Manzanita Mountains Ride

Come along with me and enjoy a trail ride in the beautiful Manzanita Mountains of New Mexico!

This is one of my most favorite areas to ride because of the varied, yet easy to ride terrain, beautiful scenery, groves of scrub oak and tall pine trees. I'm blessed to live only a few minutes away and it's lovely all year round!

I invited my new riding companion, Loretta and her gaited gelding, to join me. She had never ridden there before and was instantly in love.

Loretta and her boy Duke.

Loretta enjoys taking photos on the trail, like I do. I was grateful for the photos she took of Apache and I.
Apache and I love to ride up to this view spot and take in the incredible vistas!

Loretta and her handsome Duke.

The grass has grown tall and lush and green. We were glad to let our horses enjoy some grazing.

My happy trail selfie!

Loretta and I took turns leading, but she and Duke were mostly out in front as he is gaited and a bit faster than Apache.

Duke never minded stopping to wait for Apache and I to catch up. He got to enjoy a few munches of grass while waiting.

In some places, the grass was as tall as Apache's belly!

Beautiful meadows filled with green grass!

I love how the trail twists and winds through the tall ponderosa pines.

And the scrub oaks are so thick and lush, it's like riding through a wall of green, and in some areas it's like riding through a tunnel.

"One Can Never Be Unhappy Riding A Horse"

Lots of shade on the trail. Apache and I always enjoy being out in nature together.

I did get a huge surprise at one point along the ride. Two old friends came riding towards us on their horses. Dave and Cheryl have been my riding companions on some pretty epic adventures, including Canyon de Chelley in Chinle, AZ, Catalina State Park in Tucson, AZ and in the Gila Wilderness at Valle Tio Vinces. Cheryl and I also camped and rode together at Fort Stanton, New Mexico years ago. 

And I've even ridden the grey horse on the left. Utah is a Percheron gelding and is as gentle as they come. I rode him in Tucson, AZ one afternoon. What a great time! 

What a wonderful surprise to run into these two old friends and riding companions out on the trails.

My "Riding Makes Me Happy" Trail Selfie!

Of course, I also showed Loretta one of my most favorite New Mexico trees, the Alligator Juniper. This is a very special specimen near the trail. Every time I see it, it's like seeing an old friend.

We rode back to the trailers and water our horses and removed all their tack.

Apache was tired. We typically stop for a lunch break during our ride, but Loretta and I had decided to have our lunch and ice cold beers after our ride on this day.

And a close up photo of how Apache's eye socket looks now that it has sunk in 5 months after her enucleation surgery. (This ride was in August)

Apache my One Eyed Wonder Horse!

Post ride lunch selfies! 

We tucked our ponies in the shade of the trees while we gnoshed and chatted.

Oh yeah!
Life is Good!

The Promise-Breaker, Fake Friend

This particular fake friend was only in my life for less than a year. I met Latana in early 2013 through Facebook when I was looking for places to stay with horses down near White Sands National Monument for a group riding weekend that I had planned. Latana offered her place to me and my friends and even offered to ride along with us and provide a trail guide at White Sands. She quickly integrated herself into my group of friends and friended all of them on Facebook. And I included her in all of the rides I organized and she drove the several hours from her place to participate. I even invited her up to stay at my place one weekend so I could show her some of my favorite trails. During that weekend, I held a campfire in her honor, but she sequestered herself inside her camper with a family member she had invited up for the evening, and only showed up, after much pleading, for a few minutes and then complained about how much she disliked the S'Mores that we had provided for her. Barb was one friend who had come over that evening to visit with Latana and said it was rude that Latana couldn't at least sit with us by the fire and visit.

In early December 2013, my former friend, Barb had asked me if I would go with her to White Sands National Monument so she could ride there for her birthday. She probably wouldn't have asked me to go with her, but her husband couldn't go and she needed a place to stay down there and she had never met Latana and didn't feel comfortable staying at Latana's house by herself. So, I agreed to go with her. I never realized what a negative person Barb was until we did that road trip together. The weather wasn't all that nice that weekend and was windy and cold. We ended up not riding out from Latana's house because it was too bitter cold and windy, but Latana did offer to take Barb and I on a cart ride pulled by her little donkey. I thought it sounded like fun, but Barb sulked and complained that she didn't drive all that way just to get pulled around in a cart. She was also very anti-social and withdrawn while we were inside Latana's house. Latana never said anything, but she didn't act like she was all that happy that I had brought Barb to stay at her house.

But we did get to ride at White Sands one day and we enjoyed a very nice ride. I had helped organize a group of riders to meet us at the monument so we could all celebrate Barb's birthday. The only negativity we had was Latana trying to keep everyone from trotting or cantering or trying to pass her mule, because she said it got her mule too upset. Which was a shame because White Sands is a place that just begs to be explored flying across the dunes on a trotting or cantering horse. So, we all just stayed mostly in a single file line behind Latana for much of the ride.

But after the ride, the weirdest thing happened. Latana loaded up her mule before anyone else and she just left, without saying anything to us, or even waiting for us. I had only been to Latana's house one other time, a year ago, and I wasn't even sure if I remembered how to find my way there coming from White Sands. Barb was really angry about Latana leaving us, and made threatening remarks that she was going to have a "few words" with Latana when we finally got back to her place and she was glad her husband wasn't there because he would tell Latana off. She complained about Latana being a rude, annoying person. She even tried to convince me to just drive the several hours all the way back home instead of staying at Latana's that night.

But during our drive back to Latana's house, I was able to calm Barb down and told her not to say anything to Latana or cause a scene. But Barb said she never wanted to see Latana again.

Well, just two months later, I had plans to drive out to Catalina State Park in Arizona for 4 days to camp and ride my horse, and I had already invited both Barb and Latana before all the drama at Latana's place. I was surprised that Barb said she still wanted to go. But then as the date drew closer she started to make up a lot of excuses why she couldn't go. So Latana texted me and told me that if Barb ended up not going that she would gladly drive up to my house and pick up my horse and I and we would all drive to Catalina State Park together.

Well, at the last minute Barb did back out, so I asked Latana when she was driving up to get me. Well, she basically blew me off, breaking her promise to me. She also backed out, too. She tried to make excuses by saying the timing and the weather weren't right, the drive was too long, and "poor Barb couldn't go, so we should reschedule".

But I had already made my plans. And another friend and her husband we're already planning to meet me in AZ, so I was going. I called Latana out on her broken promise and said she should have never offered something she had no intention of following through with. She got offended and I figured the friendship we had, although very brief, was over anyway, so I told her about Barb's behavior down at White Sands a couple months earlier, since Latana seemed to think that Barb and her were such great friends. I wanted Latana to know the entire truth so she could make up her own mind. Plus I had been carrying around that heavy information for so long and I didn't feel it was fair for me to keep that secret any longer.

Well, when I got back from Arizona, I apologized to Latana for telling her about Barb and for calling her out on breaking her promise. But the friendship between us was already over. And of course, those two fake back-stabbing friends, Barb and Kendra had become thick as thieves while I was in Arizona, so I had quite a bit of loss to deal with in such a short time. It sure was an eye-opening experience and taught me a lot about fake friends, betrayal, liars, and backstabbers.

When we are young, we are taught that bad people don't always look like ugly, scary monsters. They can look friendly and kind and smile to your face. But these people cannot be trusted because their true intentions and character are evil. That's a good definition of a fake friend.......

Catalina State Park Riding Day Two

On our second day of riding at Catalina State Park, our friend, Dave decided to stay back and enjoy a day of rest at the campsite, and he offered his 17hh Percheron horse, Utah, to my husband, John to ride that day. Cheryl and Dave assured us that Utah would take good care of John, who had not been on the back of a horse in over 4 years. And that time was only in an arena and not on a real trail.

I was a little nervous about having John riding, especially on such a huge horse, but Dave let John wear his helmet, and Cheryl promised to give John some riding instruction, as I knew it would be acccepted better coming from her instead of myself. So, while I was getting Apache tacked up, they were tacking up Utah and helping John get mounted up.

We had the perfect campsite. And we were the only horse folks camping in a tent.

Temps only got down into the 50's at night, and we were plenty warm enough with our sleeping bags. We never even used our extra blankets.

John was thrilled to be riding with us in such a beautiful area.

We decided that Cheryl would lead, since her horse, Koda, is Utah's herd mate. And Apache and I would bring up the rear, so I could keep an eye on John and Utah and provide a buffer from anything spooky that might come from behind.

John and Utah

And a great picture of John andd I together.

Have I mentioned how much I admire the saguaros?

We rode through the state park, on the beautiful, sandy, manicured trails for a couple miles.

And then we decided to take a detour up some rocky steep steps so we could explore the National Forest and Wilderness areas.

Utah's impressive backside will make anyone's butt look small!

Up we climbed.......

This was the first time John had ever ridden something so steep, so I wanted to capture the moment by waiting down at the bottom of the hill and taking photos, before Apache and I went up the hill.

The views from the top were beautiful.

Cheryl and Koda with the Catalina Mountains behind.

John and Utah and the Catalina Mountains

Just enjoying the beautiful Arizona desert.

The one thing that all of our New Mexico horses were concerned about when we rode for our first time in Arizona, were barrel cactus. For the first few we saw on the trail, Apache would cock her head and give them the hairy eyeball. But by the middle of the first day, none of our horses even gave those barrel cactus a second glance, and mostly just ignored them.....even when the barrel cactus were perched on the edge of our trail.

Compared to New Mexico's rocky, rugged trails, the trails we experienced at Catalina, are so smooth, sandy, and are barely rocky at all. Our 3 horses, which are all barefoot, easily covered those trails without any trouble at all.

Not long after entering the Wilderness area, the trail began to climb.

The trail became rockier, but the rocks were boulder steps that were no trouble for our horses to climb up.

We continued to climb into the foothills of the Catalina Mountains

The trail became more interesting and fun as it zigged and zagged, climbing higher and higher.

It amazed all of us that we could be riding in the Arizona desert in January and there would be lush, green grass lining the trails. In New Mexico, we won't see any green grass until our summer monsoons begin in July.

Our horses appreciated us letting them stop and enjoy some of that tasty green desert grass.

John was captivated by the desert scenery.

And we continued to climb into the Catalina foothills.

Me and my Apache mare

John, Utah and Saguaros

A gathering of saguaros

Beautiful desert trails

Gorgeous Arizona scenery.

John was beginning to get a little sore and we had been riding for several hours, so we decided to ride up to a ridge and have some lunch and then turn around and ride back.

Riding up to the ridge for our picnic place.

The vistas from the ridge were spectacular!

Cheryl with Utah and Koda

We did have a little adventure up on that ridge. When John dismounted off Utah, he didn't kick his foot out of the stirrup, and between that and John being tired, stiff and sore, when he went to dismount, John fell flat on his butt and caused the saddle to slip over on to Utah's side. John was ok and Utah was a saint and stood perfectly still during the entire experience. But I have to say that trying to tack up a 17hh horse is quite a challenge. I'm obviously pretty spoiled with my 14.2hh little mare, but that experience just reminded me of another reason why I will always prefer a smaller horse.

John and Koda

One of the things I also appreciate about my Apache mare is how well she ties. Once Apache is tied, she goes into hibernation mode, and barely moves a muscle. She seems to know that is her time to rest, and she doesn't waste time pawing, jigging, rubber-necking or dancing around. And I can tie her to anything and she doesn't test how strong it is. She just accepts that she's tied and instantly relaxes.

Although, she did seem to enjoy the views from atop that ridge, just as much as I did.

After lunch, it was time to turn around and head back down the trail.

The horses seemed to appreciate that the return journey was mostly down hill

Beautiful trail surrounded by majestic saguaros.

Even though we were just doing an out-and-back ride, something I don't usually care for, the trail was like brand new because the views were totally different on our return trip.

I enjoyed hearing John's excitement over the beautiful desert scenery. He kept saying he felt like he was riding in an old west movie.

We left behind the Wilderness trails and rode back into the State Park.

The ride back was very peaceful and quiet.

We were all basically in our own little worlds, just focusing on the scenery and the movement of our horse as we traveled down the trail.

Utah took such great care of John that I was able to relax and enjoy my own ride, too.

And take lots of pictures, too.

And before long, we made our way down the steep boulder steps to connect with the Canyon Loop Trail.

And at the bottom of the steps, we were able to water our horses in the creek.

John on Utah and Cheryl on Koda.

John and Koda

And then we rode up some steps........

Ahhhhh...I just love saguaros!

On the way back, while riding the beautiful groomed State Park trails, I decided to switch places with Cheryl and see how John would do with Utah, while Utah's buddy Koda followed behind.

They did great! Although, a few times Utah tried to break into a trot, which John was not skilled or comfortable enough to ride. But Utah easily rated back down to a walk for John.

John really had fun on Utah and felt safe with him, too. but Cheryl and Dave both told me that Utah's trot is huge and offered to let me try it out when we got back to the campsite.

Another creek crossing.......

Of course, I could only let Apache take a drink from the edge and couldn't let Apache stand in the creek, or else she would have flopped right down. So, we trotted right across the creek and waited for John and Cheryl on the other side.

One final hill to trot up before we arrive at the equestrian campground.

Some of the saguaros, much like clouds, will remind you of something else. This big one looks like he's saying to the little saguaro "You wanna piece of me? Put your dukes up, buddy! Let's rumble!"

When we got back to the equestrian campground, I tied Apache to my trailer, so I could take a ride on Utah.

I was very thankful for the concrete 3-step mounting blocks they have at the campground and beside the horse pens. I needed them!

First I had to get acclimated to the height difference in the draft-y nose-bleed section.

And then I asked Utah for his huuge trot....and he did not disappoint! That is one difficult trot to sit. And he also reminded me of what it must be like to ride a marshmallow wine barrel. Ooh..and I felt like my legs were so far apart I was doing splits!

But what a sweet, gentle giant Utah is. I am honored that he allowed me to ride him and very appreciative that he took such good care of my husband all day, too.

After our ride, I removed Apache's tack, and then let her roll in the sand. Then I walked her over to the water hose and gave Apache a cool bath. In January! Apache seemed to love the cool water on her chest, back, legs, neck and belly, and after we were done, I invited her to take another roll in the sand. Oh boy! My girl felt so good!

And then I left her with a pile of hay and a bucket of water, and went back to my tent, changed my clothes, and I grabbed a cold beer for myself and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in a chair. And later we cooked up some steak and mashed potates and hung out around the campfire with Cheryl and Dave.

What an awesome weekend!

Life is Good!