This morning

Ruby and I had a very close call this morning.  I haven't ridden her much this week, due to all of the rain we've been having but we've had two whole days (TWO WHOLE DAYS) without rain as of this morning, so I saddled her up for a ride down the road.

Heather wasn't interested in going so it was just me and Ruby.  The plan was to see if her feet were up to trotting a few stretches right on the edge of the road.  I didn't have much hope for this, since everything has been so wet.  You folks in California don't know how good you have it with the hot, dry summers with no humidity.  But then, you probably have much bigger arm muscles than I do, for all of the trimming you do on your horses' rock-hard hooves.  Anyways, we started off walking as usual because Ruby was being a little looky.  I mounted up right after the first curve and we went on our merry way.

We were able to trot a few stretches, though they were very short due to mailboxes, drive ways, etc. Things were going very well when we approached the black/white dog's yard.  I veered Ruby off into the grass a bit and let her start munching while I scanned the yard for the dog.  He was maybe 10 feet from the fence, snoozing in the grass when he heard us and alerted his BFF, the old Labrador.  Ruby was unconcerned.

Black/white dog in front of large oak on left, Labrador is easier to spot.

She's deathly afraid of barking dogs, obviously.

I sat there for a few minutes, letting Ruby graze, watching the dogs surreptitiously, hoping they would get bored and find a shady spot to lay down.  No such luck, so I decided to get on with it and ride by.  The dog's side of the street has a 10-12 foot shoulder while the other has none, so we stayed on the side with the dogs.  We were walking along when we came to a hole under the fence that has been blocked with a cinder block, when Archie (black and white dog, short for Arch Nemesis) slid under the fence not 8 feet from us.  I was watching the dogs from the corner of my eye, and saw this and yelled 'Hey!' at him.  He stopped, tucked his tail and trotted off a bit.  Damn.  The dog is loose on the street and his Lab buddy is still raising hell on our right.  I didn't want to turn Ruby around because most dogs take that as an invitation to chase - instead, I decided to back Ruby past the fence and then reassess.  When I looked back over my shoulder, I saw a van coming our way from down the street.  I turned Ruby so she could see the van, waved at them to slow down and turned back to the dog.  He had used my distraction to creep closer to us, maybe twenty feet away.  I honestly thought we might die.  The Lab was right behind us, barking for all that he was worth trying to drive us away from the fence, Archie was creeping closer every time I looked away, and now this van was coming towards us and still picking up speed.  I waved and yelled, 'Slow down!' but he kept his foot on the gas pedal.  While I was busy freaking out, Ruby was still calm. The van blew by us (she didn't even flinch) and suddenly Archie was no longer interested.  I guess that last yell at the driver made him decide that we weren't worth it?  Once past the fence, I let Ruby graze again so I could take a breather.  Archie was busy marking everyone's mailbox and heading the other way.  I took the opportunity to loosen my muscles - I was so tense that my whole body was aching.

We trotted once more on the way home, and Ruby did her usual 'we're flying' trot, but mostly we moseyed.  My nerves couldn't take much more drama.  Ruby did get a little nervous when we rode by a home who's yard had a dog that had never had one before, so I think she was possibly more bothered than she let on.   We stopped at one point so I could save a baby soft-shelled turtle from the road.  I would have taken a picture but Ruby is more nervous when I'm not mounted and the new dog was still going nuts barking at us.  I took the little turtle to a ditch full of water which flows into Tenoroc.  We were almost home, so I walked the rest of the way.

We both have freckles :D

Phew, I'm so grateful for this freckle-faced mare who charged into my life last November.  I'm also so glad that Heather didn't want to ride this morning - I don't think Candy would have handled the drama well.  So, what to do about next time?

I'm resisting the urge to carry rocks in my pockets - if I'd had one this morning, I'd probably be in jail right now.  I wear a highlighter yellow safety vest during these rides, but I think I'll order one of these: equestrian road-riding vest.  I like the fact that it has a message across the back, for those drivers who have no horse sense.  I may also order some of their reflective boots for Ruby's legs.  Still, I don't think the guy didn't see me, I think he just didn't care.  I do know he didn't see the dog.  I don't have anything against Archie and I'm glad he didn't get hit either. 

In other news: I hate the gaiters on the Easyboots. The velcro sucks (already falling apart), and when they get wet, they stay wet. And let's face it, in Florida the grass is almost always wet except for a few hours a day.  I've been totally slacking on contacting Mel regarding purchasing used Renegade boots.  For now, I will probably continue to use the Easyboots for trails which have gravel but I won't be buying them again.