Baasha's gonna sleep well tonight. I didn't mean to take a 4.5 hour trailride, but I got so freaking lost. I even started asking EVERYONE I saw out there for help finding my way home. Some girl scouts even gave me a map, and I kept trying to keep our spirits up, because being lost should remind me of home - the Cascade foothills trails, with actual danger when the sun goes down. Not to be unkind, but that girl scout lady was so horse daft. She had this idea in her head that the map, a simple normal piece of paper, was going to scare Baasha as she unfolded it. So she stood at his head, and tried to open it in slow motion, talking to him all the while, "It's OK, no need to worry about the paper. It's OK. Nice and calm.." and he was looking past her at something, and then looking at the grass, trying to get me to drop my reins so he could eat, and honestly, completely ignoring the map lady. How many times has the manager at an orienteering ride handed us our trail maps in the exat same fashion? That's what it felt like, my mind flashing back to good memories. I had a lot of time to think, cuz seriously, she had it only halfway open by now. This was gonna be a while. She kept stroking Baasha, showing him the paper, and I felt like saying, "You can just open it!" but I said nothing, and started going over those funny websites from fugly today in my mind. Oh, yes, those were funny. Has she finished yet with the map? Oh, almost there! One more fold! More soothing talking and stroking....but I have to thank her, I have a cool map now.
Why did we get so lost? It was just my stubbornness to avoid the city streets I used to get out that far - I knew there should be just trails to get back, no roads. I visited one particular intersection in the woods FIVE times. Each time, I took a different path. Each time, it was wrong and I ended up circling back.
Baasha was frustrated, of course, cuz I kept changing my mind when I'd recognize a landmark, and turn him around to try a different trail. He wanted to go back exactly the same way, but it was so long.
When I look at the map now, I can't believe we went that far - and I cannot tell you how we got out there. I intend to go back with the GPS and the map, and really investigate that mystery. It thrills me a little that it's possible to get so lost, and I know I'll learn it eventually.
The neighborhood horses were happy to see us.
You can see the two in the background galloping to the fence to socialize with us.
Look how there is no trace of a winter coat on these horses. Sleek! Too fat, all of them, but totally harmonious, the way they interact. They always came running, this is the third time.
Baasha thinks they are uninteresting.
They are doing everything possible to get his attention and he just wants to get the grass under his nose.
I'll take this one! It looks like Latigo Liz's horse Beuna, doesn't it?
What you can't see in the photo are the studio fans blowing the Icelandic horses' hair for this fashion shoot. hehehhe Look how not-wind-swept Baasha's hair is. HM.
At this Icelandic farm, they have Icelandic horses as far as the eye can see in some fields, and all their tails are cut to this length. I think it's cute, and workmanlike.
Despite my goal to ride completely around this watershed (resevoir), I was very concerned when after several tries to find my way home, I realized I was still on the wrong side of the water! When I realized I was by the NO HORSES ALLOWED damn, I knew I had to try. Guess what, I did it - I rode across the damn. Here's the picture to prove it! I knew I might find a locked gate on the other side, and I was nearly in a panic as I neared the gate.
On my right, the water was just wavy enough to make me dizzy. Or was it the drop off on my left, with water crashing below, so far down, I can't see it? Just look straight ahead! And hope the cops don't come. I could clearly see how far I'd have to ride if the bridge/damn didn't work out. Another 2 hours or so, I figured, as I saw the water stretch out in the distance on either side of me. Please let the gate be open!
We were trotting, maybe even cantering through the watershed main street (leading to the visitor center) because I was so afraid I was trapped in there. Here is the gate as we approached it. I could see that it was open! A big camera looked straight down at it, but I seriously didn't care at that point. I was so tired of being lost!
This is the intimidating view from the other side of the gate. The big old KEEP OUT side.
No way would I enter from that side. Just quickly slipping through from the other side is ok though.
We're about three fields from home by now, and we encountered this fellow, charging around, obviously looking for his buddies. For some reason, his charging around really got Baasha excited, despite all the other galloping horses we'd encountered today. Baasha started jigging. I collected him. I released, he pranced and jigged, tail on fire. I collected him. We went back and forth like this the entire time that spotted horse was in sight. WEIRDY.
Poor guy has the most unfortunate looking head. Someone cut off his mane so he looks baroque. What is it about this horse that got Baasha so revved up? If only Baasha could talk, he could explain.
Babydoll's european boyfriend: )
I loosened the girth and walked the last kilometer. Baasha just wanted to snack on the roadside. I just wanted to get home and tell my man I'm still among the living. Now Baasha's in his stall with an entire new bale of hay, stuffing himself.
He has sweat marks that aren't coming off with a brush, but he can wear them proudly after all that work. I hate forcing him to backtrack, and ride in circles, lost in the woods. Circles are for arenas! Next time: GPS and map, and maybe a cell phone.
Baasha's gonna sleep well tonight. I didn't mean to take a 4.5 hour trailride, but I got so freaking lost. I even started asking EVERYONE I saw out there for help finding my way home. Some girl scouts even gave me a map, and I kept trying to keep our spirits up, because being lost should remind me of home - the Cascade foothills trails, with actual danger when the sun goes down. Not to be unkind, but that girl scout lady was so horse daft. She had this idea in her head that the map, a simple normal piece of paper, was going to scare Baasha as she unfolded it. So she stood at his head, and tried to open it in slow motion, talking to him all the while, "It's OK, no need to worry about the paper. It's OK. Nice and calm.." and he was looking past her at something, and then looking at the grass, trying to get me to drop my reins so he could eat, and honestly, completely ignoring the map lady. How many times has the manager at an orienteering ride handed us our trail maps in the exat same fashion? That's what it felt like, my mind flashing back to good memories. I had a lot of time to think, cuz seriously, she had it only halfway open by now. This was gonna be a while. She kept stroking Baasha, showing him the paper, and I felt like saying, "You can just open it!" but I said nothing, and started going over those funny websites from fugly today in my mind. Oh, yes, those were funny. Has she finished yet with the map? Oh, almost there! One more fold! More soothing talking and stroking....but I have to thank her, I have a cool map now.
Why did we get so lost? It was just my stubbornness to avoid the city streets I used to get out that far - I knew there should be just trails to get back, no roads. I visited one particular intersection in the woods FIVE times. Each time, I took a different path. Each time, it was wrong and I ended up circling back. 
Baasha was frustrated, of course, cuz I kept changing my mind when I'd recognize a landmark, and turn him around to try a different trail. He wanted to go back exactly the same way, but it was so long. 
When I look at the map now, I can't believe we went that far - and I cannot tell you how we got out there. I intend to go back with the GPS and the map, and really investigate that mystery. It thrills me a little that it's possible to get so lost, and I know I'll learn it eventually.
The neighborhood horses were happy to see us. 
You can see the two in the background galloping to the fence to socialize with us.
Look how there is no trace of a winter coat on these horses. Sleek! Too fat, all of them, but totally harmonious, the way they interact. They always came running, this is the third time. 
Baasha thinks they are uninteresting. 
They are doing everything possible to get his attention and he just wants to get the grass under his nose.
I'll take this one! It looks like Latigo Liz's horse Beuna, doesn't it? 
What you can't see in the photo are the studio fans blowing the Icelandic horses' hair for this fashion shoot. hehehhe Look how not-wind-swept Baasha's hair is. HM.
At this Icelandic farm, they have Icelandic horses as far as the eye can see in some fields, and all their tails are cut to this length. I think it's cute, and workmanlike.
Despite my goal to ride completely around this watershed (resevoir), I was very concerned when after several tries to find my way home, I realized I was still on the wrong side of the water! When I realized I was by the NO HORSES ALLOWED damn, I knew I had to try. Guess what, I did it - I rode across the damn. Here's the picture to prove it! I knew I might find a locked gate on the other side, and I was nearly in a panic as I neared the gate.
On my right, the water was just wavy enough to make me dizzy. Or was it the drop off on my left, with water crashing below, so far down, I can't see it? Just look straight ahead! And hope the cops don't come. I could clearly see how far I'd have to ride if the bridge/damn didn't work out. Another 2 hours or so, I figured, as I saw the water stretch out in the distance on either side of me. Please let the gate be open!
We were trotting, maybe even cantering through the watershed main street (leading to the visitor center) because I was so afraid I was trapped in there. Here is the gate as we approached it. I could see that it was open! A big camera looked straight down at it, but I seriously didn't care at that point. I was so tired of being lost!
This is the intimidating view from the other side of the gate. The big old KEEP OUT side. 
No way would I enter from that side. Just quickly slipping through from the other side is ok though.
We're about three fields from home by now, and we encountered this fellow, charging around, obviously looking for his buddies. For some reason, his charging around really got Baasha excited, despite all the other galloping horses we'd encountered today. Baasha started jigging. I collected him. I released, he pranced and jigged, tail on fire. I collected him. We went back and forth like this the entire time that spotted horse was in sight. WEIRDY. 
Poor guy has the most unfortunate looking head. Someone cut off his mane so he looks baroque. What is it about this horse that got Baasha so revved up? If only Baasha could talk, he could explain.
Babydoll's european boyfriend: )
I loosened the girth and walked the last kilometer. Baasha just wanted to snack on the roadside. I just wanted to get home and tell my man I'm still among the living. Now Baasha's in his stall with an entire new bale of hay, stuffing himself. 
He has sweat marks that aren't coming off with a brush, but he can wear them proudly after all that work. I hate forcing him to backtrack, and ride in circles, lost in the woods. Circles are for arenas! Next time: GPS and map, and maybe a cell phone.
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14 comments:
Um, yeah. Cell phone? GPS? Map? And you call yourself a geocacher???
Sheesh.
I like the pix of Baby Doll's european cousin. He looks very...primitive.
Bad luck getting lost. A map and compass might be useful in future. Dense forest can seem quite confusing otherwise. I spent a couple of hours circling a Moldavian wood like that one, pity that they had no maps. It's odd how some people think that horses "must" be frightened of maps. But not all. A while back a cyclist just unfolded a huge map to ask me where he was. Luckily the big roan stallion wasn't going to let a mere map distract him from eating the whole grass verge to save himself from certain starvation!
I thought that, historically, the main threat to dams in your area was the RAF rather than horses.
Lytha-
I will come back when I have more time to read this great post, but I wanted to take a minute to let you know that I just passed the Intrepid Rider Award on to you and Baasha.
How fitting, right??? LOL!!! :)
You've done orienteering? Well, tell us some stories. I'm thinking that once I get all the horses out on the trails and start getting bored with that, I'd like to look into orienteering. I'm glad you didn't give the map lady a hard time. It's rare to find anyone around here who is that sensitive to horse behavior. I wish she could move in next door to me. I was saying hello to some new boarders who were riding up the street while I was training Gabbrielle, and my neighbor dropped a huge piece of sheet metal on his driveway.
Oh my goodness! What a trip!! Sounded like a really fun adventure. I am glad you found your way home. That Dam sounded a bit scary!! Loved the pictures and I chuckled at Baby Doll's boyfriend!! I am not sure she likes the beefy head!! LOL!!
What a ride! It reminds me of the time I took a 6 mile hike alone in the mountains and it ended up being about 12-13 miles and 5 hours later before I found civilization.
LOL- yes, that gelding is colored like Baby Doll, isn't he? But the poor thing has such a short, fat neck!
Ok, I really did laugh out loud at Julian's comment.
I love these photo journeys of your strange new land, Lythia! I don't always comment, but I do always enjoy them. Thank you for sharing them with us :)
Lytha--I know how frustrating that must have been! And being alone without someone to confer with must have added to the annoyance of going in constant circles! Great experience for you both tho!
Do you not have a cell phone just in case something were to happen to you? I am constantly lecturing my friend who goes on LONG solo rides with no cell phone and NO helmet. I've told her she's a friggin' IDIOT many times,(mainly b/c of the NO helmet as you can't really get cell reception in most of the areas we trail ride...) so I think I've convinced her to wear the helmet when she's by herself, and she now does carry the cell phone. Once, when myself and two friends were away on a trail riding weekend we set out to do a 10 mile trail and thought we'd be back WAY before it got dark!!!! WRONG! And we got a bit (ok, a LOT) lost. We were reading the trail markers by the light of a cell phone! My friends were having a ball, but I was worried how my horse was going to do.. He's a greenie. He handled it like a PRO an that was the night that I knew he was my forever horse. Mr. Reliable. He is truly SO awsome. When we arrived back at camp our neighbors had called the park ranger to report us missing, they said folks get lost all the time after dark and they have to go FIND them!!!
So--Im glad you got back and that they hadn't called out the search & rescue team!!! Nice horses you met on the way...the one DID have quite the baroque look to him, I agree!
:) --Mindy
Now that's an adventure. Hopefully, the cameras by the gate aren't like the red light cameras here in the States, where you get a ticket if you're caught on camera running a red light. Yes, I got one this week :-(
are all those horses fenced in with barbed wire? is that common? is that all they use in germany?
Aarene, next time we'll do it right.
WHP, the biggest threats here are outside influences that might change the way of life. (I feel the same about my home, but the threats are internal.)
Melanie, thanks!
NM, you can do mounted orienteering in Nevada? I didn't know that! I wish I could still do it here - it's so incredibly fun! Don't get me started about orienteering or I won't shut up! Here's the website: www.nacmo.org
Andrea, that was a beefy head! That's the word I was looking for! His eyes were right up at his ears.
FV, sometimes it's a good thing to trust the horse to get you home, and sometimes not. How do we know which is the right scenario, out there?: )
Funder, it is so very strange!
Jacksonsgirl, I've had search parties out for me a few times, it's so embarrassing, but those people love riding out to find lost riders, they thrive on it! (I'm referring to the times I've gotten lost during a mounted orienteering ride, and when the other riders re-saddle and go look for me.)
Leah, you have those cameras in Texas? I think we have some new ones in Seattle too for red lights, but here in Germany they're all set up to catch speeders. I've been photographed twice now and it's so humiliating to get that photo in the mail.
Amy, there is a lot of barbed wire here used for horses. Sometimes the people run a strand of electric wire to keep the horses back from it, but still, it's there, and shouldn't be. All the photos in this post showed strands of electric wire, however. Practically invisible, but somehow holding all those horses in. Most people here use electric, with battery chargers cuz they usually have their fields way out far from their homes. I think people are slowly doing away with barbed wire for horses though, it's just not all gone yet. I heard a rumor in North Germany it's illegal to put a horse behind barbed wire. I hope that's true!
You live in a beautiful area! Im originally from Oregon but now live in the netherlands. We'll be crossing over the border into germany though to buy a home. Germany reminds me more of home than the netherlands do. The pictures you took remind me so much of Oregon.
LOL! Trying to play catch-up on your blog. You've been so busy!
LOL! On Baby Doll's European Boyfriend. Strangely enough, when I first saw the pic, I was thinking you were going to say something about Baby Doll! lol!
He has a wonky head and fat neck, doesn't he? He's like the Arnold Schwarzenegger of horses.....looks like he's on steroids with the fat neck, too. hah!
Baby Doll might like him, though. His shaved mane gives him that 'military' look. hehe!
Does that horse riding sign with a circle on it, mean that horses are allowed? Or not? Over here, it would mean yes, unless it has a red slash through the picture.
What a crazy ride...but so thrilling, too!
What fun adventures you and Baasha have to look forward to every week. I look forward to reading and seeing more!
~Lisa
Lisa, it took me forever to understand that any sign with a red circle around it means prohibited. I know, my American mind always thinks if it's crossed out, it's not allowed. So a nice big black and white horse pictured on a sign with a red border, I thought "Yay, horses allowed" but had to really force myself to reverse my reaction to that.
Most signs you see here are symbolic, cuz all the foreign nations here are so close and they don't expect drivers to speak German. America is famous for roadsigns that contain almost a paragraph of instructions. It boggled my husband's mind his first time driving there. He asked me, "Was I supposed to be able to read that entire sign as I drive on the freeway?" Yup.
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