River Saves the Day

My neighbor, Rick, whom I work for and ride with, and I took River on her second trail ride last Saturday.  It was a gorgeous day, with beautiful clear skies and real summer-like heat.  Our favorite place to ride in the summer has amazing views of Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, and the North Cascades.  The trails are fun but not too challenging, and are enjoyed by as many mountain bikers as horseback riders.  There is a huge, glorious, grassy meadow that we love to canter the horses through.  The meadow is on a gradual slope, so when we get to the top the horses are too tired to be silly.  Rick and River followed me on Buddy through the meadow, and she did really well.  Cantering under saddle is still kind of new to her, so having a big space to practice in was perfect.  For most of the rest of the ride, River led while Buddy followed.  She took each new trail eagerly, and really enjoyed all of the ups and downs and twisty turns.

It was a three-hour ride, and our plan was to make a big loop and return to the parking lot via a trail that we fondly refer to as "Bear Boulevard," because last year we encountered a bear there (no harm done, funny story, tell ya another time) and we often see fresh, steamy bear sign.  Just before Bear Boulevard there are a couple of itty-bitty bridges to cross.  River is not afraid of bridges.  Not big ones, not medium sized ones, and certainly not teensy ones.  But on this day there was no way, and I mean NO WAY, that River was going to cross that first little bridge.  We even tried to bypass the bridge and ford the itty-bitty creek.  Nope.  The obvious conclusion was that there was a big, nasty mama bear up ahead and River was saving our silly hides.  Or maybe I'm being generous and she really is afraid of itty-bitty bridges.  I guess we'll find out next time!