Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sunday Picnic

Joe and I are empty Nester's this week. At about 2:00 this afternoon we went into the hills with our camp chairs and a little picnic.
We parked near the White Pine Trail head. We went off the beaten path and found a hidden beach along the river.

We stayed in our hide away for about 2 1/2 hours.
We moved our chairs once to stay in the shade:


It was a very quiet and secluded place:


Our only visitor was a baby squirrel. I fed him my granola bar. The picture I took of the squirrel didn't turn out well.


We came home and ate apple pie. I cut up the apples and baked it this morning.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Horseback Riding

Joe got a half price horseback riding session for me at Vista Farms. It's on the west side of Bangerter.

I haven't ridden in over 30 years. It was a relief to find that I could still do this.

First I went to the outside corrals and put a halter on the horse I'd be riding.
Then I brought him into the barn and brushed him.



I brushed and brushed. There was a lot of hidden grime on this little pony.




Eventually I got him somewhat clean:




I saddled my own horse and led him into an indoor ring.
Luckily he wasn't too big and I was able to get myself into the saddle:




I'm up!



First I walked around the ring a couple of times.
On the next couple of 'go rounds' I was instructed to rein him in a little circle when I reached each corner of the ring (no problem):




My instructor put the horse on a lead and had me trot and gallop in circles. She needed to test me.
She made my day when she said that I was very good (hooray).
All we got for this exercise was a blurry photo. The video wasn't too hot either:



Really fun!:



Warm up:


This was an older horse with a touch of arthritis, but he was a hard worker:


I got to carry my saddle to the horse, throw it over his back and tighten the cinch. I needed a little guidance with the cinch part:


At the end of the session I led him back into the barn and took off his saddle. I'm sure he was relieved when I climbed off his back (poor little horse):



Pulling off the saddle:



Carrying the saddle back to the tack room and putting it away:


Outside after my fun time with a horse:


We stopped at Yogurtology at Jordan Landing for a treat:

Here are some video's of me walking the horse around. One sort of shows the little reining practice thing: