Life is like being on a merry-go-round. You move forward, but it’s always up and down. How simplistic is that?

The day started out well. I got up early, 7 a.m., did my morning chores and then got Tyra ready for a ride. She was clearly up for this. We got the trail mounting block area and I went to get on her and the saddle slipped, nearly under her belly. I removed the saddle and girth, and then resaddled her. I didn’t, until now, think that the crupper was in place. This, along with the saddle around the belly, would have caused an adverse response in most horses. Tyra just stood there. She was antsy because she wanted to get at the grass, but otherwise, she was good.

Pete reading

I looked at this as an opportunity in which to deal with such things – who knows, we may someday do a longer trek, solo, and I’ll have to be confident about dealing with such things.

I rode the bench trail. It was 9:30 a.m. and already getting warm. We stopped a lot so that Tyra could catch her breath. She’s still not in great shape. Rides like today’s ride will take care of this.

We went to the near trail, crossing the muddy spot before what we call the pond. Tyra hesitated, then took it on. And we went down the far trail, the one we call Pete’s trail. This was where Tyra showed me what a great trail horse she is. It was steep and there was a lot of brush and downed trees. I didn’t get off, where it was sketchy I had her back and then go around. Now I love Raudi, but there were places in which she would be bargy and go under, say, an overhanging branch.

Love the horse. This ride was the high point of my day.

Next, I went to town, to the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel. There I categorized the fiction and nonfiction books, for a total of four hours. It just takes single minded intensity of focus in order to get the job done. I often enjoy working alone, and today was one of those days. After, I went and stocked the Buggee Park Little Library. It needed one-and- half boxes of books. So it appears as though it’s again business as usual.

Late this afternoon, I was sitting on the kitchen stairs and went to stand up and felt a sharp pain in my lower back. Same problem as last fall. I could not stand up straight. I hobbled to the living room and laid down on my blue mat. This helped, as did my taking Ibuprofen.

This happened because I did too much lifting. It also happened on the horse trek, but to a lesser degree. We were out on the trail – if this had been this bad there, we would have had to conclude our trip. That this happened at home was fortuitous.

So downs are really ups. They are attitude dependent.

Next: 171. 6/24/24: Dusk at 12 p.m.