Riding on Cloud 9

 

That just seems like the best title for this post. Heck, it’s the best description for the entire weekend of ACTHA rides with my Apache mare.

I could not have been any happier or more joyful even if I had won the lottery.

And in a way….I have.

Beginning from where I left off………………

After about 15 minutes of waiting for our time slot to begin…just sitting on Apache’s comfy back while she grazed grass, enjoying the peace, quiet and beautiful day, the rest of the riders who had signed up for the 10:45am time slot finally arrived at the starting ribbon.

I was to ride with my friends Anne and Matt and I was really looking forward to it.

Even though they have been in several ACTHA rides, I have either been riding in a different group, volunteering as a judge, or Matt has been volunteering as a Safety Rider, so we just never had the opportunity to actually ride together.

(Shhh. Apache has a crush on Anne’s Clydesdale, Prince. If you don’t remember the adorable photos from last September when Apache and Prince shared a few special moments together, you can visit this link: The Odd Couple)

I’m glad I remembered to ask someone to take a photo of us on Sunday.

Well….I had hoped to ride with Matt and Anne that day, but things just didn’t quite work out that way.

Once our ride time started, we rode on down the gravel road and then onto the trail. And while Apache never balked, she rode very slowly, which meant that the 3 riders in our group, Matt, Anne and a gal named Dita, rode on ahead of us. So Apache and I brought up the rear….way in the back, to the point that we basically rode by ourselves. I explained to Apache that’s what happens when you decide to go too slow, but she, like always didn’t seem very bothered at having to ride down the trails just the two of us.

So we mozied on down the trail, me trying to keep track of the green ribbons that marked the trail we were to follow, and Apache just keeping an eye on where she placed her feet and enjoying being out on such a beautiful day…which just so happened to be Earth Day!! Can you imagine a better place to be on Earth Day, than out in nature riding your horse? Me neither!

Well, we finally caught up with Matt, Anne and Dita at the first obstacle, but Apache didn’t seem too pleased with the energy of Dita’s horse, who was acting like a fire-breathing dragon and just all over the place, huffing, puffing and prancing. Poor Dita had herself a little workout and had to keep circling her horse and trying to gain some kind of control.

Well, since we were just in the Buddy Division and didn’t have to complete the obstacles and because we were riding so slow that day, and I wasn’t wanting to ask too much of my mare (I wanted to keep her shoulder feeling good), and I just wanted most of all for she and I to have a great time together, I told Matt and Anne that Apache and I were going to head on down the trail while they completed the obstacle. So, we continued on down the trail just Apache and I, and focused on finding green trail ribbons. It wasn’t long before Matt, Anne and Dita caught up with us.

Hi Guys!! Glad you found us!

      

And we rode together for another mile or so, when we spied another group of 6 other riders, the one that had left at 10:30am, wandering around among the trees in front of us. They were lost.

So, we invited them to join our group so we could ride together. I was pretty happy about that because several of the riders in that group were friends of mine from volunteering at Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue. (In the photo below, from the left: Christine, Jackie, and Loeta)

My friend Jackie, and her mare Rosie, who is the first horse I rode after recuperating from my ACL surgery caused by falling off of my previous horse. I owe a lot to Rosie and Jackie. Rosie helped give me my confidence back after getting hurt, and helped me realize that I shouldn’t give up on my dreams.

  

My friend Christine, who bought her handsome Tennessee Walker about the same time that I bought my Apache mare.

And my friend Loeta, who is also Jackie’s Mom. Loeta rides a sweet Paso Fino Gelding.

Well, I still don’t understand why or how this happened, but somehow we left behind Matt, Anne and Dita and ended up riding in the 10:30am group with Loeta, Jackie and Christine. We could have just somehow missed some ribbons and got lost, or it could have been something else.

This may not sound like such a big deal, but when you consider that until this time, both during the entire Saturday’s ACTHA ride and the beginning of Sunday’s ACTHA ride, Apache was just strolling along at her own relaxed pace. Which was fine with me as we weren’t in any kind of race, but still! We were now keeping up with two gaited horses: a Tennessee Walker and a Paso Fino!

All I can figure out is that Apache remembered riding with them many times in the past (we rode quite a few times on that same ranch together when it was called Cedar Hills, and we also rode up in the Carson National Forest at Tres Piedras when we all went horse camping), and I wonder if she just felt comfortable with them and decided she wanted to hang out together. As you can imagine I was very pleased! It’s so much fun to ride with friends.

When we arrived at the second obstacle, there was another group there with more friends!

My friend Karen.

And my friend Anna of the blog DunAppy of Bluewater Rangerbred Appaloosas on her mare Baby Girl.

Here they are completing the obstacle: Slicker ‘n Water. I was so excited for them in that they placed 5th place that day!!!!

Here’s my friend Jackie and her mare Rosie completing the obstacle.

 

Now, I’m really not sure if my mare is gaited, but I have experienced a very special fast walk that my mare does and a sort of trot that feels like you’re barely moving, but she’ll be covering some ground, so I really do wonder. I truly love it when she breaks into that fast walk or gaiting trot. I love the way it feels…like I’m floating along…no bouncing, no having to post. It’s truly sublime!

(Five of the riders in our group, two are out of the picture, including me. Notice the two gaited horses out in front.)

Well, I surely didn’t expect to get any of that speed on Sunday because of how gimpy she had been the night before. But I guess that Bute really made a difference, and she was just feeling so good, because she broke into her fast paces and I was so thrilled that I couldn’t stop smiling! And the more I praised her for it the more she kept on with it. I think she may have been smiling, too!

(All six of the other riders in our group)

This wonderful gal in our group had only been living in New Mexico for 2 years after moving from Texas. She said she was in love with New Mexico….me, too. Her horse is a 19 year old Quarab….full of energy and spunk for an older gentleman!

 

This 4th obstacle is called the Barrel Board Pinwheel with a cow bell attached at the end of the board! The idea is to pick up the end of the board and circle your horse around the barrel 360 degrees and place the board back down. Sounds easier than it is!

This lady on the black mare, is actually a mountain neighbor of mine that I’ve only met one other time. She breeds and raises mules and is considering buying one of those Fjord horses that I posted about from Saturday’s ACTHA ride. Nice lady.

With the two gaited horses in our group, Apache and I mostly followed along somewhere within the group or at the end. But sometimes we’d still get to lead and search for green ribbons.

 

While waiting at obstacles, I reveled in the joy of being able to be on horseback on such a special day: Earth Day!

Riding around a bend in the trail and coming upon a little peek at the mountains was like a gift. I smiled a lot all day.

 

Sometimes we paused to enjoy the incredibly beautiful vistas and take a photo.

And enjoying the views from between my mare’s ears couldn’t be any sweeter!

Some of the judges were so much fun and everyone laughed a lot while cheering on the riders in our group as they attempted each obstacle, like at Obstacle 5: The Side-Pass.

 

With the indoor arena in the distance and only one more obstacle to complete, some of the riders in our group wanted to enjoy a nice canter across the field and asked if any of us minded. Of course not, I answered and encouraged them to have fun with their horses.

I wasn’t going to ask that of Apache, but if she had offered, I would have let her.

But alas, she was content with her relaxed walk and a little bit of her fast pacing walk. It was all good and we both were having a wonderful time. She didn’t mind riding by ourselves or with others. She was just enjoying being someplace new out on the trails, just as I was.

We caught up with our group at the last obstacle: Don’t Spray Me!

Horses were judged on how willing and calm they were while being sprayed with a water bottle.

Then it was time to follow the green trail ribbons back to base camp.

And once I removed Apache’s tack, brushed her down, gave her small dose of Bute, and checked her feet, I put her in her paddock where she promptly laid down and enjoyed a leisurely roll!

Ahhhh! Feels so good!

 

Looking back at the entire weekend, I have to conclude that I could not have been happier with my Apache mare. She was well behaved all weekend, loaded and unloaded perfectly, did everything I asked without complaint, she got along with all of the other horses, she led, she followed, she rode alone, she waited patiently, she was calm and relaxed, and she took the very best care of me while I was on her back. And most importantly of all, I absolutely believe that my Apache mare enjoyed herself just as much as I did.

 

And that is why I am on Cloud 9.

~~~~~~~~~~

PS Even though we hauled Apache down to the ranch for the ACTHA weekend with our own horse trailer, Ranchman John needed our truck on Saturday to return to Phoenix for work. So I just want to shout out a big thank to my friend Roni, who lives just two streets over from me, for giving my Apache mare a ride home with her mare after the ACTHA ride.

Sunday’s ACTHA Ride

 

Before I went to bed on Saturday night, I had resigned myself to not being able to ride in Sunday’s ACTHA ride. I figured I would just drive down Sunday morning and just spend the morning and afternoon hanging out with Apache, maybe walking her around and letting her graze on the grass around the base camp.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, something inside of me told me to just go ahead and dress to ride, so I threw on my breeches, half chaps, and Ariat riding shoes. Then I refilled my water bottles and packed a few snacks and sliced up some more carrots for Apache and said a little prayer for strength and health for my Apache mare as drove down to Estancia.

Before checking in on my mare, I first stopped off at the campsite of my friends Britt and LuAnne, as they said they were going to keep an eye on Apache that night. Britt told me that Apache looked pretty good in the morning, but she still gave her a small dose of Bute, about a half hour before I arrived. I thanked them profusely and went to go hug my Apache mare and see for myself just how she was feeling.

Would she up for a 6 mile ride that day?

After spending a little time with Apache and not noticing any stiffness or lameness, I went over to the check-in table and signed up for a ride time.

On Saturday 35 riders had shown up to ride. On Sunday there were only 32 riders. Most everyone had signed for a ride time the night before, but since I wasn’t even sure we were going to be able to ride, I waited until Sunday morning, which left only 2 time slots: 10:45am or 11:00am. Oddly enough there wasn’t anyone signed up for the 11 am ride time, so I went ahead and signed up for the 10:45am slot that already had 3 riders. Which made me happy because I saw that my friends Anne and her husband Matt were in that time slot and even though I’ve been to ACTHA rides with Matt, riding Anne’s Clydesdale Prince, Matt rode as a Safety Rider. So I’ve always wanted to just ride with them, and this was a great turn of events that I would finally have the opportunity.

While waiting for our ride time to start, some friends of mine asked me to take some photos of them dressed up for the group themed contest. They chose to be the Rat Pack and had some very cute costumes.

 

I got my mare groomed and tacked up by 10:30am and then rode her around the base camp. The 10:30am group was leaving as I rode by, and I took note that several of my old Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue friends were in that group, two of them riding gaited horses, which caused me to have a wistful feeling, wishing my horse could keep up with them so we could ride together. Oh well. It is what it is, I told myself. We would ride our own ride and just enjoy ourselves today, even if we had to ride all by ourselves.

Which was starting to seem like it was going to end up that way.

Those 15 minutes between the last group leaving and then waiting for our 10:45am time slot to begin, seemed interminably long. The base camp seemed so deserted, so quiet. Was my horse and I all alone? Where was Matt and Anne and the 4th rider in our group?

I sat relaxed on my mare’s comfy back while she nibbled grass and just reveled in the silence and peacefulness. I happened to glance up and noticed the beautiful cloud formations against the bright, blue sky highlighted by warm sunshine. (And of course, I took a photo *grin*)

I just knew it was going to be a good day. I could feel it in my heart and deep in my soul.

San Acacia ACTHA CTR

 

After Saturday’s fun trail ride in San Lorenzo Canyon, everyone went back to the old San Acacia Schoolhouse for a big potluck dinner, some great conversation and even some dancing. But we all had to get up early the next day to prepare for the Sweethearts of San Acacia Competitive Trail Ride (CTR), so me and my friends, Trish, Nancy, Shelley and her hubby Phil carpooled down a little farther south to Socorro to share two adjoining rooms at the Super 8 motel. We enjoyed another hour or two of laughter and good conversation pajama party style while my Dobbie Girl and Shelley and Phil’s fox terrier, Grommit had a little playtime, too. Then we hit the hay!

Got up the next morning, car pooled back up to San Acacia, and helped the competitors get registered, signed in and prepared for that day’s ACTHA CTR.

Many of us who were riding and judging that day were dressed up for the Valentine’s Day theme of the ride. I had bought a new helmet cover for the occasion. And something that has become a sort of requisite when I ride down there, is Dacodah posing for a photo wearing my blinged out helmet.

Doesn’t he look like a loverly polo jockey in this photo? lol!

Of course, with the Valentine’s Day theme of the ride, there was a contest for best decorated horse and rider, and many riders enjoyed prettying up their horses.

Like my friend Vicki and her guy Copper.

 

 

And Peggi, from Carlsbad, NM with her young fellow, Tuff. 

 

And Nancy from Corrales was sure to decorate her mare, Aspen, who is the Pet Mayor of Corrales.

Nancy was also all blinged out with her gorgeous hand-made All Seeing Eye chaps, made by talented New Mexico prison workers.

And my friend Melissa had way too much fun tormenting….um….decorating her beau, Pal…who wasn’t at all impressed to be wearing ribbons and roses.

“Stop laughing ladies. Mom…take this crap off of me now. Don’t you know guys aren’t supposed to dress this way?” (Notice the single nostril flare pointed at Melissa….this is an obvious ‘teed off horse’ sign similar to the human ‘finger in your face’ reaction)   

“I’m telling you people! You better not post these photos on Facebook or on one of those blog thingies!!”

(Ooops…sorry Pal!)

 

I did not take the following photo, but just had to share it because I was so excited that my friends Anne and Matt both decided to ride in that weekend’s ACTHA CTR. And this was Anne’s first ACTHA ride and she was riding it on her Clydesdale gelding, the famous Prince, that I’ve written about many times over the past few years. Apache is in love with him, too! And Matt was riding a brand new horse who did an amazing job on all of the obstacles. It was great to see them together at the CTR. 

 

 

Right after the Judges Briefing, four of us got saddled up and then headed out on the trail to find our obstacles. We had thought someone was going to lead us out, as we had no clue where we were going, except to follow the pink ribbons. We weren’t the only ones who were a little confused. See the rider out in front? She was actually a competitor and thought we were the first group of ACTHA competitors to head out, so she joined us all the way to the first obstacle…where she had to turn around and go back to the starting point again and wait for the competitor groups to finally head out when it was time…..like AFTER all the judges made it to their obstacles. lol!   

 

The four of us were relieved when Dacodah finally caught up to us right around the first obstacle. He also brought along several other judges and judge’s assistants that he was going to take to the 2nd and 3rd obstacles.

 

Soon after we dropped off the judges for obstacle #2, we hurried to obstacle #3, where we were able to look back and see the first group of competitors riding towards obstacle #2. Eeeek! We had to hurry!

 

 

We had a lot of steep up and downs going into and back out of arroyos, so we had to stop for a cinch check a couple times and Dacodah wanted to stop a few times and make sure the trail was clearly marked for the competitors by moving rocks to block other trails that led off into other directions off the main trail.

This young lady is my friend Randi. I’ve ridden with her several times and she offered to be mine and Trish’s Judges’ Assistant that day. 

 

 

The guy in front of me in the arroyo, his name is Robert. He drove up from Carlsbad with his wife Peggi for the ACTHA ride, but he wasn’t competing. Instead he offered to help us out at Trish’s and my obstacles, by handing out poker cards for the Poker Jackpot that was also going on in addition to the CTR. (See the pink ribbon on the bush on the left?)

 

 We had a lot of fun riding out to our obstacle. In the past when I’ve judged for an ACTHA CTR, the judges are usually transported via truck or ATV. So it was a real treat to get to ride the entire ACTHA trail for this event. The trail itself was just shy of 7 miles and our obstacles were #4 and #5, so we had to ride at least 5 miles just to reach our obstacles.

 

We did do some trotting and a little cantering, but I wish we could have done more. We needed to hurry up to get to our obstacle before the competitors caught up with us. But Randi was too nervous about making her horse move faster, so Dacodah kept us at a steady walk for most of those 5 miles instead. It was still fun, but I just really wanted to get to our obstacle to get it set up and not feel rushed if competitors showed up and had to wait for us. (See the pink ribbon on the left?)

 

At one point when we rode up and out of an arroyo, we flushed out a herd of mule deer.

 

The mule deer weren’t scared, just curious and they peeked at us as we rode by. The horses looked, but didn’t really care about the deer much at all.

 

We finally made it to our obstacles, which were actually two obstacles in one: A Down…and an Up. Shelley and Dacodah had named them the Dipa Coaster!

Both were completely natural obstacles that a rider could expect to encounter on a trail here in the desert southwest.

To let us experience our obstacles, Dacodah invited us to each take a turn. Dacodah went first, followed by Robert, then me, then Randi, and then finally by Trish. The obstacle was pretty intimidating when you first walked up to it…..it looks far steeper when you are looking down. Trish got a little nervous which made her horse nervous, too. 

 

But soon, Trish and her horse had made it down and were on their way back up. Yay!

 

We found an old fence and tied up our horses, so we could focus on judging our obstacles. 

 

We all pulled out the Valentine’s Day decorations from my saddle bags and busily set out to decorating our obstacles. And very quickly our first group of competitors showed up. There’s my friend Theresa on her famous German Warmblood/Lipizzan gelding, Zeema! America’s Favorite Trail Horse Competitors, too!

 

Then it was time for Trish and I to slip and slide down into the arroyo where we could better judge both the up side and the down side.

 

 Dacodah took this photo of one of the competitors, who both did a wonderful job. You can see me down there on the left judging Obstacle #4. And Trish is just out of sight, over on the far right, judging Obstacle #5.

In the photo below you can see my friend Anne, on Prince her Clydesdale, heading down Obstacle #4. They were my favorite competitors for the day, not just because Anne is my friend and I adore Prince, but also because they completed Obstacles #4 and #5 with such calmness and were truly a team. For as huge as Prince is, he delicately made his way down and up those obstacles, carefully taking care of Anne the entire way.

 

Dacodah being silly at the top of the Dipa Coaster.

 

And here Trish and I were being silly in return. lol!

 

 

Dacodah took some videos of our obstacle, and here’s one of them, so you can get a better idea of the type of terrain and challenge that it presented to the competitors.

 

Finally after about an hour and a half, the last of the competitors made it through our obstacle, and we could pack up and head back to the ARA Base Camp to get all of the competitors scores entered into the ACTHA Database. It was a good thing, too, because the arroyo didn’t offer much protection from the wind and instead acted like a Wind Tunnel.  And by the end, the wind had really picked up and it had gotten much colder, too.

I was pretty cold by this point and had all of my layers on, including 1 short sleeve shirt, 2 long sleeve shirts, a fleece turtleneck, a fleece vest and my double layered fleece jacket. I looked like an Oompa Loompa! lol! 

 

The horses had all stood patiently tied for over an hour and a half. But by the time the bitter wind started gusting at 35-45 mph, they were ready to high tail it back home and warm up with some grain and hay. To say that the horses were pretty hyped up is putting it mildly. Splendor says, “Cut it out with the picture taking and let’s go already!”

 

The wind was horrible on the way back. I had forgotten to bring my ear muffs, so my ears were numb from the ice cold wind and we were riding straight into it, too. Thankfully we cantered back almost the entire way, but Randee’s horse got a little too excited, especially when Randee would try to slow her down, and she ended up bucking her off. I was relieved that she landed in soft, deep sand, and she wasn’t hurt. But after that Dacodah switched horses with her and he rode the bucking mare back instead. Of course, she didn’t give Dacodah any trouble and we kept a fast steady pace back.

 

When we came to the final obstacle #6, even Splendor was prancy, snorty and excited. This obstacle was a Stand Still challenge where riders had to stand near the distracting tractor for 60 seconds without moving. But the tractor wasn't the only distraction. First there was the gusting wind with dust devils blowing through, and if you notice in the background, there was also a Team Roping practice going on there, too! Talk about exciting!

 

We all had to ride past the Team Roping practice, which caused most of our horses to be high-headed and wide eyed, while calling out to the horses tied up to the trailers beside the arena.

I didn’t take any photos as we rounded the corner and walked alongside the horse trailer as I wanted to be ready for anything. lol! Thankfully, everyone was well behaved and the passing was mostly uneventful. I was kind of wishing we could have went over to watch the Team Roping, though.

 

On the way back we rode on a dirt road until a car forced us to dip down into a hay field for a short while. And then we rode back up once they passed us, and we finished up the last half mile or so riding on the ditch banks, all the way back to the ARA Base Camp in San Acacia.

Here’s a video I took, just to give a little idea of how horribly windy it was on that last stretch. We trotted most of the way back, and I enjoyed listening to Splendor’s steady clip clopping on the hard-packed dirt ditch bank.