Scavenger Hunt...or "Chantilly Lace...and a pretty face"

Sunday Joe was going to come to a scavenger hunt held at a church about an hour from the house.  There was going to be a small group of my friends coming...except as we got closer and closer, people kept dropping like flies until it was just B and myself coming.  Joe opted to skip out and stay home with Kaylee since B's husband wasn't going and he didn't want to be the only guy there.

Not a problem.  So, B and I arranged to meet there at around 11.  I was up at 8, hooked the truck and trailer up, AND I actually managed to catch Tilly far quicker than normal, AND get her loaded in about 2 minutes.  Takes a few minutes to get the divider swung over, long rope fed through the window and encourage her in. 

So, I was on the road before 9.  And realized from the gas station I stopped at to fill the truck up, I was 23 minutes away from the church. 

Well then, time for breakfast!!  Hit up a McDonald's in Copperas Cove, killed about an hour there and then headed off for the church.

This is one of the RARE instances where I didn't blow a SINGLE turn.  GO ME!!!

Got there a few minutes before B, while we discussed ditching the scavenger hunt (I saw 1 trailer with horses in and 1 Gator).  We unloaded Tilly and Baby G while we debated what we wanted to do. We finally opted to go ahead and do the scavenger hunt as we walked behind the arena at the church and saw more horses.

So, loaded the horses BACK up (Tilly bravely marched right into the trailer by following me in!....with the divider moved over) and drove back behind the church.

Where we sit and chit chatted and just had a good time hanging out while waiting for the scavenger hunt.

Baby G on the right, Tilly on the left.  Two MFTs just hanging out!!!

B's horse Baby G begging for more Nutter Butters.

The hunt actually ended up starting at 1 instead of noon.  And the rules were that we were hunting for man-made objects ANYWHERE within fencelines and without crossing beneath large power lines or cattle guards.  And we had 2 hours to find as many objects as we could find.

Here's some of the things we found out there on our aimless meanderings.

What no one mentioned until we were already present and saw for ourselves was just how ROCKY it was.  Oh, there were some patches of soft, grassy dirt, but mostly it was rock, rock and MORE rock.  Tilly doesn't have boots yet, but after this ride, she's moved up on my priority list to get her a pair of at LEAST front boots.  She was quite brave and bold and forward when she led, but after about an hour, she was asking me to PLEASE get off the rocks, so B and I quit after an hour and 15 minutes.  We're going camping this weekend and we didn't want to lame our horses.  So, we headed back to the trailers.

Sweaty, dirty, hairy horse-yak.

 

Other side of a big booty horse-yak!!!

B and I only ultimately found 8 items, so we each won a $5 gift card to Tractor Supply.  So, yay!!  We talked about trying to grab lunch, but...between trying to find a place that we could maneuver the trailers in to, and Joe needing to get to work, we rain checked and said next time.  PLUS, we're going CAMPING THIS WEEKEND!!! 

Scavenger Hunt

So, once again, Tilly hopped into the trailer and we headed for home. 

I decided there were 2 things I wanted to do with her before I cut her loose at the house.  Practice trailer loading AND at least rinse her off.

And that is exactly what happened when I got home.  I pulled the trailer through, off-loaded her and left the divider in place.  Then asked her to load up.  Which she did.  And off.  And on.

All in all, I got her in 6 times.  5 of them with the 30' long line through the window, and the final one, I walked her completely away from the trailer, gently lunged her around me away from the trailer, then walked her confidently up to the trailer standing beside her with one of the trailer doors closed, divider still in place, and she hopped right on in as I pointed her where I wanted her.

SMART mare!!!

Took her over to the small stand of trees by my barn, easily tied her up and hosed her off.  She stood like a champ, not a single flinch at the water.  Took my nails scraping off some of the grime and filth, but eventually she was mostly white again.  Sighed because I was SURE she was going to roll, but removed her halter and watched her charge off to go find the herd.

Walked into the house with Kaylee after unhooking the truck and realized something.

Why, I do believe I ENJOY that big mare.  She isn't Strider, he's always going to be my favorite ride...but...she's actually quite pleasant to be around! 

Once you catch her. 

And tomorrow begins my camping trip with my girls!  I CANNOT WAIT!!!!