Horseback Riding

Except for the first day when I had a killer high altitude headache, Alesha and I went riding every day. These pictures are from my last day when we packed a picnic lunch (every thing tastes better in the mountain air) and went for a very loooooong ride. It was so incredibly awesome. First let me introduce you to the horses. The mostly white horse is Baby, and only Dave and Alesha are allowed to ride her. The mostly brown horse is Sugar and I rode her each time. They are Spotted Saddlehorses and they are gaited horses. I did a little reading and they were bred from Spanish American ponies and Tennessee Walking horses. I can't begin to explain what a gaited horse is, but let me tell you, it is one very comfortable ride!

Here is Alesha getting the horses ready to ride. It is such a joy to watch her work with the horses. She is so comfortable with them, and so obviously enjoys being with them. And since I know nothing about horses, I like watching her take care of everything:)

After a big boost from Alesha, I landed in the saddle and was ready to ride. Too bad I didn't get a close-up of my cowboy boots! I found them on the outing Hope and I took to Canon City--$350 boots for $10.00. Yeah! I love them. They are so pretty and so comfy.

Help me, Alesha! I can't find reverse on this thing!

Words cannot begin to describe the overwhelming beauty that surrounded us on our ride. And the smell of the ponderosa pine is indescribable. This is the view behind me as we rode, and ....

this was the view in front of me. It would take far to long to post all the beautiful photos I took. Sometimes we would go off the road and up a hill side. We stopped and rode off into an aspen grove at one place.

After a while we decided on a nice spot to stop for lunch. Alesha tied the horses up and we went over a ways to a rocky area that allowed us a nice seat as well as a perfect view.

Here is Alesha staking out our lunch spot...

Oops! The sandwiches got a little squished in the saddle bag!

After lunch I went up behind the rocks to use a tree, and got quite a kick out of this view. I felt like I was in an old western show, and just needed my gun to shoot off her hat!

On our ride home, we digressed from the road and went through some pastures. We were past the prime of the wild flowers, but there were still some, and I like this old windmill. This was the first picnic horseback ride Alesha has taken since she's been in CO, so it was very special that I got to share it.