Back in the saddle

August 26^th

I am so glad I was able to ride again today. My hip still hurt but I chose to ride Selim, a horse with a really comfortable gait. The ride was great until Emelie lost her stirrup during a lope. She held on for quite a while but then she fell. She landed on her side and was really struggling to breathe. We waited with her while Lucy rode home to get the car. They then took her to the hospital. We later heard she had broken a rib which had punctured her lung, really scary! Thankfully they took good care of her at the hospital. That was the third fall in our group, I guess bad things do come in threes.. They hadn’t had any falls that season up until we arrived, apparently we are a clumsy bunch.

After taking the horses back to the ranch we spend the afternoon helping Rachel and Sam built their log cabin. We we’re a little sceptical at first but it was a lot of fun. And we got everything we needed to do done as a team. The next day we went for a ride in the morning after which we headed to Cody to visit Emelie in the hospital. The staff was a bit surprised when such a big group came in, especially when some people started racing the wheelchairs through the hallway. Thankfully, Emelie looked a lot better and she told us she was allowed to come home the next day. After the hospital we went to ‘the Cody Cattle Company’ to celebrate Rachel’s birthday. We had dinner and saw a country music show. We spend the rest of the night in the ‘Cowboy Bar’ in Meteetsee where George and I tried to beat two of the locals at pool. I love the ‘cowboy’ live we’re living here!

Thursday was our last full day at Horseworks. I can’t believe how fast these three weeks went by. Lucy and I got up early that morning to wrangle the horses (I rode a mule for the first time!) and when everyone else had finally woken up we took a couple of the horses to the arena. I rode Buttercup again! She was great, I think she just needs to build up some muscle to balance herself and her rider when she trips. I wish I had more time to work with her.. In the afternoon we were allowed to go on a ride with just our group, with me and Lucy as ‘wranglers’. It was a lovely ride but we took it easy because I didn’t want anyone else falling off. Halfway through we saw a storm coming our way so we had to take a shortcut home. That shortcut led us over a couple of steep slopes. Thankfully everyone was well practiced in the art of riding up and down the hills by then ;) And we got back just before the storm hit!

That night I sat on my cabin porch gazing at the stars. It was a clear night, I could even see the Milky Way. I was really sad I would have to leave the next day. I’ve had such an amazing time in the US and particularly in Wyoming, I wish I could stay here longer…