Back in the Saddle

Two wonderful trail rides in on big bad Dewey. Last summer sucked, two falls and broken finger and tarnished confidence. It has taken a whole year to get comfortable again - and the only way to do it is to just keep saddling up. And follow Lisa, my trail buddy. If Dewey has his nose in the butt of her horse in front of us, Dewey will walk anywhere. He's got a safety device. It also helps if you ride almost every day, and have a crazy british chick who takes him on Thursday and forces him to do all the scary trails before I have to get on him and do them. Life is good this way. What I love about Hansen Dam is that there is water and woods, and it's not far from my house, and I can discover all this nature, these winding paths through bamboo forests, and in and out of running streams, and everything is so quiet and cool in the dense trees and brush, and we even had a hobo sighting, and Dewey drinks from the fresh water river and it's like exploring a place that isn't assigned to anyone, it's growing free and there's nothing disturbing it. In a busy and harsh big city, getting on Dewey and finding these hidden trails is like layering my body with calming balm. Both Lisa and I sigh a lot on the rides. All the stress just drips off, the horses are quiet, they're our guides, they're there with us, and they don't mind if we just listen to the silence. I am healing my sad confidence issues by just continuing to go out, and I can see, peeking out there in the future, where I will burst forward and get back to enjoying being adventurous. Following any path, seeing where it'll lead, and trusting my horse.