Tack Up

It's all very well to spend your life on the water in search of fish, but sometimes it makes sense to change things up a bit. With that in mind, I went for a ride.

There we were, horse and rider all alone under the big Texan sky, a sky that was growing ominously dark with low, stormy clouds. Then the wind started to pick up and I got in the saddle, daring the elements to bring it on.

They didn't, fortunately, but it was neat to gallop out like a stormchaser, and I was pleased with the horse. We're getting to know each other and she's fast, responsive and wants to please, as opposed to being a crazy, dangerous, mutineer. Good horse.

Ride over, I looked at the strangely green water meadows of Texas and their cows. A pastoral scene that reminded me of England, but that illusion vanishes with the Mesquite, dirt roads, larger sky and the newness of the settlement. 

It was all being pioneered not too long ago. There's a sense of freedom in that.

Stay on the horse,

LSP

Is This Texas?

The "tree guys" are still at it and will be for some time, so I rode off in search of Texas again. This time quite literally, on a horse, not far from Aquilla.

Is This Texas?

It was a crisp sunny morning and Trace enjoyed moving out across the weirdly green landscape. Was this Texas? It seemed too green. Not that I'm complaining, after all, Texas is a big state and it's only right to expect local variation.

Maybe This is Texas?

We came across an unblemished white calf. That seemed pretty Texas, in an Old Testament kind of way. 

Arthurian Legends, of Texas

Maybe the woods were Texas, the Arthurian legend part of Texas. I was hoping to spot some deer or pigs but didn't see any, just a rabbit being chased by a hawk. Texas style.

Two Horses Look at Texas

Ride over, two curious horses checked out the tack for Lone Star State credentials and I think they were pleased with what they saw.

So, did I find Texas? I certainly found a bit of it suspiciously green and lush after our heavy rain, and if horses and riding out across unspoiled country in Hill County counts as Texas, well, the search was a success.

Back at the Compound, the "tree guys" have unaccountably stopped work. I don't know if that's "Texas" or some other thing.

Ride on,

LSP

Keep Your Hat On!

How do you keep your cowboy hat on? Staples. But seriously, there you are, riding along, and you pick up a canter and then a gallop, which is great but you want to go further and faster, so you change gear and accelerate to a run. A fast full-tilt run across the open countryside, wind in your face, at one with the horse, the landscape blurring by on either side and then, oh no! your hat flies off. Not so awesome, eh?

Don't worry, it happens; the wind gets under the brim of the wretched hat and blows it off your head, and you have to stop everything to go back for the thing. But it doesn't have to be that way, all's not lost.

You can get a hat with a deep crown, unlike mine, and jam it on your head when you pick up speed. That may help, or you can attach a stampede string, or "chin strap," which will keep the hat on your head as long as you make sure the string's attached to the hat band. If you rely on bent cotter pins alone you might find that they straighten up under the pressure of the wind and off flies the hat as the string detaches.

Or you can try this. Turn down the sweatband at the back of the hat and discover that doing this makes a kind of suction, which grips the hat firmly onto your head, as if by magic. You can also pad out the sweatband to produce a tighter fit; that'd probably do in place of a string, but I haven't tried it.

If you want extra hat security, try using a string and the magic sweatband trick, it's worked for me. And if you're the kind of horseman that rides in a ball cap, you can attach it to your coat with a cord, paracord will do. When it comes off it dangles, annoyingly, but you don't lose it.

There. Problem, solution, and that's what this blog is all about.

Stay on the horse,

LSP