Well, I actually have always loved and had an interest in horses but I was scared to ride for a long time. I overcame that fear to impress one of my brothers. He lived a few hours away from us and would come visit for a few days at a time. While he was here he would train some of the young horses. I would work so hard at perfecting my riding skills just to show off when he came to visit.
One of my other brothers and I loved when Clifton visited because we would get up early in the morning and take off riding with a packed lunch. When Mom would ask us what time we would be back Cliff would always say "dark 30". The funny thing is it would always be about what you would consider dark 30 when we would get home.
Riding after dark was always a blast, of course your eyes would adjust as the sun set so it wasn't that big a deal. We liked making our own fireworks by running the horses and doing a sliding stop with plain steel shoes on the paved road. Oh no... right??? lol Well, we didn't think about it being dangerous and honestly the horses were having as much fun as we were.
We made it sort of a family tradition for a number of years when Cliff would visit to go on big trail rides, especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and on those cold days we would radio back to the house with our walkie-talkies when we were about a mile out "ok, start getting the hot chocolate warmed up". I really miss Clifton... he passed away many years ago at the young age of 23, a drunk driver ran a stop light and killed him on impact. I have thought about starting that trail riding tradition back up but I don't think it could ever be the same.
One of my other brothers and I loved when Clifton visited because we would get up early in the morning and take off riding with a packed lunch. When Mom would ask us what time we would be back Cliff would always say "dark 30". The funny thing is it would always be about what you would consider dark 30 when we would get home.
Riding after dark was always a blast, of course your eyes would adjust as the sun set so it wasn't that big a deal. We liked making our own fireworks by running the horses and doing a sliding stop with plain steel shoes on the paved road. Oh no... right??? lol Well, we didn't think about it being dangerous and honestly the horses were having as much fun as we were.
We made it sort of a family tradition for a number of years when Cliff would visit to go on big trail rides, especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and on those cold days we would radio back to the house with our walkie-talkies when we were about a mile out "ok, start getting the hot chocolate warmed up". I really miss Clifton... he passed away many years ago at the young age of 23, a drunk driver ran a stop light and killed him on impact. I have thought about starting that trail riding tradition back up but I don't think it could ever be the same.
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