housewives on horseback

a few weeks ago, our local newspaper featured a riding stable near my home. i wasted no time calling my friend mary who's a horse lover, and asking her if she'd go with me to ride sometime soon. i read pioneer woman's blog- how hard can horseback riding be? that ree drummond chick rides- and she takes great photographs while she rides too. about 14 years ago, while on vacation in the rocky mountains our family went on a trail ride and i managed to stay on a horse for about 2 hours. i was pumped! i could not wait to try it again!  well, coordinating our schedules can be tough so when mary texted me sat. and said "let's go riding tomorrow" i was in!

       don't laugh- my cowboy hat and boots were at the cabin.

i did scare up a belt with a fairly big buckle. doesn't that

count for something?

 

mary and i both packed in some carbs, slapped on some sunscreen, put our chapstick in our pockets and we were ready.

 

 

 

 

our wrangler's name was courtney and before choosing a horse for us

she asked how much experience we'd each had. i was the lone ranger in the group who had to admit that i'd been on a horse less than 5 times in my life. no biggie right? umm hmmm.

 

that Courtney, she's a seasoned rider. in fact we were the 3rd or 4th group she'd taken out that day.

(girlfriend must have been wearing some pads to cushion her tailbone).

she began the ride down thru a big old gravel pit. i yelled up to mary that

i was going to pretend we were in the middle of a desert in arizona - not midwestern minnesota.

my trusty stead "sassy" wanted to hug the steep edge of the slippery slope that fell away into the ravine, but Courtney reassured me that sassy did not want to slide down into the ravine anymore than i did, and not to worry.

 

 

all was going well until courtney turned around and asked the group if we'd like to pick up
the pace a little. no one spoke -including horrified me. so we cantered. WE CANTERED!!! on 4 separate occasions. have you cantered lately? well- it's tues. now and I haven't taken an ibuprofen yet this morning. i may have to though. seriously.

back at the ranch

the horse on the right was mary's beautiful bam-bam

 

 

 

 

i will ride again at the river valley ranch, but~

when the wrangler asks if we should pick up the pace

i plan to whip out my megaphone and make sure she

hears me yell NOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 aging cowgirl wanna-be's have got to speak up.

 

 

xo, beth