a good ride

I decided my horse, Blue, just need a little encouragement to keep up a good "foxtrot" and used a switch sparingly on him yesterday.  So today, he was ready to keep up the pace during our whole ride.  It was most enjoyable, except for two dogs across the road who chased us for a half-mile down the road.  One is a Blue heeler, and he insisted on nipping Blue's heels (I just saw the humor in that wording).  Coming home he started it again, and I turned Blue toward him, in a open field, and more or less dared him to chase us until Blue connected with a good kick!  I got so much pleasure out of that!  It made a sound like someone splitting a ripe watermelon with a hammer, and the dog went yelping away.  If people cared about their pets, wouldn't they keep them at home?  I hosed my tired horse off with cold water from a hose... he loves that... and turned him into his pen to rest.