Mud and daisies...

Went for a riding lesson yesterday, the first time since I hurt my back. My horse has been a pill lately, but I borrowed the instructors horse and had a great ride, and so far, so good, the back is holding.

Afterwards, the boys and I headed out on the backtrail for a walk...

Simon sniffs the daisies...



Now, there's a spot where the beavers used to keep this pond nice and dammed. Now, they're gone as of this winter. :/ I have a feeling perhaps the coyotes got them, the darn things are everywhere, like roaches. It's funny, I did a lot of wild canid rescue 20 years ago, and rarely did we see coyotes in our area. Now, I literally hear them every night at the barn, howling. The Corgis don't get to go out on the trail past afternoon anywhere where there's not open area and I can see something coming for a good distance.

Well, without the beavers, the water's been pouring out the side. Last time I rode my horse down there, it was a pain to get through, this cut canyon that my mare had to crab carefully across. She's good at that, even if what she really wanted to do when we reached the middle was lie down and roll around in the water. She loves water. We settled for her pawing and splashing and putting her lips down to make motorboat noises.

However, I went back there with the dogs yesterday to see how it was doing, and see if perhaps it was safe enough to get my Arab across. Well, the traffic from the new trail access has cut the banks down flat. Where I expected the boys to be carried across, oh no, they ran right down and into the water. Party party!



Of course, then... Caleb wasn't paying attention as we moved on and fell off of the bank of the pond right into the water. Sploosh, right into the mud and the filth. I was really hoping he'd figure his way out of it, since I really didn't want to go mud-diving. He did, but came out solid black and plastered in mud so thick he looked like a mutant otter. Oh, that was fun. ;) Thank goodness for leather seats in the car. Note to self, remember towels next time.

Beautiful day!

Caleb was determined to keep up with us on the walk today. You can see how tired he is, but he refuses to admit it. Admitting you're tired is for wimps.

Monday, catch-up day!

Since I was gone all weekend, I totally had a ton of things to catch up on over here. So after a morning of frantic cleaning, scrubbing, and washing, I finally realized it was noon and the crew was staring longingly at me. I needed to fix the headlight in the Volvo anyway, and pay my trainer for the month, so we headed out to the barn to go on the back road. Besides, Simon's got to get the weight off, so he needs to run more and walk more.

So, off we went. What surprised me was Caleb; he wanted to go, and once he was trucking along behind us, he didn't want to be picked up and carried. He was so tired by the quarter-mile the rest of us were waiting patiently for him, but the little fellow didn't want to give up. Finally I just scooped him up and carried him in my sweatshirt, and he admitted he was pretty wiped out after all. Riley wished on the way back I'd carry him, I think. It was a nice walk, went a few miles, avoided the rain, whew!

Then they slept in the car while I groomed the horses. Man, I have enough horsehair here to stuff a Victorian sofa. *grin* They're still sleeping now, tucked under the bench in the entryway. You know it's been a good dog day when no one makes a peep for an hour and doesn't bother to get up and follow when you're in the kitchen.