Salome Back Hills Wednesday's Ride (12-16)

12-16-09

 

   Genevieve (a new AZBCR member) and her boyfriend Ray trailered out from Aguila and Lori (another AZBCR member) trailered from Tonopah. They all arrived early so we were on the trail by 9:45!

    The weather was beautiful , it was perfect in the low 70's!  Couldn't have asked for a nicer day. And once we got in the mountains the view was great. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story...


  We started out following the yellow highlighted trail and took the orange highlighted loop back.
I am glad I  printed the map because there were several roads off of the one we were following and without the map I wouldn't have been able to guess which roads we needed to take just by memory.

 

    We want to go out there again now that we have an idea of the time it takes. There were several washes and other loops we want to explore. The one highlighted in green is a steep climb but I'll bet there are some pretty views up there. And with the GPS we can do a little wandering off the trail without having to worry about getting lost.

 

 

  This is Genevieve and Buddy. Buddy is a rescue horse that a friend of mine had given to her after rehabilitating him for almost 2 years. The market is so bad now it is difficult to sell even a broke registered horse just because it's a little up in age. Can you tell how happy he has made her?

  

 This is Ray and _____. This is another rescue they purchased for a very good price about 3 months ago. This horse was kept in small quarters for 2 years . The original  owners didn't know how to train her so she was neglected. Finally they sold her because they couldn't handle her. She was a little ornery at times but otherwise did very well considering her past.

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

  

 This is my friend Lori (on her mare JJ).  Lori had invited me to a trail ride back in February of this year. That was my very first group trail ride with Mocha.

  

We covered about 7 miles. Got back to the trailers by 2:00. We could have ridden another two hours but the horses aren't conditioned enough yet to push them much farther especially with all the hill climbing.

Too Wet to Ride...

  Brought the Horses to the house Saturday hoping to at least

ride a little bit close to home but it was cold and wet.

Early afternoon Sunday decided to 

get them back to the ranch before it got any colder towards evening...

 

 And of course the first thing they do is roll in the mud..
 

  The "Mule Look" must be "IN" this year...

 

It must be some kind of contest because Aladdin had to 

show Mocha that he could do one better...
 

 I'm not going to give you any sympathy Mocha ...

 I said NO Mocha!

and don't wipe your tears off on me you're FILTHY!

 They aren't going to feel sorry for you either...

Now that's just plain RUDE!

 *Sigh , I give up...

Salome Desert Ride

My friend Lori and I went for a short trail ride in the desert in spite of the *34 "chilly" morning.

 

     I wore layers so once we got moving I wasn't cold at all.

     Mocha was a bit of a pill at first but settled down within the first mile. We started from my house so we didn't drive the first 2 miles to the end of the road to the edge of the desert even tho it would have given us more trail time. Next week we will meet at the end of the road and spend more time riding in the desert.
   I have been wanting to ride out there for  3 YEARS but I won't go alone so I am happy that there is finally someone who will come out  to join me. 

I didn't take my camera out until after lunch but Lori took some pictures on the way there.

   There is a long flat road for almost 2 miles before you get there than once you get into the mountains there is a lot of scenery to take in. There are many "trails" to choose from and several make a loop.

    There are several mines up there so have to watch out for hidden vertical mine shafts . Have to keep your distance from the cholla too, it can get ugly if you bump into one of those! Also because of the cholla you wouldn't want to bring a dog. They are a Bi*%h to pull out.

   We took a side trail off the main 4x4 road just to explore. I hadn't been on that one before. It went about a quarter mile to a dead end. We decided to have lunch there. After lunch we had to head back so Lori could be on the road by 3:30 and be home before dark.

Lori enjoyed the scenery and said she wanted to do it again sometime soon. I had canceled driving the Transit Wednesday (Dec 16th) because ridership has been slow during the holidays so we planed to do our next ride than . We are hoping some "AZBCR" members will join us. We are planning 2 more rides in January.

 

 

 

11-1-09 Verde River Fall Colors Ride

   Drove up to a friends house in Paulden the day before the ride as they live just 8 miles from the trail head. Mocha was glad to get out of the trailer after the long 4 hour drive and seemed to enjoy meeting the other horses that surrounded their old stud pen. Up until about a year ago they raised Arabians and owned 3 stallions. In fact the horse she took on the ride was one of their stallions until they had him gelded about a year ago. He is the horse my friend Jo Ann rode when we went to Box canyon last spring.

   

 

The next morning I loaded Mocha into their 3 horse slant load. Mocha had never been in any other trailer so he was a little hesitant at first but didn't give me too much trouble.

    Mocha is fairly new to group rides so he can be a little stubborn in unfamiliar places getting him to go in the direction I point him at times but he is getting better.

I had to lead him through the first water crossing. I knew I would probably have to do that. That is always how I introduce him to new things. He did better after that and on the way back he marched on through all 5 water crossings with no hesitation at all. Poor Sue, the woman who I went with, took the drink on the third water crossing as her horse felt he needed to JUMP the river! He lost his footing and threw Sues balance off and kersplash! Because he was a stallion he is new to group rides as well. I always hold my breath when I see anyone go down knowing the possible outcomes but she was fine and continued on. Her cell phone didn't fair so well though but she was glad that her electronic key survived.

 

    Mocha had a few "wardrobe malfunctions" with his hoof boots and I had to stop 3 different times throughout the ride to either fix them or remove them. He ended up going the last mile or two barefoot but he wasn't ouchy.   I  took a lot of pictures but most turned out a little blurry and/or cockeyed as most are taken from horseback. I would have loved to be able to get ahead  and get off and take pictures of everyone crossing the water but I didn't want to hold everyone up as they all seemed to want to keep moving.

    Most of the turning leaves we came to see  fell from a cold snap they had a week earlier so most of the leaves were yellow and light green.

  We turned around and left the ride early with  several others because I didn't want to drive home too late at night. It is a 3 hour drive one way.  Next time I'll have to make it a two night stay so I can devote an entire day to riding. I made it back home about 7:30. It was scary driving in the dark coming down Yarnell Hill. I do want to do this ride again someday but like I said earlier, I will have to make it a two night stay to have time to do the entire ride.

9-26-09 Dick Wick Hall Parade (Salome AZ.)

  I invited some friends to ride with me in the annual Dick Wick Hall Parade Septemner 26th and there was a good turn out. Eight riders showed up around 1:00. The parade was scheduled to start at 3:00. One had a tire peel on their horse trailer on their way but luckily they got the spare on and had no further complications.

  I was really looking forward to this because there hasn't been horses in this parade for a few years and even than there was just 2 or 3.

      Our entry was as a group..
               "Outlaw Women of The West"


  Here they come all ready and headed to the staging area...  
   The day went by fast until we got to the staging area. Than it seemed like we waited forever! Over an hour, and it was HOT out !
I really wish they would do this in October.
I felt bad about that for the people who drove all the way out here for this but they were all real troopers in spite of the heat. A couple came all the way from Laveen!!


 

  It was a very small parade- I think more people were IN it than were watching it! That was a good thing in Mocha's case being his first parade. I think it was someone elses first as well.


   

  

 At first I was going to  lead him in it just to be on the safe side. But he wasn't acting up or anything so I bit the bullet and climbed on. And he did great! He was a little inpatient about standing in the heat and wouldn't be still but otherwise didn't give me any trouble.

Oh and by the way!!! 

We won 

the Judges Choice Award!!!! 

April 25th Box Canyon # 3 !!

Like I had said in the previous couple of blogs,


Can't get enough of Box Canyon!!

This time (Saturday 4/25th) many more came to join in in the ride compared to last Wednesday.
We were going to start out early again but someone had to work the night before and needed an extra hour to be able to get there after work so we waited.


Half of the group decided the other half were going too slow...

So they formed their own little group and galloped off ahead of us slow pokes..





" Life can't get much better than this"...
One member brought her 8 year old daughter (in the pink helmet) along - I hope her Mom knows how lucky she is to have such a trustworthy horse for her daughter to ride. I hope I can have my Grand Daughter ride with me someday like that...


We rode out to the same area as we had stopped for snacks Wednesday but stayed
longer and ate the sack lunches we brought...





Mocha likes to make new friends too...


Another great ride in Box Canyon /
Wickenburg Arizona....