Trail Ride Interrupted

Monday we decided to go on a trail ride. FINALLY!!! Both Satin and I have been itching to get out on the trails. We were joined of course by K and Smokey, as well as, E and Patty. It started out all well and good except for Patty being a little rambunctious, which K and I found quite entertaining. There was some downed trees and excess water from all the snow, but we made our way around them with no issues.

When we got out onto the main trail we ran into a group of middle school boys in the woods that K and I had seen before. They were building some kind of ramp for biking or skating. This part of the trails is behind a development so I assume at least some of the boys live there. Anyway they were cutting down a thin trunked tree with a hand saw and did they stop when they saw horses approaching? Noooooooo! Luckily these three horses are not spooky. We went down a small loop trail the we call the jumping trail as it is set with logs of varying sizes along it. The tree the boys were cutting down were right at the exit of the jumping trail. They called "Watch out its coming down" in between fits of giggles. K was in the lead and did the only thing we could do canter out back onto the main trail quickly. E and I followed suit. The tree had been starting to bend, but luckily was not ready to fall quite yet. I sighed and shook my head at the stupidty of teenage boys. The boys were adding stupid comments just as they had made last time K and I came across them. I just ignored them, but K and E being younger felt the need to call back some replies.

Anyway so we continued along out trail ride hitting all our usual spots. We had some nice canters and gallops and I spent the ride in short sleeves, something I missed! We had a great time laughing as we went and splashing through puddles trying to get each other wet and goofing around. We made our way back along the main trail and went to one of other favorite spots. It large, circular, grassy area behind some of the houses. It has backyards on one side and scattered trees on the other creating an almost track. The middle dips down and has some storm drains in it. Anyway K and I decided to have some fun with E as we often do. Patty had been good during our earlier canters and gallop so we were not worried. K immediately started off into a hand gallop which I knew was coming and was ready for. Then she let Smokey go and I had no choice but to let Satin follow suit as she was dying to do. We raced down the straightaway of sorts and began to pull up as we approached the curve. Satin slowed but did not stop as we took the turn and scraped my arm on a nearby tree before I finally brought her to halt. E and Patty were just coming in behind us as I turned back to where K stood. We enjoyed a few more good laughs at the exasperated E and went on our way back to the main path towards home.

As we walked down the main trail the tree the boys had been cutting was now down and blocking our path. Its branches stuck out with pointy pine like needles. Part of the trunk not covered by branches was showing, but we would have to go a bit off the path and into the brush to get over it. So that is exactly what K and I did. E decided to walk down the jumping path and go around that way. K and I stood at the end of the short path waiting for her to get out. The boys thought this obstacle they had created for us was quite funny and continued to laugh and make obnoxious comments as we stood there. I kept my back to them just ignoring them and rolling my eyes at K. Finally E made it out and back onto the main path and we turned to walk towards home with Satin and I in the lead this time. As we began to walk along E called "Peace Out!" to the boys.

And that is when I heard "Go! Go! Go!". I turned in the saddle to look behind us and saw one of the boys run down out of the woods and onto the path. He began running towards us with a large branch in his hand. I don't know if he planned to chase us waving it or throw it, but either way his intentions were not good. Now I was angry. He probably figured we would run away or at least keep walking towards home because he was definitely not prepared for what I did next. I stopped dead in my tracks told K and E to watch out then I spun my mare around and began cantering right at the kid. I wish I had it on video just for the look on his face. His eyes widened and he cried out "Oh shit!" before turning on his heel and running back in the direction he came. He tried to run back up into the brush, but by this time I had already caught him. As I had figured Patty and Smokey had came following after Satin and by this time had caught up to us. I asked the boy if he thought it was funny to try and spook horses because I definitely didnt. He replied with a mumbled "Ugh ugh I wasn't trying to scare them". I replied with "Oh really than what was the purpose of chasing with us a branch waving" I then continued to tell him he was lucky these three horses were bombproof because with the wrong horse out there he could have gotten someone seriously hurt. I also warned him not to attempt such a stupid stunt in the future because if I had to come after him again I wasn't going to be polite enough to stop!

With that I turned around and walked back towards home with K and E following along behind after calling some comments to back up my statement. I think the boys learned their lesson. K and E went on a trail the next day and saw two of the boys one of whom K knew. They apologized and said they didn't like that kid anyway. Typica 8th grade boy reply when the rest of the crew wasn't around. I told them not to let the boys fool them because only one boy came running after us but several were calling for him to go. I don't care what stupid obnoxious comments they make. That doesn't bother me and I ignore it. But running after us with a branch was dangerous and could get someone seriously hurt. Luckily for them we had 3 bombproof horses out there, but we are not the only ones or or only farm that rides out there. But I think they learned their lesson for the future!

Anybody else have any similar run ins with stupid people?