Doodle Room: Fifth Day at Sweet Grass Ranch

July 13th, 2012

Howdy!!

I’m soooooo sore today from sleeping on the ground all night!! But it was a pretty cool experience; sleeping in a tent with no parents in sight! Of course, that also meant that everyone forgot to wake Paige, Brianna and I up!!! We had to scramble in order to get dressed in time for breakfast!

Breakfast took a little while to get started though, so we didn’t have to rush after all! It was super yummy when it finally was finished!

Then, it was time to pack up and get ready for another long day on a horse. A lot of the kids including me went down after breakfast to help tack up their horses, leaving the parents to pack up most of our stuff. It was fun tacking up Nad, though the western saddle is way heavier than an English saddle.

All the kids got back to the dining room of Bar B in time to pack our own lunches. Then, it was time to head out on the trail again.

The ride back to Sweet Grass Ranch was definitely more beautiful, but for a major part of it, all the horses were bugged by flies. Around half way back, the flies ceased and it was a better ride. We even got to lope once, which as always was super fun!!

Finally, we were back at Sweet Grass Ranch. We only got a little time to relax because soon we were going to swim on the horses!!!

To get to the swimming area, we rode bare-back on our horses down the road that leads to the ranch. Once we got to the creek, a wrangler talked us through how to swim on a horse and we were ready to go. Only some horses swam and Nad was not one of them! So I tied her reins in a knot around her head and let her graze by the river bed. I would have to swim on either my mom’s horse; Garret, or my sister’s horse: Bailey.

The only bad thing that happened was when it was Brianna’s turn to go on Josie. Josie got spooked and started to lope up the river bank. Something happened, I think another horse tried to kick Josie, so she shied again and Brianna fell. She fell on a ton of rocks so it was really scary to watch. Luckily, she was just bruised, nothing more serious. Whew, I think it all gave us a heart-attack!!!

If you’ve never swam on a horse, you are really missing out!!! It is such an amazing experience!! Even though the creek water was freezing, it didn’t feel that cold because Garrett underneath me was so warm!!! It feels like you are just floating in the water and you can feel the horse’s legs moving underneath you!! It is truly a one of a kind experience!!! I went swimming on Garrett three times and each time was really amazing!!!

After all that excitement, it was time to head back, bare-back, on our horses. I love riding bare-back; though trotting bare-back is not fun!!!

When we got back, we had just enough time to go for a short dip in the creek! It was just as cold as ever!!! Then, it was time for dinner. After dinner, I got a candy bar from the store and headed over to finish watching Ice Age 2 on Brianna’s laptop.

What a perfect day!!

Goodnight,

Camilla

P.S. If you cannot view the pictures clearly, just click on them to show an enlarged view.