Saturday

For our last day at the ranch, we started off with a breakfast ride through the desert. We ended at the place we had lunch earlier in the week. Today, we had scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes. It was delicious! On the way back to the ranch, Carol the head wrangler was our guide, and she told us a little about the local flora and fauna. I enjoyed that part . . . would have even if I wasn't sitting on the back of a horse!

After lunch, we had to get our horses and bring them to the round pen. When Frank saw me, he called me over and said that I was going to be the first one to ride my horse with just hay baling twine around his neck! After seeing me progress during the week . . . from someone hesitant to canter . . . to someone cantering all over, team penning, holding snakes and spiders . . . he knew that I was up for anything! Then, he called Paula into the pen with me. I felt like that was a compliment for me, because Paula was probably the best rider of the bunch of us.

Riding with just the twine was kind of like a "final" for the class. So, after we finished, we were supposed to put our horses up. I told Frank I didn't want to get off. So, he let me walk outside the round pen with just the twine! He said not to go too far. Saguaro still had the halter on, but the rope wasn't in "reins," and it was tied to my saddle. If I needed it to do a one-rein stop I could use it, but other than that, it was pretty useless. [See the yellow twine in the pic]

After everyone else was finished, I asked Frank if I could come back into the round pen to try trotting with just the twine on. I did it, but it was much harder because everything had to happen quicker. It was fun, though!

When I put Saguaro up, I gave him a bunch of horse cookies for being such a great horse for me all week. He wanted more and kept following me! [Pic of him following me]

My roommate, Elizabeth, then did a short presentation on Equine TTouch. She briefly showed us a bunch of things, and then went over what to do if a horse has colic. She used a sheet from her own bed to teach us that! [Editorial note: after we all got home, Paula's horse got colic, and after using what Elizabeth taught us, she was able to cure her horse without calling the vet!]

About the last thing we learned was trailer loading, and we all got to practice by getting Jim's horse, Cash, into and out of the trailer.

After dinner, by a big campfire, our group got dubbed "Dances with Enthusiasm." Carol and Jim D sang and played the guitar. We all got our certificates and had a great time at our last night together.