More adventures in the West

It's been quiet at the ranch this past week, the last interns of the July session left last weekend so it's just been Hannah, Tiffany and me this week. Tiffany is going to College in Powell so she was here this week to sort out some stuff. It was nice to have some down time but I really miss everyone... I'm looking forward to meeting the new group, they will arrive today, and seeing Lucy again.

During the third week of the July session the group was a bit smaller so we were able to take the horses on the trailer to Wind River in the Shoshone forest. We rode two different trails, one along the creek and one that went into the mountains. It was beautiful out there, all the trees where a nice change from the sagebrush we have around here. After the rides we left the horses in a paddock and took the car further into the mountains to an abandoned minetown. It was eerie to see the buildings, some of them still mostly intact and with some of the machinery still there. When I walked around what seemed to be the main storage building, one of the windows creaked open, creepy!

We also went to the Buffalo Bill centre, which holds five museums. I can't believe I, as a museum lover, didn't go there last time. We spend two afternoons in the different museums, it was very interesting and the set up was really nice. I loved learning more about  Buffalo Bill/General Cody, who gave the town his name. His Wild West show was a huge event that travelled all over the world, with people from all different backgrounds. It shaped the way people saw the American Wild West.

Of course we did lots of riding as well, we went on another sunrise ride, we went to the coalmine (and didn't get blown up!), I found out Pirouette likes taking naps in streams and reservoirs, I worked with Buttercup again and I started working with one of the young horses named Sage. It is so good to see how fast the young ones improve. The first time I tried, he was terrified of the saddle pad but yesterday I could even put the saddle on him. I did a lot of arena work with Pirouette, she has calmed down a bit and we make a pretty good team now I think. She is a really sensitive horse and you can tell she has been trained well. Hannah and I went out to check on some of our other horses in a different pasture the other day. Unfortunately the mule that was there decided to try and jump on Pirouette. Thankfully Hannah protected us ;)

On Thursday we went to Riverton, where a county fair was being held. I was quite surprised because I just expected rides, like a 'kermis' back home, but this one also had 'exhibits' with sheep, pigs, cows, rabbits and chickens. The funniest thing was all the sheep with blankets on, I could picture my dad putting blankets on all of his sheep, ridiculous. They also had prices for best hay, wool and the regular stuff like baking, arts & crafts etc. There were even races with barn animals, we saw a turkey race! I probably sound like someone who has never been abroad before but it was quite funny to see the difference with a fair back home.