Now sit right back while I tell this tale, after a second restful sleepin, I woke feeling not bad and I looked outside and saw, no rain, no wind and blue/cloud sky.. perfect.. the time had come, I have been waiting for it.. o yes that perfect melding.. that moment..

No bad fall weather combined with the freedom to ride! yup, it was time to eat breakfast, tack up and go for my birthday ride..

this is the first ride for samwell, with his new tack and the plan is me on Brandy, Dh on Samwell and we are meeting two others locally for the ride.

Well, I swing up and brandy lets me know that she is not happy about me being on her today, she moans and groans and says, no way ma, I don’t want your weight today, and she lets me know with a buck, which thankfully, I don’t come off and I dismount, work her a touch, and put her on a line and get Dh up to see if something is not right, or if she just does not want me, she is perfect for him and now we are burning daylight and late for our meet, so up on sam I go, and we head off the farm, down the road to the big pasture and we are doing fine, we struggle a bit meeting the new horses but all in all sam is a total gentleman, and I am very pleased as this was the first meet and greet between him and two new horses, and out we head but sam has the biggest ground covering walk you have ever seen and when Brandy try’s to trot to catch up, and Dh says, no.. she decides to buck him!, and not just one, I didn’t get to see but I was told one start, three good ones, and one finish, wow Nellie..

Dh stays in the saddle and gets her to stop and under control, way to go DH!!! you rock, and we switch riders for the third time in the day, Farmer T takes Brandy aka Snot Face and Dh takes Ruby and we are off again,..

We rode the big field and then into the bush we went, First Sam was awesome, he picks his footing well, he picks up and though brush like a dream, he goes in mud and muck and just powers though the other side, he rides fair and does not try and run his rider into bush, and we did some pretty good down the hills and one good up the hill and he just was yes, I think I can, I think I can..

The other two horses left us half work horses in the dust as they trotted and moved on down the trail, but Brandy, o miss Brandy gave Farmer T a heck of a work out, first it was, i’m not going in the bush, then it was, I will step over that tree but not that one, and then the hill.

Ok, so Miss Molly and Dh and their horses do the hill, no worries, Brandy is next and she starts it and then stops, and she paws the hill, like she was going to china, then she tries backing up the hill, funny how that didn’t quite work so well.. So she is backed off and I power on up it just fine with sam

, figure, she will want to do the hill just so she does not get left behind.. both right and wrong, she starts to follow but she jumps straight up half way and then does the rest.. knot head..

Down the lane, up the road to a different lane and to a different area to ride and things are settling down, next time Miss Molly takes a run, Farmer T and Brandy join them and I get to see her Canter, not bad, not bad at all.. now we are wearing her out and she is settled down and mainly behaving, other then the odd kiss your butt thrown in.

Sam has done so well, right until we come down the running road and he thinks he is heading home, we let the two fast horses take off at speed and he really, really wants to join them, and I really don’t, I’m tired by then, well heck.. fighting to keep him from a trot or faster was all I could do upper body by then, finally we clear the running road and we are back on the main road home, and he settles down, and we are home, we untack Sam and Brandy and turn them out and the girls go for one more good runand then we all head in for hot chocolate..

After that I head home, can barely keep my eyes open for ten min and head for a nap, Dh wakes me after seven with hot soap (from yesterday, when I made a huge pot of beef, and barley soup with lots of veggies) and I am up for a little bit. It was worth it!

As you will see in the photo’s I am a bit more bundled then the rest, I am in three layers on top, plus a wind proof, hat, scarf, gloves, double layered wool socks etc.. I did not want a chill.. it was a lovely day- honest as you can see from the lack of wear on the other folks..