First Ride Back

[kings6]

It has been thirteen weeks since I had a total hip replacement on my left side and I finally got the okay to get back on and start riding. For the first ride I decided to just trailer Copper up the road a few miles to a spot owned by a timber company that allows non motorized use of their land and over which we have had trails cut for years. Not knowing how the hip and knee would do I wanted to keep it lose to home and limit the ride to a couple hours or so. I like this ride when I have a limited amount of time because with the ever changing logging scene I can work the animals through new clear cuts, over and around slash piles and up and down some pretty good hills. There is always a chance of bumping into the resident elk herd, blacktail deer or even the occasional black bear. The back side of the one trail looks out over the canyon that holds the reservoir where our town gets it water supply so you get a pretty good view of the valley and the river. As I was riding along the edge of the canyon on one of the new logging roads I looked down ans saw some fairly fresh animal tracks in the mud so I stopped to snap a few pictures.

If you look close at the tracks you will notice there are no claws showing like on a dog or coyote. That is because mister cougar keep his tools retracted until time to latch onto a deer, elk or tree

It is always neat to find natures reminders that we are not always the top meat eater out in the woods. Oh and in case you are wondering, this is a pretty good size lion track. If I had taken the time I would have probably found his scrapings every 100 yards or so along the road.

[bushog]

SWEET!

It's great you're back in the saddle and that you had ya' a little excitement too!

[contender]

It sounds as if your hip is mending nicely! Excellent!
Love finding cat tracks,,, anywhere,,,, anytime!

[cmh]

Im glad to hear your back on a horse.... thats good news 😆 Cat track would have me excited!! 😉

[Robster]

Great to hear your back in action, wish I was closer and could ride with you!!

[bigmuddy]

Getting back in the saddle is a great feeling, isn't it! Glad to hear you're doing well and hope the ride was pain free. I was able to ride again this weekend after a little time off from losing a fight with a chain saw.

Dan

[kings6]

I am amazed how good I feel after the ride. It actually is the first ride in a couple years that WAS totally pain free! Copper was a bit more worn out when we were done than I was but not only had she been off for 13 weeks but she had to haul my fanny up the mountain! Once she cooled down when we got back I looked out in the pasture and she was laying down in the warm sunshine just snoozing away. Many folks don't realize that their animals need to be in shape and toughened up just like their ruder does. Every year over at Hells Canyon you see folks taking their fat out of shape animals into the tough country with little if any conditioning. The guys I ride with have seen more than one horse never come back out of that country.

[BigBore44]

Excellent...Robb, I'm glad to hear you are able to get back in the saddle and pain FREE!
I hope you have Many more enjoyable miles ahead and, maybe you'll even get a crack at that cat.?

Enjoy and be safe, buddy.
Ray

[bulasteve]

Bet your ride was as happy to be back out as you !

[sixshot]

Good for you Robb, nothing like a good ride in some back country! Glad it went well. You're right about the animals also getting out of shape, used to see it every year it the Selway & Middle Fork country & seen a fair number of accidents because of it. Some of them were nasty for both horse, or mule & rider.

Dick