Okay I pretty much fail at the early to bed part. I did manage to get into bed by 9:30 on Friday night, which is 1.5 hours earlier than normal, but I was getting up 1.5 hours earlier than normal. Amazingly it worked out and I awoke feeling pretty good Sat morning. Why would I wake at 5am on a Saturday you ask?? Well Derek & I had to drive to Ellensburg for some BCHW training for the horse club. It was the annual training and meeting over there and it was a great day. I got some great info out of my Treasurer class and Derek attended the President/VP class (since he is VP of our club). He really enjoyed the class, I was suprised at how excited he has been getting lately and how much he really wants to get involved.
We've been trying to come up with ideas and ways to maybe incorporate some new concepts into the horse club, give it a more current vibe, attract in some new members. Not 100% sure everyone is on board yet with our suggestions, but we'll be talking about them in the coming months because we are pretty confident that this is a positive direction to go. Derek was really glad he went to the training and was able to meet other chapter members, hear what is working and not working for other clubs...
Sometimes I feel like this can't be real. How did I go from having a husband so passionate about softball, retire from that and start almost a second life involving the horses and preserving the mission of BCHW. When he first started riding, I was not sure he would even enjoy it. I hoped he would, but he exceeded my hopes and then some. I have always had a supportive husband, he lived and loved the country life. But now he LIVES the country life to the fullest! Riding is not our hobby, it is a lifestyle. He enjoys all aspects of what that entails; Cleaning the barn, shoveling poo, brushing dirty horses, renovating pastures, building fence, being poor! lol
Something he said to me the other day, something along the lines of "Riding takes away all stress, I think about nothing else but just enjoying the time while I am out on the trails or brushing my horse, when I ride I dont think about my daily stresses and concerns, it all just goes away even if only for an hour, but is a break from the daily grind". I said to him "Welcome to my world!" I am so proud that He Gets It!!! I have felt that way for years, when I ride whether alone or in a group, it is like there is nothing else on earth that exists. Time just stops and I am able to let go of life for a couple hours. And now that Derek sees and feels the joy and love and passion I have had all these years, how much better can life get? Okay life could be tons better with tons more cash in our wallets, but if we are gonna be poor than atleast we are happy poor! ;)
After our training, we spent the other half of the day going to a couple feed stores in Ellensburg looking for some tack. What a bust.. oh we did find a horn bag, a cantle bag Derek wanted and a leather strap. On our way home, we drove up out of Cle Elum and down to Salmon La Sac, a camping area I went to as a kid. I do believe that the Cayuse Horse Camp there is where we were the year that I laughed on the bank as my cousin Shana and her friend were drowning! Another story.. another time! lol We wanted to check it out, but there was still lots of snow in the campground, so we were not able to get a good feel for the camping. It seems like a nice place to go, might have to consider. As you are heading to the camping area, it is a dead end road basically, and the last town you pass through is Ronald. We stopped in at a old town General Store, thinking we might find something interesting. What we found was old nicknack crap that has been on the shelves for years, some things that maybe were supposed to be antiquey but were really just old crap, some misc camping/food type items that I would question the date on and a creepy guy behind the counter that if you enter the store alone, you might worry you wouldnt make it out alive!
Sunday we took the boys up to Mann Rd and got in a 2.5 hr ride with Adam & Tracy. Mostly rode the logging roads, we did get on one trail that was VERY muddy and boggy, we finally turned around because we had come upon a downhill that was far too slick to attempt to ride down. Oh well! I was riding in Derek's saddle, wanted to see if it fit Red better than mine. It definately felt better, Red is built slightly downhill and I am now 99% sure my saddle (although still hard to believe) is too wide for even Red. So when that saddle was on him, being too wide would rock me forward even more on him and put so much pressure on his shoulders. With Derek's saddle, I felt pretty level. He was a tiny bit sore on one side of his shoulders after the ride, but NOWHERE near how sore he was the week before. And I am not sure if it was residual soreness from before or truely new soreness. This morning he was still just a little bit sore on the one side is all.. so I think I need to ride in his saddle again. I will again give him the week off, I want him as fresh as possible between rides so I can really make a determination on saddle fit.
I will also try one other saddle we have on him, my other Tucker Saddle. I think that one will be too narrow but will set it on him and see how it looks. He did great on the ride, I rode in a Wonder Bit this time and I think that works well on him. I get the whoa and I get side leverage and he seems content in it. He didnt stretch his neck out like he has before and he didnt over-play with the bit in his mouth, he kept his mouth fairly quiet actually which is good because the less he pays attention to the bit, the more he pays attention to the trail. We did get a little bit rained on yesterday, it was actually quite muggy, we all were stripping down before we even got in the saddle.. NO we were not naked! :) Wouldnt that be funny to see.. Hmmm maybe not so funny! lol
Russell had some company yesterday, his friend Brownie came to visit. Brownie belongs to Tyler's girlfriend Cathy. He's a cute little dog and they enjoyed exploring the yard together. The great part about having Tyler and Cathy over last night is that Tyler wanted to show Cathy our vaccum cleaner (we have a rainbow) and how the room does not smell of dust when you use it, so he vaccumed my very dirty carpet to show off the vaccum to her and it was GREAT! Derek told him we have a toilet scrub brush he could show off to her as well.... lololol
Ah the start to a new week.. lets see what adventures we can find next!
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