Freedom

I went for a rambling ride today with C on Mama. We rode as long as we could - on the way back, the wind had picked up and when we started to untack the icy rain started. At least we got out for a while!

We explored the new offshoot of the canyon I noticed Sunday and ended up back on Encanto, then we went up another gravel trail to the top of a hill and admired the view, then went down to Capistrano and cross-country up some ravines to circle back up to Barranca. It was really nice and relaxing to ride with a friend, not pushing for time, just out exploring. Here's the Garmin.

It was only 5 miles! When I got back, I started playing with Google Earth - if I head down the hill and do the trails beside the roads, the one ~C used to ride when she boarded out there, it's a nice easy 10 mile loop. 10 miles, that's all? Hmm. What about if I went up Curnow Canyon toward Palomino Valley and took that jeep trail north... I could ride 10 miles and end up in another neighborhood - looks like it has scattered ranches and alfalfa fields.

Then I started to really realize that I can just take my horse and go exploring. She's brave enough to deal with dogs or bikes (but maybe not both at once), and she's fast enough to get us somewhere new and back in a reasonable time. We can just head out into the great beyond!

Horses are like any other hobby, I think. You get moments of "yippie this is so much fun!" separated by long slogs of "well I need to do this." For a bunch of different reasons, I haven't felt free to just head out and ride for years now. Not since I left Mississippi. So, yeah, I'm really happy. This sport rocks!