A Grand Adventure

The stars aligned as they so rarely do. The weather was beautiful, The Goblin Child fell asleep in the combine for a long morning nap and 8 went off to take his afternoon nap in the combine as well. We had the afternoon free.

So we saddled Coyote and Princess Onna and went for a ride!

Of course as we got ready a bank of clouds rolled in. It was still nice in the yard out of the wind but I tied jackets on behind just in case. The other day, out for a short ride, The Goblin Child had spotted a mountain in the distance. I promised her that someday we would ride there but I never guessed that someday would be so soon.

As soon as we got out from behind the wind break it got cooler. We were glad to have jackets. But it was still nice. Daisy ran along beside us in the uncut corn scaring up pheasants. Along the edge of the field a small bunch of deer grazed, the antlers on the buck visible even from even our distance. Safe still, until next weekend. And The Goblin Child chattering away a mile a minute. And randomly hollering “Whoa!” and hauling back on poor Princess Onna’s reins. The reins are too long for her fortunately, short of sticking her nose in the air Onna would usually ignore her if not for a little outside help. The Goblin Child likes to stop just to look around or to let the horses grab a bite of grass then she’s off again, Onna listens pretty good to her go cue.

I try to remember that, despite her enthusiasm and ease in the saddle, The Goblin Child has had very little actual riding time. She is as comfortable in the saddle as only someone who has never fallen off can be but the ride to the mountain was long and arduous, more than we could make and still have it be fun for her little legs. So we went around the corn field, still an impressive ride. A quarter section, half mile square, two miles round trip.

She was ready to be home, and honestly so was I, it’s pitiful how out of shape I am. Or maybe it was the saddle I have become unaccustomed to. Even Daisy was dragging with her tongue nearly hanging to the ground. We did not make it clear to the base of the mountain but we got close enough to make us happy, maybe next time we will complete the journey.