Developing Some Horse Sense

Gotta befriend my horse before I ride her. Maybe that will convince Chiquita to be nice to me! I had to keep reminding myself not to let her see me sweat. I figure horses are like dogs and bears--they can smell fear a mile away.

Aviva riding nightcap, me following slowly behind. Chiquita tended to be a bit pokey and that was fine by me. I also discovered that she's afraid of birds. On both of my short rides, we encountered flocks of seagulls or plovers that took off and made lots of noise. Both situations caused Chiquita to "spook" a little and try to take off at a run. Luckily, I managed to get control of her quite quickly. Fairly minor incident but given my lack of horse sense, I still felt proud of myself for not hitting the panic button.

Here I am bravely riding Chiquita into the surf! I must admit I was a bit hesitant when Lari suggested it would make a great shot for me to ride into the water a bit. In the end, no horses or people were harmed in the taking of this photograph. And it does look pretty, doesn't it?

Here's another shot of Mendocino lovely beach and us atop our purty horses. The photo was taken by Lari, the owner of Ricochet Ridge Ranch. She's very big on taking photos and had use maneuvering our horses into various positions in order to ensure the best possible images. In this one she was trying to capture our reflections in the water. Mission accomplished!

This is Aviva's favorite horse, Fire. She road him all the time last summer and she was really hoping to ride him again. Unfortunately, he's lame and can't be ridden right now. With any luck he'll be strong and healthy when she returns. Aviva keeps talking about bringing Fire back to Rochester and plunking him in the back yard. I have to remind her that there are city ordinances prohibiting farm animals within the city limits.