Arabians Ride Again

JJ Works Out

I woke up feeling a little "undercharged," and suspect it might have been a reaction to the flu shot. It left my tummy and my breakfast at odds, so I was not well fed for the morning.

I did go over to Christina's barn as we'd planned to take JJ and her youngster, Nordisk on a trail ride. Christina wasn't feeling 100% either. She's been taking a boot camp exercise class and worked out really hard this morning, so she too was a bit out of sorts.

But that never stopped the intrepid duo.  JJ almost did, however. During the week he had banged up his left hind leg pretty dramatically and later in the week had banged his eye or irritated it with rubbing on something. Today, though, his eye looked pretty good and by the time I'd gotten there, Chris had bandaged both of his hind legs with working wraps, so he was ready to go after a nice grooming.

We both decided to just take it easy with no trotting.  We went along the cornfield that surrounds the Van Dyke Farm--the farm we worked so hard to preserve. Then we rode under the power lines, did a hairpin turn and came back along the back of the cornfield to the dirt road where we'd started.

With a good number of breaks to let the horses nibble grass and for Nordisk to play in the mud puddles, the ride took about an hour and a half.

On the way back, as we edged along the road, a car came rushing along towards us. Christina waved her arm trying to slow it down, but all the driver did was move over into the other lane and not slow at all. Chris yelled, and to my surprise, the car stopped.

Now, please note: In New Jersey, motor vehicles are supposed to slow down to 25 mph when horses are present and to obey any signals from the rider.

A car just before this one had stopped for us and then passed really slowly.  Chris and JJ had been hit by a car last year, so she is really sensitive about it.  The car's driver, a woman, got out and tried to make nice with Nordisk while Chris continued to berate her. She made it clear the woman had broken the law and threatened to call the police.

It was not a pretty scene, but I suspect that woman will think twice about flying past horses and riders next time. At least I hope she does.

Fact is, most drivers do not know the law. There are road signs which can be posted about the regulations, but when we approached out Township government about putting some up on these "horsey" roads of ours, there was no money in the budget.

I suppose we could start a fundraiser to buy a few, but I still think there are regulations about posting them.

In the meantime, we just may make our own sign and post it on the lawn in front of the farm.(I don't need one here at my house because I would NEVER risk riding my horse on my road, and there really is no place to ride on the other side, so I don't need to cross the road when I go out on trails. )

One more idea to ponder.