Home!
With Christmas and a visit to Family and Friends back on Vancouver Island now over, two things have filled me with enormous gratitude. First, Christmas in its pure form is truly a gift. It allows us to remember to accept and give love, forgive, share, give thanks, spend time with those we often don’t take the time to, eat food lovingly prepared, and recognize that a gentle but powerful force greater then us is present and with us.
Secondly, I am blessed with a gift of my life, my home, my ability to do what I passionately love to do for a living in a place that I deeply care for. The crazy animals that seem to love me as much as I love them, my sturdy, happy truck, the Sunshine that pours down on me as I drove through the Fraser Canyon yesterday ( I opted for the Old Fashioned route. Just seemed more appropriate somehow….) and all those ridiculous rocks! I Love the rocks in this country! and the Sage! And the Pines! and the snow!….And the dirt roads! and…..
hmmmm, I expect that you can tell, I am HAPPY to be home.
Thank you.
With 5 days off under his belt, all of which were no doubt spent trying to ‘one-up’ his neighbor in the all time favorite Gelding game of ‘ Who Can pull More Fur out of Who’ , combined with a definite itch to GET OUT, Carson made the obvious choice for my first ride. Being the (albeit infrequent) sensible type, I opt for the saddle and snaffle, and slap my rope on as well, on the remote chance I might need something to latch onto quickly in case Carson gets a bit, shall we say…..expressive. Still, this is prime opportunity to check out our progress, and we tack an’ go. Course, I do have a plan, and that includes heading down the squeaky snow (trust me, it squeaks), past the calves, and up the hill. OK, maybe it IS the Canyon Hill, but its good footing, steep as all get out, and I want to give Carson a big job, get him focusing on something positive, and hey! Guess what else? We are doing it together, and he needs to trust me, himself and experience something new and Adventurous! I get off half way, as it is just too steep for him, and he lacks the co-ordination and strength to do it yet with me on his back as well, but that just lets him know I am on his side, and we are in this hare-brained deal together (Who’s idea was this anyway?) Once at the top, we are looking down on the Dot Ranch, in the sun, in the sparkling snow,right on the tippy-top off the Hoo–Doos. It is really too bad that Carson, Sage, Griffin and me are the only ones that got to see what we saw, but for those of you in computer land…..well, that’s just really too bad….;)
Then we lope and gallop a bit, and head down across the frozen creek(more trust, I lead the way) and home, practicing a tiny bit of soft feel, flexion and half pass, drop out a few loops and drag the rope…really no Bigga Deal. Remember, I am always playing the ‘Feel Carson’ Game….always. Oh!…. there were so many very cool things that happened on this ride, and it feels like we are heading in just the right direction…..for both of us*)
As we come in the yard, and well, here’s Jeanne and Kathleen! Yay! They haven’t been up in weeks, and their three boys, Gumby, Nash and Joey are thrilled! We head out down the hill and along the river trail, Jeanne up on Nash, and Kath on Joey and myself on the Comfy Couch of the equine world, Gumby. I think Jeanne is pretty proud of Gumby, and rightly so. He has come a long, long journey, and I adore him. He is so willing to connect and be with us crazy 2-leggeds now, getting quicker and quicker to trust. Gumby and brother Nash are Belgian/Mustangs. Gumby was ungelded and wild for years before Jeanne acquired them, and she would be the one to ask for the human side of their story, but Gumby has told me a fair bit about his…….
Unfortunately, the ladies couldn’t stay in their Chateau Le Dot Trailer but will be back up later this week to ride again. Remember warmer mittens, girls:)