| The Quiet Ride By Laura Vonk |
I am often asked, by many people, to join them for a week at one of the many commercial
organized trail rides available here in Missouri. I always decline, not because I don't want
to enjoy the company of the person who asked me, or I don't want to support one of the
local equine businesses, but because I don't like riding in a crowd.
My life is often hectic and chaotic. So when I get a chance to get away, I'm looking for
quiet time to slow down, calm down, and enjoy some time being with my husband and
horse. There's nothing I enjoy more than a ride in the woods with Hank, Majic, and
Casper. When it's just the four of us, I can relax, look around, listen to the sounds around
me, and pretend like I've gone back to a simpler time. Hank is the perfect riding partner
because he has always seemed to know what I loved while out riding. We usually ride
along in silence, only talking when we have to, or to point out something of interest to the
other. Much more enjoyable to me than the constant feeling of having to talk to someone
and then being frustrated when we can't hear each other or when I have to all but turn
around backwards in the saddle to carry on a conversation. In what seems like silence at
first, you hear a whole world of sounds all around you. The sound of the breeze going
through the leaves, the voice of a bullfrog on a creek bank, the immense noise that a bunch
of turkey in the woods make, or the delicate rustle of a deer following parallel to you. Even
the steady rhythm of the horse's hoofbeats on the ground can have a calming effect.
All the same reasons apply when considering the speed we ride. Majic is a gaited horse,
and I know from the past, he can gait pretty fast. There was a time when I enjoyed that
(back in my younger years), but now, personally, when I go out to ride, part of the reason
is because I'm trying to get "closer to nature", so to speak. I have nothing against people
who ride their gaited horses fast, I guess I've just gotten slower as I've gotten older. I
haven't ridden Majic as a gaited horse in so long I'm not sure he would remember how. I'm
in no particular hurry anymore and don't wish to have the scenery whizzing past me so fast
that I can't actually see anything. I have fun seeing how much I can find while I'm out riding.
Aside from wanting to see all the wildlife I can, I look for wildflowers, interesting rock
outcroppings, weird and unusual plants and trees that are all around me, and I sometimes
look for shapes in the cloud formations above me. It often amazes me just how many
people get out there in the woods riding and never really see anything that's around them.
It's like a whole different world.
We also like to explore when we're out there riding. When we see a bunch of flowers that
are growing in the middle of the woods that we know are not really supposed to be there,
we often get off of our horses and give them a break while we look around and try to find
remnants of an old homestead. Often we find something and then try to see how it's laid out
and try and visualize what the house would have looked like and how big of a family might
have lived there. It's easy to forget while we're riding around out there that, the woods
we're in now, might have been plowed fields 100 years ago. The landscape of Missouri is
drastically different than what it was in the early 1900's.
Some of the fantastic things that I've gotten to see while I was out there riding include:
Beautiful wildflowers (I've have a book that I take with me so I can identify ones I don't know.)
Prickly Pear Cactus
Deer
Turkey
Skunk
Quail
Vultures
Bats
Woodpeckers
Woodcocks
Hawks
Geese
Road Runners
Dead Armadillos (Still looking to see a live one)
Black snake
King Snake
Lizards
Turtles
Rabbits
Red Squirrels
Beaver
Foxes
Black Bear (when I was in Montana)
Elk (when I was in Montana)
Different kinds of mushrooms (Another book I like to carry with me to help identify them)
Trees twisted like they were caught in a tornado at one time.
Trees bent over and then bent up
Trees with interesting growths on them, like one that has what looks like
a toilet seat at it's base.
Several different kinds of spiders (Whether I wanted to or not)
Scorpions
Stag Beetles
Glow Worms (yes, there is such a thing)
Inch Worms
Walking Sticks
Butterflies and moths
Luna moth
Dragonflies (many of which have gorgeous coloring)
Rock outcropping that looks like an Indian Head
An area that has so many rocks strewn all over that it looks like God tossed
out a bunch of pebbles.
Caves
Spider webs covered in dew that sparkle in the sunlight
Forest land that had recently suffered a forest fire
There is so much to see. I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, and there are a few other things
I'd like to see from horseback too, such as:
A Buck (I've only seen does and fawns)
An Owl
A Coyote
A Rattle Snake (Only from a distance)
A Bobcat (From a distance. I've seen one near home, but not when riding)
A Pheasant
A Prairie Chicken
So now you know why no one ever sees me at big organized rides, and if you invite me to
one, why I always decline. I'm not really much of a "partier" and I look at my riding and
camping time as time to relax and slow down. Most times, if we ride with others, we'll only
be with one, maybe two, other couples. Otherwise you'll just run into Hank and I out on
the trail here or there, enjoying the quiet trail ride.
organized trail rides available here in Missouri. I always decline, not because I don't want
to enjoy the company of the person who asked me, or I don't want to support one of the
local equine businesses, but because I don't like riding in a crowd.
My life is often hectic and chaotic. So when I get a chance to get away, I'm looking for
quiet time to slow down, calm down, and enjoy some time being with my husband and
horse. There's nothing I enjoy more than a ride in the woods with Hank, Majic, and
Casper. When it's just the four of us, I can relax, look around, listen to the sounds around
me, and pretend like I've gone back to a simpler time. Hank is the perfect riding partner
because he has always seemed to know what I loved while out riding. We usually ride
along in silence, only talking when we have to, or to point out something of interest to the
other. Much more enjoyable to me than the constant feeling of having to talk to someone
and then being frustrated when we can't hear each other or when I have to all but turn
around backwards in the saddle to carry on a conversation. In what seems like silence at
first, you hear a whole world of sounds all around you. The sound of the breeze going
through the leaves, the voice of a bullfrog on a creek bank, the immense noise that a bunch
of turkey in the woods make, or the delicate rustle of a deer following parallel to you. Even
the steady rhythm of the horse's hoofbeats on the ground can have a calming effect.
All the same reasons apply when considering the speed we ride. Majic is a gaited horse,
and I know from the past, he can gait pretty fast. There was a time when I enjoyed that
(back in my younger years), but now, personally, when I go out to ride, part of the reason
is because I'm trying to get "closer to nature", so to speak. I have nothing against people
who ride their gaited horses fast, I guess I've just gotten slower as I've gotten older. I
haven't ridden Majic as a gaited horse in so long I'm not sure he would remember how. I'm
in no particular hurry anymore and don't wish to have the scenery whizzing past me so fast
that I can't actually see anything. I have fun seeing how much I can find while I'm out riding.
Aside from wanting to see all the wildlife I can, I look for wildflowers, interesting rock
outcroppings, weird and unusual plants and trees that are all around me, and I sometimes
look for shapes in the cloud formations above me. It often amazes me just how many
people get out there in the woods riding and never really see anything that's around them.
It's like a whole different world.
We also like to explore when we're out there riding. When we see a bunch of flowers that
are growing in the middle of the woods that we know are not really supposed to be there,
we often get off of our horses and give them a break while we look around and try to find
remnants of an old homestead. Often we find something and then try to see how it's laid out
and try and visualize what the house would have looked like and how big of a family might
have lived there. It's easy to forget while we're riding around out there that, the woods
we're in now, might have been plowed fields 100 years ago. The landscape of Missouri is
drastically different than what it was in the early 1900's.
Some of the fantastic things that I've gotten to see while I was out there riding include:
Beautiful wildflowers (I've have a book that I take with me so I can identify ones I don't know.)
Prickly Pear Cactus
Deer
Turkey
Skunk
Quail
Vultures
Bats
Woodpeckers
Woodcocks
Hawks
Geese
Road Runners
Dead Armadillos (Still looking to see a live one)
Black snake
King Snake
Lizards
Turtles
Rabbits
Red Squirrels
Beaver
Foxes
Black Bear (when I was in Montana)
Elk (when I was in Montana)
Different kinds of mushrooms (Another book I like to carry with me to help identify them)
Trees twisted like they were caught in a tornado at one time.
Trees bent over and then bent up
Trees with interesting growths on them, like one that has what looks like
a toilet seat at it's base.
Several different kinds of spiders (Whether I wanted to or not)
Scorpions
Stag Beetles
Glow Worms (yes, there is such a thing)
Inch Worms
Walking Sticks
Butterflies and moths
Luna moth
Dragonflies (many of which have gorgeous coloring)
Rock outcropping that looks like an Indian Head
An area that has so many rocks strewn all over that it looks like God tossed
out a bunch of pebbles.
Caves
Spider webs covered in dew that sparkle in the sunlight
Forest land that had recently suffered a forest fire
There is so much to see. I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, and there are a few other things
I'd like to see from horseback too, such as:
A Buck (I've only seen does and fawns)
An Owl
A Coyote
A Rattle Snake (Only from a distance)
A Bobcat (From a distance. I've seen one near home, but not when riding)
A Pheasant
A Prairie Chicken
So now you know why no one ever sees me at big organized rides, and if you invite me to
one, why I always decline. I'm not really much of a "partier" and I look at my riding and
camping time as time to relax and slow down. Most times, if we ride with others, we'll only
be with one, maybe two, other couples. Otherwise you'll just run into Hank and I out on
the trail here or there, enjoying the quiet trail ride.
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