can experience all the hustle and bustle of life.  
  Bob's mare (Snow) does it all, she'd bomb proof (but not brain dead by any means) and is a great horse for the inexperienced horses to learn from. We were on the trail  somewhere in the middle of our ride when we heard the usual  "Look at the horses!" "Can we ride them?" "Can we touch them?".  My husband always stops for kids and Snow loves the attention while my gelding (Chief Granite Rain) and I move over to get out of the way and watch.
  Chief is a whapping 17hh/1500# horse with a baby brain,,,not good for the general masses to rush up to and pet....until this one time. .  One day I was alone on this same ride, middle of the week, not too many people around when all of a sudden some kids come running up.  Well, Chief just lowered his big head and let all those kids hug, scratch and love him.  To this day we can stop for all the same attention that Snow does.  This is a good thing.

Big animals with big hearts and children taking great stories home to tell.  And hopefully, we've helped create another horse crazed person to join the league we love so much.

Good on ya Alison.
Jeannie


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