Riding in the Dark

One of the reasons I joined B Troop long ago was the beauty of the ride from the arena to the stables at night. Southeast Arizona is one of those places where you can still see the stars at night. They are so clear and close, it is like you are floating among them. However, last night as I was getting ready to lead the riding school students back to the stables, I realized there was almost no moon to provide light. It is a twenty minute ride through the woods to get back to the stables. I warned the students that when I turned the arena lights off that it was going to be dark. While horses see better in the dark than we do, they still get spooked by objects and shadows they can't see clearly. When you are riding in the dark you have to keep your weight centered in the saddle so that when your horse suddenly leaps sideways in reaction to a deer or some other animal you don't wind up swimming in thin air. Well, as soon as I turned out the lights, the inky darkness closed around the riders like they were in an underground tomb. As I moved toward the horses I could hear their hooves nervously scraping on the ground like they were in a dance competition. I found my horse and mounted up and moved the column out before something bad happened. Fortunately, the Wonder Horse was calm and took the lead without fear. The rest followed relatively calmly since they now had a leader. Unfortunately, I could not see where I was going very well. Parts of the trail are sandy and you can pick out the path as it is lighter even in the dark. Eventually, however, the trail became dark because the stable personnel had spread manure all over it. At some point, I wandered off the path and into the woods. Realizing I was off the trail but still able to see the lights of the stable building ahead, I put the column into single file and tried to thread my way through the brush. I emerged from the trees next to a pasture where the stable horses are kept. These horses hearing a large group of animals emerging from the darkened woods immediately stampeded. The sounds of the stampede spooked our horses as well and things got dicey, quickly. Luckily my horse did not loose control and I soon glimpsed the trail where it had become sandy again. I got the column of riders back onto the trail and safely home. Whew.