Okay so camp is at Whitney Lake, that's about, roughly, 45 km. Now a horse can walk about 6 km an hour so I figured it would take eight hours at the least. Boy was I ever wrong. I left the camp at about twelve fifteen I'd say and I'm telling you guys right now that proper equipment is important, it may be expensive but it's vital to both you and your horse's safety and more importantly it is vital to your sanity. I'm telling you this because I do not have a proper set of saddlebags which meant that I had to carry all the things I needed in an old denim bag with one of those straps that you're supposed to wear over your shoulder. Just let me tell you those kinds of bags are a pain in the you know what to carry when you are trying to ride a horse. And let me suggest another thing, when you are planning out a big ride or hike or anything, being prepared isn't nearly as important as packing lightly.
I took a slicker, in case it rained or got cold, a blanket (don't even ask me why it just seemed like a good idea at the time), and a bag full of crap I didn't use. I hauled an icecream pail and a huge jug of water for almost thirty kms so my horse wouldn't go thirsty and the snob wouldn't drink out of it! So I am grumpy because I am juggling with a whole bunch of useless "things I might need" and I am afraid my horse is going to get dehydrated. Finally I rigged up a system with the bag, I was lucky I brought an extra lead rope, (rope I believe is one of the most irreplacable pieces of equipment when it comes to horses).
It was getting to be a long day and I was not enjoying myself as much as I should but it was going better. Finally when Tango was so tired that he would either plod or lope and if I let him he would stop and argue if I tried to get him to go we came to a part of the road I recognized. A little farther and I found that we had come to the turn off to go to the Nelsons's farm.
Earlier this year I had helped the Nelson family with fencing at their farm and I got to hold the cool vaccination thing that looks like a gun at the branding (you bet I felt dangerous!). Looking at the sun and its position in the sky I could tell that it was nearing five thirty (okay the truth is my sister lent me her phone so I could tell the time and phone Mom if I needed to). Finally I got to the Nelsons' farmyard and standing in their backyard I phoned my dad up and told him where I was. Then my next phone call was to Barb Nelson. Now her and her husband are the Nelsons who own the farm where I was sitting on my horse. I told her that she wouldn't believe where I was and when I told her she laughed and said, "Then perhaps you should stop there for the night."
So I put him in the corral and left my horse there, with green green grass almost up to his shoulders, he was in heaven. I went home for the night and had a good nights sleep and the next morning when I got all my stuff together and went out to saddle my horse I found that he was gone.....
HAha no I'm just kidding, he was still there (got you though didn't I?) So I saddle him up and this time I was smart, I took a cell phone, a rope knife, a lead rope, myself and my horse (and my saddle and all that of course). But I wasn't going to be carrying anything other than what I absolutely needed.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, we got home to good ol' Marwayne, I was happy to see it was still there by the time I got there, I walked my horse down the sidewalk of mainstreet. Stopped in at the post office for a quick chat and I grabbed some lunch from the cornerstore and then I walked him home. While I was eating lunch Tango got to stand outside in my backyard and cool off for a while. I think he tried every single flower in Mom's garden, the strawberry leaves were his favourite though.
I decided not to ride on from there because my poor Tango's feet were sore and the rest of the ride would be mostly gravel. Fortunately I have friends who have horse trailers and one of them, Paige Sutherland, was kind enough to come to my house at eleven at night and pick up my horse. She and her mother were tickled pink when they got out of their truck to see Tango's ears perk up over the fence.
Even though the majority of my eleven hour, two day, ride was frustrating I realized a lot of things up on top of that horse. One thing is riding a horse slows everything down for you and puts it all into perspective. You don't really realize how long a mile is until you walk it on a horse. You don't realize how good God has been to us when he gave us this earth to live on until you are sitting on top of one of HIS creations viewing all of his creation. It's no wonder people have a hard time believing God's existence these days, they're too busy speeding by inside their tin cans at 120 kilometers an hour to stop and look at the way a butterfly sits on a blade of grass or admire the hardwork a beaver puts into his home. So my challenge to you today is look at the world as if you were up on top of a horse and thank God for the world he's allowed us to have.
It was getting to be a long day and I was not enjoying myself as much as I should but it was going better. Finally when Tango was so tired that he would either plod or lope and if I let him he would stop and argue if I tried to get him to go we came to a part of the road I recognized. A little farther and I found that we had come to the turn off to go to the Nelsons's farm.
Earlier this year I had helped the Nelson family with fencing at their farm and I got to hold the cool vaccination thing that looks like a gun at the branding (you bet I felt dangerous!). Looking at the sun and its position in the sky I could tell that it was nearing five thirty (okay the truth is my sister lent me her phone so I could tell the time and phone Mom if I needed to). Finally I got to the Nelsons' farmyard and standing in their backyard I phoned my dad up and told him where I was. Then my next phone call was to Barb Nelson. Now her and her husband are the Nelsons who own the farm where I was sitting on my horse. I told her that she wouldn't believe where I was and when I told her she laughed and said, "Then perhaps you should stop there for the night."
So I put him in the corral and left my horse there, with green green grass almost up to his shoulders, he was in heaven. I went home for the night and had a good nights sleep and the next morning when I got all my stuff together and went out to saddle my horse I found that he was gone.....
HAha no I'm just kidding, he was still there (got you though didn't I?) So I saddle him up and this time I was smart, I took a cell phone, a rope knife, a lead rope, myself and my horse (and my saddle and all that of course). But I wasn't going to be carrying anything other than what I absolutely needed.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, we got home to good ol' Marwayne, I was happy to see it was still there by the time I got there, I walked my horse down the sidewalk of mainstreet. Stopped in at the post office for a quick chat and I grabbed some lunch from the cornerstore and then I walked him home. While I was eating lunch Tango got to stand outside in my backyard and cool off for a while. I think he tried every single flower in Mom's garden, the strawberry leaves were his favourite though.
I decided not to ride on from there because my poor Tango's feet were sore and the rest of the ride would be mostly gravel. Fortunately I have friends who have horse trailers and one of them, Paige Sutherland, was kind enough to come to my house at eleven at night and pick up my horse. She and her mother were tickled pink when they got out of their truck to see Tango's ears perk up over the fence.
Even though the majority of my eleven hour, two day, ride was frustrating I realized a lot of things up on top of that horse. One thing is riding a horse slows everything down for you and puts it all into perspective. You don't really realize how long a mile is until you walk it on a horse. You don't realize how good God has been to us when he gave us this earth to live on until you are sitting on top of one of HIS creations viewing all of his creation. It's no wonder people have a hard time believing God's existence these days, they're too busy speeding by inside their tin cans at 120 kilometers an hour to stop and look at the way a butterfly sits on a blade of grass or admire the hardwork a beaver puts into his home. So my challenge to you today is look at the world as if you were up on top of a horse and thank God for the world he's allowed us to have.
