Back in the Saddle Again

I recently told you that my cowgirl days are behind me, but today I got a chance to relive them for a couple of hours. I have a good friend who has a horse and rides a lot. She invited me to go riding. She rode her horse "Lucy" and I got "Whiskey" -kids--this in no way diminishes my strong admonitions about the Word of Wisdom--in the interest of avoiding even the APPEARANCE of evil, let's call him "Whiskers". So, we went out to the pasture and called the horses. Whiskey--I mean Whiskers came a-running. He's a friendly horse and loves a chance to get out and run like the wind. We saddled up and hit the trail. Our ride took us along the mighty Columbia River. It was overcast today but not raining--perfect weather for riding. Whiskey--ers
was a frisky, energetic horse. He wanted to take off running and I wanted to amble along and enjoy the view. Lucy is well-trained and behaved perfectly while Whiskeyers tested me at every turn. I got used to him pretty quickly though, and soon we were having a great time. I let him open up and run full bore and can I just say WOW. It was sooo fun. He has such a nice, smooth gait it was a blast. We let them drink at the edge of the river and Whiskers went right in and SPLASHED! He was splashing with his front feet like a little kid playing in a puddle. I turned him back to the beach and we walked along a little. Then suddenly he decided to roll in the sand! He went down on his knees and I thought he had tripped-- but no--he was just rolling in the sand for the pure joy of it. Luckily I got my feet out of the stirrups and jumped away from him before I got flattened in the frolicking. I got him back up and we continued our ride. We rode along the dike next to the river. Whiskers wanted to run the whole time but we came to an understanding that he could run if I said so and otherwise would trot along nicely so Karen and I could talk. It was an enjoyable afternoon back in the saddle, and you know, it's just like riding a bike--you never forget how... if the bike were named after a hard liquor and took off randomly without warning. And suddenly decided to roll in the sand.