We Got RAINED ON - or Trail Maintenance 101

The Ambassadors from the Estes Park Visitor's Center are doing tours this week of local lodgings, and we were scheduled for this morning; first on the list, so we made up a 'sampler' breakfast for them.  We spent some time discussing how we could get approximately 30 people in and out in the allotted 15 minute time we were allowed, while showing them our rooms and letting them sample food.  Set the stage:

A couple of cars pull in 10 minutes early, announcing they kept watch on our blog and could they please meet the horses.  Cool!  I walk over to the pen with them.  As we are discussing various blog posts, we see the bus load going down the main highway.  One of the ladies says, "There goes the bus!  They missed the turn off!"  We all snicker, thinking we have another 10 minutes before they get to the next turn off and wind their way back up the hill.  No bus.  Pretty soon another car arrives to announce the bus broke down at the other end of the business route.  Oh my, that's a 1.5 mile walk, so the cars already here headed down to pick up people.  Remember, no cell phone usage here, so someone had to get here to call for repairs.... and our dilemma was solved.  A second bus was sent out to pick up everyone and we had a most marvelous chat with about 36 wonderful purveyors of information about our lodge.

After everyone left, we changed into 'work' clothes, caught up the horses and headed out for some trail maintenance.

Ranger is much happier with Beel on his back, even though he had to have the iron bar in his mouth today, just to stay in practice.

He doesn't even mind supervising Bill at work, although I'm not sure he agrees with how the job is being done.  Check out the ears!  We were lucky; only one spot needed diverting; the rest of the trails that we traveled today were in great shape.  First rides of the season go out tomorrow.  Horses arrived last night.  Talk about good timing.

Jesse did her share by trimming bushes hanging out into the trail.  Those first leaf buds must be really tasty, because the horses won't touch theses bushes later in the season.  Since only one spot needed worked on on the one hour trail, we opted to do the two hour loop and check it; the weather was great!

Ranger must have 'auto-pilot'; I see a shovel in one hand and a camera in the other.  The reins are probably laying on Ranger's neck, where they seem to like to hang out, but he jogs along like a happy camper.

Run off is getting started really well and our streams have lots of water right now.  Both horses had fun wading in the currents.

This trail had lots - and lots - of this.  Moose poop.  A couple of times the horses stopped and watched the trees, listening, before they would continue on.  Maybe this year we will get to see the actual creatures!

We did run into a herd of four young deer; one didn't even bother getting up, they just watched us ride by.  As we rode out of the trees into the meadow we noticed it had gotten quite dark.  Jesse took one look at the sky and broke into a canter for home.  I trust that horse's weather gauge and we only got a little wet before we got home - but it was RAIN!!!!  Yeah.
Bionic Cowgirl

All Wet

When our kids were teens, and had gone "out", Juanita and I would wait up for them.  It was for their own good.  When I am awakened after several hours of sleep, I'm pretty much up for the day, and that leaves me extra cranky and hard to deal with by the following evening.  Rather like a four year old that has missed his nap.

About 2:30 this morning, I heard hoofbeats on the pavement heading down the road.

"$#!T.  Okay, you call Compass and tell her her horses are out again, and I'll get some halters."

By 3:00 a.m., the 30 or so wayward neighbors were back in their pen, and I was staring at the ceiling.

By 4:00 a.m., I gave up.

So let's talk about the weather, as long as I'm up.

This has been a very dry year here in Colorado.  The snowpack was about a third of normal, and we may have had 2 inches of moisture all year up to July.  Fires were making headlines nationwide, as most of them were within spitting distance of large cities here along the "front range" of the Rocky Mountains.

Nothing like a backdrop of smoke and flames behind your skyline to really ramp up the popular media.

Then came July.  Fireworks Bans.  No outside fires.  No outdoor BBQs.  One thousand dollar fines for smoking outdoors.  Dry, dry, dry.

The first couple days of July we got two, 1/4 inch rains.  Halleluiah and hot dog!  Maybe the end is in sight!

Then-
On the 5th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 and 1/2 inches of rain.
On the 6th of July, here in Allenspark we got 2 and 3/4 inches of rain.
On the 7th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 inch of rain.
On the 8th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 inch of rain.

Our normal for all of July is about 2 and 1/4 inches of rain.

Our parking lot has washed away to bedrock in spots.

The horses are spending more time in their shed than at their feeder.

The trails in the national forest need some serious "shovel time" to mitigate the washouts.

The rivers are running black with mud and soot from the previously burned areas.

The fires are out, which is WONDERFUL, but really, a full summer's worth of rain in four days?

At least it wasn't raining this morning while we were chasing horses.

Bill

Ghost Ranch, NM

The weather had turned blustery north of us, so we finally headed south - into New Mexico.  Back to a friend's place (she works for Ghost Ranch) where there is always a spare space and corral for the horses.  Our vet was great about changing our horses' travel papers at the last minute and we were on the road again.

We woke up the last two mornings to roosters crowing.  The neighboring cabin has a new brood of chickens, which turned out to be quite the entertainment for the horses, never having been around chickens before.  I got up to let Sophie out, was seen by Washoe who telegraphed Ranger, who let me know I could serve breakfast anytime now.  Oh no, way too early guys.  Back to the sleeping bag - for about 20 minutes, until I hear hooves pounding the ground, racing around the corral.  Sure, feed the horses so as not to wake the neighbor cabins.  I toss a bale of hay and find one of the neighbors standing there with his camera, laughing at the antics.  "Got great pictures of your horses running, kicking, bucking all around the field," he says.  I realize he has let the chickens out and they must have been chasing them along the fenceline, so I explain they have never seen them before.  It also sounds like they may have given the local coyotes a run, that were checking out the chicken pen/shed.  Good watchdogs.

Yesterday, we delivered a horse and picked up another one for the Ranch.  The exchange took place within about five miles of where Bill's mom lived, in the mountains outside Albuquerque.  It was great driving the backroads through the Sandia's and all the fun memories that went with the drive.  By the time we got back to Ghost Ranch, the weather had improved and was begging for a ride, so we saddled up Ranger, Jesse and the new guy, Casper.  May as well start right away getting him acquainted with the trails, since his job was being a trail horse for kids and large riders.  This guy is much bigger, over 16H and powerfully built, but really easy of manner.  He has a scar in the middle of his chest that prevents him from being a proper show horse even though he is a registered Appaloosa.

The ride was super, mostly wandering through the brush and canyonlands of the Ranch.  As soon as I get my camera cables located, I'll post some pictures.  We are planning on heading for higher country today, and taking all three horses.  Washoe hollered all the time we were gone, and showed everybody how well he can buck and move, but at least he didn't go over the fence. 
Juanita

Picking Up Estes, New Baby, Truck - Again!

Long time since I’ve posted. With sunnier days now and then, it’s easier for me to be outside with the horses, meaning putting off my homework until evening and cutting into my posting time (do you see the priorities here?). So I will try to catch up somewhat, since we’ve had some fun happenings.

We had plans to meet our daughter, Tel, at John’s place to pick up her horse on Tues. For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Tel is getting married in May. After wracking our brains about a wedding gift (they already have all the typical household stuff, since both parties had their own places), Bill found the perfect gift: a horse trailer. About the only thing positive about this recession is prices are dropping, especially on things like used horse trailers. Bill found a jewel close by; not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but a very serviceable 2-horse, bumper-pull. We decided it would be a good trial run to take it down the mountain to pick up Tel’s horse, and watch her reaction to the sight of the trailer. Of course, the first action needed was to get our truck set up for bumper-pull; all of our trailers have been gooseneck. The good thing about this is now we can pull anything – when the truck is running!

It was a fantastic warm, sunny, class day for me. Tel and I met after class in Ft. Collins, picked up her younger brother and headed to meet Bill at John’s farm. We called Bill and told him we would be there earlier than expected. We arrived and I watched Tel closely for reactions as Bill was pulling up with the “new” trailer. (We had decided NOT to tell her about it, in case she didn’t like it). I hadn’t realized how much it looked like a smaller version of our trailer until she asked what we had done to the trailer. Realizing it was a different trailer, I told her Bill had found a 2-horse, so she assumed he had bought it for convenience for us (we had talked about doing that). I was trying so hard not to give the surprise away.
Tel said, “We forgot to call Ida!” Fortunately, when I called her, she was close by at one of their leased horse pastures, and said she would be right there, to go ahead out in the back pasture to get Estes. Anyone ever tried getting through someone else’s pasture system (lots of cows) on a really mucky, muddy day?! And electrified. Which gates to use? We were having fun figuring it out when Ida pulled up and walked down a DRY alley next to the pastures, laughing at us. OK, Ida is always laughing; she is one of the happiest people I know whenever we see her outside working with animals – even fencing! We got ourselves un-bogged and went after Estes, who was definitely feeling her oats. No way does she move like a 19 y.o. mare. She and her 16 y.o. daughter, Meeker (10 months pregnant), are floating around the pasture like a moving picture of twins. It only took a couple of minutes to convince Estes it was time to get caught, and Bill walked right up to the two of them, putting his arms around Estes while Tel put a halter on her. Meeker sure looks great – expected to deliver about May 10. I will be driving this way to school in May to watch for the new foal.

As we were maneuvering back through the pasture system, Ida asked us to wait a minute so she could help her dad, John, move a pregnant cow into a shed. She said the cow should be delivering soon and they wanted to watch her for problems. Once the cow was moved we walked Estes around the house to the trailer; Ida stayed with her dad. OK, this might be fun. Estes is used to large, open stock trailers. I didn’t know if she had ever been in a small, enclosed one. She looked it over pretty closely, but after just a little persuasion, she hopped right in. Can’t say enough about Ida’s well-trained horses. Tel made a comment to Bill about the trailer, who in turn made a comment about ruining the surprise. Hearing that, I had made a comment on Jay’s willingness to paint old vehicles. Nothing else was said.

Having only been gone a few minutes, we went back to tell Ida and John goodbye, finding Ida behind the house washing her hands in a tub of water, with an even bigger grin on her face. I looked in the shed and saw something small, black and wet-looking on the ground. I said, “Is that a calf?” John walked over, smiling, saying they had just pulled it ‘cause it wasn’t positioned right. Mom and baby doing fine. Son Thomas said he knew he was a city boy, but he thought it would take a little longer than that. John laughed and said, “You never know what will happen around here when you walk around the house.” Worriedly, Ida asked how Estes had loaded; she indeed had never been in that type trailer. We assured her it had been no problem.

Time to head home. Tel, Thomas and I hop into the car and head back to Ft. Collins from Longmont; Bill starts off for the Lodge with the horse and trailer in tow. As soon as we get on the road, Tel looks at me and says, “Is that my wedding present?” with this big, hopeful grin on her face. She was surprised and seemed quite happy. Apparently, she and Jay had been looking at horse-trailers, too, since they want to get another horse for Jay after they get married.

I’m finally driving up the canyon road. I had tried calling Bill while still in cell-phone range and not gotten an answer. This concerned me since he had plenty of time to get home and unload, unless the truck was acting up again. We just can’t seem to trust it right now. In less than 2000 miles it had quit on us three more times, for no reason that could be found. This is after we have put $10,000 into repairs on it in four months. That’s right, $10K!!! Sure enough, I round a corner and find our rig parked on the side of the road at a pull-over. If you let the truck sit for 15 minutes, it will start and run for a short period of time – maybe long enough to get 1 – 3 miles further and hope there is another place to pull over. The 45 minute trip from John’s took three hours that day. Back to the Ford dealership with the truck a couple of days later; no problems found; truck ran great both ways. It’s really frustrating. Right now is when we have the time to travel with the horses and we are afraid to go anywhere because we don’t know when we will be stranded along the highway with live animals in a trailer! I think Bill is starting a blog about no longer wanting to be a Ford truck owner, after having them for 35 years. He will not be good advertising for the 6.0L engine.

Mud Bugs

This is Tel, and I promised Mom that I'd write a little blurb on her horses since both Bill and I completely ignored them when we posted our blogs.

So...Jesse and Washoe were turds, as usual. Actually, they were pretty good mutts on Tuesday and other than trying to chase down Ida's truck while she was dragging the field, went about their own business while Bill and I worked with Ranger and Estes.

Wait...I lied. Jesse did help herself to a couple of mouthfuls of horse candy while Bill and I were talking to Ida.

After we'd turned our horses loose and headed back to our cars, Bill and I stopped to watch the herd playing in the pasture. It was a wonderfully warm, spring-like day and the horses were feeling it. Once they knew they were really "free" from us, they ran around like colts, kicking up their heels and bucking down by the water hole. Suddenly, we realized that there were too many dark-colored horses and not enough greys. Hmmm...mud and Jesse...not too hard to figure out, but what was baffling was that Washoe was right along beside her - he hates the water and mud in his little toes! They had apparently waded into the water hole, which was full of mud, up to their bellies before coming out to roll and play. They looked like chocolate-dipped horses; grey on top and black, sticky mud from mid-body down.

The thought that ran through both of our minds was, "glad I don't have to brush them out!"