sweet pea

Interestingly, although yesterday Kyra and Sarah worked out a deal for how they would share riding Ruby, they both rode different horses yesterday that they liked even better than Ruby. So, poor Ruby got to rest this morning because Kyra chose Lucy (who's getting a neck rub in this photo) and Sarah chose Straw. Amazing...

We rode again this morning with John as a guide (we rode with him yesterday afternoon too). He owns a ranch in Canada, but business is slow up there this time of year so he came south to earn a little extra money at Southern Cross Ranch. Although I have no idea how old he actually is, I would guess he's in his late 20s or early 30s. He's quite entertaining. Earlier this week when we were riding with another guide, our groups met and he gave a demonstration out on the trail of how Canadians mount a horse. He stood beside the horse, held onto the saddle horn and swung himself into a backwards flip landing on the saddle! I was impressed!

This morning I wanted to ride yet another horse and Connie suggested Wesson. As I went to get him, John said that a guy last week rode Wesson on every single ride for 7 days straight and said he wanted to buy him. Since the purchase hadn't been made yet, Wesson was still available to guests. Beth (Sarah's mom) said that the man had told her that Wesson was very fast and had to really hold him back on the trails. She just wanted to warn me beforehand in case I was looking for a slower horse. I was up for the challenge. After tacking the horses, mounting them and forming groups, I knew right away as soon as we began walking to the beginning of the trail that she was right. Wesson was a faster moving horse than the others that I had been on. Because we were in a group with people that had been riding for a few days, we went straight to "canter hill". Some of the horses that I have been on barely reached a canter and mostly trotted up canter hill. However, Wesson barely trotted and hit canter speed almost immediately. He took off so fast that I couldn't really control him. I was pulling on the reins and yelling whoa as he was passing other people. At the same time, my saddle was sliding down his side. Thankfully I had a few days of riding in to know not to panic and just hold on tight. When we got to the top, John came over and pulled my saddle back up to the top center and cinched the girth strap tighter. Wow, that was a thrilling ride! We trotted/cantered a good bit on the morning ride. The second canter I had better control and kept the reins pulled back tight to prevent him from passing again. He is so fast and has a very smooth canter. Kyra later told me that he galloped rather than cantered, which is a speed faster. Whatever it was, he was very responsive to the slightest nudge of encouragement and I had to really work at holding him back the entire time. And surprisingly, I loved almost every minute of it. I truly have a new favorite horse and I certainly understand why the guy last week rode him every time and wants to buy him.

At the end of one of the canter runs, a side trail leads to a neighboring farm. In the morning, John led us to the fence and yelled "Sweet Pea" as if calling to one of the horses on this neighboring farm. Others in the group chimed in and before long, everyone was yelling for "Sweet Pea". Then someone asked which one was Sweet Pea and he admitted that he totally made it up. So when our same group went there again in the afternoon, we went through the same routine of yelling for Sweet Pea. There was no shortage of entertainment on this trip. This second photo is of the group overlooking the neighboring farm and yelling "Sweet Pea".

Kyra was quite moody this afternoon. Her new favorite horse, Lucy, had been selected as a horse for a private lesson, so she had to pick a different horse to ride. She was incredibly upset because she wanted to ride her favorite horse on this last ride of our stay. She then asked to ride Scotch, but Connie wouldn't let her because they don't let young children ride Scotch. Kyra broke down in tears. She settled for Ruby, but cried the entire walk down to get her. I threatened to just leave and not ride at all if she didn't stop crying, but I couldn't seem to force myself to stick to that threat. She was upset that she couldn't ride Lucy and didn't understand why they wouldn't let her ride Scotch when they let a teenager ride her yesterday and Kyra thinks she's a much better rider than that girl was. She moped through the afternoon ride. About an hour into the afternoon ride, most of the group decided to go off on their own without the guide. Kyra wanted to go with them. I knew they were going to spend most of their time going up and down canter hill. I wasn't really comfortable cantering without a guide (who has a radio to call for help in case something happened) and also just preferred to take it easy for a while. Kyra melted down again, crying hysterically that she wanted to go with Sarah. I held firm to my decision. Beth offered to take Kyra with them, but I really wasn't comfortable with Kyra cantering without me or a guide, so I politely declined her offer. Kyra cried for a while and then moped the rest of the ride. John tried to be distracting and attempted conversation with her, but she just gave short answers to his questions. Eventually he gave up trying and I was counting down the minutes until the session ended.


When we got back to the stables, Kyra, Sarah and Erin wanted to ride in the arena. I let her so I could have a few moments to shed the tension. Erin wanted to try Wesson, and Kyra wanted to try Sioux (the horse Erin had ridden), so we traded horses before they went into the arena. Kyra had never ridden Sioux and it lifted her spirits a bit, thankfully! After they finished in the arena, we gave the horses our remaining carrots. Ruby had a sore on her back so Connie asked me to take her out to the pasture instead of to the lot. I lovingly fed her extra carrots while doing so. She's a good old horse!



We ate dinner and then went out to the pasture for about 30 minutes before leaving to go home. The weather today was wonderful. It was cold in the morning, but was sunny and warmed up to the 60s by the afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon, weatherwise, for horse riding. The horses were gorgeous in the setting sunlight of the pasture. This last photo is of Kyra nuzzling with one of her favorite pasture horses just before we left the ranch. In times past, she's cried on the drive home, not wanting to leave. At least this time, she didn't cry but only said she wished we could stay longer. I guess she knew I'd heard enough tears for the day. When we got home I made her take a shower, despite her many protests, and then she climbed into bed while I was showering. She was fast asleep by the time I finished. She was definitely a worn out, tired little girl.

When Kyra was a baby (and still sometimes) I would often call her my little pumpkin because she was born so close to Halloween and we had bought a small pumpkin for her. I remember my mom calling her "sweet pea". One day my mom told me that maybe her "sweet pea" was actually "sweet P" as in short for "sweet pumpkin". Thanks John for triggering that memory! Sweet dreams, sweet P! I love you!