Summer Visitors

Summers on the farm always bring city friends to experience life in the country for a few short work-free hours. Although I often complain about this, in fact they provide a good break from my labors. Yesterday, friends came with teen-aged grandkids, one of whom wanted to ride a nice, safe horse. Polly, at 31, is about as safe as they come. Polly has resided on our farm since she was 18 and given dozens of people their first rides on a horse or their first fear-free rides on a horse. And she's still doing it, bless her heart.

Polly will follow Mr. Smith to the ends of the earth. So all I have to do is ride Mr. Smith and let Polly follow with her delighted passenger on board. This time, the passenger's grandma, a long-time horse-loving friend of mine, came too and rode Mr. Smith while I rode Jessie Anne. Getting three horses exercised at once is a rare occurrence and quite welcome. We let Nightingale race around on her side of the fence since only three of us wanted to ride. Micaela's older brother, Gosheven, got plenty of exercise running along after us, taking these great photos. Here we are in the wildflower-filled arboretum. I'm on the Palomino in the lead (Jessie Anne), my friend Lynn-Marie is on Mr. Smith and Micaela is on Polly.


Before heading out, we rode in the arena for a bit to make sure everyone was comfortable with their mount and vice versa. I love Micaela's happy face in this photo!















It doesn't get much better than this.