Notes: Phil brought Tank over to work with him in the arena. I saddled Drifter and did the same. After we went on a little ride out in the desert. We came across another snake but this one was not a rattler. We try to stay in the open and on the roads/trails...but, that's where every snake has been! Jack...being the snake aware king....usually spots then WAY before I do.
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11 years ago - I partook on my first non-solo pack trip with several gals from the Squaw Butte chapter of the Back Country Horsemen. A lot has changed in the last 11 years and I had all but forgotten what an experience the trip turned out to be. I've remained friends with a couple of the gals on the trip and they reposted this piece I wrote 11 years ago. I thought I would repost it to my blog. The picture link in the PDF is no longer valid as I've changed cloud storage since.
Click here for Girls Gone Wilderness
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| Phil and his new ride: Tank |
Notes: Well...this thing happened the other day. Phil and I went to a horse sale. He purposely did not bring a trailer - cash or checks. Who knew they took Credit Cards.
The average horse went for 22K - top seller 100K. There were a couple of grade horses. Personally, I liked two of the grade horses better than any of the AQHA ones there. Phil ended up with the one I would have picked. His sale name was "Gnat" - which does not fit him at all. Gnat signifies something small and insignificant. This horse is built like...well, like a Tank. Phil will call him Tank.
We watched them rope and drag a calf to be branded, cut and vaccinated. Tank was a champ. He has a huge motor. I think he will make Phil a great horse. I will keep him for a few days until Phil gets something set up where he lives.
We went for a short ride as soon as we got him to my place. He travels out super nice and appears to be a pleasure to ride.
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| Drifter - our second ride |
Notes: Phil came over and rode Jack so I could ride Drifter and not be out there on a colt by myself. We rode to the tank to check it out. I figured with all the rain there would be water in it. There is not. If this is supposed to be the biggest monsoon season in 30 years or more...I'm guessing that thing never gets water in it.
I seem to have a new dog. He showed up at my place about a week ago. Starved...beat up and thirsty. I was a little leery of him at first but he went right to thumping his tail. I fed and watered him and doctored the gash on his head. He hasn't left my side since. I put is picture out on the Aguila FB page for a couple of days. No takers...so, unless he is micro-chipped...I'm keeping him. I take him in to be neutered in a couple of weeks. Crossing my fingers and toes he's not chipped. I'm pretty much attached already. I was going to call him Brutus...he's going to be a big dog when he gets some weight on him. However, I think I will call him E.T. He just sort of landed here out of nowhere like an alien encounter....he looks at you like he can read your thoughts and he does bare a striking resemblance to E.T. Hopefully he's not chipped and can stop attempting to phone home.
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| (l-r) Ann - Becky - Cindy - Lee - Marti - Linda - Sonny |
Notes: Another Lee ride - this time up Hitt Mountain behind my old stomping grounds. It was a great send-off for my trip south in a few days. I got to visit with some old friends. We stayed mostly on four wheel tracks....which unfortunately got a bit dusty in spots - nothing a well placed bandana couldn't help out with.
Nancy and Shannon opted to break off from the pack and bring up the rear. They were apparently riding horses that weren't comfortable riding with others.
A few of us stopped at The Coffee Cabin on the way back for dinner.
Notes: Ventured out a little farther. Crackers did great again. A bear wandered across the road in front of us. Neither horse batted an eye. I've run into bears on Jack in the past but Crackers has likely never seen one unless it's been out in his pasture.
Crackers is moving better with every ride. I took him to an equine chiropractor a couple weeks ago. It made a huge difference. I think just getting out and moving helps as well. I hope Solomon is allowed to continue riding him after I head home to keep him in shape and enjoying a little freedom...for both of them.
Solomon enjoys riding. He's been convinced he's going to either be eating by a bear, a cougar or a wolf since he got here. I wondered what he would think if/when we ran across a bear. I've been telling him there are a lot scarier things in life. He realized after his first bear encounter that they aren't nearly as scary as he was led to believe. He even hoped we see it again so we could get a picture of it next time.
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| Yeah...that looks "exactly" like it did before they mined the shit out of it. :( |
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| Solomon and Crackers the Halflinger |
Notes: First time Crackers has been out of the pasture in probably 15 years and first time ever in the hills. He did amazing. He took care of Solomon and had no problems keeping up with Jack. We stayed on easy trails and didn't go far to ease him into it.
