Re: Horse Comparison story (Part 2)

["April" <adlee@mailandnews.com>]

I am reading this story (GREAT story, btw), and I'm going, yep, that's what
Apache does through some of it.  One particular part stuck out.  My horse is
like a bulldozer.  Through woods, it's not very funny sometimes.

Case in point:  We're riding along this tiny narrow hiking trail (we
shouldn't have been on it, but there weren't any signs to that effect).  And
there's a steep drop off to our left.  And the mountain goes straight up to
our right.  Right across the path is a tree that is roughly the same
diameter as my upper arm.  It was growing on the right side, but had been
bent totally across the trail at about 56" above the trail.  So I steer
Apache around it to the left (he's going slowly because we're moving in a
direction he doesn't want to go).  He crashes through the brush and
scrambles to keep his balance on the steep slope and finally gets back onto
the trail on the other side and we keep going.

But, alas, we hit rocks too bad to keep going and we turned around.  (BTW,
shortly after turning around, we came on some hikers with huge backpacks on.
We saw them first and Apache just stared at these strange creatures.  I
asked him to move forward when the hikers graciously got off the path for us
to pass --the trail wasn't quite so drastically steep at this point-- but he
wouldn't move.  It took a lot of convincing to get him to walk so close to
such a dangerous creature!)  Anyway, we got back to the place where the tree
was over the trail and again, I planned to steer him downhill (to our right
this time).  Well, I wasn't quick enough and Apache PLOWS RIGHT THROUGH THE
TREE.  I screamed and yelled for him to stop, which thankfully he did
because I no longer had the reins and there was a tree in my lap.  The tree
was pinning my thighs to my horse.  It was better than a seat belt.  I
couldn't move my thighs at all and the tree was pressing into my stomach.
Thankfully, I had let go of the reins and yanked my hands up, so I had my
hands and arms free.  Without my reins, I couldn't ask Apache to back up
(he's iffy on voice commands), so I had to fix it myself.  I wiggled and
jiggled, and pushed and pulled and finally was able to slide my right thigh
back and out from under the tree (Apache standing there calmly the whole
time).  From there I was able to slide off to his left.  The tree was then
resting on his back and would have scraped the whole thing up if he'd kept
going at that point.  I lifted it as best I could and clicked to Apache to
go.  He walked out from under it and was ready to go.  Didn't even want to
wait for me to get on!

Anyway, his "bull in a china shop" impression can definitely get me into
some sticky situations!  Reading about Warpaint reminded me of it and I had
to share!

April & Apache
Chattanooga, TN

"If I were a little, little [wo]man,
  I would ride squirrels."

----- Original Message -----
From: <guest@endurance.net>

Judy Long for Nick Warhol julong@cisco.com

continuing from Part 1...

park Shatta takes it easy and carefully.  Warpaint is more like a bulldozer
or an army tank.  He just plows through stuff.   At Castle Rock I sometimes



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