I keep thinking of ride stories for this ride. With 5 day
there are alot of stories to tell.
First of all I want to say that the ride trail was
fabulous.
Steph and John did such a good job marking trail EVERYDAY that
you would have to be blind to get lost. I did some wandering but it was my fault
for gazing around when I should have been watching. The country is so beautiful
it is hard not to gaze all around.
Steph will make you happy whatever you want. If you want to
see snakes then there are snakes , if you don't want to see snakes then there
aren't any. Be warned she will tell you what ever will make you
happy.
That is what makes her rides so much fun.
Now she just has to figure out how to keep get the snakes
to co operate.
First ride out with Carol Gilles (last name???) to
test ride Ben we came across a small nasty but very accommodating rattle
snake. The horses just stopped and side passed away form the snake. Now I
ride in Alberta where we find the odd bear and they do not sneak up on you like
snakes can.
The snake just sat there coiled looking very angry. I survived
much to my surprise because I really am a chicken when it comes to
snakes.
Carol and I carried on down the trail heading
towards camp. I was riding Ben and found that he likes a loose rein so feeling
comfy I gave him a little more then I should.
He set to bucking and did a fine job. So there I was on the
trail with no snakes riding the horse that doesn't buck (remember my earlier
reference to keeping people happy)
All I heard was Carol say " here comes the rodeo! "
Well I stayed on that bucking Ben horse.What to the uninformed eye may have
seemed like a good , talented ride (lost my stirrups on the first big all 4
feet off the ground buck) was not a display of talent but a display of fear. Let
me tell you I would have stay glued to the devil himself before I was
hitting the ground where the snake was. All I could think of was Ben
heading for home and me standing on a rock crying to scared to move because of
snakes.
When it was all over Ben was fine and all I had was a broken
baby finger from hitting the cantle. (that will teach me to let the reins go to
long) Carol is an emergency room nurse and was of great comfort to me. Laughter
cures all and her imitation of me was very comical.
When we got back to camp she used her talents to tape up the
finger after I set it straight (well mostly straight, pinky rings are out of the
question so its a good thing I don't own one) Might I suggest splints be added
to the must take to ride pack. Lucky for me we had a popsicle stick
All this fun and the ride has not even begun
yet!!!
ENDURANCE NET CENTRAL
We found ourselves in the living room of endurance net
central. Computers , high tech stuff and even more computers. Watching the
behind the scene of endurance net central was fascinating. Steph does read the
ridecamp everyday. She is watching!!! Big decisions are made in the fraction of
a second. Which picture to post, what titles to use.
Steph and John are fluent in the high tech language of HTML.
Everyone needs to go to the ride just to visit endurance net
central.
Sugar Beets
Just a short note for those new to Idaho. Watch for flying
sugar beets. They are every where along the road and come flying off of trucks
as they pass. mmmm I was hoping to find some road kill potatoes. Idaho is famous
for potatoes but all we saw was beets.
The Great Santini
Steph let me ride the Great Santini!!!!! He and I had an
agreement . He could do what ever he wanted and I would stay out of his
way.
Santini can be a little hard to catch so I used all my skills
to get him addicted to Alberta horse crunch. Not the normal cookies but a secret
blend of yummy stuff made by Canadian Agri blend
Once I got him hooked he was easy to catch. He would come
right over to me.
