My husband and I have belonged to a Mounted
Assistance Unit for the CA State Park system for over 20 years. Our patrol
route was along the sand dunes and beaches where the protected Elephant Seals
breed. Even the most sane horse will come unglued over an 8-ton Elephant
Seal bull if he raises his shoulders, drops his proboscis down his throat, and
exhales in short blasts creating a honking sound. Ever after, any horse
we've ridden on patrol has managed to see Elephant Seals on the desert,
disguised as large rocks. The two horses we are now riding are NOT going
to patrol the beach, as they both have enough imagination as it is.
Fortunately, the supervising park ranger has decided we are now going to add a
portion of the park system that is forest and ridges to our patrol route, and
that is where we will patrol. We simply refused to patrol the beach any
more.
Down here you want to ride in the woods in the summer - it's
too hot when the sun is directly overhead in the summer. From about Aug
through mid Sept the banana spiders (some wolf spiders also but mostly banana)
build their nest across the trails - probably a good place to catch flying
insects. There webs are really sticky. The females are carrying eggs at that
time of the year on the end of their bodies and the eggs are a bright yellow
in color. They look like a small banana. But you can't miss them - come
around a corner and bang you are eye-ball-to-eye ball with them. I always
carry a crop so I can at least cut one end of the web before I go blasting
through and have one on the end of my nose.
If I see them in time,
I'll duck so I don't distrube the web and let the person behind me worry about
it. I've had them on my neck, shoulder, hanging off my helmet in my face, on
my horse, etc. and never been bitten. The next morning there will be a web
back up across the trail - within feet of the last one. By mid Oct. they are
usually gone. But it sure can be exciting to ride with the spiders.
I'd much rather ride with the spiders than come around a turn and have
a wild turkey fly up in my face or after the other day come around a turn and
have a rogue inflated car intertube in the trail - talk about horse killers
and taking flight ;-).
Truman
Laurie Underwood wrote:
Apparently there
are advantages to riding the slower horse!
Laurie
Underwood
--
"The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his
integrity.
For this reason, he has integrity. The
person of inferior integrity
never loses sight of his
integrity.For this reason, he lacks integrity."
