Mount Sopris Horseback Ride

Thursday morning I got to take a two-hour horseback ride with my brother (who is three years older than I), my daughter and my nephew Jasper. David chose to have a quiet morning at home, since he's not wild about riding horses. This was Jasper's first real ride, and since he's only five, our friendly and capable guide, Aaron, led Jasper's horse with a rope (this is apparently called ponying, despite the fact it was a real horse named Tonto, 20 years old).

Emily rode Custis (the last name of Martha Washington's first husband), Paul was astride Breeze, and Lone Buddy carried me. Breeze got startled by Paul's backpack near the beginning of our ride, and took off at a frenzied gallop. After a few moments, Aaron dropped Jasper's ponying rope and galloped off after Paul. I was left to pray and shakily dismount, grab Jasper's rope, and remount, still praying and trying to come out with casually reassuring words to both kids. Amazingly, with two of the horses headed off so fast, the remaining three horses stayed put. Thank You, God! When Paul and Aaron returned to us at a slow pace a little later, I was so impressed that Paul had managed to stay on his horse, was not injured, and wanted to continue with the trail ride. Wow (and thank You, God, again). Breeze sure let Paul feel the power of his name. More like a gale, if you ask me. At times during the rest of the morning, Breeze was a little skittish, but there were no more serious episodes. Our trail took us past great views of Mount Sopris, with twin summits, both exactly 12,965 feet high:

Everyone enjoyed the outing. However, by the time we got home, Emily was having some sort of allergic reaction, with bumpy red marks around her eyes and an itchy face. We already knew she was allergic to cats and dogs, but now we are hoping she is not also allergic to horses. She so likes all those animals. Jason, Emily and I all love horseback riding and try to get some in whenever we are out here in Colorado - such a beautiful place to do it.