Archives for 2010

No problems today. Hotel shuttle got us to Reagan National in plenty of time (after pigging out on the free hotel breakfast this morning :-), no delays, no problems with our transfer, the whole day went well. The guys from Meineke took great care of us, picked us up at the airport right on time, back to the shop to pay the bill, then on to Walmart to shop, then the liquor store, then back to the ranch! Our hostess had flown in earlier in the day and had picked up our furry kids already, so we had wagging tails and kisses waiting for us when we got back! Ran into a little rain, but nothing of any significance, was happy to see it. Chatted for a few minutes, then heated up some leftover Chinese food we’d bought in DFW, ate and promptly crashed, exhausted from our hectic few days. Looking forward to a long and good night sleep!

Slept till after 10:30, missing the hotel breakfast, so instead we just had coffee in the room and leisurely prepared to meet our client. Left the hotel and walked to the nearby Metro station, grabbing some breakfast on the way. Didn’t realize Dunkin Donuts had a full breakfast menu these days! Arrived in plenty of time, worked with our client until nearly 6:00, then met an old friend at the nearby Thai restaurant we love so much. It was a special occasion, as Hubby and I were celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary. Coincidentally, our friend’s parent’s (now deceased) anniversary was the same day, so we had a lovely evening all around After dinner we came back to Crystal City for a nightcap, then kindly dropped us off at the hotel. We were exhausted, but truly enjoyed ourselves. Now a good night sleep, hoping tomorrow’s airport day goes a little more smoothly than yesterday’s!

Got up bright and early for a travel day to DC. Made sure the animals were all set, dropped off all three dogs (our 2 and our client’s, whom we’ve been looking after) at the vet’s for boarding (stunned at the prospect they wanted to charge extra just to open a can of dog food, considering it I already had to pay through the nose to get them vaccinated for some rare but contagious influenza that is apparently out here in Colorado, but few other places), then ran up to Colorado Springs. Stopped for breakfast at IHOP, then headed to the Meineke. We had made arrangements to have them drive us to the airport, keep the truck to perform a brake job, transmission service and other overdue maintenance, then pick us up again on Friday when we returned. Made it to the airport with about an hour to spare, only to discover the plane was delayed for 30 minutes… Then an hour… Then two hours… It finally arrived, but moments later we learned the air conditioning had gone out on the plane in flight, and we needed to wait another 15 minutes to see if repairs could be made. After 15 minutes of analysis, the plane was taken out of service, leaving us stranded. I quickly got on the phone to American and rebooked for the next flight out, and the next connection to DC from DFW. The best we could get was a 1:10 am arrival, we had no choice, grateful that the appointment with our client wasn’t until 3:00 pm! After several more hours of waiting, we flew out to DFW. Upon arrival, we learned that our connecting flight was going to be 45 minutes late, making our landing in DC about 1:30 am. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we arrived, even though our body clocks were at 11:30 pm, that’s still way past our bedtime. It was apparently too late for an airport shuttle to the hotel, so we had to grab a cab for the 5 minute trip. Crashed into bed, but couldn’t sleep for more than an hour, had to wind down from all the activity!

Last night we sat and watched thunderstorms all around us, but none every made it to us. Although they were predicting thunderstorms again at about 3:00 this afternoon, it started out as a lovely day, and we were anxious to get a ride in, so we got up early, had the horses loaded in by 9:00 (fortunately it was still pretty cool), and headed out to a fascinating anomaly they call the Great Sand Dune National Park. Ninety minutes later (and ten degrees cooler, fortunately), we were approaching this incredible oddity. Having climber over the mountain range at LaVeta Pass, then driven on several flat straight roads reminiscent of the Great Plains, we came to end of a valley where countless tons of sand had piled up. I mean COUNTLESS! I thought it would be like a great sand pit, but oh, no, it truly was HUGE DUNES! You could imagine what the Sahara looks like, only built up into a mini-mountain range. It’s 30 square miles, and to ride around it would something like 50 miles. It was incredible to see. There’s also a stream that runs along the edge, so one great attraction is to wade in the shallow creek in what is essentially a giant wading pool next to giant dunes. The dunes were so big, we actually saw some young people sand-boarding down them. We didn’t even know there was such a thing, but just like snow-boarding, they plummeted down the hill trying to make things happens on their boards. No where near as fast, of course, but entertaining nonetheless. We watched a lot of people truly struggle to get up those dunes, it looked way too much like hard work to us!
Anyway, we had a choice to follow a sandy road, which had a lot of 4X4 traffic on it, go along another semi-marked trail, or simply go cross-country, a nice feature here, you can go almost anywhere you like, “except where there are a lot of people”, as the man at the park gate explained. They must have been having a free weekend, because they didn’t charge us the usual entrance fee, so we got lucky on that one. It did increase the traffic, however.
We followed a trail out of the trailer parking area, along with two other women who were just heading out. One had forgotten her cinch so she was riding bareback with only stirrups (not sure what that rig looked like, but that’s how it looked.) We turned off at the first trail to the left, leaving them heading out the road. Our trail led us to the stream which we then followed for a few miles. We were on pure sand at some points, dirt, some stony areas, and the quicksand like footing of the river, which was good as long as you didn’t stop for long. The long you stopped, the more you’d sink in. At one point, my gelding started splashing his foot, getting his belly wet. We moved out of the river, and after a minute, my horse decided it was time for a roll, so before I knew what was happening, we were on the ground together. I quickly checked to make sure my foot was out of the stirrup, then stepped off. I had just said to Hubby that the day was for the horses to enjoy themselves as well, and, well, rolling just seemed the perfect response to that! He got back up, shook himself off, I stepped back on and off we went! Stopped for lunch under a large shady pine tree a bit later. It was a brilliantly sunny day when we arrived, the stark contrast between the dark blue sky and the light beige sand was truly awesome. During the day, though, some puffy clouds had started to appear. After lunch, we crossed over the road and started to head to higher ground, when we came over a peak and saw an incredible storm heading our way. The sky was black and you could see rain already falling in the distance, so we decided it was time to head back. Traffic on the road had diminished (it had peaked about 1:00, which I suspect was the usual checkout time), so we had a couple of nice trots and canters (in between a few bucking spells, which my gelding decided he was in the mood for), and arrived back at the trailer in no time. As we were preparing for departure, another group arrived (the only other livestock trailer in the parking lot besides us and the two women we saw earlier), and we had a brief chat with them, taking a picture for them, exchanging email address, etc. They were interested in what horse campgrounds I knew about, so I told them about my Google Earth list and this blog, so hopefully we’ll stay in touch.
We were out by just after 3:00, stopped at a store for a few supplies on the way home, ran into a little bit of the rain but managed to get back, put the horses away and get the truck under cover (we still have a pickup full of hay) moments before the real storm arrived. A beautiful day that we thoroughly enjoyed!

Well, it didn’t surprise me too much when Wednesday afternoon I looked up and saw my horse grazing outside the pasture fence. He managed to wriggle his way through, one step at a time. I brought him back in, knowing full well that wasn’t going to be the last time. Sure enough, he escaped again during the night, and the stomping and whinnying of his mother woke me at dawn yesterday. I got him back in, and managed to get back to bed, and later, Hubby and I drove into town to get some supplies, including a new electrical outlet to replace the broken one that the fence would usually be plugged into. Unfortunately, we got back too late to do anything with it, so once again, before the crack of dawn, I heard the same ruckus and had to get up and get him back in. He wasn’t going far (he never does), but Mamma couldn’t see him because he’d wandered to the other side of the barn, so she was making too much of a fuss to sleep. It was a chilly morning, and by the time I got him in, I was too wide awake to sleep, so I just got on the computer and started working. Thanks to our hostess, who had ordered up a satellite internet service, otherwise keeping up with work would have been impossible, as there is no cell phone signal out here either, which is where I usually get my broadband. Anyway, later in the day, Hubby got busy working on the fence, and after an hour or so, managed to get it fixed. I gently led my gelding to the fence and let him stick his nose on it, and it did give him a little bite (it’s a rope-style fence, not metal, so it seems to be a bit gentler.) He’s a smart horse, I didn’t see him try it again :-).
Met the neighbors for the first time today, they came over to check on their horses. They have a deal with our hostess, they run their 3 horses with her one in a series of pastures on her property, and keep the watered and looked after. Of course, I’ve been doing most of the watering, but they do come over and check occasionally. Nice folks (as most horse people we’ve met are), had a nice chat. Told them we’d be traveling next week, asked them to keep an eye on our kids while we’re gone, which they readily agreed to do.
It’s been incredibly hot here, I never expected 90 degrees at 7000 feet in Colorado in June. The only days it’s not incredibly hot are when the winds get up (which is most of the time), but some days are both hot and windy. We’ve only had one day of precipitation since we’ve been here, and that was nearly 3 weeks ago when it was so cold we had sleet down here and snow up on the mountain peaks surrounding us. Everything just above us was coated with fresh white, and there’s still a bit of that around. The wind does seem to howl constantly here, the kind of wind that would drive a soul mad after awhile. Good thing we’re a couple of very sane people!

Whew! I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve done a blog entry! Since we arrived here at the ranch, we’ve settled into a rather pleasant routine. On days when our client is here, we work for a few hours, on days when she’s not we go about our business. We started out putting the horses in the overgrown arena, then bringing them into a couple of box stalls (not the same ones from the first night, they were a bit claustrophobic, but a couple of large foaling stalls) with split doors to an outside run. Unfortunately, the winds are so consistently strong here, we weren’t able to leave the doors open on most nights, as it blew the bedding around all over the place. Once the arena was played out, we started putting them into a larger pasture during the day and still bringing them in at night, until eventually we let them out into the pasture full time, once their stomachs got used to the green grass. We’ve ridden around the property on two different days, as well as done a little arena work with them. Finally, today, we loaded them up and drove down to the San Isabel National Forest, to the Indian Creek Trail. This is a 12+ mile linear trail that goes from it’s north Trailhead south to the Bear Creek Horse Camp. We weren’t ready to do anything like 20 miles, we just wanted to take a fairly short trip, so we estimated that we could go about 3.5 miles from the north entrance to near the top of Raspberry Mountain, the highest point on the trail for a picnic. The road to the trailhead was rough in some places, and if it had been wet, 4-wheel drive would have been a must, but we managed with our pickup. From the trailhead, it was all uphill, starting at over 8000 feet and working up to over 10000. The trail was dirt and some stone, so we decided to go without boots. I had done a really good trim the day before, and their soles were incredibly hard from the local terrain, so I was pretty confident they would do okay without boots. It was a lovely ride, the climb was mostly gradual, the views were absolutely spectacular! There was one place where you felt you could see all the way to Kansas City it was so flat and went on forever, and other places you could see the snow-topped mountains of the Spanish Peaks and even Pikes Peak to the north. Outstanding! We even passed a few snowbanks on the trail, and one blocked most of the trail, so I had to get down and persuade my gelding to edge around it along the dropoff. He did great once I showed him how, and Hubby’s mare followed right along As we neared what we thought was the top, my horse began taking breaks every 40-50 feet to catch his breath. The air is definitely thinner up there! I’m glad they had a chance to acclimate somewhat beforehand (the ranch is at 7000 ft.), but we took our time and eventually came to a nice spot on a ridge that had views in both directions, so we stopped there for lunch. Horses got oats and feed, we had a nice healthy snack. The way down was much easier, and the horses were much friskier going downhill. Passed a hearty hiker on her way up, one who knew trail etiquette, fortunately. We arrived back at the trailer before we knew it, following the babbling Indian Creek for the lower part of the trail, admiring the views along the way. A gorgeous ride, a beautiful day. We needed to get a few things at the grocery store, and discovered the cute little town of LaVeta didn’t really have a grocery store, so we had to drive into Walsenburg to go to the Safeway there, got what we needed and headed back to the ranch. The horses galloped across the pasture afterward, confirming my opinion that their feet have toughened, and had no ill effects from the stony parts of the trail. Settled in for the evening, then back to our adopted routine!

Was up and at ’em early again, grabbed some coffee and headed out, though not without some more excitement. When we first got up, the sky was cloudless and the wind had dropped, but as soon as the sun came up, so did the wind. After a short time, we looked out the patio door and saw this “cloud” (see pic) approaching at a rapid pace. At first we thought it was a dust cloud, but we soon discovered it was moisture, like fog that was being herded by the wind rather than dispersed by it. It soon overtook the RV, and those were the conditions as we left, though by now we had a much appreciated tail wind. We left the moisture behind in about an hour, breaking out into blue sky again. Crossed the border into New Mexico, and it wasn’t long before we saw the snow covered mountains again. We soon got on the freeway for the long climb up over the border to Colorado. Stopped in Trinidad at Tequila’s restaurant for lunch (chips and salsa weren’t nearly as good as at the Dixie Cafe!), but it hit the spot. Rolled into our client’s ranch about 2:00, put the horses into a grassy arena, parked the RV and waited until she came home. A lovely spot, tucked away in the foothills of the Rockies, a barn full of lovely albeit unused stalls, all with runs of their own. A wild stallion who had been roaming the neighborhood was in a round pen awaiting it’s owner’s return, and four more horses were grazing peacefully out in a pasture. We are looking forward a bit of a more relaxed pace, between working occasionally with our client, getting caught up on work, and hopefully depositing a few more hours in our sleep banks.

Well, Oklahoma certainly lived up to it’s windy reputation today! We had wind and spotty rain all night, and the air was full of moisture in the morning, almost like a fog. After packing up, we headed into 50-60 mile per hour headwinds and crosswinds. NOT a pleasant drive! Our gas mileage went way down, and we finally had to take a break in Pampa, TX for a meal, just to get some circulation back in my knuckles! We found a great little restaurant next to Wal-mart called the Dixie Cafe. Hubby had a catfish dinner (with SIX fillets!) and I had sizzling fajitas. The chips were the lightest, crunchiest chips we’d had in a long time, and the salsa was fresh and chunky, not like those marina sauces so many Mexican restaurants try to pass off as salsa. Anyway, needless to say we had tons of leftovers. At one point, I had to go back out to the van, and it was like being in a hurricane! I had to turn my back to the wind a few times, and the wind literally stopped my forward progress on several occasions. I looked like on of those crazy weather guys standing out in a hurricane, getting buffeted around like a puppet on a string. I was not looking forward to getting back on the road with my high profile vehicle, but fortunately, by the time we finished lunch it had dropped down a few mph at least. After getting gas a groceries at Wal-mart, we headed cross country again for the XIT Rangers Club in Dalhart, arriving about 6:00. We were met by manager Peggy, who happily helped us get the horses settled in a good-sized pipe corral, and the RV parked up alongside the arena. The wind had died down some, but it was still blowing pretty good for a while. It was such a shame that the one day when we would be driving on pretty flat terrain (thus should have gotten better gas mileage), we ended up bucking such a wind. Pretty scary! We made it intact, though, and that’s the important thing!

Very relieved that today’s drive will be a short one, though be both woke up early and were raring to go by 9:00. Stopped at an IHOP just west of OKC for breakfast, and headed straight for Foss State Park, which we found with no problems at all. We partook of the RV dump before pulling into the equestrian area. The horse camp is quite ordinary, and reminded Hubby and I of the one at James River State Park in Virginia. All the RV spots were lined up in an open row, and across the street there were poles for highlining. There was water and electric at every sight, and the grass was long around the poles, a good indicator of how long it’s been since it’s been used by horses. Of course, we were the only ones there. We were quite close to a large lake, and the scenery was quite flat, though it looked like there might be spots that would be a bit more interesting. We aren’t going to have a chance to find out, though, as we have to drive again tomorrow. Though it started out as quite a nice day, it began getting cloudy and windy later in the day. Hubby even managed to get the satellite dish up before the day got ugly. We rested, watched movies and napped throughout the day. Wished we had a chance for a day off, but no rest for the weary for a while!