We passed these three while riding today. From a distance, we thought, wow, that's a BIG dog.

Then we got closer, and we could see that she was actually walking her pony. We've never seen them out riding before, and thought it was pretty cute.

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Here's something interesting we read about on Mustang Cowboys.
We love to go on trail rides up in the mountains near our home, and more than once have stayed out just a little longer than we should have and found ourselves making our way home in the dark. We've wondered how well our horses can see, and have done some reading on the subject. Evidently they can see quite well at night.

Via Equis.com 

Even when daylight hours are short, you needn't restrict your riding times to places with full natural or artificial lighting. Horses have excellent night vision, and on a night lit by a partial moon or by bright stars alone, normally sighted horses can see as well as you do in full daylight.

Riding in the dark does make some riders queasy, but mounted horses are perfectly capable of safely negotiating open fields and lightly wooded areas after sunset. The extreme darkness of dense woods and those rare pitch-black nights isn't entirely suitable for riding, but in familiar territory your horse can navigate well enough when you allow him to choose his own path.

Horses require approximately 15 minutes for their vision to adjust when moving between differently lighted environments. Remain on familiar paths and keep to a slow pace after emerging from a brightly lighted barn for an unlighted evening ride or when turning horses out for the night.

Sudden brightness takes an equal amount of adjustment, as you notice each time you flip the barn light switch for the predawn feeding: Every occupant squints and blinks until his eyes adapt.

So, in most cases the horses can see better than we do at night, but can others see us? Saddlelights are a headlight sort of gadget that attaches to your horses breast collar. Check it out at saddlelights. We'll be giving them a try soon.

When we ride to the beaver ponds we pass by Gandalf's house. Gandalf is a Great Pyrenees.

He's a pretty dog.
He spends most of his time on the roof of his house. He has a spot staked out, as you can see in the picture. It's his favorite place to lounge around. We don't know why he likes to roof so much, maybe he feels like he can better keep an eye an his property from up there.

We've tried to sneak by, but the horses aren't that good at tiptoeing. Everytime, without doubt, when we near Gandalf's house he's on full alert. He stands up, watching us from his roof, and when he feels like we've crossed some imaginary line he comes bounding down, off the roof, onto the road, barking up a storm.

Galdalf is pretty big, and despite the fact that the horses have been through this drill countless times, they just don't like Gandalf jumping off the roof and tearing towards them.

We've tried to convince Gandalf that we're his friends, but for now, we try to respect his boundaries and pass by his house as fast as possible. The other day he actually seemed to linger a little longer tha normal on the roof before running toward us, so maybe friendship is in the future!

I admit it. Every time we drive past a golf course I dream of cantering across it. It's just so tempting. Perfect rolling hills of soft green grass.

It's not that I don't like golfers, but it sure would be nice to have those open courses for some riding. And why stop there?

How about all those soccer and football fields, and the public park with perfect grass near our house?

Groomed arenas are nice. Mountain trails are nice. Golf courses sure would be nice!

Halt-near-x.com has an interesting take on encountering moose while riding.

Here's the story of the infamous three-moose ride.

 A couple of summers ago we went for a ride in the late evening. Summer was nearing an end and we were enjoying those last few evening rides to their fullest. We'd been on a rather long tail ride, high up in the mountains.

No fences, no roads, just open fields. To return home we had to follow a short stretch of dirt road with fenced pastures on each side.

We realized that a bull moose was standing right in the middle of the road, leaving very little room on either side to pass him. Instantly the horses realized this too and were not too happy about the situation.

Knowing that we had to get home before dark we bravely decided we'd just have to pass the moose as quickly as possible.

Then things got worse. Another bull moose appeared from behind a tree and charged the moose on the road. We were in the middle of a moose duel.

The thought of passing by two mad moose was almost unbearable, but it was the only way home and we were running out of daylight.

Just as things seemed as daunting as possible a third moose appeared on the scene. We now had three dueling moose, two frantic horses and one skinny road.

Since I was on Pharoah, with whom fear = flight , I was sure that one of us (probably me) was going to get thrown, at which time the moose would become interested in me and give me a good chase.

I tried to sound confident, as I told Maddy the plan. "We'll just calmly ride by and everything will be ok." I didn't believe a word I was saying.

We set off and drew near to the three moose, who were by this time quite worked up. Pharaoh felt like he was going to explode under me. He's a powerful horse, but I don't know that I've ever been more aware of that fact than at that moment. Lady had her "moose face," which she gets whenever she sees a moose and is beside herself.

Just at that moment we noticed a truck making it's way up the road toward us. We were saved! We decided to use the truck as a wall between us and the moose, and timed it so that the truck would drive in between us and the moose.

It worked perfectly, and we made it home in one piece.

I'm not sure how it would have gone if the truck hadn't come.

We love our mountains and wildlife, but let's just say we'd prefer enjoying the moose from a nice distance, like a few miles.

We have a tricky gate leading into the arena that none of us like to open. It's actually two gates, chained in the middle, and when the chain is loosened both gates fly open.

As soon as the gate is in sight the negotiating begins.

"I got the gate last time, it's your turn," I'll say, while someone else will swear they were the one who opened the gate. It's gotten ridiculous.

Sometimes we'll sit in front of the gate for a good 5 minutes, stubbornly waiting for someone else to dismount and open the gate. I believe that the person on the shortest horse should open the gate, after all, they have an easier horse to mount!

Maverick is the shortest horse, and that usually means I'm asking Maddy to open the gate. She has all sorts of reasons why my logic is flawed.

Sometimes we can talk Elle into getting the gate, despite her being on the tallest horse, Tigger.

And, since you asked, yes, we've tried opening the gate while still mounted, to varying degrees of success, or lack of. This particular gate really is difficult to manage, even from the ground. Imagine trying to manage it from a horse.

So, until we've mastered opening the gate while mounted, I think we should all agree to the shortest horse rule.

Maddy and I have several trail rides we like, however one of them is too scary to ever take again. It's unfortunate, because it's a lovely trail, but it passes right by a field of these funny little creatures. Maddy and I think these little guys are cute, but our horses have a different opinion.

For some ridiculous reason, all of our horses are really scared of these little guys. When we ride by them it's like riding by a field of bobcats, or elephants, or whatever it is that scares horses the most. Our horses get big eyes, nervous stares and act as though their very lives are threatened by these cute little creatures. Are they donkeys? Mules? Burros? Whatever they are, evidently they pose some threat that I'm unaware of.

Our horses are also scared of moose, which we run into on occassion, but that at least I can understand, moose are really big, and not afraid of anything. But these guys? Go figure.