Loving an adventure and determined to make the most
of any situation, I headed west from western NY to Santa Fe with my large hairy
protector, Maxx, riding shot gun. The inexperienced and naive mare,
Mo in the trailer, and all that we would need for three weeks on the
road.
In endurance family fashion, we stopped for the
night at complete strangers homes in Carthage MO and Amarillo TX, making
wonderful friends along the way of Dina and Carl in MO and Heather and Doug
Blashill and family in TX.
At Santa Fe Downs, the defunct race track where we
assembled, the stalls filled up with fresh horses and the barnyards with excited
riders. I found old friends - Duane and Karen Frederickson, Jim and Cindy
Brown and others, and made new ones faster than I could keep track of
them. No one knew what to expect of this endeavor, but we
all shared the sense of adventure and the love of riding our equine partners
down the trail. It didn't take long to form bonds with each other that
will last forever.
I picked my husband up at the airport. He
would crew for me for the first few days, then was contracted to join the
veterinary team when we got to Kansas. He lent a hand with the initial vet
in and formed a great rapport with the other vets on the ride and felt satisfied
that the horses and riders were in good hands.
The first day's ride, after working together
to shuttle horses to the start up a road turned bad by recent thunder
showers, was stunningly beautiful. We rode the top of the Gloriosa
Mesa with views of the Sandia Mountains. The air was fresh and clean, the
company was delightful (including the drag riders) and the frequent
water set out by management was welcome. Coming down off the mesa reminded
me of a part of the Old Dominion with a single track littered with rocks and a
view of the valley below, but this section of trail was twice as long as that in
VA. We thanked the weather gods for not bringing us the daily storms we
had been experiencing when we saw the evidence of the flow of water directly
down the trail from the previous storms.
Riding along in the back of the pack on this day
were new riders, experienced riders, cowboys, english saddles, Arabians, Paints,
Spanish Mustangs, Tennessee Walkers, and Quarter Horses. I am sure in my
7500 career miles I had not ridden with so diverse a group. We all shared
the desire to see the country, accept the challenge and enjoy the day. We
neither hurried nor tarried, told many a story and had a great
time. The two vet checks went well for the number of inexperienced riders
and new management. Lunch was provided, as it would be every day of
the ride - a ham and cheese on white bread, a packaged cookie, doritos and
an apple. My seven year old green-as-a-bean mare, Tifaan, aka Mo,
completed the second 50 miler of her career
in fine form.
