Idaho

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

Finally home - to the most beautiful state of all! We had a nice
ride in Utah, did 2 days of Dave's Mt. Carmel 3-day. Spectacular
scenery, red rock canyons, lots of sand (Truman - this may not
be Florida sand, but it was hock deep in places, and you should
try climbing mountains in this stuff!), lots of open jeep trails,
very very beautiful ride. John wanted to do a Slow ride on
Squeak (Sukaro) and I decided to stay with him and do a nice
slow ride with Santini. The little sucker pulled for 100 miles. 
He is definitely not suited to leisurely riding. I think I'll
try a 1-day 100 with him next month... I'm guessing he'll
still be pulling at the end of that too.

We decided to leave Utah a day early and go riding in the
Owyhee Mtns of southern Idaho. We're trying to buy
a ranch down there and wanted to see what the riding
was like. Absolutely gorgeous - mostly sagebrush, 
juniper and pines in the higher country (goes up to 8000
ft at the highest mountain). The wildflowers were spectacular,
I don't think I've ever seen such a variety of desert color.

Home now in northern Idaho where it's green green green
and very pretty. Horses are all out on pasture, glad to see
their buddies and be out of the trailer. They certainly 
became good travellers, hopping into the trailer when it
was time to go, settling into whatever layover place we
found. (they did manage to escape their corral during the
night at the fairgrounds in Amarillo, Tx. - lucky for us some 
folks stopped them at the main entrance gate or who knows
where they would have gone.)

Good to be home. I'll spend the next few weeks working
Khruschev in the mountains - the one thing he was missing
this winter - and build up some heart and muscle strength. 
Our next ride will be the Ft Howes in Montana - one of 
the most beautiful rides I've ever attended - I'm looking
forward to galloping across the grasslands. We did some
wonderful rides back East, but nothing compares to the
wide open spaces (don't fence me in :)

Steph