Riding Adventures at Farmstead
During my stint at Farmstead I made a lot of friends and had way too much fun. At some point prior to me getting my own horse though, my best friend Barbie had purchased one of her own and left our stable. Her parents had bought her a Quarter Horse/ Arab cross named Bouncer. He was a big, beautiful chestnut gelding. Her parents had inquired and gotten him a stall at the base stable. That was a nice set up. The stable was located on the shore line of the Base Lake. Everyone was in charge of their own animal’s care. The stabling was set up in a long row of door-less stalls that led into individual runs for the horses to step out in. They had an indoor and outdoor riding arena and a large pasture in the back for grass turn out. I used to go with them quite a bit to take care of Bouncer. That was always a lot of fun.
Without Barbie at the barn with me, I made a new friend in Melissa Philips. She was an Army brat too and we had that whole stable under control. The stable also offered trail rides to the public. Our unofficial jobs were trail guides. Every morning our parents would drop us off and we would head out to the field. We would grab 4 or 5 horses each at one time to bring them in. It was common practice to grab the fence to see if the electricity was turned on. One time, I reached down and grabbed the center wire. There was no shock, so I proceeded to climb my way through. It turns out that the middle wire is not actually attached at all to the volt box. Only the top and bottom wires were. As I climbed through the very live, wire fence, I got electrocuted like never before. My whole body was thrashing around like I was in the middle of a seizure. Melissa was sitting on Luke, both watching me intently, but not offering any help. All of the pastured horses that were congregated at the near by hay pile, stopped eating to see the spectacle young girl plopping around on the ground. It finally ended when I got to the other side and I laid there feeling like a blown light bulb.
Another horse capturing moment that almost got me killed was an experience in the paddock’s run-in shed. There was a large cement shed built into the side of the hill for the horses to get shelter. It was always knee deep in heavy mud. I followed a horse in there on one occasion, when all of the beasts inside decided to run simultaneously out of the shed. I was standing in the doorway literally stuck in the mud when horses started to run by me in every direction. I stood there terrified until they were all gone from the shed and I was alone, still stuck in the mud.
Once we had caught the horses we would need that day, we headed in. We were young, so we were able to swing up on these horses bareback with just a lead rope for steering and we would ride one in, pulling the others behind in tow. We tied them all up around the inside of the indoor ring, and then brush and saddled for the trail riders that would soon be arriving. We would help them all mount and then lead them out into the woods. The first part of the ride was a hay ride trail as well. It was open field that we would hike through. The next part took you deeper into the woods and the last part would only be for advanced longer riders. That would be the trail section that took you around the ravine, up the big hill and back down past the owner’s house. It was a more difficult section to ride.
Often there would be no rides to lead at all, so Melissa and I would just ride the horses around in the woods. One time, Jeanine looked out her window and saw me galloping Jody, her show jumper, up on the hay trail. I got in a little bit of trouble for that one.
Melissa and I got ourselves into our own trouble one afternoon when we veered off the beaten path. The difficult trail, bypassed most of the ravine and took you straight up the hill. Only there was a left turn off that trail that would bring you over the edge of the ravine and deep into the woods. We had never ventured down in there very far and one day we decided to give it a try. We set out on two great lesson horses. She was on Eugene, and I was on Paint. We made it along the ravine edge and took ourselves pretty deep in to the woods. It was not a well traveled area and there were low branches to duck under. When we got to a certain point we halted and listened to a strange noise off in the distance. These very docile and “bomb-proof” horses became abruptly more alert and a little skittish. Suddenly out of no where a pack of wild dogs were running straight for us! We turned around as quick as possible and ran for our lives. I felt like Alec Ramsey riding the Black Stallion to safety. We crouched down into our horse’s necks and let them usher us out of the woods. What I didn’t do was crouch low enough for the one branch that came right across the trail. Melissa remembered to duck, but I was smacked square in the face having my riding helmet knocked off and my glasses swiped clean from my face. That didn’t stop us. We kept running until we finally emerged from the woods. We only stopped when we no longer feared we were in danger. At that point I realized that I couldn’t see and I was helmet-less.
Melissa and I stood at the tree line waiting with our hearts pounding out of our chests. After we had determined that it was safe, Melissa volunteered to go back into the woods and retrieve my lost possessions. I was blinded at that point and would have never found them anyways. She rode in on Eugene, while Paint and I waited outside the woods for her to return. She located my glasses and riding helmet that had fallen deep into the ravine. To get them she would have to get off of her horse and hike down. She dismounted and ran as fast as she could down the steep slope, grabbed my stuff and climbed back out, only to find that Eugene had left her there. Eugene was a pig when it came time to be caught and often was kept inside, because he would elude capture at all expense. Now he was on the loose in the woods. My first reaction when I saw him appear from the tree line, was incredulous fright. I leapt from Paint and ran over to grab him and see what had happened to my friend. Fortunately Eugene let me catch him right away. A few moments later Melissa appeared all in one piece and with my lost goodies in hand. I thanked her, we swung back up on to our trusty steeds and we headed back to the barn. That was enough excitement for us that day.
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