On September 17th and 18th we made what will likely be our last trip of the season to the TL Bar Ranch. The girls wanted to go riding "one last time". This time around my parents came along with us, and stayed in the Rustic Cabin. I've since been told that the camping area is now closed for the season. So if the nice fall weather stays with us a little longer, and we have one more chance for a trail ride, it will have to end up being just a day trip. The first day Margarit, the girls and my Mom went out for a trail ride. My mother had never been on a horse before and decided that she wanted to give it a try. They went for a nice trail ride across the river and out into the badlands. All summer long Helena had been nagging us about wanting to ride the ponies. We thought that she was still too young, even for a buddie saddle, so we kept holding her back. Finally we decided that this would be the weekend that we would let her give it a try. But, when she was finally presented with the option of actually going out for a ride, she got scared and decided she didn't want to go after all. Go figure... Later that afternoon when the breeze kicked up a little the girls took out their kite and tried to get it airborne. That kite has ridden around in the trailer with us all year, through many a windy weekend and finally at the end of the season the girls decided to break it in.
It was a very warm and pleasant weekend. We had a nice barbecue by the cabin, enjoyed an evening campfire, and watched the stars come up. We also celebrated Anna's sixth birthday, belatedly and again. It got quite cool over night and in fact when our propane tank in the trailer ran out, and I had to step out at 5:00AM to switch to a fresh tank, the grass in the pasture was all crunchy with a heavy frost. It took quite a while for the furnace to kick in and knock the chill out of the trailer. My parents fared a lot better in the cabin. Although there was no heat, it retained the day's warmth much better than the trailer and they were quite comfortable. The next day my parents stayed behind at the cabin with Helena and the rest of us went out for a two hour trail ride up to the prairie above the valley. It was a wonderful day for a ride and we really enjoyed it. At one point the lead horse was startled and threw our trail guide Kim off into some brush. Annelise had finally given in to riding on her own without being ponied with a lead rope. Her horse reared and bolted as it was right behind Kim. Hailey's mount followed suite and did the same. But both girls managed to hang on and the horses were brought under control without incident. Kim was unhurt and we continued on our ride only to have almost the same thing happen later, when the horses were startled by a deer. Eventually the ride had to come to an end and we packed up the trailer for what turned out to be the last time, and headed for home.
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