I go trail riding to spend some time on a horse. I dont usually pay too much attention to the others on the trail-ride unless the volunteer conversation. But at the halfway point of this ride something rather unusual happened. I had already taken my picture on the edge of the plateau and mr French pulled lefty on ahead to stand and wait for the others to get their pictures taken. As i was waiting i patted lefty and took in the scenery. It really is beautiful at the top where you can see all the hills for miles and miles. All of a sudden i heard a sh*t-ton of high pitched screaming. I turned around expecting to find someone had gone over the cliff and to my relief i saw a different sight entirely. Cowboy there was down on one knee and his bride to be was shaking her head emphatically up and down as he pulled the ring from the ring box and placed it on her finger. He is on the white horse. She is on the brown horse. Unbeknownst to me, when i took this picture i documented their last moment as single people. It was her first time on a horse and she only spoke spanish so all instructions had to be translated, so i know she wasnt expecting that. She was just concentrating on riding the horse. Let me tell you, if surprise had a photograph underneath the word in the dictionary, it would have been her face. The man kept a secret! Nobody but mr French knew it was going to happen. They were just beaming the rest of the ride. As soon as the ring came out all the girls on the trail ride had collectively started screaming out of excitement once they understood what was happening at that moment in this couple’s lives. Then once she said yes, of course, a sh*t-ton more celebratory excited screaming and whoop whoops! It was cool to see her surprise and also her emphatic answer. There was no hesitation and he was a perfect gentleman to her all trail-ride. They seem like they’re both really comfortable with one another. I hope they have a good life and grow old together. Someone asked mr French if anyone had ever said no. He said that so far they had a 100% success rate but if they ever do get a woman that says no on the trail ride its going to be a long awkward hour’s ride back.
I stayed after and mr French showed us his prized rodeo bucking horse “fringe jacket”. He looks mean. Apparently if you let mares give birth in the same pen he’s in he’ll kill the foals. He’s not a very friendly horse. Very muscley and powerful looking. Took a run and stopped short of the fence and the lady i was standing next to decided we should leave and let fringe jacket get on with his day. I always like to hang out afterwards because mr French always has something cool to show you before you leave, usually horse related but he also has a bull that hangs out with the horses who is pretty cool too.
