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9/7/08, Rutland, VT - Sometime in the night, the heavy rain of the previous evening faded away, leaving a chilly morning, with clouds obscuring the mountain tops. We were hitched an on the road about 9 am. The horses were burning off their morning oats and trotted for the first couple of miles. About this time I came across my first rider for the day. Kate, my hostess a couple of evenings back pulled up alongside to take a couple of pictures and give me a thank you note from her homeschooler class. I offered her to ride along and she readily accepted.
3 miles further down the road, we ran into Dick Isom and his wife. Dick was a friend from Seabrook Station, where I used to hang my hat when I was a member of the American workforce. I offered his wife an opportunity to ride and she gladly accepted. We drove through some scenic countryside and towns, before stopping for lunch at a beautiful grassy turn out along the river. After the horses were watered and grained we sat down to a nice lunch of Cabot cheese and crackers, with some fresh tomatoes and a bottle of good red wine (sacrifices have to made when you’re roughing it on the wagon.) The sun came out just prior to lunch and it warmed up to a comfortable temperature.
Dick, his wife and Kate departed at lunch time, but I was joined by local resident Loraine for the afternoon ride. A few miles farther down the road, Angie Gates and her two daughters joined us on the wagon for the last few miles of the day. The Gates had spoken to us a couple of times earlier in the day and the girls were very excited about the horses and wagon.
I’m camped tonight at a very nice horse farm. My hostess, Sue, was gracious enough to turn her beautiful Warmbloods into the barn so my horses could have the 6 acres of pasture for the night - the team is living large tonight! Sue is a very accomplished dressage rider and had a barn full of ribbons to prove it.
The horses are really starting to come together as a team. The improvement in the last few days has been remarkable. Maybe they’re inspired by all the treats they get fed by the people they meet. As an example, today, they were fed carrots four times and apples twice.
Good night everyone!
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