Just a Quick Post ~ Mostly Photos

Oh my goodness! I’ve had such a crazy busy week! Besides the normal Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Classes, Lessons and Homeschooling Schedule, there was also mine and Ranchman John’s 22 Wedding Anniversary and Mother’s Day.

I didn’t get any riding done last week, but this week I did some fun riding on my own sweet mare, Apache here at home and on some trails behind my house. I’ll be sure to talk about that in my next post.

But for now I just wanted to finish up my last ACTHA weekend photos and experience, because tomorrow I’m heading down to San Acacia again to help mark trails for this weekend’s back-to-back ACTHA rides, and I’m going to be judging on Saturday as well. And on Sunday, instead of judging and riding in the ACTHA ride that day, I’m going to be hiking with my kids up to the top of the Sandia Mountains to view the Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse!!!

 

“Sunday’s event will be a partial solar eclipse across most of the United States and Canada, and a more compelling annular solar eclipse for a narrow swath of residents in the West and Southwest. The sun sets before any of it will be visible from the East Coast, however. The annular eclipse will be visible along a path roughly 150 to 186 miles wide (240 to 300 km) that includes Redding, Calif. and heads southeast through central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Texas Panhandle.”

How awesome is that?! This event happens only about every 20 years, so this is a mighty big deal for me to share this with my kids.

But, for now, here’s a recap of the last ACTHA ride that I participated in:

The theme of the ACTHA ride was Manes and Tails. Some people dressed up their horse while others even dressed up themselves for the occasion, like my friend Marilyn.

And my friend Trish, hanging out in front of my pal Shelley’s horse trailer, wearing a horsie helmet cover she recently bought at a horse show.

Which by the way, Trish surprised me by giving me this cute helmet cover at the end of the day, because she knows how much I enjoy dressing up my helmets with fun covers. (That’s my buddy Priscilla in the background. She recently moved from Ohio because she fell in love with New Mexico, especially riding horses in the beautiful landscapes that we have here)

Trish, Priscilla and I were all judges that day and it was soon time for us to head out to our obstacles. Some of the judges were driven out to their obstacles. Priscilla and I got to ride out to ours (yay!).

I love this photo. I used sepia because of the train in the background and my friends Tim and Hunter were dressed up western……

 

And here is the train down below us.

We dropped off my friend Cheryl and Dacodah’s horse, Lil Dude at Obstacle #2, which was an uphill challenge….and was later discovered to be a serious challenge for Lil Dude when the train drove by….notice how close the tracks are to the obstacle?? Let’s just say that Cheryl stuffed handfuls of cookies into Lil’ Dude’s mouth to keep his mind off the very loud, rattling train as it choo chooed past. haha!  

We rode along the top of the arroyo for a while and then dipped down a steep hill into the arroyo and salt flats, like my friend Penny is doing below.

Soon we arrived at the train trestle bridge above the Rio Salado, which is usually dry until it fills up with snow melt and rain water from heavy rains, and then carries it down to the Rio Grande River.

And there’s Trish at her obstacle: The Vines, which used natural vines made from tree branches. (And yes, this train trestle is used every day by trains)

Of course we all took the opportunity to test out the Vine Obstacle.

What a cool obstacle! My horse, Splendor passed through the vines perfectly.

After completing the Vine Obstacle, Splendor noticed something interesting off in the distance, near the Rio Grande.

The feral horses, we had just seen two days earlier when my friends Shelley, Dacodah and I had marked this trail, were back again. We were able to get pretty close before the stallion and two mares took off into the trees and brush behind them. 

When we reached the river, I heard a train whistle and turned around to see a train crossing over that same trestle bridge we had just ridden under. (If you look closely you can see my friend Trish’s car and the actual Vine Obstacle, too!)

And it wasn’t long before we entered into The Salt Cedar Maze. What a difference this section of trail was after Dacodah and his ARA team came out the day after we marked this trail, and cleared it. It was much nicer and easier to traverse!

 

Splendor and I enjoyed the sections of The Salt Cedar Maze that opened up towards the Rio Grande.

 

 

We did a pretty good job of marking the trail, two days earlier, with pink ribbons.

We discovered that the feral horses had been through this section of salt cedar, too. They left behind a pile of poo…some that was still fresh. Wild stallions will do this to mark territory. Dacodah’s horse Festus, that Priscilla was riding, didn’t seem too impressed with the scent from this poo pile. 

 

My friend Tim was volunteering as Safety Rider and was also a gentleman and tied up Splendor and Festus for Priscilla and I so we could get set up at our obstacle: The Deadfall. Tim was dressed up so nicely and he and his mustang were so photogenic. 

 

In between groups of riders, my assistant judge, Priscilla and I sat down and enjoyed snacks and conversation.

Funny story: At one point, after a group of riders left,  we were sitting talking, when we noticed Priscilla’s horse Festus, just wander off and out of sight. Priscilla said, “Um, my horse just left. Do you think we should follow him?” I told her that some of the riders or Tim would eventually run into him and bring him back. And that’s just what happened.

A group of riders rode up to Tim and said they had seen a loose horse. And Tim, who was thinking they were referring to the feral horses, said, “Oh yeah, those are the wild horses that live out here” and one of the riders who had seen Festus said, “Do all the wild horses out here wear saddles?”

My buddy Priscilla.

And this final photo of the Deadfall obstacle I judged, was taken by one of the competing riders who had just completed my obstacle. You can see me over on the far right with my judge’s clipboard in hand, while I instruct the waiting riders on what they are expected to do on my obstacle.