JANUARY 18, 2014

This was a fun day!  My friend, Mary, came out to ride with me again.  Later in the day, we met up with some friends who were out hiking; shortly after that, some other friends joined us in the trailer parking area.  We all took a break from hiking, riding and photographing for a little bit; we enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's wonderful company while being surrounded by the desert cactus and wild horses, of course.

One of our friends, Cherie, brought Bella with her.  Bella is a beautiful little girl who absolutely  loves horses, and she had a fun time feeding Sassy and Chase carrots.  I asked her if she'd like to sit in the saddle on Sassy's back, and her sweet, little face lit up like a Christmas tree!  I led her around a little bit, and then I climbed up in the saddle with her and took her for a "real" ride.  We even went up and down a couple small grades, and it did my heart so good to hear Bella giggle.  What little girl doesn't love horses, right???  See for yourself...........

These are the pictures Cherie took of Bella enjoying being around the horses. 

While hanging out together, some other friends of ours drove in with two of their horses!!!  They saddled up, and then we went out riding again, while our hiker friends resumed trekking through the desert.

Here are a few pics of some of the wild horses we encountered that day:

The first two pictures are of TEX and his band, next we have CHAMP with his, and the last picture is of CISCO with his growing family.  These bands have seen us so many times now that they basically look up to see who's there, and then they go back to grazing or whatever they were doing.   :)