Saturday and Sunday, July 12, 13, 2008

Not much going on with Shawn and Laura at the Road House, and John not feeling well.  Pat and I cleaned "tack".  Tack is horse equipment.  We each cleaned one saddle, and one bridle.  We started with saddle soap, and then put on oil to preserve it.  I never minded this kind of thing, because it always made me feel more "cowgirl-like."  It's part of the tradition, the ritual, of being a cowboy.  Now, all I need is spurs!

Later on, Pat and I were doing something with the horses, but I had to wait for Pat to do something.  Chaco was outside the corral just hanging around.  I climbed up on the fence, he came over, and I sat side-saddle on his back . . . still holding onto the fence with one hand.  I put all my weight on him for the first time!  It was exciting.  All he was interested in was horse cookies.  

Sometime after we had finished working Chaco, and he was in the corral we work in, Pat said, "Give me a leg up."  A leg up!  A leg up is when you boost someone onto a horse's back.  I said, "You're kidding!"  She said she wasn't going to get all the way up, so I gave her a leg up.  She only leaned onto him with her body, but didn't put her leg over his back.  He was fine.  Give him a horse cookie, and he'll do anything.

In the evening, Laura and Shawn returned and said the Largo was running!  Wow!  I hurried over there, and took some pictures from the bridge.  It was barely drizzling, but I could hear thunder and see lightning in the distance.  While I was on my way back, I ran into Shawn and Laura and they were climbing down from the bridge to go right up to the Largo, so I followed along.  It was just barely running, but it was cool.  Then I looked up and saw that the lightning was on this side of the ridge, so I decided to go back.  While I was walking back and watching the lightning in back of me, I realized there was also lightning in front of me!  It was all around me!  I hurried, which was good, because it started to rain and soon turned into a downpour.

The horses were loose in the yard when I got back, and the rain was pouring down.  I watched them and they were running all over.  Then, they all started running back into the corral!  It must have felt safer for them.  I walked over in the pouring rain, and closed all the corral gates to keep them inside.  When I got back to the porch, I was drenched.  But, the horses were safely in their corral.