Old Pueblo, Day 3

What a day... we didn't start until 8:30 again today so we did a little packing up this morning before we left...

Same trail as Friday so once again we were flying - no still pictures but I did get a video {grin} ENJOY!

It wasn't quite as warm after the vet check today but all three horses were still pokey afterward... and Glory for some reason decided that although she didn't want to drink out of the nice clean water troughs the ride manager arranged, she WOULD drink out of the nasty cow tanks...


This little guy was like "WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE CREATURES?!?"



Jersey and Patch, on the other hand, appreciated the fresh water!

Moseying along that same lovely trail...

A Glory earcam of Jersey's yin-yang butt

Brenda and Patch, on his 3rd day in a row!

Almost done... it's hard to see in the picture, but camp and all the horse trailers are there in the distance, on both sides of the very top of Sabrina's brain bucket...


A triumphant return to base camp for all three of us, and we took care of the horses then packed up the rest of camp and grabbed one last delicious meal from Rocky's Feed Lot... I got a call from another friend, who was on a different trip but also near Tucson, needing rescue from not one, not two, but THREE bad tires... so we headed north and of course Sabrina and Brenda were soon out of sight, my itty bitty truck is slow uphill... however they had to fuel up and I did not, so once I got on the Interstate I passed them at the truck stop. They finally caught back up with me just a couple of miles before Picacho Peak, where I had to pull off and rescue my friend and her horse. I felt bad for her vehicle issues but it was sure nice to have company on the long drive home!

All in all a great weekend :)

Old Pueblo, Day 2

And off we go for Day 2, Loop 1...

Sabrina on Jersey...

Brenda on Patch...


Katie wasn't humming with energy like Glory usually is at the start, and like Katie was last year... so within the first 5 miles, Sabrina and Brenda were out of sight on the trail ahead of us. No matter, I had Lori to ride with, a nice gal... so we just kept on keepin'on.
Walking Katie through the tunnel under the highway, about 7 miles...

The view to the west as we come over the mountain.

Tree tunnel coming down the mountain...

By this time I figured that even without issues, by the time we made the vet check, there wouldn't be time for us to complete, so we might as well pull... AND WE HAD ISSUES! Lori's horse had a loose shoe on the rear, we kept expecting him to lose it but he lost a front shoe instead! And Katie started limping, I checked her and found rocks lodged between the frog and hoof wall in BOTH hind feet... I was disappointed but not surprised that we had to pull on her first barefoot endurance ride. If I had boots that fit her in the back I'd have booted all four, but since Glory does so well bare in the back, I was hoping Katie would be ok - after all, she did Rainbow Valley AND Morristown without boots! Her hooves are still so deep, the grooves catch and hold rocks... so this is a temporary problem, hopefully to be resolved with time as her barefoot journey progresses...

Anyway we pulled at the vet check, Lori's horse was metabolic as well as having lost a shoe (he came in at 80 and did not pulse down in the required time) although, since I got off and walked Katie into the vet check, she was already down to 42 when we arrived! (60 is the requirement for passing the vet check.) We got a trailer ride back to camp and arrived just as Sabrina and Brenda were untacking - Patch's first time doing 2 25s in a row, he did great!
Patch, my hero... Lynn would be SO proud of you!

Lovely ending to, despite problems, a lovely day!




Tomorrow will be a BUSY day, riding 25 miles then packing up camp and driving all the way home...

Old Pueblo, Day 1

Sabrina on Patch, and me on Glory, took on the 25-miler, starting out at 8:30...
Saying goodbye to Brenda, who is taking Katie on the fun ride today...

The first loop was nothing short of fantastic, in fact we were going so fast I never got the camera out! What a lovely, glorious ride...
Until, at one point, we met up with the 50-milers, moving along for a few minutes and suddenly everyone comes to a halt, at first I thought it was another gate, then we saw 2 gals off their horses looking at something in the grass, thought someone had dropped something... then heard the dreaded words, RIDER DOWN! Thank God one of the gals was an ER nurse, the rider was face down in the dirt and not breathing... we held one of the horses while another rider assisted her in turning the gal over and getting her breathing again, yet another was on the phone with 9-1-1... turns out her horse did nothing wrong at all, no buck, no fuss, just tripped and somersaulted right over her! Once they knew help was on the way they had most of us move on, we felt bad leaving them but really we were just in the way and unable to help, so we moved on. We passed a Border Patrol, then Marilyn the ride manager with a paramedic truck and ambulance, then saw the helicopter arrive... quite sobering!!!! Just goes to show you that one never knows...

Toward the end of the first loop we were passed by this 50-miler... take a look at how he rides his horse! When we asked how he came to ride with just the string around her neck, he said she is really itchy, the bridle and bit bothered her, he changed to a hackamore, still bothered her, tried a rope halter and it was some better, eventually ended up with just this string and she is a very happy mare! He also said that if he could figure out a way to do 50 miles bareback, he'd leave his saddle in camp too, but he claims his old legs can't handle it... I don't know, I for one am amazed at this guy!


We arrived at the vet check to find that Glory was totally pulsed down with no waiting, could it be that she is actually getting the hang of this? (She hates the vet check, "WHY are these people TOUCHING me?????"

After a short break, we took off on the second loop... well, kinda. Neither Patch nor Glory seemed to have any more go in them, Sabrina said it is always hard to leave the vet check so we hoped they would get with it after a couple of miles, but no, it was quite warm, neither of them were drinking enough, and they just fizzled...

One benefit to walking is, PICTURES! It's gorgeous country and lovely footing...

Glory was just dragging, look how far ahead Patch is!

When we got passed by a 50-miler, both the horses picked up their pace a bit... at least until the 50 got too far ahead to be considered "competition" any more...


Slow as that second loop seemed, we finished in time and later at the ride meeting, found out that we were 2nd and 3rd out of 12!!! And, the gal who was taken to the hospital was released and returned to camp that night, although she did not ride again... the doctors said that ER nurse on the trail SAVED HER LIFE! I am so thankful that she "happened" to be right there where she was needed... God was truly watching over us!!!

Early to bed tonight as tomorrow's ride is starting earlier... 7:15 to be exact!

Minis and a Trip South...

I took the camera with me but left it in the Jeep {sigh} however we had a super visit with Foxy, Mary Ellen, Sarah Beth, Emily Ann, Mathilda, and Becky Lynn and her jennet foal Jessica DeAnn... thanks to my friends who came to help!

Randy showed up shortly after we finished, we traded rigs and I was headed south... seemed like a short trip but then again I had an hour plus head start thanks to Randy. Arrived in camp at Empire Ranch not too long after Sabrina and Brenda, and got the dog pen and horse pen set up. Feels weird to be here without Shirley but she is dealing with health issues, both her own and the horses, so we will carry on as best we can...

Tomorrow is 25 miles with Glory!

Ready, Set, Go!

Well I am amazed at myself, I am all ready to go for the weekend! It's off to Empire Ranch north of Sonoita for the Old Pueblo AERC ride - another 3-day and Katie's first barefoot endurance ride... so yeah, I'm a little nervous and distracted. So much so that without double-checking the calendar, I scheduled a mini visit for Thursday morning - the day I am supposed to head south! Randy is saving my bacon though, he is going to bring the big girls and the big rig and meet me when my visit is finished, so I can get rolling south and he will take the minis home and put them away. I'm so lucky that his jury duty didn't materialize!!!!!!

Riding Beautiful Sedona

In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words... I could never describe the beauty of Sedona!





Madeline's parents, David and Linda, with big brother mules Earl and Gus - I was sorry NOT to see Madeline on this trip, but the trailer was still being modified to accomodate the new addition to their family.


Laurie our trail boss, and K...


Two of my favorite cowboys ever, K and David - taking pictures!


We rode past a wedding... better location than any man-made church, wouldn't you say?




My attempt at being artistic... look carefully at the windows of the houses...








And we're back, fun to see my itty bitty truck from so far away!

Better Late Than Never, Happy Birthday Hilary!

We weren't able to get together for her birthday until now, but today we went for a lovely ride out in Morristown, I took her on the trail to the old stone house...

We'd barely gotten started when Destiny spooked at something... can you see what she saw?

Good eye Destiny! A small herd of mule deer...

Hilary and Destiny in the river bottom

This is a lovely ride up a side wash that pours into the Hassayampa

The old stone house.
Checking out how the house was made.

We got another look at the deer on the way back.


Then we met up with Andria for dinner!!! It was a quick trip, she is just here for the weekend for a wedding, so this was our only chance to get together.



Unfortunately Lindsey had to work so it wasn't ALL the girls, but she will have a quick chance to see Andria on Sunday before she goes home.