My second Shawnee trip and the reason it was so crazy.....(short story version)

Excited for my second adventure at Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, I began to plan the trip in my head of how I thought it would all turn out.  After all, I had been there before and had the time of my life and the horses came out super well and 100%!  The people there are soooo nice.  It just feels like a second home! I just planned for sure success!!!  It was my dream vacation and everything was going to turn out GREAT!!!  I had even started planning for next years vacation like where do I want to go?  Mountains of Tennessee?  Badlands of South Dakota?  It seemed limitless.  Oh and did I mention my favorite sister, Monica, would be coming along with me on the trip?  I wanted everything to go perfect!  To say my expectations were high is exactly correct. 

Day 1—Traveling 6 hours went smooth and we arrived about 3:00 p.m.at the campground in just enough time to set up camp and take a 3 hour ride to Indian Kitchen!  It was a good thing we did as a hiker needed our map because she was lost (very easy to be lost there and I was wondering why she hadn’t a map!)  Anyways, Indian Kitchen was super cool and so my vacation was started off to a great start!  Did I mention we had Tennessee neighbor’s?  I love their southern draws!!!  They were very friendly and we became friends easily. 

Day 2-Today was the day we would be riding to Jackson Hole, Peter’s Cave, Crow Knob, and Sand Cave just to list the major stops.  All very impressive and I marvel at God’s handiwork.  God even provided some ladies (one from Canada and both of whom I led down to Jackson Hole since Rebecca, Ted, and I discovered it our previous trip in the spring) to take a picture of both me and Monica together at Jackson Hole.  We did the same for them!  J   Yes. Things were still going great at this time!  The horses at this time of year have about half their winter coats and it was a hot 82 and dry…almost drought like conditions as most small creeks were bone dry.  We came to a creek crossing called Blue Hole (mostly because the water is a green blue…I thought)  Kitty was very eager to begin our ride that morning and was leaving slow Colty in the dust, but yet she still wanted to play in the water as she loves water and is not afraid to get in deep.  The water at the crossing was so little that we had to go find some which judging by all of the other hoofprints was what everyone else did too.  Kitty began to play and shove her nose in the water and as I was laughing she was walking forward and the next thing I knew we had taken a head dive into the water as Monica sat watching us both disappear into the sudden drop off of a hole….yes, blue hole is a hole!  I found out later that others at camp had almost met that same fate and the locals say that there is a ledge and then a sheer drop off!  (haha! No kidding I found it…thanks locals for telling me now!)  As I felt Kitty fall deeper into the water I could certainly tell that we were going swimming as I quickly got rid of my stirrups and swam to the top (all without touching bottom..mostly I just didn’t want to try to touch…I don’t like water and am half scared of it and we are talking 3 poisonous snakes in this area all of which can swim)  To say I looked like a wet miserable kitten is an understatement, but I was worried about Kitty who had disappeared with me….can she swim?  Can she get up the ledge?  Can she make it across to the other side and climb up? Is that the pathway to hell?  (Yes our sermon for that Sunday while we were driving was about some rock and hole in Biblical days that the locals who found it ran out of rope so they assumed the hole went forever and into the underworld or hell!)  As I’m reaching for the ledge I noticed that Kitty was swimming to the other side.  Shaking from fear of losing my horse, I crossed the creek and raced to the other side of the hole with sloshing water boots and trembling body.  She was just standing there on the other side wondering what in the world just happened and thinking probably that she will never go swimming ever again (all she wanted was a drink)!!!  ßI can’t blame her in the least!  Sometime in the drop she lost a hoof boot….but hoof boots are replaceable and so are cell phones…mine was in my pocket at the time of our swim….Thankfully my camera was waterproof and I praised God aloud for letting Kitty be OK.  I helped Kitty find a path she could walk across to the other side to be with Colty.   Needless to say she DID NOT trust creek crossings and Colty had to go first for the next 2 days while Kitty normally crosses without blinking an eye she was glad for the collapsible water bucket we carried along so she could stay out of the creek, but get drinks too.  My poor, dear Kitty, I felt so bad for her and tears finally came rushing out as once back on dry land she had a scratch on her back leg and another cut on her knee.  My perfect vacation was turning into disaster.  We were far enough out, so I decided to go on and see what we wanted to see for the day as Kitty seemed sound and calm.  My wet clothes dried in the warm sun just in time to be rained on by a brief thundershower….yes we had raincoats, but somehow I just wasn’t in the mood…..

Our stops were lovely and we once again rescued a horse in distress at the Sand Cave tie up….The horse is fine thanks to us, but my horse thanks to me, wasn’t.  I can only take so much and I thought surely this was the last of our excitement.  We made it back to camp in time for our Tennessee friends, who were worried about us, since we rode a lot that day.  They had some roast beef casserole left over and wanted to share some with us.  She said if we didn’t eat it, she would just give the leftovers to her Saint Bernard.  We obliged her and don’t worry dog lovers, there was a bit left for the Bernard too!  ;)  Incidentally, I was unfortunately known to some of the locals as the person who went swimming with their horse at Blue Hole….

Day3-This was a relief day as nothing horrible happened and we again made it to our destinations with the main headings being Petticoat Junction and Hayes Tie up.  It was a lovely trip and very scenic and I enjoyed the ride a lot…mostly because I wasn’t wet and I was looking out for my horse.  I was glad I brought lots of horse medications with me, but I wasn’t happy to use them nor could I sleep well at night as I kept reliving the incident and gaining anger at myself (maybe I could have done more….or I should have never let her play in that water) and sorrow for my little mare with the big heart.

Day 4-Today started way too early as we were up at 4am to feed horses and up at 6am to start saddling as we wanted to be able to make it to One Horse Gap which was 15 miles one way. (15 miles is not much for a horse, but with all these rocks and rough terrain you can not go fast and the rough terrain takes it out of them and us!!.  (We walked some of the time to give them a break and our legs a stretch)   Happy that our hoof boots were working well and staying on (well I was down to only 3, so I just used front boots) we heading off before the sun came up.   I’m not gonna lie, I was SUPER EXCITED to do this ride!!!!  One older cowboy stopped us and wished he had the grit to do it with us!  We made it to Owl Bluff with no problems, but soon had a few hiccups as trails aren’t marked so well.  Even if you go just 10 minutes out of the way you can’t run back, you must walk most of the way because of the big boulders and trippy rocks. We ended up coming out to a road with no Gap signs so we stopped at a house to ask the local if he knew where One Horse Gap was.  We were probably there 15 minutes and he did his best to help us but he hadn’t ridden the trails for 2 years.  We must have missed our turn (yes we found out later we did) because it was supposed to be only 4 miles from where we were at, but this path kept going and going and going and this was a horrible rocky path!!  I could tell Monica was getting frustrated…I was too, but what good would it do us if we were both angry.  We were really great for each other because when I got riled up Monica was calm and could calm me down and I did the same for her.  (We really did have fun!  It’s just when you are that far out of camp, you want things to go smooth so your horses don’t have to do certain rocky paths AGAIN!!!)  So we agreed if we didn’t come to it at 2pm we would turn around.  We barely made it, but we did one of the craziest rocky trails I’ve ever been on! It was really neat, but not sure I’d make my horse do that again now that we know the “easier” way to get there!!  I started off riding Kitty, but then got off to lessen her weight since the rocks were more like mini boulders.  Then we saw it…One Horse Gap!!!  We didn’t have much time so quick pictures were taken and videos and then off we had to go since we took a 2 hour detour getting there and it gets dark faster in the fall!  The way back to the road was only about a half hour of riding!  (Yup we really went out of our way on the 2 hour adventure!)  Still arriving back at camp in the dark, I felt very victorious!!!  I was also extremely full of pride for my little buckskin as she pressed on at a pace too quick for “tired of rocks Colty” to keep up with and I felt so good that she felt good even after her swim and bruises.  Yes.  Things were looking better! 
 Day 5-It was our last full day of riding here and we wanted to do Saltpeter Cave, Secret Canyon, and Natural Bridge (a rock that looks like a bridge).  We had been riding our horses with just a halter and lead rope as there are many places to stop and see so I felt it easier than taking on and off bridles all the time.  People were very impressed with how well our horses behaved! It worked great…until today.  We were only a couple miles from camp where Kitty became very itchy (She reacts to ticks like that) and I thought it was cute because she is so flexible she can reach her ears with her back legs.  Well, flexible horses are a yikes!!  I was letting her reach a side itch with her mouth when she adjusted it to her ears by lifting her back foot to her ear.  I could see disaster but there was nothing I could do but jump off and try to calm her and free her back leg from the rope burning against her skin.  Thankfully she did not totally freak out..she just panicked (there is a difference if you are a horse person) Our first attempt to free her (Monica had jumped off to help me so thankful to her for that) was in vain as everything was so tight.  Our second attempt was successful and Kitty was very thankful and once again I became mad at myself.  Here my Kitty girl was doing her best at rock climbing and keeping me safe, and then there was me who kept messing up and getting her hurt!  I yelled aloud on the trail of things I knew I would take back later, but in my head I was really screaming at God asking why did he make me so feeble and unwise and sooo mistake oriented?  And why did He have to take out my mistakes on Kitty?  I was the one at fault again!  Why did my horse have to suffer again?  She already suffered a rope burn on her opposite back leg years ago when she scratched her ear with her back leg while on the picket line….it’s such a long, long healing process. Please pray for Kitty.  It was not her fault.  It was all mine and that made me sleep even worse at night as I had a total of 2 accidents because of me. 

Today, I sit and type this and wonder those same questions and then I wonder if I really do have any worth at all!  I don’t want to hurt my horse.  It grieves me.  Could it be I made a career mistake?  I’ll have to settle for this answer now as I’m still in my grieving and angry mode at myself.  God used Kitty.  He loves Kitty, but He loves me so much more that He had Kitty take the brunt of everything for me….when we fell into Blue hole….I was unharmed.  When Kitty got herself caught in my reins, I never got hurt.  Kitty was there being used by God to protect me from my stupid ways and to show me that Kitty had the strength to endure the mistakes….I didn’t.  I wish I had the strength to endure my mistakes though, because Kitty had to endure mine.  Just like God.  God sent Jesus, who had made no mistakes because we sinners made so many mistakes.  Jesus endures for us.  Jesus has the strength to help us endure our mistakes, we never will.  Hoping that Jesus will give me the strength to overcome my many mistakes and that He will give Kitty a speedy recovery as her heart is as golden as her color.  I know that if God can use Kitty to show me these lessens, He can heal her too, and maybe He’ll reserve a spot for her in my mansion or those greener pastures so that she too can be rid of her rider’s mistakes.