November Ride

November Ride

Each season presents different sorts of challenges on our rides.  Last month, the problem was with acorns.  It seems it was a bumper year for them, and it was dangerous to go out on a windy day.  I, alone, got hit 3 times this year; once in the hand, once on the leg and once on my head.  The helmet was very helpful... There was one time when I was waiting downs the trail for Ellen to catch up, and it was literally raining acorns everywhere.  (That was the time I got hit in the hand.)  There were several times when each of our horses jumped unexpectedly for no apparent reason, and then immediately calmed right down.  We blamed it on them getting hit with acorns.

In November, our challenge is the leaf blowers.  The park seems to be obsessed with blowing the leaves off the street and the paved bike paths.  These are not your everyday leaf blowers.  These are riding mowers with leaf blower attachments.  They are very loud and annoying.  Most of the time, the horses don't care, but now and then they are blowing in a spot that complicates our ride.  One day, we were on a hill looking down towards the street.  We didn't want to go down it until blower passed us because we needed to cross the street and we didn't want the horses to get worried about it.  The park worker decided that he wouldn't just travel down the street, but he would pick a section and go back and forth like a lawn mower.  We were trapped on the hill for a while because we had no idea where he was going next.

The other morning, Ellen and I were on a ride with Dante and Cole.  Instead of crossing the river, we went across on the river ford.  When we got back on the trail, here came a leaf blower; also across the ford.  We were glad we were up ahead of him this time and not trapped in any way.  We rode to the end of our trail, turned around and headed back home.  The blower caught up with us and passed us.  Through the trees, we could just see the blower--and of course we could hear it.  The horses were fine, and we were happy we dodged that bullet.

As we continued down the trail, we saw another leaf blower coming across the ford.  Such luck--two in a row.  We had a great view of it because we were, once again, on a hill looking down at the street.  The blower crossed the ford to our side--and then decided to go back and forth on the grass to make sure that not one leaf was left.  Ellen normally leads across the ford because she is more comfortable with leading.  I was riding.  We had to cross the street between the leaf blower and the ford.  I knew that Cole wasn't bothered at all by the noise and the activity.  Dante has had so much leaf blower exposure, I felt he would be fine, too.  The question was--how would Ellen feel.

Anyone who has been reading my writings over the years knows that Ellen has a lot of anxieties. She tends to take little problems and blow them all out of proportion.  It is called "reality distortion."  She has a hard time evaluating the situation because her brain gets in the way with all the "what ifs."  A river that is up to our horses' knees appears belly deep to her.  It takes a lot of courage for her to tackle things that the rest of us don't worry about.  She really is the bravest person I know.

I didn't know what she was going to do.  She was in the lead, and much to my amazement, she just marched right across the street and walked Dante to the ford.  

Before I could step on the road, and car suddenly appeared coming around the corner.  There was no way I could cross and catch up with Dante.  We couldn't figure out where the car came from.  The driver did see the situation, and he stopped and let me cross the street.  I gave him a big smile and waved a thank you, and he drove off.  We were still on the street when a police car came around the corner with his lights on.  I just started to mumble, "No siren, no siren."  There was no siren--at least for about 30 seconds.  Evidently, he stopped the driver that just passed us.  We think that he appeared so suddenly when we were crossing because he was speeding.  

Finally, we got across the ford, and I had a chance to talk to Ellen about her bravery.  I asked her how she did it.  She said that she didn't listen to the "what ifs."  Instead, she looked at Dante, and he seemed calm.  She knew he would be all right and so she just marched along with him.  Ellen used her keen powers of observation--and interpreted the world as it really was--not distorted.  I was so proud of her--she was terrific.

December's big challenge is typically the weather--as well as January and February.  At least there won't be any leaf blowers.