Down the trail with Lucy ~ June 2013

It's been six months since I've done a riding-with-Lucy post, which seems very odd given that riding Lucy
is such a part of the routine around here. It's just that I never take my camera along for the ride,
and what's the point of a post if there are no pictures?
Anyway, I happened to be talking to Estella (Lucy's former mom) the other day, and I got to thinking

about how stinkin' lucky I am to have Lucy in my life, and how grateful I am to Estella 

for letting Lucy go, and how much Estella loves riding-with-Lucy posts, so here we go.

Here we are at the front gate, deciding which way to go. 

We pick left.

It's 9 a.m. and almost 90 degrees. We take our first of many shade breaks.

I am listening to the audiobook "The Son" by Phillip Meyer. 

Westerns sound much more authentic when listened to in the saddle. 

We ride around for a few hours looking for bones but find none. Maybe next time.

Another uneventful ride comes to an end – no spooks, no balks, no arguments, no drama, 

just a pleasant morning spent on the trail. Uneventful is never boring, it's just fun.

 

We've opened this gate so many times that Lucy doesn't need to be cued. She knows the drill.

I push it aside with my left arm...

We walk through, turn around...

...then sidepass the other direction to close it.

In a few minutes, Lucy will be untacked, served lunch and given a gold star for another excellent performance.

I've said it so many times before, but it bears repeating: