Juice in the City

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to this new deal-finding site in our area, called Juice In The City.

She probably wouldn't have shared it with me, if it hadn't been for the fact that the 'juice of the day' was a beach ride at Seahorse Ranch out on the coast.

We've never gone to Seahorse, but I know that Kelly has been hoping to get to know the Seahorse horses some day, because she's been introduced to one of the horses that's supposedly a Morgan horse, and that has a special historical cachet in Kelly's mind.

The price was pretty reasonable for what you got, so I pulled the trigger, sight unseen, and ended up with a coupon for two beach-and-trail rides.

Kelly decided to take a new friend out to ride last week. I think this is part of an ulterior motive to get this girl to come to horse camp next summer. She's never been on a horse before.

Here they are, waiting to see what horses will be taken off the line for them.

While they both look pretty happy, Gail is looking just ever so slightly apprehensive, no?

Fiesta is brought off the line for Kelly. Fiesta is the ranch manager's niece's favorite horse. If Kelly can't ride Typhoon, the Morgan horse, she's happy to have Fiesta.

Gail is a little bit nervous, being her first time on a horse, so the ranch manager gives her a private lesson before they head out onto the trail.

"Steer her like this, make her slow down like that, and when you're not steering, leave your hand right here on her mane, where she likes it. Sit back, not forward, and point your toes up and your heels down."

I wish I'd had a lesson like that before I went on my ride with the kids last summer. Would've saved me a world of hurt, I bet.

Anyways, they get all saddled up and ready to go...

And Nate and i jump into the van and see if we can cut them off at the pass (where the ranch trail heads out to the beachward trail).

Yup. here they come...

Gail is looking a little bit more confident, and Kelly is happy atop Fiesta, who finds it her job in life to lead, and make sure no other horses get in front of her. Kelly wondered for a brief moment if she should have brought her lead rope, just in case Gail got really nervous, and asked for a bit more security, but Gail was starting to relax, and everything would turn out fine in the end.

Off they went down the trail, and Nate and I jumped back in the van and headed for the beach.

When we got to the beach, there was an older guy dumpster-diving at the parking lot, and he let Nate toss pieces of an old baguette up into the air for a flock of seagulls that had gathered.

It was rather Hitchcock-esque, with all the birds flying around our heads.

But a whole lot of fun for Nate.

We pretty much had the beach to ourselves, that Wednesday afternoon.

Nate was only sharing with the flock of seagulls and a few willets, or yellowlegs, or godwits, or whatever those little critters were at the water's edge.

Here come the girls...

Gail looked a little bit more confident, until Daniela broke into a trot on the sand.

Uh oh. Sitting forward, and your toes are pointing down... you're losing control...

But soon she settles back into a walk, and the girls head up the beach.

Nate and I spend a little bit more time playing in the sand and waves.

And then we headed back to the ranch.

Nate asked if he could take some photos, so I hung the camera around his neck, and told him to do whatever he liked.

Ah, there's that 10 pound bag of carrots, coming in handy again.

And here come the girls, back to the ranch.

A fun way to spend the afternoon.

Thank you, Fiesta.

And now it's time for ice cream.

(cross your fingers that this saves. I've not had much luck today)