shhhhh....c'mere....I have a secret....

I did something today...something I had not done in a long time. But Oh....it was SO fun...and it was CHILDLESS...and it was decadent. I did have a lot of fun, and I shared it with a few others.

Wanna guess?
It involved this:


And this:


Any guesses?

Well, THIS should give it away:


Yup...that's a STIRRUP....and it belongs on THIS:


And THAT was on THIS:

THIS IS SECRET.
Yes, that is her name. I went riding today, for the first time in a LONG, LONG time...and I loved it. My horse, Secret was about 15 hands tall, with lots of spirit. But I was able to handle her without problems.

It all started when Ginny, one of the band spouses, asked if any of us were interested in going riding. We had a nice little group of 4 (though we could have had 5, but a "non-band wife" was supposed to come and she cancelled at the last minute). Kim C., Laura A., Ginny H., and myself. We had 3 riders from the ranch with us too. Ginny had NO experience riding (but in the end, I think she had the MOST fun of us all). We gathered this morning at MWR and they drove us to the ranch. We were assigned horses and got used to them in the arena, and then they took us out onto the open prairie.

My view - the softest ears around!

Wild Sunflowers are in bloom all over Kansas

One of the many beautiful vistas on the Kansas Prairie
The Band Gang: Ginny, Laura, Kim and Me

Tagalong rider - a grasshopper rests on the toe of my boot. He stayed there for quite awhile, too!

We rode for the better part of an hour and all enjoyed ourselves. We learned a bit about the prairie from our trail guide and just had a really nice time. The weather was perfect, with a nice breeze and cooler temps in the morning. All in all, I think we all had fun, and we all want to go back again!

Back at the stables after our ride, while waiting to dismount.

Pretty Secret - takes a well-deserved rest