a horse is a horse of course of course

Yesterday I went to ride my old horse and former AIM screename namesake, Salsa. My girl is doing so well, which makes me extremely happy. I poured hours of time, blood and sweat into that thing in the three years I owned her to train her to be the best horse she can be, and it makes me immensely happy to know that her current owner has dedicated just as much to keep her heading in the right direction. Salsa was wonderful to ride yesterday, still a little stubborn when you don't push, but she seems to be doing very well. I loooooove her, she still makes me happy just to look at. And I am extremely lucky to have been able to sell her to such a wonderful woman who kept her at my old barn and lets me ride her when I ask. Truly, I am thankful.

What I am not thankful for is me being ghastly out of shape and panting through my ride yesterday. My sore butt also is not thankful, hehe. It is strange that someone can be in shape, hell I have seen people in much superior shape to myself try and ride, but nothing prepares you for riding. The muscles you use and the type of stamina you need to ride horses are so much different than any other type of exercise. To everyone who has ever told me I "just sit there" on the horse, I challenge you to ride a horse for an hour, or better yet, just 15 minutes. I promise you will wake up in pain the next day, guaranteed. My butt, calves and back were screaming at me yesterday, which just means I will have to go back and work those muscles out some more.

After the barn I traveled to my new apartment in Morrisville, which is much closer to some fine eating, drinking and entertainment than I knew, and I drove around the area to regain my bearings. In 4 years I have avoided Cary, NC like the plague, desperate to leave that little town behind. And now, I find myself living next to it and working in the depths of Cary. So, I need to remember my way around, which should all come back to me very very soon, it'll just take a few treks through the town, which is literally about twice the size as it was when I left.

And then...I got lost. Driving back to Chapel hill from Morrisville I drove the wrong way down the wrong road home, and made a wrong turn on the initial wrong road. That folks, is a bad idea, let me just tell you...I ended up in Butner, NC, which I have since been told is famous for its mental institution and prison. Thankfully, I did not come across either, because I would have been much more scared than I was. I am lucky to have been able to garner some sort of phone reception for long enough to call Paul and get him to mapquest me home. Or mapquest me into civilization. Then it was Cara and Spence's turn to mapquest me back to I-40, from where I could then actually get home. Interesting drive, fairly stressful actually, but good lesson learned...won't be taking that road trying to get to Chapel Hill again. ;)