Trail Log: 5-30-2020

• Trail: Wild Horse Butte (Fossil Butte) IMO 
• Miles: 14.08
• Riders: Circle Four (Self - Jones - Dusty)
• Horses: Jack - Zeke - Rooster
• Dogs: In camp

Notes: Aside from the 100° temps and 40 mph wind gusts - it was a fabulous ride. We lucked out. We left at 7:00 AM to beat the heat and the wind didn't pick up until we made it back. When the wind did hit - it did so with a vengeance.

The Shade Hunters put on a really nice ride. If I'm able to follow the Topo - it has to be good and I was able to follow this one well. Circle Four managed to pull off 3rd. place finding all 5 markers in under 4 hours. We likely would have came in 2nd. but a minor accident at marker #2 (our last marker as we went backwards) delayed us a bit. One of the teams was looking for the marker at the base of a cliff when a flock of pigeons blew out of a cave and spooked her horse. That horse freaked. He/she came flogging off the steep hillside 9-0 bucking and snorting toward me and Jack. I braced for impact or the domino freak out effect. I was so proud of Jack - he handled it really well. All he did was spin around to face the commotion. This is not the first time he's had another horse explode and run towards or crash into him and he's handled it well. Maybe he should have been a pick-up horse.

The gal stuck it until she got to the bottom. Thankfully she came off in a flat sandy bottom instead of on the rocky hillside. Her partner went after the horse while we gathered up her belongings scattered around and made sure she was OK. She landed on her side/hip. She bounced well - she was young. She'd live. I made sure nothing was broke and her vitals were good. I picked the cheat grass out of her hair, stuffed her map in her pocket, handed her glasses and peanuts to her and made sure she had water before hitting the trail to finish our ride.

We opted not to stay over Saturday night. The wind was ripping. By the time I got home, it got worse. The power was out most of the evening. I moved my LQ out from under the trees and called it a night. I don't know when the power came back on - sometime before the dogs woke me up at 2:00 AM wanting to crawl in my lap. A lightning storm was in full force freaking them out.

Jack the pick-up horse