The Amazing Day Part 2 (Saddled Again)

This here was before JoinUp - but it was not really relevant to the subject of Part 1.  So anyway, here are some...er....semi-adorable photos of us.  Unfortunately, we're not all there at once because...well, Gorgeous George can't hold the camera.

I also forgot to say that if you're interested in trying JoinUp, check out From My Hands to Yours and Shy Boy from your local library - both by Monty Roberts.  The former is the instructional book, while the latter is a story about how Monty trained a mustang with JoinUp.

Oh, and no, Shelby and I are not fighting - I just didn't want Indy to lash out at Jake again :)

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So.  On to Part 2 of The Amazing Day.  Shelby persuaded us to ride up to where I work at Health Directed Riding.  I had gone up early that week to ask if we could use Sue's (fake name) arena.  My stable has an arena too, but it doesn't close and there's a board that sticks out so that if Indy got too near to the rail at one point I could hurt myself really badly.

So we went to Sue's.  NO major mishaps! We didn't go faster than a walk, but Boo did not try to run at all and Indy only spooked once at a squirrel.  ("SQUIRREL!!...I HATE squirrels..." - Up)  Sue had two little girls riding that day, so her barn was warm and cozy and there was hot chocolate in the feed room.  First we did barrels and discovered that Boo must have had some sort of barrel racing career at some point.  He whipped around those things like there was no tomorrow.  Indy is not so good at barrels and I'm not either, so we just did them a few times and then rode around the rail.  Boo was getting super excited and bucked again, so we walked around for a bit and decided it was time for a break.  

We took off the horses' reins and went in for hot chocolate.  After that, we rode around some more and set up the jumps.  (FUN!) Sadly, I don't have any pictures because bringing my mom's expensive Canon to Sue's on horseback would not be a very smart thing to do.  But anyway, Indy jumped - pretty well, considering that the pole was just on the ground.  Jake jumped - as always.  And Boo - Whisper was just going to walk him over the pole, but he took off at a canter and leaped over that pole as pretty as you please.  It was Whisper's first time jumping, too.  She said she just sat there like a sack of potatoes, but it was to die for.  

So we all had to try jumping Boo.  Shelby went over and then it was my turn.  At first, I was not taking control and Boo was sidestepping and gave a little mini-buck.  But I got him turned around and we headed at a slow canter for the "jump".  I was not ready when the "jump" loomed up in front of me because I had been holding Boo back and I was not really in sync with his canter, but I managed to somehow fall into the jumping position and went over.  I felt like I was going to land on my nose, but I went over.  And ya know what? It was so fun! It was awesome! We were all super happy.  :)

After that we hung out in the barn with the horses and three of those caramel apple lollipops...but soon, we had to saddle up and head for home.  

That ended the real part one of the Amazing Day, but I didn't have room for it in the last post.  So anyway, Shelby got picked up and Whisper and I attempted to write a snippet with our Hearts Unbroken characters.  But we were too tired and didn't have enough time.

After Whisper got dropped off at the stable where I was going for a hayride with my youth group, I headed for the bonfire.  

I'll do a post on why I love my church some other time.  But for now I'll just say that I love my youth group because its very brotherly/sisterly.  For the most part, everyone talks to and teases everyone.  There's nothing odd about a boy opening a door for a girl or anything like that. 

I sat with my friends Demetria, Pheona, and Alex, and we had a lot of spirited discussion about fashion, books, the whole shebang...these are my "girly" friends.  The ones I talk about Pride and Predjudice and cute sweaters and skinny vs. boot cut jeans with.  We even talked about blogging and attempted to explain it to a clueless male standing nearby.  (I'm teasing.) 

The hayride itself was loads of fun.  If it had gone all night, it would have ended too soon.  Everyone was throwing hay and stuffing it into hoods and jackets...there was hardly ever a moment when someone was not being pulled or pushed off the haywagon.  My friend Pheona and I were invincible :)   

Right at the end, Alex realized she had lost her phone and a whole bunch of us went tearing back down the path with her to look for it.  Someone called it, so everything was okay.  (Phew) But by that time, the wagon had already gotten to the stable yard.  Guess what? There was NO hay left on that wagon except from where the adults had been sitting.  

After that, it was back to the fire for more....spirited discussion.  :)

Then my dad came to cart me back home, and....The Amazing Day was over.  

Naturally, the next day after church I had a case of the blues, not to mention a sore shoulder and neck.  

I wonder why? We got to my stable at about 10:45 and got back to my house around 4:30.  That's six hours at the barn, and at least four of those were spent riding.  And then the whole pushing/pulling hayride thing.  

Thanks for reading!

Love, Ellyn