Rita and Jemez Dancing head off to Billy's place

Things can change quick out here. Billy Hibbler called up and said he was ready to come get Rita. My hubby called moments later and said he was coming home to go for a mule ride. They got here about the same time. Billy was hauling a little black horse named Troy (because he looked like he could have a Greek army inside of him).

We asked if Billy would like to ride with us; he could ride Jemez Dancing, the sometimes bolting mustang. So we all got saddled up and headed out on the great trail ride. Actually we didn't have a lot of time because the sun was already behind the mountain, so we made a loop around the pond and went down along the Largo. The sand is deep there and it is my favorite place to ride a spooky animal. We followed the sandy bank until the edge turned into forest and we crossed the cottonwood bosque and through some lovely meadows that have yet to be thrashed by the range cattle this year. We turned up through the wormwood and sagebrush and JD tried to get excited about the brush popping. Billy was just riding in a halter but he is a cowboy.

There was something about the light that made the golden mustang look like he was glowing, and he and Billy cut a fine figure. I was thinking of how good they looked together and suddenly I was asking Billy how much he would charge me to take JD home with him and ride him for 30 days. The price was reasonable so I made Billy promise not to turn him into a roping horse and to ride him in a bosal. He said he would only rope off of JD in an emergency, like if he got to the roping arena and realized he didn't have the right horse. He says it makes them really calm.

We emerged from the popping brush on a wide trail and it put us on the big wide sandy Largo road only a mile from the house. We were doing great until a semi truck with a road grader came rattling around the bend. I motioned for them to slow down and they did. These animals live in a paddock next to a road where all kinds of big stuff comes rattling by EVERY DAY, but Chester likes to freak out about big trucks, so he bolted up the cut bank and into the brush. Cracker took about 3 flying leaps past JD and JD saw it was time to ignite the rocket fuel. It was a race between Cracker and JD, but the short legged hinny never had a chance. Billy had a night strap on his saddle and JD ran straight. I was riding an Australian saddle with no nightlatch, so I was fairly apprehensive about the situation. Riding Cracker at a gallop is like riding the side bars on a old fashioned locomotive!! No one fell off and we were all on an adrenaline high for the rest of the ride.

So, when we got back to the yard, we drug a bale of hay into Billy's truck and started loading horses. I already had the halter on Rita, and I snapped on a lead rope. When she arrived at our place, the only way to get her to her pen was pony her off another horse. I wasn't sure she could go all the way with me, but I started walking backwards and asking her to follow. Across the small paddock, through a gate, across the big paddock where the mule tried to nip her neck, through another gate, and into the paddock where the trailer was parked. She did it!!! I was proud of her. She is broke to pony so we used Troy to pull her into the trailer. Then, with Rita and Troy safely tied, we loaded up the still saddled JD and away they went.

JD will come back with the bolt taken out of him. Hopefully he will come back with the skill and discipline it takes to be a pony horse. Billy will do a good job. Maybe he will win some roping jackpots with my boy.

Patricia