en route to the cemetery

I found this blog post about the Minot parade when somebody linked to my blog from there – was fun to read another perspective on things 😉  also good photos – enjoy!  http://louielbm.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-last-of-saddle-tramps-mesannie.html

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the ponies are cavorting and bucking and running about the back yard, they know we’re done and they’re celebrating in their way.  They love being at my folks’ place, roaming the huge back yard, gazing up at the remaining apples high up in the trees – wistfully – then at the house of the humans – expectantly and a bit impatiently.  It’s getting cold, windy, wintery.  The humans spend most of their time inside.  I’m trying to balance how much there is that needs to be done and figured out in the next three weeks with how much I need rest and a bit of down time.  Today I did laundry and worked on putting together a post card.  It felt good Not to Go Anywhere all day.

I have much to write about the end of the Journey, or rather the ends of the Journey – reaching the Atlantic Ocean and the Mesannie Wilkins Day parade and festivities in Minot.  They were very different endings and I’m grateful for both experiences.  Most Long Rides don’t end with a lot of fanfare – which in one sense might seem sad, but a Long Ride is first and foremost about the relationship the Long Rider develops with the herd, whether it be one equine (like Katie Cooper and her good mule Sir Walter the Red) or Anna and Gilles – currently riding across Brazil with four horses.  Reaching the Atlantic was the culmination of a pact between me and the ponies and when I tried to lead them into the Ocean and they looked at me like I was daft, calling me on my silly human agenda of literal water to water, I had to laugh at how explicitly they communicate, how confident they are in their opinions, the funny 3-way partnership we’ve evolved over the past two years.  It seemed strange in Minot to be upstairs in a grange hall talking about the Journey while the ponies were several miles away in a pasture.  I found myself wondering about the logistics of ponies and stairs…