Friday, September 2, 2016

Why I Don't Trail Ride In The Summer

If you recall last summer I wrote about the trail ride from hell.  I attempted to pony Stinker off of another boarders horse durning his rehab and well we ran into a bit of a spider problem.  Big ugly spiders everywhere.

This little guy was in the bathroom at work (not scary like the spiders)

Friday evening I was feeling lazy and it was getting close to being dark, and I got the bright idea of taking Stinker for a trail ride.  I figured we could wander the paths and it would be a good change of pace.  It was a good change of pace, except I forgot about the #$#@* spiders.  And since it was getting dark, I couldn't see the webs at all.

Of course rather than change the plan, I just ducked and clung to his neck like a monkey and prayed.  He was really good and was happy to truck along on a loose rein.  There was even someone shooting somewhere and he was chill enough to grab a couple bites of grass.  Typically I would discourage that behavior, but since he wasn't a hot tense anxious mess I let it slide.

No spiders here

On the way back from the fields we caught a spider.  The web was stuck between Stinker's ears (at least it wasn't me?) and I could see the spider crawling on his ears.  Of course I start freaking out, because how the hell am I supposed to get the spider off?  Who the hell wants a giant spider crawling on their not so steady horse?  The last thing I needed was to get dumped because of a freaking spider.

I was trying to come up with a plan of how to get the spider off when I noticed it was hanging off Stinker's nose.  I was hoping it would drop onto the ground, but Stinker started tossing his head.  The spider decided that his face was a better place to be, so it started crawling back up.  I will admit I started squealing at this point.  Stinker then starts biting at the spider as it is swinging from his nose.  WTF horse!  You don't want that damn thing in your mouth.

From a much more peaceful ride

I honestly don't know what happened to the spider, because it disappeared from my view and didn't reappear.  I am going with it got smart and dropped off onto the trail.  All I know is I am not going for any more trail rides in the summer, I was convinced I had a spider on me for the rest of time, and my horse was actually really good.  He didn't freak out when I was ducking, he didn't freak out when I was freaking out, and he walked the whole time with minimal fussing.  I see more trail riding in the WINTER when there aren't the freaking spiders.

14 comments:

  1. On a scale of penny to half dollar, how big are the spiders? :P I'm glad that he was so good on your ride!!! That's awesome! I wish I had trail access...not sad about the lack of massive spiders in my life, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Without legs they are small (dime to penny size) with legs over the half dollar size.

      Delete
  2. I'm dying at the mental image of Stinker biting at a spider hanging off his nose 😂 I probably end up with 10+ spider webs on my face evey trail ride because Ruby loves to lead and she's pretty tall. Rough on me, but everyone else on the ride appreciates it in sure...haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is pretty funny now... I needed some time to appreciate the humor of the situation. 😁

      Delete
  3. And now I'm going to be even more paranoid when I walk through webs... but the imagery of a spider on Stinker's face still has me laughing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We all need a little humor on Fridays. I'm chuckling thinking back on it now.

      Delete
  4. Yay that Stinker was such a champ, Boo for spiders! At least they eat other bugs?

    At certain times of the year I see lots of spiders and webs on my trail rides, but luckily they are all close to ground level. Really, there's no vegetation around here that's higher than my knees while mounted so spiders can't get anywhere near my face, a fact I am supremely grateful for after reading your story! That said, BO found both a rattlesnake and a black widow spider on the property last week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind the non poisonous spiders as long as they aren't on me or my horse. They serve a purpose that I appreciate greatly. Rattlesnakes are a big fat nope for me. I'll take the spider on Stinker over them. :)

      Delete
  5. omg noooooooooo :(

    also this is basically why i always carry a fly whisk on the trails: spider web clearance. i mean, yea it's good for swatting at the flies and such... but nothing quite matches that hair-raising, goosebump-inducing, hollow-pit-in-the-stomach feeling when you ride through some giant web and just KNOW that there are SPIDERS EVERYWHERE OMG.

    also. if the woods are burning... uh, it totally wasn't me....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to carry a dressage whip (all the farther to stay away from them) but Stinker has very clear opinions on whips so that is a no go.

      I won't say anything if I hear about a "wildfire" in MD ;)

      Delete
  6. Sorry- I laughed at you. Truth is I would have freaked out as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laughter is the best medicine. I kinda wish there was video of my squealing when he started biting at it.

      Delete
  7. Hahaha oh man! Spiders are gross. I would have been freaking out too!

    ReplyDelete