Happy Trails

Hmmmm.where should I even start? It's been an incredibly busy summer (is "hectic" too strong of a word?), and a lot has happened around our place. Last weekend our family (everyone except Dad and Nick) had the exciting opportunity to participate in a horseback ride along the Dismal River near Mullen, Nebraska. Our good friend, Mardel, put the ride together, and our group consisted of our family, many of Mardel's siblings, and our friends Neisha Esh from Ohio, and Samantha and Noah Siegmann from Wisconsin. We hit the trail eraly Saturday morning, and with nineteen horses, eighteen riders and two dogs on the trail, we had quite a party going on!

Eleven of the eighteen riders.

The original plan was to begin riding Saturday morning, ride approximately fifteen miles to a campground along the river, then spend the night and ride another fifteen miles on Sunday. All was going well until about 11:30, when the horses broken into a lope, Luke's hat flew off, and Mom's horse shied from it. With quite a bit of grace, Mom slipped to the right side of the horse and landed on the ground on her right arm. Everyone stopped to see if she was okay, but it turned out that she had a broken arm! Plans quickly changed and as Mardel's brother, Casey, used an umbrella as a temporary splint and others went to find cell phone service, we drafted plan B. Lacey would stay behind with Mom and several others to wait for a vehicle to take her to the hospital, and the rest of us would ride on to a nearby campground and wait for pickups and trailers to take us home. Mom was a trooper, but it was hard for all of us to ride away.

Noah and Bristol crossing the river

Although we were heavy-hearted the rest of the day, the campground was beautiful and we pulled out our saddle bags and let the horses graze while we ate lunch.

Noah's gelding, Storm, tried to steal a bit of Sammy's sandwich but she would only give him a kiss!

Havilah and Neisha waiting to load Jane into the trailer

At the end of the day, it turned out to be a happy ride. Mom got her arm set (although it took five hours before she arrived at the hospital to receive treatment), and everyone went back to Mardel's hometown and relaxed. The 2006 Dismal River Ride will certainly be one that we will never forget! A huge "thank you" to Mardel for all the time and effort you put into making our Labor Day weekend the best we've ever had.

Mom is learning to do everything left-handed! She says she can't wait to get back in the saddle.