Mules shy, too

Last weekend we rode both days again. Mary Ann and Goldie came both days. Saturday was uneventful and fun. Goldie prefers to ride in the back and having Jupiter back there made her nervous, so back to the front for us. That makes Jupiter happy and Ziggy happy because he wants to be by his girlfriend. He rolls his eyes at her, but he has gotten back to normal and letting his tongue hang and stopping to pee. If she's going be his girlfriend, then she needs to accept him the way his is!

Gary says Goldie watches for us to drive up to the trail-head and then looks for the horses when she gets home. She likes being with them. :)

Sunday started out rough with Shirley upset and yelling at us about our dogs having no manners. She left her threats dangling and unfinished, but it won't be good if one of them hurts Happy. From now on, we are to put them in the pickup or keep them in the house until Happy can get into the truck safely. It set the tone for the ride. :(

Coming up the road, right before the dumping/shooting area, Ziva was on the little hill and I called her to come with me since I was in the front of everyone. It still makes me a little nervous that she might get kicked by Goldie. Well, she is a good girl, so she bailed off the hill and came up the road to me. I heard a little commotion and then Lynn cried, "Oh my gosh! She's off!"

The mule, and thus the horses near her, all shied when Ziva jumped down on to the road. Somehow, Mary Ann went over sideways on her mule--her stirrup was left on the saddle. Maybe mules aren't as smooth when they shy--Heaven knows we've all been through some big shies. Anyway, that road is hard-packed! Mary Ann said she was sore, but she climbed right back on and away we went.

We went to the turtle pond and down and around. I have decided that bears are my best friends--there are lot of diggy holes that look like they could be ground bee nests. All around  the mountain, our trails are torn up and scratched up. We have decided that the bears are taking care of our potential bee problems. We have had a lone dive bomber pester us for long stretches, but no problems with bees in the ground. Yay! I hope the bears are enjoying them, because I am happy, happy for them. :)

Overall, it was another good ride and a new trail for Mary Ann to experience.  This weekend, Lynn got to take off Friday and head over to Quincy Thursday night. She and Alisa and Alisa's friend are out and about having a great time, making wet blankets in eastern CA. Next weekend is Labor Day and Alisa's birthday. She is coming here and we are going to explore our new Gray's Falls trails with her. I can hardly wait.

BEAR!

Sunday, Lynn and I rode alone on Underwood. First, we pulled out or kicked out star thistle. Both of us thought of the weedeater about the same time. We made a plan to go back one evening (when it's not so dang hot) and eradicate it from our parking spot. Anyway, we spent some time pulling weeds before getting the horses out.

There was a big, fresh pile of bear scat right by the trailer. It was obvious, somebody had been eating the berries right there. Luckily, we both managed to avoid stepping it while we were getting the horses ready to ride.

It was a good ride. We rode along looking for bear, but not seeing any. We actually didn't see any wild animals. Both dogs stayed pretty close and came when called--a positive. The horses behaved and there were bees flying around, but we did not see any ground nests. We trotted and had a pretty good pace most of the day. On the last leg of the trail, Lynn said she wanted a picture of the pond. It was full of cattails and whatnot. So instead of turning we rode along it toward the south side.

Right when Lynn stopped near the water's edge, I heard a deep, warning growl. It brought me up quick as Jupes was stepping through some down branches--I wasn't sure what I was hearing. Lynn said something about how unusual it was, but at the time I didn't realize it was Haley. She was far enough ahead of me that I thought it came from the thick underbrush. I just knew that it wasn't the sound of Jupiter's feet on the wood. The next time I heard it, it was a definite growl. I still didn't realize it was Haley, but I said, "I think we should get out of here." So we both turned the horses back toward the trail and rode back to the trailer without incident. We trotted and swooped around the trail--it was fun. (Alisa picture the spot where Keota always lopes so prettily.)

Walking down the dirt road back to the trailer, Lynn told me that it had been Haley growling. She said, "Haley doesn't do that." So we decided it probably had been a bear having a snooze in the brush by the pond. After brushing the boys, but they were still tied to the trailer, I started brushing Ziva, I love Underwood, but dang! the burrs are awful! I was near the trailer tire, when Ziggy whirled around, eyes and ears pointed out toward the brush to the east. Jupes followed suit. I looked at both of them--high alert. So I thought, I probably shouldn't be down near their feet brushing my dog. I called her to come over to the road and I continued to brush her. Haley was near us.

Suddenly a big bear stuck his head and shoulders out onto the road about 50 feet from us. Haley saw him instantly and took off running, with Ziva hot on her tail. I yelled, "Bear!" and starting hollering for the dogs to come back. Lynn came flying over, but the bear had already retreated back into the brush he was coming from. Both dogs stopped and looked at the spot (maybe they could still see him) and then ran back to us. Yay!!! Both horses remained on high alert, looking at the area where the bear was headed--maybe there was more than one? Yay, I got to see a bear--well, half of it, anyway--AND, most importantly, everyone was safe.

Another perfect day ahorseback!

Hobbit's Wild Ride

Wowza! It's been three weeks since we've ridden. Lynn has had lots of unfortunate and blessed events that kept her from having "wind in her helmet." But today we were ON. We rode Hennessey backwards. No not backwards on our horses, the trails, silly. First thing we noticed is that a lot of our regular trails have new down fall and many hanging branches that used to be up and out of our way. I don't how Shirley stays so clean and unscathed, but Lynn and I had branches across the face, cedar down our shirts, and Lynn's shirt got hung up on a branch and ripped two holes in it! At the regular granola stop she had to shake the tree detritus out of her helmet.

Jupiter led most of the first part of the loop and he was on high alert today. The first scary thing was my helmet got scraped by some branches and he coiled up and sprung out away from the sound. Next I scraped my boot on a tree--again, he coiled up and sprung away. Then there was a big, gray bush. I think it's been there all along, but remember, we were going the opposite direction. He whipped around and told Star, "You go first old man." He was willing to go up and sniff it once Star walked by it.

It was an overall great ride. Although Lynn said more than once, "Geez, this is Hobbit's Wild Ride!" It took me probably an hour to realize why it sounded it familiar: there's a children's book called The Wind in Willow and it has a chapter called "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." (And there's a Disneyland ride by the same name! That's probably how crazy our ride was today.) We even had a jack rabbit! It stopped and looked at us then took off again. Thankfully, Haley did not catch it and all the dogs came running back without incident!

Looking forward to tomorrow. . .

 Ready and willing!

The end of a great ride: no bees, happy dogs, wet blankets.

Just talking (posting) to hear my head rattle

It's been a week since our fun vacation at the Guest Ranch. I am the lucky one--I don't have to work--and yet, it feels like it's been a very long time since we were in NM; even though, Lynn and Shirley keep listening for Tim to ring the chow bell! I have a list a mile long of things I want to accomplish before the craziness sets in, but sometimes I find myself spinning in circles or just sitting down to listen to the trees and toss Ziva something to catch. The latter makes me feel a little guilty, but mostly, I really like it. I think I am lazy at heart. :)

Yesterday, Lynn came and got Ziva for a haircut and kept her all day. I finished a baby afghan and went to his shower. It was the only homemade present there. Probably, I am only one who has given him anything homemade--I sent flannel receiving blankets before he was born, as well. I think I am a throwback to earlier times. (I just remembered, someone gave him a rattle they had woven from Native materials. I made one for my friend's baby eight years ago--I was so proud of it; that's way harder than knitting!)

When I picked Z up, we went out to see the horses. I think it's been almost three weeks! When I called to Jupiter, his head came right up. I told him maybe we would ride on Sunday. He looked like, "Okay, whatever. Do you have a granola bar?" :)

The weather has been pretty great--we had rain off and on all day Friday. I got lots done outside; so when it was raining at 5:30 am Saturday, I called Lynn and asked her if she just wanted to stay home and work in her yard. She worked so hard, she went to bed at 8:30. :)

Today was another cool morning. It rained overnight and was dawning pretty clear, or as Shirley said, "The event had passed." At least according to the weatherman. The horses were easy to catch and ready to have their halters on, even Star. We rode up the Hennessey and had a great time. It wasn't a long ride, but, it sure felt good to be in my own saddle and on my best boy. Lynn said she wished she could have merged Smokey's personality with Ziggy's smoothness. Shirley was just happy to be on Star.

We only rode a few hours, but it was nice. There was a cool breeze rustling the trees and the boys seemed happy to be there, too. I think they like getting off The Place--even if it is work to pack us up the hills and down. There was one horse-eating branch that almost got Star, at least according to Jupes. Star kicked a fallen branch of some length and it swung up and tangled in his tail. He did not even notice, but Jupes turned his head and stepped sideways, giving it a wide berth.

Tomorrow, Alisa is riding with her new riding partner on a trail neither of them have been on before. We are all excited for her new adventure and especially that she feels good on Keota and is off having fun again! I heard Odie got into some wire and I hope he is doing well--he's such a sweet boy.

Vacationing with the BFFs

After months of anticipation, the girls and I met up and headed for Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch in New Mexico. What a great time! We rented a 4-Runner and stayed in Old Town Albuquerque. Before we drove out to the ranch (a four hour drive), we shopped for turquoise jewelry. Then we went up on the Sandia Tram for dinner and beautiful views. Our tram guide explained that "sandia" was Spanish for "watermelon", which describes the color of the rocks along the way. We had a great dinner and the views were spectacular. On top, the temperature changed from the 90s to the 60s and it was spitting rain and the wind was blowing. All week long we had beautiful weather--lots of thunder and lightning off to the distance and the temperature was in the 80s to low 90s. The sky in New Mexico is big and color was a deep turquoise blue; we saw lots of stars at night (even a shooting star) and beautiful cloud formations all day. It was as if our hosts had ordered up the perfect weather just for us.

Day 1

Getting to know our horses.

Shirley & Lips (dark chocolate bay)

Alisa & Blue (blue roan)

Lynn & Smokey (small bay with attitude)

Me & Jasper (red line back dun)

Met our fellow campers: Norby, from Switzerland (riding Rooster) & Anna, originally from Poland, but has lived in Chicago for 12 years (riding Casey) and the cats: Scaredy, Garfield, and Clementine.

Horses (the ones I remember!):

Johnny, big bay colored draft horse

Rio, big Appaloosa

Strawberry Shortcake, pony

Buffalo Gal, paint movie star

Red, small sorrel Morgan

Ned, the old guy

Shadow, big black

Lightning, a paint

Toto, a sorrel

Bucky, a buckskin

Hank, sorrel

Emmett, a blue roan who lost a shoe

First we went on a short ride out of the ranch to the east with Meris & Kelly. Saw Mimbre cliff dwellings, cows, a rabbit. (On drive here we saw 2 antelope, a herd of elk, and a cattle drive; Lynn and Alisa went into a swoon over a cute cowboy in the wash.) Meris explained that the Basque people, who were sheepherders, came along after the Mimbre people left and lived in the cliff dwellings. They changed them a little by adding wood and rock structures.

In the afternoon we went out with Seth and Kelly and turned left and then went south. We went up on "top of the world" to two overlooks. The first one was a sneak peek at our ride for day two. It looked down on Taylor Creek. The second one, Seth said we could see AZ and 365 degrees around was the Gila National Forest—approximately 3.3 million acres.

That night we played Uno with Meris and Kelly; Shirley made Lynn draw tons of cards. I won one, Alisa won one, Anna (pronounced Onna) won two, and Kelly two. We ate quail for dinner—a first for me.

Day 2

All the wranglers went on a picnic ride with us (all day). We went south west and rode all through Taylor Creek and The Narrows to Beaver Creek which is the Gila River headwaters. This was the playground of Geronimo. He was born near here and grew up around here. It was fun going through all the water. It rained on us, but we dried off during lunch. We looked at more sunken Native homes and saw more pottery shards. It was an awesome ride. At the picnic spot, one of the trees had been recently struck by lightning and was all twisted and broken. We saw a huge carp in the swimming hole.

On the way out that morning, she asked us if we wanted to trot and lope. I definitely want to work on loping and getting the feel, so I emphatically said, “yes!” We loped along the road toward the trail; to keep the horses from competing and going really fast, we stayed in a single file line. Jasper is tall and Shirley’s horse, Lips, was way slower than him, so we did not lope as far as I had hoped we would. Jasper had to slow down and just trot behind Lips.

In the evening, Norby played his flutes—one made out of a small pvc pipe, one beautiful dual Native flute he had ordered and just bought from his AZ Native friend—and a digeridoo he made from a pvc pipe at the campfire. The coyotes howled and came closer to our campfire! We loved it.

Day 3

We rode into Taylor Creek and Cox Canyon. We went up over a ridge where we could see Black Mountain and the Mogollon Mountains (Meris pronounced it Moggyowin). We saw more Mimbre cliff dwellings and Basque dwellings. We went into a big one where it had a bed frame, fireplace, and table. The floor was deep silt and the air was cool. Alisa and the others cooled off in the creek in their clothes, including their jeans. Even Shirley waded in. Lynn and I did not. However, we took off our tank tops and dipped them. We left at 10:30 and did not get back into the cabin until 6:00. Today, we loped along the trail. Jasper loped really nice and when he felt me become a little unbalanced, he went into his trot until I was comfortable and then loped some more. It was fun.

After dinner, we ate s'mores and sang campfire songs until 10.

Day 4

I asked Shirley if she was having fun; she’s been so quiet. She said she was just glad she got to come and be with us girls. She said this was the best thing. Her horse was no Star or Buster--he was a "ground pounder" in her words, but she also said (in front of her!) that Lynn was like her right arm—she needed her in order to feel whole. J She said she had always wanted a daughter so she would have a best friend and someone to share the things she loved. Pretty cool—tough to get her to say it out loud, and especially TO Lynn—but, definitely a heartwarming, cool statement.

Jasper mostly trotted today--we only loped a little; I think he was a little lazy and really just wanted to stay at the ranch. We went to Beaver Canyon today for our picnic. Although we went along Taylor Creek, we were high above it before dropping down to where the two come together. Unfortunately Hank (or was it Toto?) threw a shoe and Seth had to walk back to camp from there. He had to walk through our favorite part--the narrows--afoot. Lots of water in his cowboy boots!

We saw a large herd of mule deer heading up the mountain and lots of cows today; including a red bull that was blocking our path. Meris said he has challenged her twice. He does not belong to the family who owns the property we crossed over and they had come to look for him yesterday, so his rightful owner could take home and get him off their property. We had cows bellowing for their calves and we had to stop to let one loud, insistent, and long horned cow by us and then one cow who was following her put on a bucking show. What fun! I love cows. There were more Mimbre and Basque cliff dwellings, tin mine markers, and the Keeper of the Canyon's face to look at today. 

We played Apples to Apples with Meris & Kelly that night. It was a hoot. They are both so fun to be with.

Day 5

Leaving the ranch was kind of sad—everyone hugged and it felt like we were leaving family. I do hope we see them again. Along the way, we stopped at the Winston store—more shopping! The doorbell was the sound of an elk. Later, we accidentally took a wrong road which dead ended at Monticello. We lost some time, but saw two road runners.

Upon arriving in Old Town Albuquerque, we shopped some more. Everyone bought jewelry and gifts for the people at home (especially the dogs’ babysitters!). Lynn bought a new suitcase to carry all our new stuff, and then we went to bed. Not too much sleeping happened and then it was 2 am and time to get up.

Shirley gave us a scare at the airport and needed a wheelchair, I got flustered and couldn't unlock my suitcase to remove my extra 2 pounds, but we had easy flights and Gordy was Mr. On-The-Spot and we set off for Quincy.

Shirley slept most of day in the car--poor thing had her head hanging and probably had a painful crook in it the next day, but she wouldn't admit she was sleeping and just prop her head more comfortably.

Happy poodles met us at all three houses and after I loaded Shirley's luggage on the 4-wheeler and she sped off, I am sure she was met by a wagging Happy.

What a great vacation! I love being with those three women more than anything and getting to ride in new country is priceless! I will be ready to do it again next summer and every summer thereafter. J

Party like we on vacation!

Wahooo! We are almost on vacation!

Last weekend we rode with Goldie the mule and her person, Mary Ann. It was another great day of riding. Ziggy fell in love with Goldie and was unbelievable--his ears were forward the whole time, his tongue was in his mouth all day, and he did not go pee one time! Star of course was a little sideways, silly boy, and Jupes wanted to look at her, but kept his feet moving. I told him, "ride your own shoes!"

We went backwards on our trails and it was like they were all new. Even the branches were bent the opposite way so it was a little brushy, but Mary Ann said she liked it brushy! :) She wore a cowboy hat that she had to hang on to and now she has decided to get a helmet. (The way we ride, it's probably a good thing!) She is ready to do it again!

Me, too! We've had several great weekend rides and beautiful days to do it. Yay--it's summer!!

Bells, birdies, and stars

Church bells ringing, ringing--oh wait, it's only Saturday! Well, actually you could tell me anything and I would have believed it. I sort of lost part of the ride on Saturday! I had my bell rung! The first time ever.

It was a gorgeous, first day of a long weekend. We rode up the Hennessey and went to our new trail on the right. Everything was going well--well as good it goes some days (broken breast collar that snapped when Jupes stumbled into a hole, Shirley freaked out by a steep upgrade, caught between a cow and her herd--it started to follow us up the mountain), but overall good. Then something weird happened. Honestly all I remember is being in a tree and a sort of a flying sensation. Shirley said she turned around to tell me to watch out for the swinging branch--maybe I kind of remember that, but Jupes had already moved away from it toward the tree.

I guess I got clotheslined. I have had few scrapes and a bruise on my forehead (under my helmet's visor!). Lynn said she saw me about two feet from the ground. I was straight out, like a belly flop, but I turned and tucked my right arm under me. Then I hit the ground and she heard the air explode out of me. Then I didn't move. I scared her.

The next thing I knew was I hearing a horrible rasping sound and realized it me making it. I do not remember talking to her, but she said I told her I was not broken, but could not catch my breath. She said my eyes were going around in circles. She said I said, "I think I had my bell rung." I asked her to help me get up because I guess my spurs were caught and I couldn't get my legs under me. Then I got up, walked to Jupe, took him to a log and got on. It wasn't till later that Lynn got more worried.

I guess I asked her about four times if she knew where we were. I don't remember any of that. Later she asked me if I knew where I was now--I was kind of snarky, like "Yeesss." I didn't know why she asked me.

Anyway, I'm fine. Sore, but not broken. It hurts to cough or blow my nose (my chest) and my arm is a little sore, but everything works.

We tried to ride on Sunday, but Buster wasn't having it. We went up Underwood. Shirley got into trouble immediately on the trail and had to bail off. Lynn rode him on the road and he was fine, but once she started him on the trail again, he went kind of ballistic. His back end was trembly and I could see his muscles twitching. So we went home. He is hurting, I guess. He's fine on the flats, but not on the steep hills. Shirley was not interested in getting Star and trying again.

Monday was perfect! Again we went to Underwood. Everyone was perfect. (Although I did hear Shirley yell at Star once, "Star, you old fool!") It was a glorious day; I do not think it could have been better. We rode up to the top of the ridge and looked over and then down and around and up and down. :) I loved it.