Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I look like a skeet :(

I took off a little early today to get a ride in. Cersei is insufferable if she goes more than two days without serious exercise, but I was just too tired yesterday so she had to wait. Anyway, I zoomed home and grabbed Cersei, zoomed out to the field and grabbed Champ, and donned my new Anti-Deer-Hunter device.

See, I came down with a cold Sunday so I took off work Monday and laid around the house and slept a lot. I also went to the library and to Walmart, which is a major ordeal for me. I hate Walmart, on a bunch of different levels - (liberal) it's destroying America and it's a horrible place to work, (foodie) the "food" there is destroying our bodies, and (funder) I get lost and can't find what I need. Anyway. So I had a cold and felt woozy and out of it and I *still* went to Wal Mart. I bought exactly what I intended to buy ... plus a hunter orange baseball cap for $2.50. I have a hunter orange knit cap for when it's cold, but people have been back in or near our trails target shooting a lot lately and I pity the fool who shoots me but doesn't kill me.

So today was day one of "I am not a large deer." We headed out, at a walk/trot, but then Champ acted like a retard and made me mad so we trotted more. Good news - knees on definitely feels more natural now, and I got a really nice rhythm where I felt like my torso was very centered.

Then the damn shooting started again. As soon as I'd started out - like, when I was untying the gate to get onto the trails - I'd noticed somebody had been back there. Very fresh tire tread prints. I assumed it was one of the guys who'd gone fishing, but when the shooting started I realized whoever it was was still back there. Champ thought we should run away, but I assumed it was Ross back there and we pressed on.

I made damn sure that the shooty noises weren't "moving" and that I could hear where the shots started and stopped. My trail wasn't taking me anywhere within the range of fire, and I DID have a lovely hunter orange cap on, so I rode on back. When I figured out where they were, I called Ross to ask if that was him back there. By the time I got him on the phone, I was within hailing distance so I hollered hello. Turns out it wasn't Ross at all, it was three youngish rednecks dudes in camo skeet shooting over the lake. I rode up and said hi. We talked for a minute - they laughed and said my cap looked just like a skeet, and I laughed and said I was hoping that I didn't look like a deer. Then Champ insisted we LEAVE so we left.

I know the barn owner's gonna be like "Well why didn't you tell them it was private property and that they needed to leave!" and you know what? Hell with that. I know our world is mostly civilized, and I wasn't expecting they'd jump me or shoot me. But I sure wasn't going to get near them, or get off my horse, or say anything remotely confrontational. Didn't seem prudent.

ANYWAY. Then we trotted back home, and again, I felt really secure and comfortable posting. I'm gonna call the BO tomorrow and see if she'd padlock the gate to the back trails. I think most people are too lazy to climb the fence and WALK that far back.

Cersei is sacked out happy and tired. Mission accomplished.

4 comments:

  1. I hear you on the canine exercise. Now that Tilley is 11 and Willow is 6 they can skip a day without much trouble, but Watson at 1.5 is hell on wheels if he's not tired. Thank goodness for two acres of pasture and The Ball.

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  2. Wow...
    Scarey shooters out ther huh!
    I also put a whistle on while I ride...specially into clearings and if I remotely hear anyone shooting...I just blow the crap outa the thing and it is really good desensitizing for the mares!
    Glad you made it and did not confront..smart girl! Horse verses gun...no brainer!

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  3. Oh man you're brave. The second I heard shots fired I'd be out of there!

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  4. dp - My original plan was just to go out and throw The Ball for The Dog, but Champ came right up looking for a handout so I figured he'd have to work for his scoop of alfalfa pellets.

    See, yall, if I'd turned around when I heard them that would've been the THIRD time in a week that I'd gotten run off of my own trails by trespassing shooters. And I really did think Ross was out there shooting his little black powder pistol. A combination of grumpy and mistaken, I suppose.

    Now it's raining and my husband is flying in to town, yay, so no horse news for a couple days probably.

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