Bareback Riding! Bat Hibernating!

What came first, the bareback riding or the bat hibernating? The bat actually came first, but I am going to talk about the bareback riding first because it was so much fun! My brother, Terry, will remember the first time I tried to ride bareback and Divna got me off of her as fast as she flicks off a fly....Well, those days are over, and she has become a really good horse to ride bareback. I do not go out bareback on the trail yet -- we stay in our pasture area. On Wednesday evening (St. Patrick's Day) John and I decided to do some ground work with the horses. God knows Zora needs it. She is a horse that ideally should be ridden every day. But the reality of life for us (without servants, independent wealth, etc.) does not permit daily riding. So while he was working with her, I took the opportunity to go out on Divna sans saddle. It was great! She was pretty nervous at first, but calmed down pretty quickly. She responded great to my cues, and I was even able to get her to back up surprisingly easily. She did spook twice -- once she saw a deer just outside the pasture, and the second time who knows what it was...sometimes she spooks at only things she can see. But both times I stayed on (miracles), which made me pretty happy. There were a couple of times that she wanted to join Zora as she and John rode past us. And since Zora is high-charged, even her walk is fast, Divna wanted to run to catch up/keep up. I had to control her speed because I was not quite ready to lope bareback. We did end up trotting a bit, but that was OK. She has a wide, flat back that makes it easier to stay on. I am going to try to do this a couple of times a week at least. I would love to go out on the trail bareback.

Now, for the bat part of the story. This weekend (Saturday or Sunday??) when I went out to the barn to feed everyone, I picked up the last few flakes of hay that we had in the tack area (we keep the hay up in the loft, and throw down a half dozen bales at a time) to put outside. As I was walking towards the door, I heard this sound -- it was something between a hiss and a growl. I had heard it before, and knew immediately it was a bat. I went back and looked where the hay had been stacked and sure enough, there was a little furball there. John and I scooped him up into Marco's old coat that he grew out of, and placed him the haycart. We figured he was hibernating. So we just left him there to hibernate some more -- he was secured inside the coat so hopefully the cats wouldn't find him. Then on St. Pats day when we were out in the barn getting The Girls ready for the groundwork, I looked in the cart and saw him on top of Marco's coat. It was about 70 degrees outside, so he must be done hibernating. He was actually kind of cute. I hope he sticks around during the summer to eat the mosquitos..........