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!

Several friends and myself journeyed to Scottsdale to see this magical performance.  After hearing that there was a Cirque De So lei type performance that featured horses I tracked down the Cavalia website.  When the DVD came I threw a Cavalia Party that has been the topic of many conversations whenever the horse people gather!

Cavalia

The intrepid 6, horsewomen all, consisted of  Liz, Susan, Beth, Kari, Nancy and me.  We drove, flew or would have crawled to get there.  We opted for the horse lover tickets that enabled us to visit the stables after the show in addition to having front row seats.  It was amazing to be so close to the action;  a 2 foot barrier was all that separated us from the flying horses.  When the trick riders galloped across the stage spraying us with dirt we were truly enthralled.  The show has several acts following the seasons so we were showered with leaves in the fall and ‘snow’ in the winter.  ‘Mirror’  was an incredible dressage display and the ladie’s costumes were gorgeous;  long Renassance type dresses draped over the beautiful white Lusitano stallions.  The ‘Carousel’ was also an amazing show; 9 riders dressed once again in Renaisance type clothing performed dressage maneuvers on the incredible Lusitanos.  Some of the action acts were the trick riders on quarter horses, and the roman riding on the Belgium geldings.  As horse

Carousel

lovers all were mesmerized when the fantastic trainer  and creator, Pignon played with 3 of the stallions.

No head gear or saddles were used and the horses truly seemed to be enjoying themselves.  At the conclusion of the show 3 young horses were turned out on stage to just enjoy the crowd, action and lights as this is how their training begins!

The show is still running in Scottsdale until March 26th!  After that you have to go to Montreal!  Don’t miss it!

Happy Trails!

After living most of my life in New Mexico I was surprised to hear of the ghost town of Hagan, NM,  not far from Albuquerque!  Elaine of the Turkey Road Kill story, came up with another good one; this time in the form of a terrific trail ride involving ghost towns, petroglyphs and suicide cliffs!

Hagan was apparently started under the assumption that the railroad would be coming through the area.   The hotel was built along with several homes and a depot for the train.

Doorway to the past

The Grand Hotel in Hagan, NM

A large adobe wall of the hotel remains showing the only one wall of what was once probably a grand structure.  The wall exhibits remains of ceiling vigas for large beamed ceilings that would reflect the Indian influence in southwest architecture.  All that is left of the depot is a crumbling structure that is falling into the arroyo.

Crumbling walls of the Depot

It was a very pleasant ride due to the beautiful weather, probably about 60 degrees and miles of sunshine!  That’s why we live in NM!  We all voted that this ride would be too hot in the summer so we delegated it a spring and fall ride.  Don’t attempt it if there is rain in the forecast as it is near some major arroyos and flooding is a distinct possibility!  The dirt road is fairly wide with good visibility for most of it which is good because we did have to move over for a few cars.  The so called suicide cliffs on the right and a ship rock like cliff on the left make for some beautiful scenery along the way!

The bird’s eye view on the crest of the hill at the beginning of the ride was amazing!  Three ski areas could be seen at once;  Los Alamos, Santa Fe and the Sandia ski trails were all plainly visible from one vantage point!  Just north of Cedar Crest and east of San Pedro Creek is a very easy and interesting ride.  Between the San Felipe Casino off of I 25 and La Madera road from N 14  is the ghost town of Hagan.  It is about a 2 hour ride from where we parked off of La Madera Rd.  There were cattle guards to negotiate around through wire gates so it would be more expedient to trailer past the last cattle guard.  I would advise to at least trailer to the junction of Puerticito and La Madera.

La Madera ride

As always the view is better over a horse’s ears!

Happy Trails!

Over Drive (OD)

Some horses can be difficult when trying to load them into the trailer;  however some horses can’t wait to get into the trailer and even want to climb in all by themselves!  OD (OverDrive) a three year old just recently gelded Paso / SingleFooter was so anxious to get into the trailer he was standing on the side rail!  Definitely not a freaky horse!  When he is older he’ll probably drive himself home!

Casanova

Then again there is the always popular and infinitely patient Casanova a Peruvian Paso outfitted with his sunhat, (necessary to prevent sunburn in our high altitude) and ready for the days ride!  But of course I spoiled him with his gourmet baby organic carrots after taking his picture,  none of those overgrown chewy ones for him!

Last summer we were honored to have Dr Mosely and Mr Eaglin from Louisiana visit us here in the East Mountains of New Mexico!  They are breeders and trainers of the single footer horses and were here to visit and educate about their horses!  Ride like the wind is how you describe the single footer horses,  some of them attaining speeds of 25 mph while in gait!

The view over Casanova's ears

Snow and cold weather has not been conducive to riding in the mountains for a few weeks so we headed off to the Paseo del Bosque trail by the beautiful Rio Grande River.  After a few weeks of not riding we were all suffering from riding withdrawal.  Just off Coors; one of the busiest thorough fares on the west side , a short jog takes you into the Bosque.   Bosque means forest or woods in Spanish for the uninitiated!  When you live in the desert, which Albuquerque technically is, you really appreciate magnificent trees, water and woods!  Albuquerque Parks and Recreation has thoughtfully provided a parking area big enough for horse trailers.  However the one draw back which they haven’t addressed yet is no porta pottie! I’ll have to speak to the mayor about that!  Motorized vehicles are not permitted so there are no surprises from an ATV roaring up behind you.

Six riders, all but one on gaited horses; Paso Fino’s, Peruvian Paso and Single Footers,  kicked up some dust on that beautiful sunny day.  The weather was near perfect, 50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, just a few contrails but miles of beautiful sunshine!  The horses were frisky and so were the riders!  Since we all had cabin fever we were more than ready to kick up our collective heels!  The ride out has taken as much as 3 hours when we had timid riders with us and we mostly walked.  When we checked our watches we had covered the same distance in 1/2 the time!  We gaited and cantered through the woods, only slowing down to give the horses a breather.   The trails are well marked and clean so a perfect area to pick up the speed.  Occasionally there will be hikers but the visibility is good so they can be spotted before coming up on them.  On the ditch bank where the dirt is hard packed you can really get some speed up as there is quite a lot of visibility!

Along the east side of the river the snow geese and cranes were resting and watching us across the river.  This picture was taken trying to photograph the cranes as they flew over but with the delay in the digital timing I missed them entirely and only got the beautiful sky!  Beautiful just the same, we’ll catch the Sandhill Cranes the next time!

Happy trails, may you be always be cantering through life!

Gaited Horses are fast becoming the preferred mount for trail riding.  The combination of smooth ride, great mind, easy going personality and small size is a huge plus for the trail rider, especially for those over 30 years old!  Paso Fino’s and Peruvian Paso‘s are a favorite for several reasons:  their small size, their nimble stride and their versatility.  The Paso’s relatively small feet makes them ideal for rocky trails and their smaller bone structure makes them a more comfortable ride on the rider’s hips.  The Paso’s, in spite of their brio or fiery nature, are really fairly calm and trustworthy on the trail.  In most situations the Paso’s I’ve ridden have responded to surprises such as motorcycles, cars, deer, ducks, unexpected trail hazards and dogs without losing their heads or taking off.

This is not to say that these horses are without heart or stamina!  After a 3 day trail ride, The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Posse Ride covering more than 70 miles of mountainus terrain, Destino was ready to perform at his best for the Lincoln County Parade!  He had the carriage of a well rested horse even though he had lost some significant weight on the strenuous ride.  While many of the horses on the trail ride were dragging, literally, these Paso Fino’s were still spirited, showy and ready to go!