Marking Trail

 

Just another boring post about me, on horseback, while marking trail for another ACTHA ride.

I sure am glad that I’m just fine about creating blog posts just for me, as a sort of personal diary, because it seems that most folks aren’t taking the time to stop by my blog for a visit anymore. Oh well.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 46 years is that you just gotta do what makes you happy, live your life to it’s fullest, and not worry about what others think or wonder if they are even paying attention.

So, that’s what I’m gonna do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last weekend was one crazy busy weekend for me, and one heck of a great time, too!

On Thursday, I packed up my tent, sleeping bag, food, drinks, and all of my riding gear…enough to get me through 4 days. And I headed down to San Acacia for a full 4 day weekend of riding, marking trail, and judging obstacles for two back-to-back ACTHA rides. And I was also excited about celebrating two of my dear friend’s birthdays (Shane and Shelley) with a BBQ potluck and party on Saturday night.

On Thursday I spent over 7 hours in the saddle marking trails for both Saturday and Sunday’s ACTHA rides.

 

The original plan was for 5 of us ladies (Kendra, Karen, Shelley, Jenny and Me, and also my buddy, Shane) to head out in the morning and mark 8 miles of trail, while planning the obstacles and their locations. Then we were going to ride back, have some lunch and perhaps a margarita, then head back out in the afternoon to mark Sunday’s 6 mile trail with some of the guys (Tim, Hunter and Dacodah)

But it didn’t quite work out that way. While we did connect later on in the day with the guys, we ended up staying out the entire day, and never made it back for lunch or that icy cold margarita. Thank goodness, I packed plenty of snacks and drinks in my saddle bags!

Here are some photos from that day:

Kendra waiting to start out on the trails, riding Echo the Arabian, one of Dacodah’s horses.

 

My friend Kendra riding Echo out on the trails. Echo is a young, green-broke, well-bred Arabian, supposedly worth about $10,000.

My friend Shelley and her horse Macho, and dog, Grommit. I just love this photo. It just confirms to me why I always have my camera within reach.

My friend Karen riding her horse Lady Bug, and caught in a typical silly moment.

My friend Jenny, riding Gracie, one of Dacodah’s horses, while practicing one of the obstacles we created: The Jump.

My buddy Shane (one of Dacodah’s Wranglers) riding Zia in the Rio Grande.

 

And me wearing my string of pink trail marking ribbons, while riding Dacodah’s horse Splendor, in the river.

We ladies (and Shane, too) sure had a great time riding together that day. What was supposed to be hard work, was just plain fun!

(Kendra, Karen, Jenny, and Shelley)

Karen putting a trail ribbon in Shelley’s horse, Macho’s forelock.

Shelley and Shane…the Birthday Kids!

 

Jenny and Shelley and I discussing the Jump Obstacle.

 

Shelley and Macho testing out the Jump Obstacle.

 

Shane scouting out some potential trails above us.

Kendra and Echo waiting for a turn on the Jump Obstacle.

 

Karen, Kendra and Shane riding through the desert.

 

Splendor asks, “Are you my Mother?” “No! You’re not my Mother! You’re a SNORT!!”

Before long, we arrive at the old Train Trestle Bridge spanning the Rio Salado Wash.

Here we are discussing the obstacle that we want to place here below the Trestle Bridge, with Shelley, Karen and Shane.

And then Shane gets up there and places a pink ribbon beneath the Train Trestle, to mark the location of the obstacle.

And we then realize that it’s getting too stinkin’ hot and decide that we should just hang out in the shade for a little while.

It doesn’t take us long to come to a group consensus that we should leave behind the Trestle Bridge and canter all the way down the Rio Salado Wash to the Rio Grande (off in the distance behind us, in the photo above). What a thrill, all 6 of us, cantering full speed through the sandy wash, until we finally reach the cooling waters of the river!

The horses were loving it! They took long deep drinks of the cool water then splashed around just for fun!

 

 

 

After we felt sufficiently cooled off, we finally caught up with the guys (Dacodah, Hunter, Tim, as well as one of Dacodah’s paying customers, too)

That’s Hunter right in front of me beside the river. And my friend Kendra in front of him.

 

As we rode along beside the river, we caught sight of a couple wild horses hanging out on a sandbar. How exciting!

Then we continued on down the trail, placing pink ribbons along the way.

 

And soon we crossed the river once again…and got close up to those same wild horses we had seen just a few minutes earlier!

 

Splendor got me to within 30 feet of these beautiful wild horses!! Check out that gorgeous albino!

That was beyond AWESOME!!!

But it was getting late in the day, and our shadows grew long.

But as the sun dipped lower in the sky, a nice cooling breeze blew in and made our trail traveling much more comfortable.

And although we still took the opportunity to take a rest in the shade…….

We continued to mark trail and discuss potential obstacles and their locations.

(Shelley and Kendra behind me)

(Dacodah, Kendra and Shelley….We just placed that pink ribbon…see it? On that dead shrub just above and to the right of Dacodah’s head)

Before we headed back across the river and completed our trail marking for Sunday’s ACTHA ride, we stopped by Mr. Baca’s gravesite.

 

Mr. Baca owned this land we were riding on, and it is now part of a Land Trust deeded out to the Sevillita Wildlife Preserve. We stopped by to say thank you to Mr. Baca for making it possible for us to ride on his beautiful land.

 

Rumor has it that one day some cowboys discovered Mr. Baca dead with 2 empty bottles of wine and his horse grazing nearby. They decided to bury him right where they found him. (The next day, some of us rode back to his grave while finishing up marking the trails, and left behind a full bottle of wine, just as a gratitude offering for Mr. Baca. I wonder if he drank that bottle of wine all gone?)

 

We were all very tired and hungry, after our long 7 hour day in the saddle.

But we still had a couple more miles to ride, and the Rio Grande to cross before we arrived back at the historic old San Acacia Schoolhouse, where we would soon be grilling steaks and corn and finally drinking those ice cold margaritas.

 

I could almost taste my delicious steak and that refreshing margarita. And Splendor was dreaming of her bucket of grain and a long roll in the sand.

 

As we trotted across the Rio Grande I managed to capture my last photo of the day…..

 

                                                  Yes. Life is Good.