We ha a great auction last night (Sunday night) at Susan and Duck Smith's property. Cindy's and my donations netted a few hundred dollars towards the FCTA's scholarship pool. (FCTA - Florida Cracker Trail Association) we were pleased that big Brookstone Wines (Cindy) and Shallow Water Designs (Mary) could help out! It was also a BLAST to experience a live auction! I had to sit on my hands! I was afraid that if I scratched my nose I was going to be called as a bidder! Yikes!
We were up at 5:30 this morning to feed the horses and ourselves before Cindy and the other rigs (trucks and trailers) made a dash for the next campsite. Cindy took the bus back to camp and we rode out early, stopping for lunch at Duck's cow pens and a mid-afternoon snack at his horse breeding farm in the east side of Ona, Florida. We reportedly did 22 miles today, and the first 15 or so were on Duck's property, led by Duck Smith himself! We even saw his cattle being driven so expertly!
It reminded me of the president...when Duck stopped we all stopped. When Duck had something to say, we all got quiet and listened. (See photo) That's pretty amazing since he was now being followed by 160 people on horses! He was wonderful and told us all he loved us as we left his land and headed on. We love him, too what a genuinely nice guy!
Once we left his property, riders were allowed to crack their whips and did they! Blondie, the horse I am riding came unglued. She got outside herself. I do everything Cindy had told me today when this happened, but it was not enough. I was doing my best to tear up somebody's front yard on the horse version of doing donuts (circles) and when Cindy said, let's trade horse I just about jumped off and kissed her!
I got on Sombra, who was mildly agitated by the whips, but still in control, as long as her sister was nearby. Blondie was beside herself and Cindy proved herself to be the amazing horsewoman she is. We finished the last 5 miles or so with difficulty, through orange groves full of the scent of their blossoms. The tranquility of the smell was lost on the horses.
When we or to camp, Debbie suggested that Cindy take Blondie to work with "Lee on the Appaloosa". I did not see the session they had but Cindy said it was amazing! Blondie did so well under Lee's instruction! I stayed back at camp, setting up and bathing Sombra. Once Cindy got back with Blondie, I bathed her while Cindy fed them both.
We are both exhausted. It was a heck of a day. As Preacher Mike said while we were dealing with these issues; "This is not a fun ride, this is a hard ride; horses that are normal come unglued and horses that are normally unglued just fit right in." There is never a dull moment on a 900 lb animal with a brain of his own!
Cindy and I are settling in for the night and hope to try this new dry shampoo Bobbie let us borrow since it is now Monday night and we have not showered in 4 days! At least the horses got baths!
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