Just a few notes

Just a few thoughts...

Got to ride Cowboy today at home. Usually I just let the boys out to graze in the afternoon while I tend to other responsibilities, but I had time to ride, so I tied Cowboy up to saddle him. Dexter had a conniption fit (sp? I used to use this phrase all the time but that doesn't look right), pawing at the gate, neighing and then resorting to the flehmen response repeatedly. We have decided that he is not giving us lip so much as giving us the finger...the flehmen response is basically a sexual response, and in a way, so is the finger..so there you have it. Message received.

Dexter got his photo in the Press Democrat yesterday! On the weather page, having a nice gallop.

Favorite song--just about 5 years ago, right after I got Cowboy, I went to a clinic led by a Parelli clinician who played great music at his clinics, including a song by Rob Wasserman/Jennifer Warnes titled "Ballad of a Runaway Horse" that was so haunting that it stuck with me all this time. Finally got I-Tunes on my computer and the first thing I did was download this song (along with the greatest hits of Roy Orbison). And I'm in love with it all over again. Theoretically about a cowgirl and a runaway horse but there are a whole bunch of metaphors going on. and how can you not love lyrics like "he touches the moon when he paws at the sky", and "he longs to be lost, she longs for the same..." "My darling, my darling, just let it go by, that old silhouette on the wide western sky"... All about love and letting go...an area where I've had some experience. Anyway, highly recommended.

Ride on Horse Trail, Pt Reyes

Sunday we headed to Pt Reyes to try Horse Trail, which we haven't ridden this year. It was a perfect day--we were worried about it being too cold (not something you usually worry about in August but this is a weird year!), but it turned out to be just right, although I kept my fleece jacket on most of the ride. Started off lively with Cowboy having the vapors for the first hour or so--everything was scary. We're trying to convince him that we're riding through the happy forest with the friendly fairies but he's pretty sure there are flying monkeys out there somewhere! After a few climbs he finally decided to conserve his energy and settled down.

One exciting note--we are always the slowest riders on the trail, but we PASSED a family on horseback! Very exciting! And we are not making any allowances for the fact that one of the horses was actually a Shetland pony being ridden by a girl probably under ten years old. We are still faster than SOMEBODY!

At lunch, Dexter is begging for Laura's apple. Don't worry, he got it at the end. Cowboy got mine, too.

After lunch, we headed for Sky Trail. Usually there are great views from this trail but the fog was so thick that the big vistas were obscured. Luckily, the fog makes for some nice scenery in it's own way.

Sky Trail.

We rode out to a meadow that always makes a good turnaround spot.

Cowboy at the meadow, wondering why we can't just stay there while he grazes.

Had an uneventful ride back, but we like uneventful rides. The "eventful" rides are often bad news! Dull is good, that's our motto.

Foggy scene from Sky Trail. Usually you can see the ocean from here.

Back home, we finally got a picture of Dexter giving us his opinion of backing out of the trailer. Dexter exhibits the flehmen response when he doesn't like something. If you don't know what the flehmen response is, see below! Guess it's time for a horse-y toothbrush from the look of things...

Dexter gives us a little lip while backing out of the trailer.

This coming weekend we will be heading to Fresno for a Parelli event, so no riding. The week after that we are planning to check out Tolay Lake outside of Petaluma. We went to the required orientation back in January but this will be the first time we'll actually visit the park.

A Hike at Pomo Canyon

Every month or so I like to get in a blog post. Far cry from my goal of every night!

I can't even remember what's been happening in the last few weeks so I'll just recap the last week or so. I'm trying to get in some hiking, so my friend Chris and I set out on Friday for Pomo Canyon, south of Jenner. This used to be one of my favorite hikes back when I actually did some hiking, so it was good to get out there again. The day started out with dense fog, so at least we weren't dealing with heat. Good thing, since this hike starts out with a killer climb, from the parking lot at Shell Beach straight up the hill across the highway. The fog was blowing around in whisps with hints of sunshine, making for a mystical setting.

I'm just going to share photos and they will tell the story of what a great hike this is. I'm not sure about the distance. We weren't in a hurry, and we ate a leisurely lunch at the campground that's at the far end of the trail, then went back more or less the way we came. It's an out and back with some variations available. We were probably out for about 3 hours on the trail