Five Hills Adventure Ride

My last summer ride I did with my local riding group was probably my favorite of all. It was somewhere I hadn't ridden for a long time and not from that particular trail head. The ride took place in the Cibola National Forest, but we parked at the end of a road in a neighborhood.
It was also the same weekend as my 50th Birthday, so I was excited to ride as much as possible as a gift to myself.

The day was beautiful and sunny and I got Apache tacked up pretty fast and we were ready to go.

Apache and I wandered around while waiting for the others to finish tacking up their horses. And I captured a between the ears photo of my truck and trailer. Trail head in the distance.

After everyone was tacked up, we lined up for a group photo taken by a hiker who lived in the neighborhood.

There were 9 riders total and 11 horses. 

Apache and I are standing third from the right.

South Mountain in the distance. The same mountain I see from my house every day.

Smiling happy faces on this ride.

We stopped in a huge meadow to enjoy the 360 degree gorgeous views and to let our horses graze on the grass growing there.

Apache and I looking towards the southeast, in the direction of home.

The energy level of the horses that day was low key. I attribute that to not having our usual leader , with his hot-headed gaited stallion. This day we had a guy named Mike, someone I used to ride with years ago, during American Competitive Trail Horse Association(ACTHA) competitions. It was good to ride with him again.

And even though Mike rides gaited horses, Paso Finos, the pace was pretty relaxed and easy going.

Mike, ponying another of his horses, up front.

And Apache and I strolled along towards the back, though not last. We just don't like riding nose-to-tail.

Some of the riders wanted to go on a walk-about and explore an old water tank/dam, so we pulled off the trail for a little side-adventure.......one of many on this day.

Since I wasn't interested in seeing a dried up water tank, Apache and I stayed down below with several others and we all just chatted and let our horses graze.

And then the dam climbers came back down, and we continued on our way.

Some sections of the trail were very rocky, so I was glad that I put Apache's Cavallo hoof boots on for this ride.

Up we go!

We enjoyed some beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains during our ride.

But one of my favorite parts of the ride, was riding through the pinon and juniper trees.

Some of the trail felt like riding through a tree tunnel. So fun!

And there were scrub oaks, too.

Any kind of tree is good for me. I don't mind riding in the desert. And the desert has it's own beauty. But I'm a mountain girl at heart. I love riding among the trees and on interesting and challenging trails.

We continued to climb higher.

And higher......

Until we reached the top of a ridge, probably less than a mile from my house. We stopped to let our horses rest for a few minutes.

Her bug netting was quite useful that day as the gnats were rather annoying.

Mike and his three Paso Finos. He brought along his young assistant trainer to help him exercise his horses.

Another rider in our group ponying his young horse.

And his wife bringing up the rear. I really enjoyed riding with her. She was a lot of fun and we both liked riding in the back of the group.

And Apache and I in our Trail Selfie!

The yellow wildflowers along the trail were particularly beautiful.

Mike ended up getting a little turned around due to all the tree thinning and masticating that the Forest Service had been doing in the area.
And then he tried to figure out a different route we could take by using his GPS and maps.
Unfortunately, the route included bushwhacking and the area we chose to bushwhack in was very steep and extremely overgrown with thick vegetation.
We did make a go of it anyway and the experience made me very proud of my Apache mare.
We brought up the rear as usual, which proved to be a very good thing, because the group got bunched up together when the route they were following up the mountain got blocked in by thick trees and they were forced to turn around.
So, they yelled down for us to stay where we were and to find a safe route and lead us back down through the forest.
Apache was so well-behaved, so obedient and so willing, even when we were basically all alone in the thick trees, and she could hear the other horses up above us.
I asked her to turn around and together we chose a suitable route through the vegetation all on our own, with the other riders and horses catching up to us about 5 minutes later.

We ended up having to ride back down the mountain to search for another route to create a loop that would get us back to where our trailers were parked, but riding up to the top of the mountain sure gave us some amazing views!

Breathtakingly beautiful views!

Just for fun, I dropped my reins and let Apache choose our route while we were out in the open, because I could see the rest of the riders and knew we wouldn't lose them. Apache enjoys exploring just as much as I do, and she dislikes nose-to-tail, too.
She chose a route through the yellow sunflowers. 

Who can ever be unhappy when surrounded by cheerful sunflowers?

The route we ended up taking was quite the adventure and definitely not for a beginner rider who is fearful of rugged, steep, narrow trails with steep drop-offs and boulder hopping. In fact the trail was barely a trail at all, more like a route through a narrow canyon.
Mike said the trail is called Stairway to Heaven and is very popular with motorcycle/dirt bike riders.
I didn't get any photos during that entire section because I was too busy guiding Apache, and trying to move with an independent seat and stay balanced in the saddle to make it easier for Apache to carry me, and making sure we kept up.
I must say that it was an exhilarating route to ride with my equine trail partner and I actually enjoyed it! It was like working together to solve a complicated puzzle.
When we got to the top of the Stairway to Heaven section, we let all our horses stop and rest. And then we needed to figure out which direction to go.  

And then we had to gallop up an extremely steep mountainside to reach the top because the grade was just too steep for the horses to walk up......think Man from Snowy River in reverse. I'd guess that the grade was about 25-35%! At the top, several of us had to dismount and readjust saddles because they had slipped back during the gallop uphill. And all of us had breast collars on our horses, too! This was a first for Apache and I in our 7+ years of riding mountain trails!

But that adventure was fun, too!

And when we got to the top of the mountain, that had somehow been cleared by masticators (we kept trying to figure out how they managed to bring them up that steep mountain. But they must have taken a different route through the trees on the other side) we were rewarded with jaw-dropping beauty! So being lost provided some of the most incredible views of the east side of the Sandia Mountains! Being lost isn't always a bad thing.

Truly spectacular views! 

While Mike was studying his GPS and his maps, I decided to break away from the group and rode Apache through the trees to look for a possible safe route that we could take to get down off the mountain. Apache was so amazingly good leaving the rest of the horses behind and she willingly went where I asked her to.
It wasn't until Mike whistled out to us to bring us back, that Apache got a little excited and even called out to everyone, "We're coming! Wait for us!". But she still remained calm as we walked back to the group.

Mike figured out that we just needed to continue riding through that narrow, steep walled canyon/arroyo to find our way back to the main trails, and after some more boulder hopping and weaving through the arroyo, we came out onto the other side of the mountain. Yay!!

There's the arroyo over on the right. Thankfully, much narrower here than it was for us higher up, but not by much! haha!

We finally found the actual trail winding through green meadows.
Mike and his 3 Paso Finos bringing up the rear.

And then we were riding back through the beautiful trees again. And beneath that gorgeous blue sky!

I'm not too bad at taking photos of folks behind me while riding. I try to warn people before I do, though. But not always. haha!

Our ride was originally planned to last 2-3 hours, but ended up being about 5 hours long. But it was one of the most favorite rides Apache and I did all summer!
Hooray for adventures!

Life is Good!!

Competitive Trail Ride ~ Day 2

 

 On day 2 of the Competitive Trail Weekend, I was looking forward to a relaxed, easy trail ride. I didn’t have to take photos as my friend Latana had signed up to be the photographer that day, so I was free to just ride, enjoy the 7 mile trail while challenging my horse and I on the 6 obstacles that day.

But those plans changed pretty quickly when Latana decided to ride her mule out to the trail by herself, instead of with a group, and her mule was not happy and gave her some trouble.

Latana got nervous and decided to head back to the starting area and ride out with the last group, the group I was riding in, instead.  

 

 I was riding with my friends Gayle and Cindy, and now with Latana, too.

 

Cindy, me, and Latana, with the Manzano Mountains as our backdrop.

 

This change in plans still would have worked out fine, except Cindy’s half-Arab mare was pretty fired up, high-headed and excited when we first started out.

Apache could care less about the energy of other horses and it doesn’t bother me either. I just stay out of their way and ride my own ride.

But Latana was already tense and nervous from experiencing her mule acting up from asking her to ride out by themselves, so being around Cindy’s excited mare was pushing her to her limits and she said she kept feeling her mule hunch up and it made her very uneasy.

This photo below was the last photo I took of of her that day.  

 

We all made it to the first obstacle, which was a tarp obstacle. Pretty simple, except that tarp was bright and shiny. Gayle and her gelding crossed it first, followed by Apache and I, and then Cindy and her mare crossed it, too. Latana was supposed to be taking photos, so she didn’t sign up to do the obstacles. But she was still too nervous to even think about her camera.

But we all completed the tarp obstacle, even though Cindy really had to work with her mare to keep her focused. Her mare kept wanting to call out and look for the group that was riding ahead of us on the trail. 

 

One momentous thing happened to Apache and I during this ride, and that is that she spooked.

Yes she did…a real live, honest-to-goodness spook!

Everyone will think I’m crazy when I confess that Apache has never truly spooked in the almost 5 years I’ve called her mine. Yeah, she’s done a tiny, little spook-in-place with her feet still rooted to the ground a few times. But she has never jumped, hopped, teleported or bolted…ever.

Until that day.

And what caused her real spook?

A dog!!! lol!

I know. Pretty funny! Zulu is one of the 4 Winds ranch dogs and Apache has been on trail rides where he has tagged along many times. But this time, 4 Winds had lots of ponds and mini-lakes due to the generous monsoon rains New Mexico had this year. And Zulu is a water dog and spends most of his day swimming in the full ponds.

I shot the photo below, about 10 minutes before Apache’s real spook. We rode past the pond and Apache and I both stood there and watched Zulu while I took some photos. Then after we rode past the pond, Zulu came out of the water and followed us. Apache had her head buried up to her ears in grass while I was talking to Gayle, and all of a sudden behind us I heard a “SWISH!, SWISH!, SWISH”, and next thing I knew, I was shooting forward!

Apache bolted! haha!

She didn’t go far, perhaps less than 20 feet before she stopped and turned her head to see what it was that caused her to spook. And she seemed embarrassed when she realized what she had ran away from. And I was laughing for a number of reasons, 1)My horse spooked and I stayed on! 2)Zulu is a big goofy oaf and looked silly shaking all the water off his hairy body, 3)My horse spooked at a big, goofy, hairy, wet dog, 4)My horse looked embarrassed, 5)Nothing bad happened, 6)And I didn’t fall off.

And I have to say, it was actually kind of amazing to see that my mare is a normal horse and that she will spook sometimes. haha!  

 

And of course, Apache wasn’t the only equines to spook. All of our equines were a bit freaked out by Zulu is some capacity. But between the dog, the spook, and Cindy’s high-energy mare, Latana had had enough and she just wanted to bail and head back to the trailer parking and camping area.

She was so unnerved that she even asked Gayle, Cindy and I to stand at the bottom of the hill, and watch her head back, just in case something happened.

We did, of course. But I was sad to see her go.

So, then it was just me, Cindy and Gayle to continue on. And I pulled out my camera once again. 

 

This pond holds some “fond” memories. Some of y’all might remember that this is the pond that I rode my mare through earlier this year on “Good Friday” and my mare decided to lay down and wallow in the pond like a hippo! haha! I refused to bail because my cell phone, GPS and camera were in my saddle bags! And Apache didn’t just lay down once, but she did it a second time before I could kick her out of that pond. haha!

Here’s the blog post from that day, with photos!

Good Friday Hippo Wallow 

 

 So after taking a photo, I kept Apache moving forward, lest she get any crazy ideas!

Soon after we rode past the pond, Cindy had had enough of her mare's high-headed, high-energy focus on searching for the group in front of us. She asked Gayle and I if we would mind if she dismounted and worked her mare by lunging for a few minutes. Gayle and I didn't mind and moved up on a hillside with some green grass to let our horses snack, while Cindy's mare learned that her focus should be on Cindy. And after about 10 minutes, Cindy's mare found her brain again and Cindy remounted and her mare was calm and well-behaved for the rest of the ride.

The second obstacle was a ‘Gait Transition” challenge.

Apache and I went first, so I could take photos of Gayle and Cindy.

Apache did a perfect transition between walk and trot. I was very proud of her.

Gayle and her gelding did a trot/canter transition. 

 

Then we just rode and enjoyed the trail for about a mile. The trail that Colleen and the 4 Winds volunteers marked was wonderfully interesting and fun with varied terrain and not flat and boring at all.

 

The third obstacle was a “Animal Rescue” challenge, where we had to dismount, walk over to a bucket, take out the injured Rocky Raccoon………

 

Place Rocky on the saddle, re-mount, and then ride over to a second bucket………….

 

Where you took Rocky Raccoon off your saddle……..

 

And then placed him into the second bucket.

 

Apache and I went first again, and Apache was perfect and we were a pretty good team. It’s too bad we weren’t actually competing. I had just signed up to ‘try out the obstacles’, but we would not be eligible for awards or ribbons. I was told later by 5 of the judges that they had given us 9’s and 10’s. We didn’t complete one of the obstacles…more on that later.

Have I already mentioned how much I enjoyed the trail that day? It was truly a great trail and I enjoyed riding with Cindy and Gayle, too. 

 

We caught up with the group in front of us at Obstacle #4, which was a “Roping Challenge”.

My friends Linda and Dita, waiting to take their turn on the obstacle.

 

The most challenging aspect of this obstacle, for my friend Karen, seemed to be untangling her lariat rope. Thankfully, her gelding Rio was very patient! And the judge, too! haha!

 

Some of the equines didn’t even know there was an obstacle there. They seemed to think that someone left a snack out for them.

 

Gayle and her gelding Max proved that you don’t need to be a Cowboy or dress the part to rope a calf. They totally nailed the obstacle!

 

Apache and I waited until last to try out the obstacle, but Apache would not let the judge get close enough to us to hand us the lariat. She just didn’t trust the guy walking toward us with the rope in his hand.

But I’m pretty sure that, if the lariat rope had been placed on a post or a tree for us to just walk up to and me take it off, that we would have been able to complete this obstacle with no problems.

 

My dear friend Colleen, owner of 4 Winds Equestrian Center ! She loves her awesome mare Pepper! 

 

Obstacle #5 was a “Slicker Challenge”

A slicker was placed on a post, on a windy day…and all we had to do was walk up, pick up the slicker, lay it on our saddle……

 

And then ride around the tree…..

 And place the slicker back onto the post……

 

And remember to smile for the camera. haha!

Cindy took these photos with her camera, unbeknownst to me, as you can see by my surprised face when she told me to smile. hah!

 

The last obstacle, #6 was a “Campground Chaos” challenge. The wind was whipping the tent around, along with the shiny, silver survival blanket. There were chairs, tables covered with sundry camping and party items, stuffed animals, umbrellas, an ATV, and loud party music blaring from inside the tent.

 

Colleen asked if she could take some photos of Apache and I as we tried out the obstacle.

 

And this time I remembered to smile. hah!

 

Apache, of course, totally aced it!

 

We also rode past a smiling Keith, husband of my friend Denise. They are both employees at 4 Winds and are just terrific people. (Watch out for that ginormous spider, Keith!)

 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with good friends, great equines, beautiful trails and fun and challenging obstacles.

                                                          The End!