Day three, Buffy the "ride slayer"....

When ever I go through new areas, I have a tendency to day dream, and try and pretend what it must have been like for the first people to see a particular place.  This trail was very special and beautiful!! I found it amazing that the waggon ruts were still there, it must have been very slow going, some of the ruts were very deep!

Buffy is pretty sure that she does not want to be a pioneer horse, she enjoys being the pampered princess!

The alfalfa fields were really cool, we stopped for a bite, Buffy was quite sure that she wanted to wallow......

  

One of my favorite places was when you entered the back gate to ranch and rode by the little lake, it was so pretty!

The vet check was at the ranch, near the corrals.  The grounds were so green and well cared for!  It is an actual working cattle ranch, we even saw some of the hands who worked there.

  Upon our arrival to the vet check, a rain squall broke out, I quickly put buffy's cooler on to keep her from getting wet.  But I was not very worried, because I could see blue sky in the area we were headed to!

               

 

Buffy liked the first vet check at the ranch, I think that she was longing for more alfalfa. I am proud of her, she ate all of her feed, and sampled everyones hay.

It was so amazing to top the ridge and see the snake river canyon!!! So big and rugged, I cannot imagine what Evil Knievel was thinking!

I think that Buffy was impressed as well, because she stood still long enough for me to take pictures! I was looking forward to getting to the bottom of the canyon so that I could see real petroglyphs!

The ride along side of the river was awsome, exept for the bugs, but a small price to pay..  People were fishing and boating, and staring at the strange people on horseback flying along the path.

The river was flowing pretty fast, I am very sure that I would not  have been in that boat!

These are the clifts above the river trail, I had intended showing pictures of the trail that decended down into the river bottom, but the chip in my camera malfunctioned and alot of the pictures did not turn out.....but it is not hard to imagine the drop and subsequent climb out.  I did walk Buffy up the steepest part, but she was soon running over me so I figured I was waddling too slow.

The turn around point was the petroglyphs and they were really something!  I wonder what they mean? Perhaps some ancient person was  marking their territory!

The trip back to the ranch was just as beautiful as the trip to the river, and even though I had seen the trail before, I saw all kinds of new things as well!

I wanted to get a nice picture of the sign at the entrance to the ranch, it is historic, one of the first to be settled on the Oregon trail.  But, by now, Buffy smelled the vet check and I had to settle for a slightly off center picture.

This pasture was amazing. There were boulders scattered all over it, I can imagine a volcano eruption spewing the rocks all around. Or it could be that God placed them all around in a seemingly random pattern.

The last vet check went very well, Buffy eagerly ate her "gruel" and we headed out.  The sun was starting to go down, and I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of peace.  I think that this is my favorite picture of all

This was our first 60 mile ride, and the longest that we had ever been out on the trail.  I would have thought that Buffy would have been even a little tired, but true to form, she pulled and pulled the last 15 miles home.  When we hit the Bates Creek road and saw camp we trotted gleefully into the vet check.  Buffy got a drink and immediately pulsed down to 44 bpm, and got all A's.  I was elated, and even though my knees hurt, I trotted her out.....Buffy the "ride slayer" strikes another one down!!!! We cannot wait for the next one!

Fandango 2012 Day #1

The morning was not promising, it started out rainy but I had high hopes for the day.  I started to become a little concerned when Buffy started shivering, I don't want her to get sick, but we went any way.  We decided to try a new tactic and begin in the back to keep Buffy calm.  This time we had a couple of friends along.  Linda and her steady mount Ted, Tamara and her fiery little Barb Acey.

All went relatively well, I was not really worried about losing a boot, because Garret and Rusty from Easycare http://www.easycareinc.com/showed me a cool way to use a product called Sikaflex to glue the boots on.  Sooooo.....we got up on top of the ridge above Stephs house and started to motor along.

That is until Acey started loosing boots.  She has really small feet and could not wear gloves.  We stopped to allow Tamara time to replace and retape the boots.  Buffy and I were out in front, and all of a sudden I heard Tamara shout, then Acey and Tamara came flying by demonstrating a buck that would earn her honors at the NFR. Unfortunately Tamara lost her seat, but ever the horseman Tamara climbed back on, and we moved on....with the exception of Linda's Ted, we did not lose any more boots.  The rest of the 12.5 miles to the vet check went beautifully, ground was wet, and there was a little slipping but the trail was so cool, especially the part where we went through the tunnel of brush leading to the creek crossing.  The vet check was awsome, flat with lots of help.  I was so proud of Buffy, because for the first time, she ate her "gruel" and sampled everyone's hay. 

We rode through the area where the "horney donkey" lives, I was hoping to see him, but he was hiding.  The canyons were so pretty, with little oaisis in them.

I really like the terrain of todays trail, the technical portions are really good for Buffy, it forces her to think about where she puts her feet, rather than mindlessly trotting down easy trail.  One of my favorite portions was the Crazy Woman Mine and the stone corral.  I really wanted to take pictures, but the stupid camera ran out of batteries, I will take extra's from now on.  We finished the 25 mile loop in fine form, and happily approached the last vet check.  All of the horses passed with flying colors, and we picked up a junior because her sponsor's horse was pulled.  We we gathered everyone up and started out of the vet check.  I heard a shout....and here comes Acey flying by in that great big buck of her's...Once again Tamara gave it a valliant effort, but lost her seat, that girl will hurt in the morning!  The rest of the ride went smoothly, Linda and Ted were so awsome, they took care of our junior and got the gates for us!  They were definitely the hero's of the day....