Located just 15 minutes from Albuquerque is the San Pedro Creek Preserve,  home to probably 40 wild horses.  The New Mexico Horse Project has been the over seer for the wild horses.  The pictures taken 6/2010 show at least 6 babies in the group.    Campbell Ranch, the owner of the several thousand acres has been kind enough to allow the wild horses to roam wild and undisturbed for several years.

Seeing wild horses grazing is just one of the benefits of living in the East Mountains! The horses are left undisturbed except for occasional round ups to DNA and sometimes to remove a horse to prevent in breeding.   DNA taken from some of the herd prove their bloodlines can be traced to the original Mustangs that were brought over by the Spaniards many years ago.

Springtime brings new babies and it is always fun to see the new little ones!  This year we have a paint, a first for the horses here in San Pedro Creek!

Saturday June 19th found us at the top of the beautiful Sandia Mountains on the 10 K Ride.  Starting at 10,000 feet this trail takes you to the ski area and the High Finance Restaurant and has some amazing views!    About a 5 mile ride;  it can be steep and rocky on some parts but mostly cool and beautiful!  We stopped beneath the  Restaurant and had a snack while the tourists enjoyed looking at the horses and clicking away!  For the brave of heart the trail takes you right to the edge and if so inclined you can  view all of Albuquerque and the amazing drop off!  Sometimes hang gliders can be seen riding the wind currents.

The view down one of the ski runs has the Ortiz Mountains as a back drop!   The Ortiz Mountains were at one time mined for gold and turquoise.  Situated on the Turquoise Trail is Golden, NM, so named for the gold mining in the Ortiz.  Rumor has it that mine shafts still exist and a few brave souls have descended to find skeletons and Indian artifacts.   Of course the mine is fenced and off limits to exploration.

Elaine by a small stream on the Sandia Mountain Trail

Elaine in the Valles Calderas

Elaine of the Turkey Road Kill fame was taken from us yesterday after losing her valiant fight with breast cancer.  She leaves a son of  5 years old.  We are all very saddened but consider ourselves lucky to have know such a bright and joyful person.  Elaine led us on many adventures; she was always looking for a new trail adventure for us to experience.  The Hagen Ghost Town ride was one of our rides that she found in a book  on rides in NM.  Some of our most amazing rides were with Elaine and her joyful spirit leading us into further adventure.   Our Blizzard Trail is  named after Elaine led the group on a ride and ended up in a blizzard because she wasn’t ready to go home.   Knowing that her life was going to be cut short at such a young age we now understand why she never wanted to end the ride.

We will miss you Elaine but want to wish you Happy Trails !  We’ll see you at the Big Roundup in the Sky!

Elaine leaves three horses needing new homes.  Selina a Peruvian Paso, Luna, a Paso fino and a quarter horse, Pumpkin.  All mares, they are fine horses, well trained and very good trail horses.  She also has several Alpacas that will be needing new homes.  If interested in knowing more please leave a comment and how to reach you.

Four Ladies in a Mercedes

Some say they came straight from Hades

But they are angels sent from up above

Hearts from heaven, sweet as a dove.

Four ladies in their Mercedes car

Headed up the canyon in search of land afar.

They drove and drove and drove so far

They saw cows with calves but they are…..

Just cruizin round the countryside

Looking for a place to ride….

Their beautiful Paso Fino Horses!

They were meant to join forces

For their ultimate enchanting goal

And then they were totally out of control.

Look out northern New Mexico

They’re looking high and low for a meadow.

For the ultimate enchanting goal

To ride their beautiful horses over the knoll.

Snow in the mountains treacherous as can be

But not for the intrepid four ladies pretty as can be.

Off-road n rutted roads the Mercedes t’was meant to be

But pushing cows the Mercedes t’was never meant to see.

The Husband will never know

About the Mercedes in the snow.

Cows aside and rutted roads he will never know

How the ladies went off road in the snow.

The back seat ladies nearly faint with fear

Were unclear about the steer……

Until fearless Carol never timid

Chased that steer till he was livid.

But the ladies were with good cheer

And had plenty of faith in the frontier.

C’epting a little ole flat tire

Threatened to deflate their desire

But the faithful old Mercedes B

Kept her pact with the ladies three!

And took them faithfully home

Without even a dent in her chrome.

And so the ladies will begin

their search again…

Come spring when the blossoms are aplenty

And snow has come and gone completely.

Then they will ride their beautiful Paso Fino Horses

And live in the land ‘Full of Enchantment’.

Definition of a long ride for some might be 4 hours, 6 hours or maybe even 8 hours.   I thought I was pretty good doing a 3 day trail ride!  Imagine that 76 miles on a horse!  Well that reality has just been blown out of the water with a chance meeting of Bernice Ende, Lady Long Rider.  I am tempted to put extraordinaire after that but I will wait and let you make your own decisions.

A fortuitous ride last week with the usual lunch at the pizza place let to a chance meeting of a woman Leigh had known about and made contact with several years before but had no contact with recently.  As we waited for our pizza we happened to see 2 horses with riders making their way south on the highway.  As they came closer we were able to make out a rider on the first horse and a ………dog…… riding on the second horse?  As unusual as it is to see horses on North 14, it is really unusual to see a dog riding a horse down the highway!  About that time Leigh jumped up and tore out of the restaurant exclaiming it was the Long Rider he had been wanting to meet!  Sure enough when they returned with the report it was Bernice Ende on her third and longest ride of 7,000 miles that will take her 2 1/2 years!  Fascinating!  With no crew, no support system, no GPS or even cell phone this lady and her 2 horses and dog have been thousands of miles cross country!

It was truly amazing to hear her stories of how she survives on the road, letting the horses graze as they walk and finding water along the way; always sleeping out with the horses and her dog Claire.  True grit!   I am certainly an admirer and I will keep track of her as she puts on the miles and will update you faithful reader occasionally.

Lady Long Rider, my hat is  off to you!  Happy Trails!

A mid week ride to enjoy the beautiful weather was scheduled for this week in honor of our State Representative Kathy McCoy. Kathy was instrumental in the purchase of the land tracts for the Gutierrez Open Space. We invited Rep McCoy to ride with us through the Open Space to show our appreciation for her hard work in getting the project approved and making it happen so that now we have this beautiful place for riders and hikers for generations to come.

As is customary we enjoy a short break and lunch at one of the restaurants near the hitching posts on the N 14 side of the Gutierrez Open Space.  As we enjoyed lunch and conversation we had an exceedingly lucky break to catch a glimpse of the well known long rider, Bernice Ende, who is currently on a 7000 mile, 2 1/2 year ride.  Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of her and her Thoroughbred but that will be remedied at the potluck in her honor this weekend! 

Thanks again to Representative Kathy McCoy for all her work in getting this fabulous Open Space!

The American Horse Council has launched a new effort to collect information on access issues equestrians are experiencing on federal lands. The center piece of this effort is an AHC online form riders can use to report their personal experiences regarding trails and federal lands that have been closed to them or other access issues. This online form is located here https://www. horsecouncil. org/survey. php.

Efforts to gain support for legislation to protect equestrian access to public land have been hampered by a lack of information regarding the reduction of trails, trail heads and the closure of public lands to horses and pack animals. This new initiative will allow the recreational riding community to report when they are forced off a trail or are fighting to stay on a trail. This information will be used to clearly demonstrate the extent of the problem and the need for action on the part of Congress or the federal land agencies.

The online form can also be used to document any successes riders have had keeping a trail or area open to horses. Such information is needed as well.

The AHC is requesting that its member organizations help spread the word about this new program by placing information about it on their websites and or in their organization newsletters.  More information about this initiative and the form to report access issues can be found here https://www. horsecouncil. org/survey. php.

If you have had any access problems accessing public lands, please complete this form  If you have friends who ride on public lands (at your barn, your neighborhood or farm), please share this survey with them.  If you belong to any horse owner/rider organizations, please share this survey with them.  We need to have our voices heard.  Thank you.

Even though the area was weather forecast was to have significant wind the adventurous  Trio: Liz, Leigh and Linda, decided to try the La Cienega Trail hoping the wind would be less.  The winds were very strong in Guiterrez

R & R

Canyon, annoying the horses no end when their hay was blowing out of their pens.

Most horses are jumpy in the wind, never knowing what is going to jump out at them from the bushes.  Paso’s are of Spanish Blood and typically have more brio or spirit;   however this doesn’t translate to spooky or crazy.  In a well trained animal there minds are so good that they typically don’t spook or bolt!

Saddled and ready we took the blacktop road to the trail.  It was a busy

Leigh and the gaiting Grace

weekend with several cars driving cautiously by.  However a brain dead skateboarder came whizzing by us at a fast rate of speed.  Thank goodness once again for good minds, the horses didn’t skip a beat!

These are not really mature horses they are all rather young.  Casanova is the old man at 6, both Rip and Amazing Grace are 4 years old.   There was no bolting or going sideways they all just kept the beat!  Another reason to ride Gaited!

Saturday March 21, the first day of spring found us on the ride through the

Boy Scout troup

Gutierrez Open Space.  It was a beautiful spring day and the ride was very pleasant with beautiful weather and an uneventful ride; which is a very good thing when you’re on horseback!  When we arrived at the fenced area between the Post Office, Ribs and Sandia Crust Pizza, we were surprised to find quite a crowd!  A local boy scout troupe in addition to some Open Space Officers were clearing a new trail into the open space.  This was a welcome sight to see this new trail head as on an earlier ride several horses slipped on the muddy hill and nearly went down.  This new trail head consists of switch backs that aren’t so treacherous!  Thanks to the Open Space Folks and the local Boy Scouts for their hard work!  We had just a few suggestions for the Open Space guys!  They are going to install 2 more tie rails to accommodate more horses, as it is only 5 or 6 horses can be safely tied, and the other suggestion was a water trough for the horses.   The water will have to be provided by the merchants as the Open Space folks have no way of funding this.  Hopefully one of the restaurants that benefit from our patronage will consider this, (hint  hint)!

We had a lovely lunch at the Sandia Crust Pizza, this is a very nice addition to the East Mountain cuisine!  I’m sure we’ll be frequenting them regularly!  We’re usually a hungry and thirsty group; not to mention we’re a lot of fun too!

Happy Trails!

Last weekend I was honored to meet several members of the Great Western Paso Fino Horse Association.  (GWPFHA)  One of the members is the current president of the club, Judi, or madame president as we addressed her.  The ladies were here to consider relocating to our fine state from Utah as well as invigorate our NM branch of the club.

We had a wonderful time touring the beautiful countryside of Northern NM in our search for horse property.  A slightly snowy morning greeted us Saturday as a major storm passed through the area but didn’t dampen our spirits or sense of adventure.  One of the less traveled roads we found ourselves on was blocked by a herd of cows.  Never to be daunted by a few dozen cows I stopped while Carol practiced her cow herding skills!  There’s a reason we’re called ‘cowgirls’!

Along the way we stopped by another GWPFHA member’s home; Jacquee’ of Beautiful-horses.com.

Medusa Horse Pendant of Beautiful-Horses.com

A amazingly talented artist of horse jewelry,  horse hair braiding and beautiful hand painted hobby horses, we enjoyed her hospitality with tea and home made cookies and visited with her beautiful Paso Fino Horses!

Thank you Jacquee’ !

Beth on Danza

Upon our return to Albuquerque, one of the members of the group, Beth hosted a meet and greet for the Paso Fino people.  Fine food and lots of wine and all the members made merry.  Of course Beth of the Cavalia girls group that ventured to Scottsdale the previous weekend to see the show purchased the Cavalia DVD and played it upstairs in the loft.  At evening’s end everyone was in front of the big screen watching Cavalia, it is always mesmerizing!  Horse Lovers don’t miss it!

Happy Trails till next time!