Rain, Rain go away!

Well, after a long wait, I finally got to go on my vacation – a week in beautiful Vermont! I was so excited to ride and ride and ride – and think of not much else…

Lisa brought me and Sky down to Beth’s house in Swanzey on Sunday – about an hour’s drive. We then hit the Cheshire Horse – the best tack shop in the state – and spent WAY too much money… well worth it, though as Lisa found the blanket she wanted for Onyx and one for Lance (the great dane) too. I splurged on two new saddle pads for Sky (like I needed those!) and some other supplies.

After a night at Beth’s, we packed up horses and hay and camping gear in Beth’s trailer and headed out on Monday. We made it to the farm ok, and then on our way over to the other field, we had a little mishap… well, when I say we I mean Beth ‘cause she was driving, but it was all our problem! She got herself stuck on a rock – the footboard of the trailer was wedged over it and the rock was winning (there are photos!) – so Beth and Marcia and I pilfered a shovel and crowbar out of the shed and after a lot of grunting and swearing moved the rock out from under the trailer… Eventually we got the trailer parked and our campsite set up and we were grateful no one was around to see that we were the ones that made the rut in the grass!

We rode without incident on Monday and Tuesday, although we saw a shower on Tuesday morning. Wednesday was a complete wash of rain – we tried during a small lull in the rain to saddle up and get out, but it started to fall again and all of us but Beth changed our minds! She threw on her Outback jacket and hat and was off by herself!

Part of Thursday rained, but we got out for a ride anyway and met up with Marty on the trail. Friday Betsy showed up (in the rain) and brought some good weather… we got out on Friday afternoon but got rained on for about 15 minutes before the sun came out and dried us! Saturday was the parade and the ride to Tucker Mountain which was a little cold and windy, but rain free. Sunday we took Betsy on the Juniper Hill ride and that was nice too.

The week was good. We sat around and told and heard stories (the best ones from Frank!) and laughed and snacked and drank. We sat around the big fire for chats and games and the auction on Saturday. It was so fun to see people I saw last year, like the Kelly’s and Roger and Ken and Sue… it’s neat to see the same folks every year. I could have done without Marcia’s snoring but that’s a small detail.

Everyone loved Sky again! She was really good overall – she did a little bit of jigging here and there, but nothing major – wanted to be out in front more than I expected, which is good. After she jigged me one time, I rode her in the field afterward, but on the later days there were too many trailers to have much room for that.

I tried to make her do both the back and the front and most of the time she was good. She seemed to love getting to lope and really stretched out on some of the hills! She got along good with Harvey, who became her pen-mate after Betsy arrived. They did figure out the fence wasn’t on and broke out on Saturday night, so we wound up hooking up the electric (in the dark, mind you!)

So, Karl got back on Tuesday and seems to be doing ok. He’s pretty hopeful about finding a good job – is interested in substitute teaching but doesn’t quite have a resume together that he feels good about. We’ll all hope for the best!

Life will get back to normal now – whatever normal is! I suppose it will be a new normal.