Horsin' Around

by Rachel

My daughter had been begging me to take her horseback riding. I finally made arrangements to go one Saturday after my husband’s golf game so he could watch the 4 yr. old. I should’ve known things weren’t going to go well when the hubby came back with his panties all in a wad. Guess I had washed his favorite golf shorts with our daughter’s new glitter shirt. Results: ALL of the glitter went from her shirt to his shorts. He hadn’t noticed in the early morning when he grabbed them from the dryer. But, when he got to the course, he sparkled in the early morning sun, earning the nickname “Tinkerbell” from the guys.

Glad to get away from Grumpy, we jumped in the car and headed for the ranch. On the trail I insisted that my daughter ride behind the guide as I wanted her to be close to someone who could help her. I knew I would be of no help as I could barely keep my ass in the saddle. And it didn’t help that “Jaws” (the horse behind me) tried to bite me every time he got close.  

And, let me say, if you think horse back riding is like a display at a Ralph Lauren store with lovely English saddles, polo mallets, and glowingly clean straw bales, you would be mistaken. No flawlessly dressed folks smiling and chatting in a spotless stable. Nope. Just lots of dirt, sweat, bugs, horse hair and horse shit. But back to my story…

The trail led us by a beautiful scenic lake but our guide never looked up from her phone. She texted the entire ride … some kind of boyfriend drama. Things were fine, though, until ….. we came upon a campsite and something spooked my daughter’s horse. It took off galloping through the trees. Another horse bucked off its rider and also took off.

By the time we reached my daughter she was crying and her right eye was cut and swollen from the tree branches. Her horse was still a little jumpy so I told her we were going to trade horses. That’s when the guide suddenly decided to put down her phone. She told us that the rules stated we were not supposed to change horses during a ride. I looked her straight in the eye and asked her what the rules stated about texting while riding. She didn’t utter another word while my daughter and I traded horses.

When we got home I made my daughter one of her favorite snacks - baked chocolate donuts. These are wonderful and go great with coffee. Serve them the next time your girlfriends come over for coffee and to talk about the “horse crap” in their lives.

Chocolate Donuts

Donut ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour 


1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

4 teaspoons melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze ingredients

1 cup confectioners’ sugar


2 tablespoons milk


1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 325. Coat donut pan (or you can use a mini muffin pan) with nonstick cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk the egg, water, vanilla, milk, sugar and butter until smooth. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until blended (don’t blend too much as it will cause the donuts to become dense). Fill each doughnut cup (or mini muffin cup) about ¾ full. Bake at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes or until done. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from pan. Once completely cooled, mix the confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the doughnuts. Let the glaze harden and then enjoy!