Played around in the Palouse River, going to MT tomorrow!

It was supposed to get up to 97’ today, so we (Tom included!) all took Runoff, Dolly, and Ami down to the Palouse River. Around here it runs parallel to Idaho 6, which is what Tom’s driveway connects to. It involved riding down the hill, through some cow pastures (more on that later), and some exploring, but the river was really fun. I saw fish in it, which admittedly is not that exciting, but I enjoyed it none the less. 

First off, the cows. Ami has seen cows once, and it involved her sort of calmly spinning and running away with me back in 2007 at Lincoln Creek. I was actually laughing at this, because she was sort of like “Don’t worry, I got this, we’re going to be safe.” So, as we were going through the woods and all three horses stopped and starred at some trees suspiciously, we figured what was up. Dolly and Jessi, solid as a rock, lead Ami past the cattle with little skittering. Runoff wasn’t as easily as convinced that the cows meant no harm, but took some solace as she walked towards one and it ran away.

We got to the River and the ponies splashed around happily. Jessi had a laugh when I stopped Ami, because she immediately rested a back leg and lowered her neck, relaxed. I described riding in the Puget Sound to her, and had a laugh as I saw Ami realized it wasn’t salt water she was standing in, and thought about taking a drink.

By this time a larger herd of cattle had worked their way into the field we had crossed. Ami and Dolly easily pushed them back, giving Runoff ample room to pass. At one point a steer was trying to get more acquainted with Dolly, who pinned her ears aggressively and spun around at it. Ami was much more confident than earlier, also noticing that when she went towards the cattle that they moved back. She even volunteered a few steps towards the inquisitive #71, probably to sniff noses and declare herself as herd boss.

Side note: it’s fun being a Natural Resources major and riding horses on trail rides. I can sound all sorts of intelligent as I say “Oh look, cheat grass. It’s invasive and a good sign of disturbance to an area” and similar stuff I learned in school this past year.

In other horse news, Jack has been ridden twice now off the longe line. The pen I am riding him is pretty small, and getting him forward is just a bit easier than doing a U-turn in a Bravada on a two lane road (ask me how I know). He’s pretty slow and happy to stand still at this point, and requires a lot of motivation to keep his feet stepping. He hasn’t gotten pissy about the amount of kicking he gets, which is funny thinking of the ponies I’ve helped back, which are much more forward-thinking and would take protest to that style of riding.

He’ll get the next couple of days off, as will all the other horses, as everyone but Deb will be gone doing various things in Montana. Can’t wait to go the event at Rebecca Farm!