- Trail: State Land - Transformers to home
- Miles: 5.58
- Riders: Self
- Horses: Drifter
- Dogs: Groot
Notes: I hauled Drifter to the transformers west off hwy 60. I parked the truck and trailer and started to ride to my place. My plan was to ride Drifter home, swap horses and ride Jack back to get my rig. It was fairly uneventful for the most part. About half way home, Drifter got animated quick and was spooked by something coming up behind us. I expected it to be Groot. It was not Groot. At first it looked like a big hairy dog...too big for a coyote and the wrong color. I quickly rationalized it was not a dog but a javelina trotting up behind us. I'm guessing this is the first time Driff has encountered such a beast! I really don't know much about them other than some say they are technically not a pig but a rodent. Other research just calls them "pig like" peccary. Whatever they are - if they look like a pig, sound like a pig, act like a pig and smell like a pig...it's probably a pig! Plus, horses are terrified of them...same as they are pigs. I've never had my horses try to jump out from under me when a kangaroo rat strolled by. Drifter handled it pretty well and I let him scoot on through the wash and put distance between us and "it." I doubt it was chasing us. I imagine Groot scared it up and it was trotting away from Groot and didn't know it was heading right toward us. Like pigs...these non-pig big rats have poor eyesight! Damn things are pigs...I don't care what Wikipedia says.
We made it home without another pig/rat sighting. It was a beautiful day after several pretty cold ones. I caught a ride back to my truck instead of saddling Jack so I could help Dan and Robyn transport their RV (used to be my RV) to Forepaugh to it's eventual new owners.
No, I didn't get a picture of the javelina. I didn't get a picture of the ones Jack and I encountered several years ago either. I was too busy trying to not get ejected from my saddle!
