| Lalita's Trail Stories By Lalita Creighton |
Foxy Meets Goats and the Addendum, We Get Buzzed by a Turkey Vulture
(Funny and Awe-Inspiring Story)
All names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty, except for my horse's
name and mine. There was this one time, at band camp....No, no, wrong story. Let's try that
again. I had gone with my friend Margie to her friend's house to go riding. At the time, I was
riding my very trustworthy trail steed, Foxy. Margie and I got there, unloaded, and tacked
up. I finished first and went ahead and hopped on. In my experience, Foxy was virtually
unflappable. We'd been everywhere, done everything, or so I'd thought. What I didn't know
was that Brenda, Margie's friend, had goats. Several goats. Running around everywhere, or
at least outside the barn, but they had sneakily waited until I was on my horse to make their
first appearance. Well, Foxy took one look at those goats and wanted absolutely nothing to
do with them. However, unlike most horses who might take evasive maneuvers to the side,
try to bolt forward, or spin to run away, Foxy did none of these things. He backed up. And
backed up. And backed up some more. All at a nice quiet pace, with his head just below
level, looking at those silly goats. Of course, these little goats thought it was a great game to
chase this giant goat in reverse all around the farm. I learned just how agile a horse can be in
reverse-if only we could have been being judged for a trail class at just that moment! I'm
sure the experience was not improved by my hysterical laughter, as all I could do was sit up
there and giggle-forget steering or even cueing for a 'go forward'. It seemed like a very long
time before Margie and Brenda were tacked up, mounted up, and ready to ride. Once
everyone was ready to go we went ahead and had an absolutely lovely ride.
Now for the addendum: We were riding on property that runs alongside Big River in
southern Jefferson County, and we were up on the bluff above the river. There were a few
turkey vultures flying around and then one decided to come down low to check us out. Now,
I am aware that these are really large birds, with impressive wingspans - approximately 5-1/2
feet. However, knowing how big they are and then seeing up close how big they are, are
two very different things. I realize my next statement is going to sound a bit unbelievable, but
I swear it is the absolute truth. This bird flew so close to us that if I'd have been brave
enough (read that as stupid enough) to reach up, I could have grabbed this bird. I
immediately forgave Foxy for his goat avoidances earlier, as he barely raised his head when
this thing went over us. (Of course, maybe he didn't want to raise it up too much in case the
bird grabbed an ear or something!) Margie and Brenda said that it was common for the birds
to come 'check them out' but that they'd never seen one come down so very low.
It took a few minutes for my heart to slide back out of my throat back down into my chest
where it belonged, but it was truly an awe-inspiring event that I'm thankful I was lucky
enough to experience. I can't say I'd like to repeat it, though!
Cross Country Jumping on a 2 Year Old
(Funny and I Did Something Dumb Story)
Don't try this one at home, folks! Many, many years ago, when I was in my early teens, I
worked as a trail guide at a rental stable. Twice a year, the owners would haul horses out for
us and take us on trail rides at one of two local parks, Greensfelder County Park or Cuivre
River State Park. You might think that if your job was to ride horses every day, you wouldn't
want to go trail riding. You would be wrong. Very wrong. I lived for those rides because I
got to see trails that I didn't ride every day, and since we didn't have any renters along, we
got to ride harder trails and zoom around more-I was a typical kid, mostly fearless and
convinced I was immortal. On this particular trail ride, I can't remember which park we went
to but I remember I was given Cody, a gentle, but green 2 year old gelding to ride. I had
been riding him on the rental stable's trails, so I was fairly comfortable with him.
We all got tacked up and mounted up, and headed out on the trails. We'd been out for an
hour or two when we went down a hill that had a small ditch at the bottom, and then the trail
went up a hill on the other side. Normally this trail would not have been a problem for Cody.
What was a problem for Cody, however, was the very large tree that was down across this
ditch. It wasn't sitting in the ditch, it was balanced on the hillsides. It was too tall for poor
little Cody to step over, and I wasn't about to admit we couldn't go over it like everyone in
front of us, so I cued this poor colt to jump from a downhill trail to an uphill trail, over a log
that was sitting higher than his belly.
Bless his giant heart, he LEAPED over that log. The person behind me said his hinds cleared
it by close to a foot. The real problem in this entire scenario however, was me. I was not
prepared for this giant leap, so I went sailing up into the air. My feet came up as high in the
air as the saddle horn, but stayed in the stirrups. I remember looking down, way down at the
saddle seat and thinking "I'm going to die". In slow motion, I fell back down and don't ask
me how but I managed to land in the saddle. Of course, that much momentum has to go
somewhere, so my upper body continued forward and I cracked my mouth on the saddle
horn. That would have been bad enough, but my saddle at the time had this sharp-edged
silver horn-cap, so I managed to cut my lip as well as bruise it. After cracking my mouth, I
started cussing a blue streak and I think any sailors in the area would have blushed. Once
everyone figured out I was ok, they all started laughing really hard, which made me madder.
They said I looked like a giant spider swooping down on my horse, and thought it was
really funny that they could see the person riding behind me in the space between my horse
and me. I can't really say that I thought the incident was funny then, but I sure laugh now
looking back. I'm thankful and lucky that neither of us were hurt. And no, I never ever tried
to jump that colt again, although he obviously had the natural athleticism to do it.
(Funny and Awe-Inspiring Story)
All names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty, except for my horse's
name and mine. There was this one time, at band camp....No, no, wrong story. Let's try that
again. I had gone with my friend Margie to her friend's house to go riding. At the time, I was
riding my very trustworthy trail steed, Foxy. Margie and I got there, unloaded, and tacked
up. I finished first and went ahead and hopped on. In my experience, Foxy was virtually
unflappable. We'd been everywhere, done everything, or so I'd thought. What I didn't know
was that Brenda, Margie's friend, had goats. Several goats. Running around everywhere, or
at least outside the barn, but they had sneakily waited until I was on my horse to make their
first appearance. Well, Foxy took one look at those goats and wanted absolutely nothing to
do with them. However, unlike most horses who might take evasive maneuvers to the side,
try to bolt forward, or spin to run away, Foxy did none of these things. He backed up. And
backed up. And backed up some more. All at a nice quiet pace, with his head just below
level, looking at those silly goats. Of course, these little goats thought it was a great game to
chase this giant goat in reverse all around the farm. I learned just how agile a horse can be in
reverse-if only we could have been being judged for a trail class at just that moment! I'm
sure the experience was not improved by my hysterical laughter, as all I could do was sit up
there and giggle-forget steering or even cueing for a 'go forward'. It seemed like a very long
time before Margie and Brenda were tacked up, mounted up, and ready to ride. Once
everyone was ready to go we went ahead and had an absolutely lovely ride.
Now for the addendum: We were riding on property that runs alongside Big River in
southern Jefferson County, and we were up on the bluff above the river. There were a few
turkey vultures flying around and then one decided to come down low to check us out. Now,
I am aware that these are really large birds, with impressive wingspans - approximately 5-1/2
feet. However, knowing how big they are and then seeing up close how big they are, are
two very different things. I realize my next statement is going to sound a bit unbelievable, but
I swear it is the absolute truth. This bird flew so close to us that if I'd have been brave
enough (read that as stupid enough) to reach up, I could have grabbed this bird. I
immediately forgave Foxy for his goat avoidances earlier, as he barely raised his head when
this thing went over us. (Of course, maybe he didn't want to raise it up too much in case the
bird grabbed an ear or something!) Margie and Brenda said that it was common for the birds
to come 'check them out' but that they'd never seen one come down so very low.
It took a few minutes for my heart to slide back out of my throat back down into my chest
where it belonged, but it was truly an awe-inspiring event that I'm thankful I was lucky
enough to experience. I can't say I'd like to repeat it, though!
Cross Country Jumping on a 2 Year Old
(Funny and I Did Something Dumb Story)
Don't try this one at home, folks! Many, many years ago, when I was in my early teens, I
worked as a trail guide at a rental stable. Twice a year, the owners would haul horses out for
us and take us on trail rides at one of two local parks, Greensfelder County Park or Cuivre
River State Park. You might think that if your job was to ride horses every day, you wouldn't
want to go trail riding. You would be wrong. Very wrong. I lived for those rides because I
got to see trails that I didn't ride every day, and since we didn't have any renters along, we
got to ride harder trails and zoom around more-I was a typical kid, mostly fearless and
convinced I was immortal. On this particular trail ride, I can't remember which park we went
to but I remember I was given Cody, a gentle, but green 2 year old gelding to ride. I had
been riding him on the rental stable's trails, so I was fairly comfortable with him.
We all got tacked up and mounted up, and headed out on the trails. We'd been out for an
hour or two when we went down a hill that had a small ditch at the bottom, and then the trail
went up a hill on the other side. Normally this trail would not have been a problem for Cody.
What was a problem for Cody, however, was the very large tree that was down across this
ditch. It wasn't sitting in the ditch, it was balanced on the hillsides. It was too tall for poor
little Cody to step over, and I wasn't about to admit we couldn't go over it like everyone in
front of us, so I cued this poor colt to jump from a downhill trail to an uphill trail, over a log
that was sitting higher than his belly.
Bless his giant heart, he LEAPED over that log. The person behind me said his hinds cleared
it by close to a foot. The real problem in this entire scenario however, was me. I was not
prepared for this giant leap, so I went sailing up into the air. My feet came up as high in the
air as the saddle horn, but stayed in the stirrups. I remember looking down, way down at the
saddle seat and thinking "I'm going to die". In slow motion, I fell back down and don't ask
me how but I managed to land in the saddle. Of course, that much momentum has to go
somewhere, so my upper body continued forward and I cracked my mouth on the saddle
horn. That would have been bad enough, but my saddle at the time had this sharp-edged
silver horn-cap, so I managed to cut my lip as well as bruise it. After cracking my mouth, I
started cussing a blue streak and I think any sailors in the area would have blushed. Once
everyone figured out I was ok, they all started laughing really hard, which made me madder.
They said I looked like a giant spider swooping down on my horse, and thought it was
really funny that they could see the person riding behind me in the space between my horse
and me. I can't really say that I thought the incident was funny then, but I sure laugh now
looking back. I'm thankful and lucky that neither of us were hurt. And no, I never ever tried
to jump that colt again, although he obviously had the natural athleticism to do it.
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