Wrangler Scott had told us that all of the horses had been trained how to Stop, Go, Backup and Turn. He showed us how to hold the reins and make the horse move and stop. The reins were kind've like operating a joystick. Pushing forward and making a sucking sound with your mouth or saying "git" made the horse go forward. Pulling on the reins and saying something like "whoa" make him stop. Holding the reins on the left hand side of the horses head made him go left and right, right. Now if your horse was not obedient, you would have to pull hard on the reins. The horse does not like his head yanked and will obey begrudgingly. An unruly horse is no fun Scott said. The whole ride can be brutal if you have a horse that wants to do His own thing. On the other hand if the horse respects you, and you respect your horse, then the ride would be a wonderful experience for both of you. Although there were some horses that needed to be slapped with the reins and kicked in the sides, RAZZ was obedient and obeyed my commands. Perhaps me singing all of my cowboy tunes I knew helped. Of course I sang some good ole gospel tunes too and longed for my accordion. Razz seemed content. At lunch time we dismounted and tied our horses to the trees outlining the meadow atop a big hill that overlooked Butte Creek. The bowline knot is used to tie the horse's lead rope and is useful because it is a knot that is both easy to untie quickly and yet won't slip. Wrangler Scott also told us that the horses hadn't figured out how to untie it. We had used the square knot to tie our backpacks to the back and sides of the horses using the leather ties that hung from the saddle. We got out our lunches from our packs and let the horses rest. Most of us sat next to our horses. I guess we felt they needed company and had been pretty loyal thus far. We also fed them carrots and apple pieces. Although Razz had eaten plenty along the trail and couldn't possibly be hungry....... _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
