Arrowhead Ranch: White Sands National Monument Ride

In early February, I helped organize a weekend of riding a glamping with two of my friends. I had already been to White Sands National Monument twice before to ride. Both of my friends had never been there and they were excited and relieved that I was going to show them around.
Our original plan was to ride White Sands National Monument on Saturday and ride Fort Stanton on Friday, while staying at my friend Dana's vacation home in Carrizozo, NM both nights.
But the weather changed our plans as high winds were expected on Saturday, and White Sands is not a place you want to visit on a very windy day.
So we headed down to White Sands National Monument on Friday, driving about 4 hours. We planned to ride for a few hours and then head up to Dana's vacation home, about an hour and half drive north of White Sands.

On the drive down, I led the way and we all convoyed together with our own rigs.
Here we all our lined up at the Equestrian Parking Area at White Sands National Monument.

As soon as we arrived, we all watered our horses and led them over to an area where we could let our horses enjoy a good roll. After 4 hours of hauling, they all seemed to enjoy that a lot.

Afterwards, we saddled up and got ready to ride!

Apache waiting beside my trailer.

I was surprised at how warm it was that day and was I was happy that I had packed a t-shirt to wear. Temps were in the upper 70's, but with the reflection of the sun on the white sand, and the lack of any breeze, it felt more like mid-80's!

Dana and Judith riding ahead.

Judith and Dana surrounded by dunes of white sand.

White Sands Selfie!

There are no official trails for horseback riders, so it's great fun to just head out and explore.

But it's important to bring a GPS and a compass because there is rarely ever a line-of sight and after riding up and down the dunes, it is easy to get disoriented.

I had brought my GPS and I guided our ride all day. But we didn't follow any hard and fast route and we each took turns picking different directions to go.

Apache and I enjoying the experience. This was her third time at White Sands, too.

Dana and I riding up a dune.

My bright pink shirt really stood out against the bright white sand.

Even though we were only able to ride at White Sands for a few hours, we felt it was perfect because the temps were so warm, that we were all feeling a bit overheated by the end of our ride. And after the long drive down, we didn't want to arrive at Dana's vacation home too late.

Apache the One Eye Wonder Horse and me!

Between the Ears at White Sands National Monument

My friend Judith too some great photos using her phone.

And I took some photos of Judith and her horse Bucket with my camera.

This photo just needed black and white!

Judith and Bucket at White Sands.

Dana and Blaze at White Sands.

Apache the One Eye Wonder Horse! She is so incredibly awesome!

White Sands for as far as the eye can see!

Both Judith and Dana were so amazed to be riding at such an incredibly unique and beautiful place.

Judith and Dana waving!

Such breathtaking views!

Horses tend to get a bit excited by the high expanse of sand and want to trot or run. Even my normally slow-poke-ish mare can get a bit forward at White Sands. Apache was pretty near perfect on this day though and although she did want to trot a bit, we had to slow back down to a walk when Dana's boy Blaze got so excited that he started bucking and even rearing up a couple times.

All three of us kept the rest of the ride low-key so that Blaze wouldn't get so worked up. He is still pretty green being only 5 years old, and a mustang that was just gentled and ridden for the first time last year.

Dana and Blaze down in one of the valleys between the dunes.

Having the GPS was especially important when finding your way back to the trailer parking area at the end of the day. With all the tall dunes and deep valleys in between the dunes, it's next to impossible to find your way back without a GPS.

How lucky and blessed I am to have had the opportunity to ride my Apache mare at White Sands National Monument three times! It's truly a bucket list kind of place!

We found our way back to the equestrian parking area as the shadows grew long.

Riding through the parking area towards my horse trailer. My portable corral is attached to the back of the truck for glamping in Carrizozo this night!

One last photo beside the trailer at White Sands. This was important, because it was my first time driving my own rig to White Sand,s as the previous two times, Apache and I had hitched a ride with other people. It's so much better having my own rig and not relying on anyone else to get me somewhere and hauling my horse. I love the independence!