A Little Adventure~

A bright, sunny beautiful day!  Perfect Fall weather after our rain of last week.  Sat. morning we had rain, but the rest of the weekend was beautiful.  Of course trails were closed & I so wanted to ride.  After my morning of matt making - I met Butch for lunch - then loaded my saddle & drove out to the farm.

Farah's run was all mud - thankfully it dries quickly here.  Her new shoofly leggings (Second set this season.) had mud all around the bottoms.  I got those washed out before leading her over to the Bronco.  As I attached the carabineer to the door handle, I said a little prayer my good girl would be Good!  She was & it was easier to saddle her there than carry everything over to the barn.

On our way West~

Without shoes, I kept her to the shoulder of the road.  You can tell - even in the photo how wicked the rock roads are.

Looking up at the field we later circumnavigated~

It's such a shame that the old Girl Scout camp was sold to a private party.  It would have made for such nice riding.  We came to the gate & seeing all the bright green grass growing under the trees...

Sunshine through the Timber~

I decided that we weren't going anywhere anyway & let Farah graze.  The sleekness of her summer coat is now disappearing under the new growth of winter's coat.  We'd followed the road down, then up a big hill & around a corner turning south.

Enjoying the green grass~

Back again at the grassy field & after taking a careful look - I decided we'd be fine riding the perimeter.  There was a house up at the top, a truck was there, but no one around to ask if it was OK to ride.  As we came along the trees at the top, there was a break in the fence & trail heading right into the Timber!

On the Trail~

It was Stunning!  The ground was wet, but without any traffic & a covering of fallen leaves, Farah wasn't slipping & hardly leaving a mark.

View from the ridge~

I could tell we were climbing up & traveling along a ridge when the view opened up between the trees.  We rounded a corner & headed down a steep hill.  Farah stopped & went into her full alert mode!  It's seldom she stops on a trail these days - but today was the day.  I took a good look & saw a hunting blind up in a tree just ahead of us.  That's when I realized how stupid I was...  Riding a brown, deer colored horse, wearing black & not a speck of orange on us...

At the pasture~

We turned back.  As we reached the top of the hill again, I couldn't help but try one more trail we'd seen going in.  I had a feeling that it might circle around & end up attaching to the one we'd been on.  There was a decent deadfall to our right - if a trail was there - it looked pretty rough & I'm so leery of running into barbed wire.

First leg going south, was the last we took & ended at the pasture you can just see.

Farah was making deep grunting noises & her back was so rounded up I knew a buck was right under me.  I dismounted & gave her a carrot to try to distract her.  When I re-mounted, I let her go & GO we went!  Right back up the hill at a semi-controlled gallop & out the gate.  I tried to keep her civil as we returned to the road shoulder.

Farah's Stable~

She curled her neck & was booking down the shoulder, on a mission!  Her gait felt so weird.  I looked down at my GPS & she was going 5.7!  I think it was still technically a walk - but was the fastest I've clocked her.  Of course, she thought we were going to turn into the barn & I had to tell her that was Not going to happen :-)  A field had been harvested, so I pointed her that direction & we galloped to the top of that hill.

Corn gone~

We walked in a few feet, but the ground was so saturated there was no point in trying to ride around it.  The farmers are having a hard time harvesting the corn & soy this fall with all the rain.  Again, I dismounted & let her graze along the shade of the trees before we started back.

Trees starting to turn~

It's so nice to see the trees turning golden, I'm hoping to see some reds & oranges too - but I'm sure that's dependent on whether we get our overdue first frost.  Omaha had there's Tuesday night - but the Glenwood area was spared.  Now, the weather forecast is for mild temperatures well into next week.

View from the top!

Amazingly enough - we managed to squeak in five-miles & 725 ft. of elevation gain.  It was nice to get in a little saddle time without trailering 100-miles.  I was so excited to be able to ride this October & now the rains have delayed my plans...  I'm staying hopeful for next week!