> Nice pictures.

Thank you.

>However, I do have two questions. Why in the name of common sense do you wear helmets, of all things, when you ride horses? Every time I see something like that, I know that thousands of cowboys are spinning in their graves.

Assuming you didn't leave the word "not" out, like Leen suggested, there are a couple of reasons. One, my school requires helmets to be worn in practice (and for English riders in shows -- western riders have to wear black cowboy hats pinned to our heads until they draw blood). Two, a person can die from a fall of three feet if they land "correctly." My horse is small, and is about five feet tall from the ground to his back. Add on another two and a half feet for my torso (a shortie is me), my head's got a pretty good chance of getting smashed if I fall off. And that's not taking into consideration the hardness of the ground or any obstacles or the possibility of getting hit by flying hooves. I've heard too many stories about people either getting killed because of a head injury or people who survived because they had a cushion around their head to ride without a helmet. Every time I see someone doing that, especially if they're riding along the road like they often do here, I cringe and pray that their ignorance/machoisity won't end up literally being the death of them.

>Also, why didn't you say anything about your trip to Colorado beforehand? I happen to live in Colorado Springs.

I didn't really have a lot of time in Colorado. We spent about four days in Colorado Springs and Durango combined, and had pretty full schedules. The rest of the time we were in Scout leader training in New Mexico. So, yeah, not really much time to visit folks.

La"But in a couple of years I will make a trip across the US and stop to see Rinkies wherever possible--get your names and states in now ;-)"Zorra