Still updating.... (just in a different post because of being a different subject).

Sandy gave me the best birthday present of all! She'd asked me the other day what I'd like to do, ideally, for my b-day, and I'd said 'Oh, if I could do anything, I'd go horseback riding, but that won't work. Mom and Dad are coming, etc, etc.' So this morning, she said she'd fixed it all up!
We had a beautiful ride. I think I was on the tallest horse I've ever been on - or nearly, if not quite. His back was at about my chin level, and the stirrups were almost to my waist. I had to climb onto the back of the four-wheeler to get on, and I didn't dare get off during the ride, for fear of never getting back on again!
We went along a sandy dirt road that made a big loop down the hills into the river bottom and back up again. Horse A (mine - we never did learn their names, bad us) was of two minds about this riding business. He rather thought he liked it at first, and we did a bit of trotting and cantering; then he seemed to realize we were Going Farther, and got a little rebellious. But after going in circles in the road for a while (because he wouldn't go forward and I wouldn't go backward!), we came to an agreement: he would do what I said. ;) And, as I said, the ride was beautiful. It wound down through pine and aspen trees, along the river, back up through a thick grassy sward, and took us about 2 hours total. The whole time, the mountains to the east were visible, snowy and with the sun lighting them up. For a while, after we turned on the loop and were heading back again, the river was just beside us, those mountains were in the background, and I felt like we really should be on the front cover of a Country Magazine!
When we got back, it took me a few minutes to straighten my knees back out to walking position - along with being one of the tallest horses I've ever ridden, he was getting close to being the largest, too. Oh glorious day. :D