She had news. Not great news, but news. The lady who was to have looked at Pennie found two really nice geldings that were already buddies and had good kid-experienced backgrounds. She decided she'd rather go that route rather than introduce a strange mare into her gelding herd. Which I can understand.
T and I will continue to ride Pennie. No sense letting her slip back into pasture complacency when he got along with her so well and I enjoy her, too. And since I know she'll pony, we might just let her drag her son behind her a time or three this fall yet. Thunder and Amyra are both due for more work than they've had, so as long as the weather and the daylight hold....
I have horse plans for the weekend. The weatherman (and we know they neee-verr lie) is promising sun, 80's and more sun. Sounds lovely. Only a few weekends left until pheasant season opens and the roadways get clogged with gun-toting men*, so I plan to make the most of them.
*************
*For those of you not familiar with pheasant season
in South Dakota, a short overview follows.
Background:When I first contemplated moving here to SD from Michigan ten years ago, my female friends winked & mentioned cowboys. My male friends (and acquaintances, and strange men in stores who overheard my moving plans... you get the picture) salivated at the thought of pheasants and pheasant season. "When are you moving and how soon?" they'd ask. "Do you know anyone there with property yet?"
Present: For some reason, SD is a pheasant mecca. Every year in October, hoards of shotgun-wielding natives and hunting-crazed tourists hit the back roads and the fields in search of chicken-sized, ring-necked, brightly-plumaged birds. [Funny story: a few years ago in October at the annual SD Library Association conference a woman from out East somewhere - VA? - flew in to speak. Our opening speaker, after she was introduced she mentioned that it was the first time she'd ever been west of the Mississippi, and described getting off the plane in Sioux Falls. "It was amazing," she said, "to see all those musicians collecting their instruments in the airport. South Dakota must be a highly cultured state - all those violin players!" ???? Shotgun cases=instruments=lots of culture, you betcha! LOL.]
In SD, road hunting is legal. I didn't know this when I first moved here, but I learned fast, let me tell you.
It's not legal to shoot a bird on the ground in someone's pasture, but it is legal to shoot one in the air over the road and then climb the fence into the pasture to retrieve the dead bird.
It's illegal to shoot within so many feet of inhabited buildings or livestock - but a lot of hunters ignore these rules in the heat of the moment. (How do I know this? Because on more than one occasion I've had drivers slam on their brakes, dive out of their cars, and shoot over my horse's head to drop a horse-flushed pheasant. And I've seen cars stop on the road next to the large, orange, NO HUNTING sign, hunters leaning out across their hoods to take a shot over the horses grazing in the pasture. And I take license plate numbers.)
Not to mention, SD is the first place I have EVER seen the following: blaze-orange, gun-carrying figures lined up all the way around a mowed field, walking towards one another to chase up any birds that might be lurking in the stubble. When a bird does lift, the shooting side fires toward the beaters. Over their heads, yes, but shot that goes up, must come down.... Doesn't look like something I'd want to make a habit of, but hey, whatever works for them, I guess!
It didn't take long before I learned to wear blaze orange if I was going to ride the gravel roads after opening day, and to ride early in the mornings before it's legal to hunt (before noon, and late in the season, before 10 AM). And to get used to being buzzed by the Game Fish & Parks helicopter if I was out riding early in my vivid new vest - they take poaching pretty seriously.
But so far, although I've flushed out a lot of birds out riding, I haven't developed any great desire to shoot them. They're pretty.
Don't get me wrong - my family hunts and so does my husband. (And those pretty pheasants are mighty tasty when cooked properly!) I have absolutely no problems with responsible gun owners and/or hunters who hunt for practical reasons, or who use what they shoot. Nor with those who abide by hunter safety guidelines & exercise some common sense and courtesy. What I don't like are the irresponsible ya-hoos who fire at random movements, hunt in areas posted "No Hunting" and trespass to get their bag limits!
*For those of you not familiar with pheasant season
in South Dakota, a short overview follows.
Background:When I first contemplated moving here to SD from Michigan ten years ago, my female friends winked & mentioned cowboys. My male friends (and acquaintances, and strange men in stores who overheard my moving plans... you get the picture) salivated at the thought of pheasants and pheasant season. "When are you moving and how soon?" they'd ask. "Do you know anyone there with property yet?"
Present: For some reason, SD is a pheasant mecca. Every year in October, hoards of shotgun-wielding natives and hunting-crazed tourists hit the back roads and the fields in search of chicken-sized, ring-necked, brightly-plumaged birds. [Funny story: a few years ago in October at the annual SD Library Association conference a woman from out East somewhere - VA? - flew in to speak. Our opening speaker, after she was introduced she mentioned that it was the first time she'd ever been west of the Mississippi, and described getting off the plane in Sioux Falls. "It was amazing," she said, "to see all those musicians collecting their instruments in the airport. South Dakota must be a highly cultured state - all those violin players!" ???? Shotgun cases=instruments=lots of culture, you betcha! LOL.]
In SD, road hunting is legal. I didn't know this when I first moved here, but I learned fast, let me tell you.
It's not legal to shoot a bird on the ground in someone's pasture, but it is legal to shoot one in the air over the road and then climb the fence into the pasture to retrieve the dead bird.
It's illegal to shoot within so many feet of inhabited buildings or livestock - but a lot of hunters ignore these rules in the heat of the moment. (How do I know this? Because on more than one occasion I've had drivers slam on their brakes, dive out of their cars, and shoot over my horse's head to drop a horse-flushed pheasant. And I've seen cars stop on the road next to the large, orange, NO HUNTING sign, hunters leaning out across their hoods to take a shot over the horses grazing in the pasture. And I take license plate numbers.)
Not to mention, SD is the first place I have EVER seen the following: blaze-orange, gun-carrying figures lined up all the way around a mowed field, walking towards one another to chase up any birds that might be lurking in the stubble. When a bird does lift, the shooting side fires toward the beaters. Over their heads, yes, but shot that goes up, must come down.... Doesn't look like something I'd want to make a habit of, but hey, whatever works for them, I guess!
It didn't take long before I learned to wear blaze orange if I was going to ride the gravel roads after opening day, and to ride early in the mornings before it's legal to hunt (before noon, and late in the season, before 10 AM). And to get used to being buzzed by the Game Fish & Parks helicopter if I was out riding early in my vivid new vest - they take poaching pretty seriously.
But so far, although I've flushed out a lot of birds out riding, I haven't developed any great desire to shoot them. They're pretty.
Don't get me wrong - my family hunts and so does my husband. (And those pretty pheasants are mighty tasty when cooked properly!) I have absolutely no problems with responsible gun owners and/or hunters who hunt for practical reasons, or who use what they shoot. Nor with those who abide by hunter safety guidelines & exercise some common sense and courtesy. What I don't like are the irresponsible ya-hoos who fire at random movements, hunt in areas posted "No Hunting" and trespass to get their bag limits!
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