Horse Camping Weekend ~ Part 1

 

Wow. Has it been a week already? I think this may be the longest absence I’ve ever had from my blog. Anybody miss me?

I’ve just not been able to get caught up lately. First there was my twinling’s Boy Scout backpacking trip up to the Pecos to prepare for, along with my birthday camping trip up to Santa Fe for the Caja del Rio AERC Endurance ride that I worked as a Pulse and Respiration Assistant (where we learned how uncomfortable it is to sleep inside a leaky tent during a powerful thunderstorm).

(One of the 50 Milers coming in for his final Vet Check)

Then there was our Back-to-Homeschool schedule to get organized for beginning right after Labor Day weekend, followed by Apache’s Hoof Boot MisAdventure, followed by another lesson with my instructor Jessica. Then the next day we had to be all packed up for a weekend horse camping trip and back-to-back ACTHA CTCs held in the National Forest at the Caja del Rio up in Santa Fe.

To say I’ve been busy is truly an understatement.

The morning after the Hoof Boot Misadventure was the lesson with Jessica. The temps got down to the low 40s that night and when I went up to feed Apache she was quivering. I’m still not sure if it was from the cold or from nervousness, though. Once I put her in the barn with some hay and I spent a few minutes just grooming her and rubbing her down, she did stop shivering, but she still seemed jumpy and nervous. I was concerned that the experience the night before had traumatized her and caused her to mistrust me, even though the experience did end on a calm note.

I think Jessica sensed something different was going on with Apache, although I never said anything. Even though I got Apache all tacked and saddled up, I never got the chance to ride her that day, because Jessica had us doing groundwork for the entire 2 hour lesson instead.

It quickly became apparent that ground work is just what Apache needs most right now because she doesn’t always move off pressure or respect your space. She is also known to have a grouchy attitude sometimes…or what FernValley coined as an Apache-tude.

                                           (Who me?)

She is mostly willing and brave, but she also has a strong sense of self-preservation and stubbornness, too, especially if she thinks something you’re doing isn’t in her best interest. Jessica says this is something common with Mustangs and when I finally told her about the Hoof Boot Misadventure she wasn’t shocked and said that she’s surprised more horses don’t wig out the first time a pair of clunky horse boots are strapped to their feet, and that Mustangs tend to react much differently than the typical domestic horses do.

So, I didn’t get to ride my horse on Thursday, but we worked on side passing and lunging for respect on the ground, which wore both Apache and I out when we were through. At one point, with Jessica working her, Apache didn’t move her butt away from Jessica fast enough and my mare wasn’t paying attention to her feet. Apache slipped and fell on her side, which made me a little sick in my stomach. Seeing your horse do a “flop-splat”, removes some of that confidence in how strong and powerful we assume these creatures are, and that we trust to carry our frail bodies around safely on their backs.

Anyway, the lesson was overall a positive experience and even though at times I felt a little overwhelmed, uncoordinated and challenged trying to learn new techniques, (and I know Apache did, too), I did immediately notice a difference in Apache’s behavior and Jessica gave me some hope and encouragement for the future, too.

(Apache behind Jessica’s barn, at the end of our lesson)

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But Friday morning was a new day and the weather had turned even more into a typical Fall day, with temps in the upper 30s and a brisk little breeze blowing through. Apache was full of herself when I went up to her paddock in the morning to feed her and get her ready for our horse camping trip and the weekend ACTHA rides up in Santa Fe. She was prancing and cantering along her fence line up and down the hillside, every so often throwing in a buck with a twist. At one point she did quite an impressive Airs Above Ground maneuver, leaping above the ground and kicking out with her legs, a lot like the Lipizzaner Stallions do with the Capriole.

(Short video showing a Mounted Capriole)

I could tell she was wired up and had a feeling she might give me a little trouble that morning. And she did. She pranced her way into the barn, shaking her head, and flipping her mane this-a-way and that-a-way. When I went in with the halter and lead rope, she ducked away and ran out of her stall and down into the main paddock. Well, ok. She wants to make it hard on herself. Fine with me. I’m not playing that game. Even with all the rain we’ve been getting here the last couple weeks, the weather has turned cooler and the grass has stopped growing. So, there’s not much in the main paddock to eat, except some tough, sour-tasting weeds. (How do I know they’re sour? Yeah. I’ve smelled them on her breath. bleh.)

So, I closed her stall in the barn, with her breakfast inside and walked back down to the house so I could enjoy my own breakfast and finish packing. When I got down to the gate at the bottom of the hill and looked back up to the barn, I couldn’t help but let out an evil laugh because Apache was standing at her stall gate eyeing her hay and then turning her head to look at me. “Well……..girl, if you would have let me halter you when I wanted to and not ran away, you’d be enjoying your yummy hay in your cozy stall right now.”

So I let her think about that for a while and when I came back outside about 45 minutes later, as soon as I opened up the gate to the main paddock, there was Apache nickering at me while calmly lowering her head and literally stuffing her nose into the halter.

She politely walked beside me up to the barn and I finished grooming her while she ate her breakfast, and then I closed her into the stall so she was able to finish eating in peace until Roni showed up about 1pm to pick up Apache for the drive up to Santa Fe.

(Roni at the Caja on Sunday afternoon, horses loaded, ready to head back home.)

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The drive was uneventful and quick. We live less than an hour from Santa Fe and we drove the scenic Turquoise Trail behind the Sandia Mountains, instead of the busy I-40 and I-25 route through and north of Albuquerque, so there was no problem with traffic (there was probably less than 5 cars that shared the road with us on a Friday afternoon), and the views were incredibly beautiful as usual.

We easily found the Caja del Rio and because the area is located on the southwestern side of Santa Fe, about 20 minutes from The Plaza, there was very little traffic. So we arrived late Friday afternoon with plenty of time to get a good campsite close to the bathrooms and the large Ramada shelter.

We set up our campsite and portable horse corrals and enjoyed a tasty cowboy dinner, then visited with some of the other ACTHA folks around a cozy campfire set up beneath the Ramada shelter.

(Roni in her Cowgirl pajamas on Saturday morning)

 

But the weather was changing and by 8:30pm, the rain began to fall and the temperature began to drop. We headed off to our campsite, (me, grateful not to have to sleep on the ground in a tent) and after checking on the horses, fell asleep to sound of a steady rain falling on the camper.

It continued to rain all through the night and into the early morning, which is something we New Mexicans just aren’t used to. We’re more familiar with our powerful monsoon storms that dump a couple inches of moisture on the ground in an hour or less and then moves on. Steady, constant rain is a rarity here but something the soil, plants and underground aquifers actually need.

Except we didn’t especially appreciate this storm the night before one of the biggest ACTHA CTCs in the country was supposed to take place: The Guinness World Record Ride for the Mustangs.

Would it even take place?

 

Come back to find out…..