So in the face in the upcoming three weeks events here at the farm I knew I had to have some “Down Time” …or I knew I would not make it thru all the coming work here at the farm.
We have the Cardigan Supported AKC Herding Trial the 24 th and 25 th of September. Rolling into the next week we start with Jeanne Joy Hartnagle Taylor and Jim Hartnagle Herding Clinic the 29th and 30th and 1 st and 2nd of October…and following that we have the Beardie Nationals…
It takes work to be prepared for one event alone…I must admit to it being easier each time…but the work and planning and the keeping and maintaining a flock of sheep prepared for this work is quite a job in itself. Then the work to have the farm ready…And My Sweet Les must dream he is mowing ! as much as it takes…
My friend Allie has been riding with me the last several weeks, and we have been working on connecting up old horse trails, woods roads and old four wheel paths long neglected for lack of use…and she is riding Les’s young horse Doc (4 years old) making sure he is well broke to the trails. I ride my seasoned , trail wise, horse Tuff…who will go most anywhere I ask him…(He has never refused anyplace I have asked him to go) …
This morning I took off to clear my cluttered mind so I can stay focused on each event upcoming!
We headed out to go by my Great Grandma Nance’s place and then up and over the mountain to my friend Dolly Hulin’s home…Simple enough…
Things have changed. Period! It was good to see and go by the Nance Place…then it became interesting. Sigh…Timber had been cut…which threw me off and we lost the trail to the cutover..The last hope we had was a great trail that led us to a deer bait place! We saw lots of deer on this old mountain…none near the bait place(s)…
Then there we were facing the face of the old mountain and it was straight up and rocky…but the kind of rock that a horse could get a foothold on… I thought this is scary… but using what I know we traveled the face of the mountain and made it to the ridge line! WOW! what a view! and my what fine horses and fine riders too! My new saddle was spot on! Safe, comfortable and not once was I ever unsure or felt unsafe. (Well don’t count the looking down where we came from part) It was an adventure one I never plan to repeat…There has to be a trail (I only need some directions) and 20 years ago when we rode this area a few times we had Dolly with us…meaning I did not pay as much attention as I would/should have and I never remember riding it from this direction…
Top of the mountain we are resting horses and chatting…I decided to turn the GPS on and see if we were where I thought and how to get to the old road I remembered. I had to have the satellite version… All good! So we head out and down…fairly uneventful and we find the woods road…Awesome! Until I realize coming out into a small green meadow with a Jersey milk cow and NO no fencing…We had missed Dolly’s by at least a mile!
Okay so lets ease on out of this property… when the owner steps and and kindly asks…”Can I help you?” He was very nice to Two horseback riders that had just crossed his property without permission…we told him our tale and where we had been up and across…he seemed impressed…and he asked had we seen the big cats? with long tails…SERIOUSLY!!! While I do know there are a few around still and maybe that last big jump across the trail behind us might have not been a big grey deer (and Alley would say… “WHERE WAS THERE A TRAIL ON THAT MOUNTAIN???” well then the trail we made:-) …
The trail back thru my Grandma’s place and now owned by my uncle…and across our land was uneventful and easy…
It was a glorious day filled with time out with just my horse and I, and a good friend…time to enjoy the Creation and love just being alive and on horseback in Jackson Creek…I had enough challenge today…so very different from my everyday work to fill my mind and heart with what I needed…I was truly off grid except for my GPS moment LOL! and Look what that did for us!
God is so good! We went to dinner with our good friend Illona and celebrated her birthday!
No matter what presents as a difficulty I shall remember that face of the old mountain and then the mountain top! The edge of fear the uncertainty and should we do this? the there is no other way I can see! and back is not an option! then the glorious view from the top the indescribable feeling of we made it! The rest of the way is down hill!
The photo below is of the mountain just to the left of the three trees and in distance…We rode 10 miles!
