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.

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!

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!

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!

The La Cienega Trail in the Sandia Mountains is accessed by taking Hwy North 14 from I 40 east of Albuquerque to the Crest Road and then just a few short miles to the trail.  It is just before Doc Long’s picnic grounds.  There is a large area for parking horse trailers.   Several trails can be followed from the trail head.  We took the Faulty Trail for the entire loop.   At the summit you feel like you are on top of the world, for some of us with acrophobia that is not a good thing.  A narrow trail with a significant drop off preceded by some large stone blocks resembling stone steps.  Even as surefooted as these horses are we choose to dismount and walk down the trail until it leveled out.   Casanova, the terrific Peruvian Paso who is my main mount took good care of me.  Along the way we were treated to several sightings of the Abert Squirrel, a rather large squirrel mostly charcoal but with white markings as well.  At first you might think you were seeing a small skunk running up the trees.  They are distinguished by their large ear tufts and are found mainly where there are large Ponderosa Pine trees as they subsist on the pine cones.  However after saying that I must add that we had a rogue Abert squirrel show up on our 3rd floor deck, how in the world he got there is anyone’s guess!  He must have scaled the side of the house as we have no trees that reach that high.  Of course I was worried that he would starve so I supplied him with food and water.  He enjoyed my seat cushions for a day or so before he decided the woods were more inviting and he disappeared.   I might also add that we don’t have any Ponderosas near us only Pinon so I guess he high tailed it for higher altitude and Ponderosas.

All in all a beautiful ride

A good time was had by all as usual in the Corrales Christmas parade last Sunday!  It is a yearly event hosted by the Village of Corrales and the local Marine Corp to benefit children who might have a less than Merry Christmas!  Its usually quite a show to see who can outdo who with their costumes and hanging red and green glittery things on their horses!  Then it is a show to see how the horses will put up with all this foolishness!  Kids and adults alike line the streets and hope that Saint Nick will come by and grant their every wish and hopefully have some candy to share as well!  It is quite a party and a great way to start the holiday season!

Corrales is located to the north and west of metropolitan Albuquerque.  It is a very horse friendly village and as such they are very tough on anyone exceeding their 30 mph speed limit!   Its a sleeply little village nestled next to the Rio Grande but don’t let that fool you there are many homes that exceed a million dollars!