I did not go to the historic Eagle Hotel today. Instead, I stayed home. Early on, Pete rode Tyra and I rode Hrimmi. I had not ridden Hrimmi with another horse in some time – I thought that this would be a welcome change for her.

Hrimmi was much the same, focusing on getting as much grass into her belly as she could. Every so often she’d look up and took note of the fact that Tyra was a short ways ahead of her, and move a bit faster so as to catch up.

She wasn’t paying attention to where the trees by the sides of the trail were located. This became apparent when we closed in on the trail leading up the bench. She didn’t look where she was going, and consequently slammed my left knee into the side of a tree. I saw what was going to happen, but too late. The knee (fortunately) was not broken, but it is badly bruised. I can still walk on it. And (fortunately) my hip was not affected.

Pam and Karl on goat day

You can’t punish horses. They don’t have a prefrontal cortex, so any kind of admonishment makes absolutely no sense to them. It does make sense to me. Therein lies considerable disconnect.

After riding Hrimmi, I rode Raudi, who does, even when she’s not paying attention, puts some distance between herself, the rider, and trees. In general, smaller horses, who have a better sense of spatial relations, do better with this kind of thing.

Raudi didn’t have this going for her the time she unseated me and got a stick wedged in her thigh.

I am now looking at the week ahead, because this is what people do on Sundays.

I am going to talk tomorrow afternoon with the chiropractor about my options regarding my hip. Of course, it has not seized up now in a few days, not even when my leg hit the tree. There is no way of knowing if it’s better or not.

I must remember to take books and put them in the chiropractor’s bookcase.

The BLBP board meeting is tomorrow night. Once again, I will beg, plea, and attempt to coerce BLBP Board members into giving me more of an assist. This does not seem to work.

Tomorrow, after the meeting, Pete will give his brother Pat a ride to the airport. They took off yesterday for Talkeetna and stayed at a place that’s on the grid. This means they got showers and had a bed with a mattress to sleep in. They will head home tomorrow night and will take the Red Eye flight to Los Angeles.

Tuesday through Friday, busy. Saturday, the question is, is it or is it not going to rain on Saturday, the day of the Alaska State Fair? I have the books ready to rubber band – the two boxes are of equal weight – we’ll put them in the pack saddle and giddy up.

It’s been a long day. I am now ready to giddy down.

Next: 219. August 12, 2024: “All Right”