Adventures for Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at the St Jude's Children's Hospital Ride Part 3

Part 1

Rachel had decided the day before we were to leave for the ride that Friday was going to be a fun day at school so she didn't want to go on the ride. Since the plans had been made for about two months to do this together, her mother and I decided that she was going with me.

I hadn't realized that she was so angry about coming along on the ride but it certainly made it much clearer what all the jigging was about with Dandy. I have seen Rachel take her attitude out on the Arabian horse more than once (although I'd put a quick stop to it). As a matter of fact, I can usually tell at home when he's worried about her because he gets nervous.

It hadn't occurred to me that she was still mad about having to come along. I guess I had assumed she had accepted our decision and would just go with it an have fun. Now, it was obvious that was not the case. I'm not even going to go into how badly my feelings were hurt over her outburst. I'm just going to say it's the first time I've gone on one of these trips that I wished I was home.

So after her outburst, I told Rachel to get off the horse. I gave her instructions on cleaning him up because he was a sweaty mess from all the stress and jigging. I also had her give him a Vetrolin rinse to help with soreness.

Normally, when camping with horses, I highline them. For those who don't know what that is. You find two big strong trees a nice distance apart and tie a strong rope high overhead between them. Then the horse's lead is attached to that line. The horse can move back and forth but can't run off.

This last winter we had so many storms with gale force winds, there were downed trees and branches everywhere. Where there had been lots of good locations to highline horses before, I was unable to find even one good spot. So instead I tied a rope corral to keep Dandy contained. I used the horse trailer for part of my posts and trees for the rest.

Sometimes I do that here on my farm in the summer. My "yard" includes a big area to accommodate big rigs for hay and shavings etc. That area has a lot of grass and it seems a shame to mow it down when the horses could be eating, so I rope off part of the yard. I used to own a gelding that would figure out how to duck under that rope but other than that it keeps all of my horses contained. So I felt comfortable using it with good ole Dandy in the woods.

Legs on the other hand, I left tied in the trailer. I didn't close it up or even the partition so he had some room to move around. Then I kept food and water in front of him the whole time to keep him happy. He was a good boy. No one ever knew there was a stallion in those woods by his behavior.

Dandy, even with the run of his corral, still found the time to go in and steal hay from Legs. Legs must have been happy to have the company because he never did protest about Dandy taking any of his food.

Once the horses were all situated, Rachel put up the tent in the opening right behind one of the sides of the corral. Except for a narrow opening on each side, the tent made a barrier along that edge of the corral. There really wasn't much room for a horse to go or people for that matter.

By then it was dinner time. Rachel brought her own recipe of chicken that she cooked on the camp stove. Lillie shared a recipe of thinly sliced steak cooked in butter and soy sauce. Then we had steamed vegetables, potatoes, corn on the cob and stuffing. The food was wonderful. I can honestly tell you I've never eaten such great food on a camping trip before.

It was getting close to sundown by the time we finished with dinner. We all went off our different directions to make sure everything was in order for bed before we lost our light. As I made my final check on the horses, Dandy decided to run for it!
That's right, Dandy ducked under the rope, trotting between the tent and the dense brush and then literally ran off into the darkness with an eleven year old in hot pursuit!

To be continued..................

Part 4

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