A Grand Day Out

October 7, 2007

The weather here in Northern Michigan has been RIDICULOUS this weekend! It got up to 88 degrees yesterday, 87 degrees today! TOO hot to ride the horse...the last thing I wanted to do was put on long pants and boots and sit on a 102 degree furry animal!

Gee, it's a good and lucky thing I trained the horse to DRIVE, isn't it?? ;-)

Also lucky the weather was so warm that Quzqo was sort of draggy...poor thing is growing in his winter fur, I doubt he was thrilled with the temps. Luckily there was a good breeze blowing, it helped keep the stuffiness down.

The barn was desolate today due to the High School Equestrian Team Finals being held downstate...that took out most of the teenagers. There WAS a Pony Club meeting being held however, and their project was to do a "Barn Safety Treasure Hunt", so there were about a dozen kids running around the barn, checking the safety of the stalls, the feed room, the fences, the pastures, etc, etc. I chanced to hear them when they were checking out Quzqo's stall, and I guess he got extra safety points for having a salt block in there, LOL. Yaay me!

Inflated the tires of the cart back up to where they should be (I might invest in a set of tubeless tires this winter), brushed off the amazing amount of dust, cobwebs and manure (HOW manure got on my cart I'm VERY curious to know...it's only been 2 weeks since I used it!!) & wheeled it down the aisle, then got the horse. Harnessed him up w/o incident (that's a miracle right there!), got the cart hitched up & down the aisle we went to the outdoors. Thankfully the OTTB who had been stall-bound due to an injury has healed and was outside, so I was able to lead Quz right down to the door w/o worrying about upsetting "Memo" in his stall. A teen was grooming her horse in the aisle across the arena, and I heard scampering hooves on concrete, so I don't know if the mare spooked at the horrific sight of a horse and cart or not, I was too busy trying to make sure we made it out the door without catching the doorjam with a wheel!

Was able to get in without incident (that's also noteworthy, if you'd witnessed my previous attempts with Quzqo ready and rarin' to GOGOGOGOGO!), and awaaaay we went!!

Ended up heading down the county road to the same quiet residential side road we drove down on Labor Day weekend (I was feeling daring). Quz did very well, but traffic was VERY light...late Sunday afternoons are like that. Once we got to the side road, he decided he'd try to duck down every driveway that came by, the little turd! Every driveway on our right which was also the direction back to the barn! We had a few discussions on the matter, but it wasn't really resolved until we ran out of driveways, he gave a big sigh and resigned himself to walking forward.

I'd tied his tail up in a mud knot, hoping THAT would keep him from trapping the reins in his butt crack, but he was so pissed at having to be driven (and leave his precious barn) that he was switching that tail like an angry cat, and the knot soon came out...after half an hour he just had his lonnnnnng braided tail swishing around like a bullwhip! But I found if he'd swished it so that it landed by my feet in the cart, I could put my foot on the end, and that trapped it enough that it couldn't catch a rein, LOL! One of these days I'll figure something out...maybe just trim his tail right below the bone! The rate he grows hair, it'll be dragging in the dirt by spring!!

VERY peaceful and relaxing drive down the road. A few folks were sitting in their front yards, also relaxing and enjoying the weather, so I imagine they got a treat seeing a horse and cart go by. The trees are about 75% colored up around here, so that was gorgeous to see, along with enjoying the SHADE and the light breeze. SO nice, I wished I had someone with me so I could have handed them the reins and I could have taken a nap, lol! Clop clop clop clop clop clop.

Eventually the pavement gave way to dirt as we entered the State Forest, and once we got off the washboard portion, I got him into a trot, and he trotted SO nice!! Despite the previous tail-cranking, it's obvious Quzqo enjoys driving, and especially trotting and driving!! We just flew (in a relaxed, pleasant fashion) down that dirt road, with a canopy of autumn colors overhead, and a balmy 85 degree breeze wafting over us! It smelled like sweet fallen leaves and woods and the occasional horse fart. We met a few vehicles, but luckily the road is wide enough that they passed without incident.

Got to the intersection of dirt roads where I'd turned around last time, but since things were going so well...well, you know me...gotta push the envelope! We turned left and headed down the single-lane dirt road to the trail camp.

THIS was interesting, due to many blind corners and blind hills, and with the wind blowing, it was almost impossible to hear oncoming vehicles. THANKFULLY we only met TWO vehicles as we drove towards the trail camp, and THANKFULLY both times it occured near a wide spot in the road (they deliberately built these "pullover spots" every so often so if two cars are coming at each other, one can pull off to the side so the other can pass), and I was able to pull Quz over and wait. Of course the goober just HAD to spook both times, but thankfully it was in-place and I kept his feet moving forward as soon as possible so he wouldn't have time to think of more things to do.

Got a LOT of trotting done on this road...made poor Quz WORK his butt trotting UP those hills boy howdy yes! He was getting sweat spots under his breeching (as that's all I could see, lol)!

We were approaching an earthen dam when suddenly a mountain biker pops out of the bushes and turns down the road! Scared both the horse and I out of a years' growth! Thankfully Quz and I both spooked "in place", and a little whip-aided cajoling got him moving on.

We made it to the earthen dam by the campground...a spot that I've always had trouble with him under saddle. Silly me, thought it'd be different in harness. Nope, he spooked, balked, and basically acted silly, but not as silly as under saddle (thanks to the blinders I suppose) and luckily there were no fishermen or it wouldn't have been pretty! Got across the dam and into the campground...made it as far as the sign, then turned around, since it was a very narrow curvy road full of blind corners & judging from the vehicle traffic previously, I didn't want to meet anyone on THAT particular little road.

Met another mountain biker coming out of the campground, nice lady, said "hello" as she went by. Quz sort of gave her the hairy eyeball but didn't spook. He knew he was heading home, he was on a mission!!

We got to trotting again, UPhill (work it, fat boy, work it!)(He HAS lost weight since I started driving/riding him, FWIW...lots of space between his barrel & the shafts this time!), it was SO bloody FUN just zipping down that nice dirt road, the trees all around, nice and comfy temperatures...we're trotting along towards this blind corner, so I slowed him down...Just In Case...I had a "feeling"...we approach the corner...BAM, here comes this white mini van BLASTING around the corner (well, relatively "blasting", maybe 30 mph). Thank GOD the woman slowed down...it took her quite a few seconds while I was halting Quz and trying to get him to the side of the trail (which was a high dirt embankment, nowhere to go really)...I suspect it took that long for her brain to figure out just what she was seeing, which from her point of view might have been a riderless horse in the road.

Bless her heart, she pulled over to the side of the road, and allowed Quzqo and I to go past, and she apologized, which wasn't necessary, but nice all the same.

Bad thing was, Quz spooked so badly that he broke his overcheck rein! Snapped the leather piece that held it to the saddle! So there he was, with the overcheck rein flopping around by his head...he didn't care, and there wasn't anyplace for him to graze, and I knew he wasn't about to start bucking, so I didn't worry too much..wasn't about to get out of the cart and unbuckle it either.

Pleasant enough drive back to the barn, the horse did VERY well once we got out of the State Forest, even did some trotting along the county road! He was a sweaty little horsie when we got back to the barn, LOL! GOOD! He needs it!

He got a quick hose-off and then tucked in his stall for the evening with a nice bran mash and his hay. God, that was fun though. Next weekend the colors should be at their peak...we shall see!