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.

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!

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.