A Perfect Day

It isn't often that I can use the word "perfect" to describe a day. Today, though, was totally perfect. I know I haven't posted for awhile, so here is a quick summary before I tell you about today: Now that the clinic has started, my day is basically breakfast, clinic from 9-12:30 (some classroom and some in the arena riding horses), lunch, a little break, a trail ride from 2:45-5:00, a little break, and then dinner. After dinner, we all hang out at the lodge and talk (except for last night when a few of us went into the little town of Dubois for square dance night--no, I am not kidding!). The clinic started yesterday. Our teacher is named Donna. She is amazing! There are eight of us in the clinic. I have met lots of great people here at Bitterroot Ranch--other guests, the wranglers, the owners, and even the chef. The ladies in the clinic are especially wonderful, and Donna is an awesome teacher. We are all learning a lot and are helping and encouraging each other.

Why was today perfect? Our class today was very good. Donna made us work hard today on trotting and posting better, but hard work leads to improved riding. She is really helping me with some of the things that I am "stuck" on. After class we had a great lunch. I am getting very spoiled by having the chef cook all these fabulous meals for us! Today we had homemade pizza, salad made with greens picked from the ranch's garden, and a pasta salad. For dessert we had a delicious orange sorbet. Sorbet is kind of like an Icee or snow cone, but it's fancier and served in a bowl. During our break I sat on my porch by the river and finished a book. Then it was time to ride again. My riding group asked for a little shorter ride today because we wanted to spend some time with the foals. Our wrangler (her name is Chilly) took us on a great ride that she designed just for us. After we got back, a few of us went down to the pasture where they keep the mares and foals. We are allowed to go in and pet them. That was so cool! I took lots and lots of pictures. After that, I went up to the lodge to sit on the comfy couches and work on editing the photos I took today. I ended up spending about an hour talking to Donna, the teacher of the clinic. She is a really neat person with lots of funny stories. She also gave me some good advice about how to find a good riding teacher when I get done with this project. After another fantastic dinner, we all hung out at the lodge and talked...mostly about horses and riding. Donna joined us. It's pretty neat that we get to sit and chat with our teacher when we're not in the clinic. Like I said, there is an amazing group of people here! As I came back to my cabin to write this blog, I thought to myself about what a perfect day it had been. Perfect weather, awesome clinic, beautiful trail ride, spending time with the babies, and being around great people. There's nothing that I would change about today. Here are some photos from my perfect day:

This is the type of scenery we see on our trail rides. I can't get enough of it! 

Today's trail went high up on a ledge that overlooked the river. Amazing views, but hard to
photograph while riding a horse and having a steep drop-off right beside you!  

taken while riding Bashara today (one of my favorite horses here)

I love watching the foals run with their moms. 

The foals were very friendly once they learned that they could trust us.
This one, especially, loves attention. 

Attention from two people is better than attention from one! 

On our way back to our cabins, we could see the herd being turned out for the night.
Even though I see it every day, it is still spectacular to see them all galloping up the hill to go to the pasture.