Ride to the River

 

On Sunday Trish, Shelley and I awoke at the motel to cloudy skies and a chilly wind. We watched the weather report and it didn’t look good. Snow storms were expected all over New Mexico that day.

(While we were watching the weather report, Shelley’s Fox Terrier was chewing on my Dobbie Girl. lol! Seriously, those two were having a blast playing in our motel room. They provided lots of silly entertainment, too)

   

We had doubts that Sunday’s trail ride would take place, but we weren’t going to give up so easily, so after eating some breakfast, we drove back to San Acacia. There were a few snowflakes whirling around and it sure was cold, but horses were still being tacked up for the trail ride, so it seemed that the ride was still a go. Yay!

Trish and I decided to mount up for the trail ride, but Shelley was too sore from the last two days of riding, so she opted to stay back at base camp and play with her mustang horse, Macho.

My friend Trish on Lil’ Dude, one of Dacodah’s ARA horses. I loved her bright red coat….and her Tipperary helmet, too!

I was very warm in my long sleeve shirt, fleece jacket, fleece lined vest, thick cotton breeches, suede half-chaps and fabric covered helmet. Although, once we got mounted and headed down the trail, I sure was wishing I had brought along a pair of warm riding gloves because of the biting cold wind. But once we rode beside Black Butte, it’s mass sheltered us from the wind and not long afterwards the sun came out, and with the physical activity of riding, I felt much warmer.

The views were incredibly beautiful!

I didn’t take as many photos on Sunday as I did on Friday and Saturday because the ride required more concentration and was much faster with lots of trotting and cantering……and even a gallop, too! My first gallop ever!

The first few miles of the ride were spent riding up and down foothills and into steep, sandy eroded arroyos. The horses would ease down the steep sides and then canter up the other side. And that is how it went for a long time. It was quite technical riding, and required concentration, but it was interesting and fun, too.

(Lots of other folks had their cameras at the ready. Here I am with my friend Peggy that I know from WNCR)

(Photo of D and our group of riders behind him, I’m back there, too. Do you see me?)

And once we were out of the foothills and arroyos we came to a vast field of sagebrush and deep sand. The horses and riders at the front of the group broke into a run and my horse, Splendor asked me if we could move faster, too. At first I held her back, but them decided to trust Splendor and have some fun, too.

So I allowed her to run. And what a rush! It was the fastest I’ve ever ridden on a horse and I wasn’t afraid at all. Racing along with the other horses and riders was such a thrill. I let Splendor pick her way around the bushy sagebrush as we ran across the field, and she did so perfectly.

(Photo of the field we had just ran through)

What is really sort of funny about the entire experience, is that I had no idea I was galloping. The fastest gait I’ve ever ridden is a canter and even though the canters I’ve ridden have seemed much slower and were “rocking horse-like”, it still didn't click with me. At the time, I just figured I was riding a faster canter and that Splendor just had a huge motor and big movement.

(My friend Peggy on her special horse Joey, finishing up their gallop across the field)

 

You’ll notice in this video below, we had all just made it to the end of the field and ran up to the top of a narrow sandy ridge. You’ll hear me comment to my friends Trish and Melissa about the fun canter we’d had. But after the ride, D, who had been watching and video-taping on the edge of the field, told me that I, and most of the rest of our group, had not been cantering, but had been been galloping across that field. It would be cool if D managed to videotape us galloping!

(Our group on top of the narrow sandy ridge after we galloped across the sagebrush field)

After that fun gallop, we dropped down into a wide, dry wash, where one of Dusty’s horses, Thunder decided to take a roll in the soft sand.

I’m sure that Splendor was thinking the sand looked mighty good, too. But thankfully, being a polite and kind mare, she never attempted a roll of her own.

 

And Dusty’s horse was also very polite, too, and respected our space and didn’t harass us.

We traveled through the middle of the dry, sandy wash for a while, and then we rode beneath a train trestle.

This guy is Steve. He’s the President of Corrales Horse and Mule People (CHAMP) that I’ve posted about before on my blog. Awesome guy. This was only the second trail ride for his Trakhener mare. She did really well!

 

Not far past the trestle, the sandy dry wash ended at the beautiful Rio Grande River.

During the summer and dry periods the river is usually low, but this time it was 5-7 feet deep, so we didn’t get the opportunity to play in the water.

But Dusty, from Followed Dream Ranch, and his horses, had a grand time playing beside the river.

And D and his horse and dog enjoyed a few special moments together.

We did linger for a while visiting and enjoying the warm sunshine, flowing river and beautiful nature all around us.

I really like this photo of my friend Peggy. She looks so vibrant and joyful…..which she is.

It was fun to watch Dusty play with his horses.

What a great life he gives them.

Dusty had confided that until that day, he’d never galloped on his horses bareback before.

Not only is he a terrific horseman, he’s got an amazing seat, too!

This photo makes me laugh. We were all talking to Dusty, who is out of the photo, about his horses and training, but it looks like we’re thinking about roping his horse Thunder. lol!

I had ran out of the horse cookies I had brought with me from home, but I did have a carrot cake Clif bar and shared it with Splendor. She seemed to enjoy a few bites, but I think she prefers horse cookies. Thankfully D shared a handful of cookies with me from his own saddlebag stash.

I didn’t take many photos of the last half of our ride because Splendor definitely knew we were headed back to the Old School House base camp.

(The Trestle Bridge we rode beneath)

Splendor kept asking to trot and canter as we maneuvered through the salt cedar forest. We did a lot of trotting and cantering until we reached the wide open, salt flats and that is when D shared with me, that on a trail ride not long ago, he had clocked Splendor doing 55mph on those same salt flats. Eeek!

So, not wanting to race faster than my truck that day, I kept Splendor at a walk and trot as we crossed those salt flats, especially since we weren’t all that far from base camp.

Soon after we left the salt flats, we went through a gate and then rode alongside the arroyo.

And we rode past the backside of Black Butte.

And then we rode by some trash cans.

And past some cows, too.

And then we were back at the San Acacia Old Schoolhouse base camp.

I talked D into trying on my cheetah print helmet cover and he was a very good sport. lol!

Soon everyone bade fond farewells and promises to ride together again. It was like saying goodbye to special family members, not just strangers that had been brought together for a weekend full of amazing trail rides.

Horses were loaded up…..

And it was time to head back home…….filled with many great memories that will last a lifetime.