The Shrooms!

The Fog...

Highway 9 heading north - fog.  I left home on a gorgeous sunshine morning - but on the far side of Arlington the fog reappeared.  Joyce & I had planned a ride at Bracken Rd.  I was hopeful that it would burn off.

Mushrooms Everywhere!

We were talking about all the mushrooms I'd seen at Victoria, so Joyce, working on a solid state of one-up-man-ship duty :-) - took me over to where she'd seen a cornucopia of the fungi when riding there last weekend!  The numbers, variety, colors that were growing was almost surreal!  I had to dismount & take a photo - it gave us that "Alice in Wonderland" feeling, especially in the fog.

Perfect growing environment~

Farah really seems to like Target, he prefers her in front of him, as do most of the geldings we ride with :-)   This day she was in a very good mood, a change from earlier in the week - when she was a little ornery.  I had an incredible ride this day!  My mare was on her "A" game, acting like a well trained horse.  When she opened up at the trot - we were flying!  Showing more strength than I was aware she had gained over the summer of miles adding up on top of miles.

Coyote

Right in the center of the photo above, in the left "track" is a Big Coyote!  So big - that he could have been a Wolf.  He was so handsome & made eye contact with us as we stood to admire his looks.  Joyce had her dog with us, but the Coyote didn't show any interest.  As we moved further away, I looked back & watched as he circled then laid down!

Golds in the valley`

The sun finally burned through & the woods were covered in yellow & golds.  By the time we arrived at the river it was a perfect Fall day!

Joyce & Target

We're maintaining our position in the Distance Derby, but with the shorter, darker, colder days to come - will be interesting to see if my motivation continues.  When we have friends to ride with - it's easy, but saddling to ride on our own as often as we do - does get lonely on some days.  I know we're lucky to have all the places to ride that we do, but I've picked up a couple maps & would like to explore to see if I can find somewhere new! 

The sun was nice & warm when we returned home, it was earlier in the afternoon, so I gave Farah a warm bath, which she always enjoys & had her dry before the sun set.