30 Day Challenge - Day 3

Day 03- Your best ride ever

I have had so many great rides, but here is the one that I would consider the most fun:

Even though Dusty could be a hot-head, she was the nicest horse to hack.  She marched along, never looking twice at anything, and as long as she was allowed to lead, she was a perfect lady.  A few of us -- the barn rats -- used to go out on day-long hacks with the horses, and a few times we snuck into the local public pond before it opened for the season to let the horses swim.  

On this particular occasion, we were on our way to the pond when we saw a lawn with what looked like cross-country stairs in the front of it.  The steps had been created with stone instead of wood, but the effect was the same, and they appeared to be a perfect two-stride distance.  There were only two issues.  First, we had no idea if the homeowners were home, and very much doubted that they would enjoy watching three horses leaping through their front yard towards the house.  Second, there was only about 10 feet between the road and the first step.  Of course this didn't stop us.

One of the girls got off her horse and handed him off to us, then walked up to the house and knocked.  We figured if someone answered, we'd ask for permission.  If no one answered, we would assume no one was home and do it.  Luckily, no one was home, because I highly doubt that we would have gotten the go-ahead if they were.  To combat the road problem, we stationed two horses in the middle of the road to block traffic while the third did the steps.  

Next, we passed by a cemetery that was surrounded by a very nice stone wall.  Employing the same method that we used to block traffic at the house, we took turns jumping in and out of the cemetery.  When we were through, we noticed the "no horses" sign.  Luckily no one saw us.  

The pond was right around the corner from the cemetery, and when we got there we all got off, took off our saddles (complete with saddle bags that held towels and food), our shoes, and our riding pants (we wore bathing suits underneath).  We then tied a stirrup leather around our horses' necks, climbed on bareback, and rode into the pond.  That was the first time that I ever swam with a horse, and once the water got deep enough to force them to swim, it was the coolest feeling ever.  Dusty rocked beneath me, and I had to wrap my legs around her and grab her mane to keep from floating off.  When we got into shallower water again, I had to anchor myself with the neck strap to keep the water from sucking me off as she emerged, and kept holding tight as she shook the water off like a dog.  

We finished the ride by trotting and cantering over a bunch of logs around the pond, and then hopped off to let the horses dry off and graze while we ate sandwiches and dried ourselves off enough to put our pants back on.  Once we tacked the horses back up, we made the long trek back to the barn.  It was the perfect day.

Not Dusty