Pie goes to church!

Foggy, making me laugh in the pasture

Our farm is directly across from a busy, gigantic church and a loud auto auction. The auction used to be a limestone Howard Johnson's restaurant that served turnpike travelers and the church used to be a lovely cornfield. Both were sold in the 1980's and our bucolic existence was forever altered.

Before the monsoon year we had in 2011, I'd often ride Pie and Sovereign over to the church and across their big field to a small township road. My boys are barefoot and I only ride if it is dry. I am also careful to return to pick up manure if necessary. I never got to ride Foggy over there mainly because of the rain and because I rarely ride him with a saddle. I don't really like going off the property when I am on bareback. Last week, though, I was on bareback and there was little traffic so he and I popped over there for a long outing heading west. He was his typical perfect "Foggy doggy" boy. It is like riding a large, sweet dog - no shies, no silly behavior - only happy fast, forward walking with sincere interest and palpable enjoyment by him. His investigative habits are adorable. I think all horses love seeing knew things and Foggy's thrill is apparent (especially when I have to pull him back home at the end of the ride).

The auto auction uses the church grounds on Thursdays to park cars and obviously the church parking lot and grass is full on Sundays. The other days of the week the field is empty so I try to time our trips across for those days. The only problem with this system is that I invariably never know what day of the week it is. I have a serious wiftiness about the days of the week. I always know the date - numbers are my friends, but the actual days allude me. Therefore, I just look to see if there are any cars over there before I ride.

I threw on Pie's bridle a few days ago and we headed out toward our woods bareback. We usually stop at my mom's house so she can give Pie apples and carrots (because, you know, he is so svelte, ahem, and needs sustenance for his long journey). For some reason, my mom didn't see us arrive and Pie started looking around and walking west like he wanted to go over to the church. He hasn't been there in a long time, but there weren't any cars parked so Pie and I crossed the road. The weirdest thing is that Pie chose to walk on the exact same route as Foggy had taken like they had "discussed" Foggy's adventure! I thought that was funny. 

As we were heading back home I walked Pie up to a high ridge near the church entrance so we could safely see the entire road to cross back over to our farm. Just then, a long line of cars started lining up on the road to turn into the church! I could not believe it. I could see the passengers clearly and they were all dressed up. Oh, no. It was Sunday morning! I must have come to the barn so early to avoid the heat that I unknowingly beat the church crowd. But, now, here we were, BIG as you please, right at the entrance of their church. Pie has to stare into each car which makes me giggle, but also added to the uncomfortable impertinence of our act. I saw amused men at the wheel and kids in the backseat with mouths open wide. The only people who actually looked annoyed were the women. Most gave me a sour glare. I told myself that they were just feeling a little confined in their nylons when their inner girl was screaming for them to ride too.

As we stood there on the grass by the only entrance, I felt like Pie and I were one of those gigantic statues on a battlefield. I prayed he wouldn't lift his tail and deposit a manure offering. Finally, the cars stopped coming and we were able to cross back over. I rode Foggy next and he attempted to pull me over to the church, but I said NO WAY!