Mountain Trails

So following the power failure disaster that was the beginning of my weekend, things did pick up decidedly well.  I stayed with Chels Saturday night and went to work with her at the barn she works for.  She's a trail guide there.  I didn't do much other than help feed and groom some of the horses, but it was fun.  

Goldie - Normally she's terrified of people who are in front of her stall, something I didn't know, so everyone was surprised that she didn't look like something was about to eat her in this. 

Trigger - the BO's husband's horse

We didn't have any real food to take with us because everything in her fridge had spoiled, so we ended up going to Subway and picked up sandwiches for ourselves and half of the other employees.  Speaking of, everyone was really nice. :)

Sampson

Fancy

Fancy and Chels

There are around 39 (I think?) horses at the stable, all but 2 of which were brought in to be ridden for the day.  My favorites were two named Soldier and Nicholas.  I became fast friends with Soldier after spending 10 or 15 minutes doing nothing but scratch his face.  By the time I was done, he was almost asleep, but when I turned to walk away, I felt a soft nudge on the back of my arm.  I turned around, and he was standing there watching me dubiously.  I couldn't resist, so I loved on him a little more before turning my attention to some of the other horses.  

Soldier

Shadow (a Tennessee Walker) and a turkey...and a lone hen.

Nick was a cutie and sooo lovable!  Chels and I spent a little while sitting next to the tree he was tied to.  We were playing with chickens.  I know.  I know.  We were bored.  But you'll see that in the video below.  Nick makes himself known a few times in it.

Nick

Nick

I went on one of the rides that Chels led after lunch and rode Moonshine, a 6-year-old mare owned by another one of the guides.  She was a sweetheart and very well-behaved.  The only difficulty was that she's still learning to neck rein, so there were a few times I had to switch to plow reining instead when she didn't respond to the neck reining.  Other than that, she was a dream.  Of course, it was a guided trail ride...not much to get excited over or test her on.  But still.  It was a fun ride.

Riding Moonshine

Hillbilly

Now, one of the stars of the barn is Norman.  He's a rooster that thinks he owns the barn and everyone and everything in and around it.  I got inspected almost as soon as I stepped into the barn.  He looked me up and down, then walked away and crowed.  O.o  He's a spunky little thing.  As you'll soon see.  He and one of the men who work there go at it every day.  They're not too fond of each other.  Usually Norman tries to flog him as he's helping a rider onto a horse...when he can't do much about it.  They pick on each other endlessly.

Breeze and Tiny - Breeze, I believe, is part Arabian.  Tiny is a Percheron.

There's also a petting zoo of baby animals at Mountain Trails.  All of which are adorable.  There were a couple of lambs/young sheep, a goat named Sonny, a calf named Sweet Pea, a ferret, multiple rabbits (one of them is a male Angora and looks wild), a Shetland pony named Tinkerbell, and a couple of other ponies and miniature horses.

Tinkerbell

Chels and Norman