I saw a big truck coming off of Elliot Road so I reconsidered our usual route, I needed a change anyway. We took Stateline Road today instead. It turns to gravel not far from the Elliot. We crossed the railroad tracks and as we did I looked over to my right (the direction of the grain elevator) and saw train headlights! What!? Oh crap, better get some wings and get the heck away from there...we proceeded up Stateline road at a trot. When we were about 1/4 mi from the tracks I stopped and let Sinwaan munch on the roadside wheat heads. I could hear the train coming...chug chug chug and a wooo wooo at the Elliot Road crossing. This train was not moving very fast at all chug chug chug and then it got to the Stateline intersection and we watched it wooooo wooooo wo wooooo as it crossed over. It was loud and we were not very close to it. Sinwaan did awesome, kept an eye on it but was happy with the wheat distraction as well. Ok well that threat is past, on up the road we go.
I didn't have a plan tonight at all, and Stateline road didn't look very long. (It is actually 1.6 mi) We walked past a road sign on our right that said Buchanan Lane. I thought about riding down it but then I saw two signs "Keep Out" and "Private Drive." Well darn. So up to the stop sign we went. Here Stateline road intersects and ends at Powerline Road. The traffic on Powerline moves along at a pretty fast rate, so I didn't want to attempt that on the shoulder. The field to our right had been plowed and the footing looked good so I decided to ride in it and stay to the edge. We hadn't been in the field long when I looked back and there was a semi-truck just hauling up Stateline like he had some place to be, and quick. I was really glad we were not sharing a road with him at that moment. The dust was pretty thick and billowed out behind him.
We were about 3 horse widths into the field and we walked and trotted as long as we could. Eventually the field ended and I was not sure what to do. Initially I had thought perhaps I could make it over to Birch Creek Road and that would take me to Elliot and then on home the usual way (this round trip would have been 6.4 mi according to Google maps, which I am not sure that I believe). But there was no shoulder on the right side of the road, hilly with fast traffic just seemed like an accident waiting to happen. I saw what looked like a farm road across the street but wasn't sure if going on it would be considered trespassing and I didn't want any trouble. I decided to turn around and go back the way I came.
Sinwaan wanted to GO, even with all that working going along in the plowed field, he always knows the way home. He started jogging, which was good for me since he finally was doing something faster than a walk that I didn't have to post. It was pretty cool, even if he was misbehaving a little. His head was sky high and he kept asking for more. A couple of times he got real pushy and tossed his head and acted up and I turned him around and made him trot back the other direction. This helped a lot and he settled in and behaved after that.
Back on Stateline road there was a slight hill at the intersection and we walked down that but then I let him go and we trotted fast until I saw a car headed towards us. We got really lucky this ride with traffic, always missing it until now. The car was courteous and slowed down as it passed us. Sinwaan didn't mind it and we went onward. I could tell he wanted to run and had been behaving himself this stretch so I asked for the canter and off we went, soon a gallop. Sinwaan thought he saw something (likely a shadow from the graded road, or some trash on the edge) and jumped to the other side and then threatened to buck but I got a handle on him and kept him going and we had no trouble. We were back to the pavement in no time and we walked the rest of the way home.
I untacked and went looking for Darold's clippers. He said he had some and I could borrow them. Ah ha, there they are! I put Sinwaan in the cross-ties and got to work. He was a bit agitated (for some reason baby flies swarmed his back just then) and didn't love the clippers but I was able to get his bridlepath done, fetlock hairs and jawline done before dark. I figured that was enough for the evening and I put him away and threw him a flake of hay.
Another boarder was there, she owns the "pony" Garreth who is taller than Sinwaan. She asked me if I was going somewhere. I said 'no, we are done here for the evening.' And then I thought about it and said "oh you mean because I clipped him?" She grinned and said yes...I told her I had entered him in the open show at the Fair and she said she had entered Garreth also, but it sounds like they are doing pretty much everything, english and driving as well as halter. Sinwaan won't be in the same class as him because he is four years old and that is the cut off for the younger class. I told her she would be showing against a little Arab filly that I know and she said "oh, we only entered halter because we paid for all day, he won't do anything, he isn't a halter horse." I guess she had been away last week at a breed show and he didn't do so well there either.
We chatted more about showing and I finally got home about 9 pm.
Looking at the map below, I was surprised when it said we had done exactly 6 miles this evening. It was a good ride!
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