Equine Explorer

Easyboot Back Country Glove first Day of Training

As you know every year, as soon as the snow melts I begin training for my Colorado Trail ride. This spring EasyCare announced a new Back Country Glove boot. It combines the lightness of the Glove and the practicality of the Trail boots. So of course I was really excited to try this on Smoke. Smoke has had some trouble with the Glove gator giving him rubs during long assents and descents. This I determined was due to the angle of his hoof and pastern, by the end of the summer his hair gets so thin he has little hair to cushion his pastern. So day 1, Hills!

 

The boots really did great. No twisting , no rubbing. I did notice a mark on the front of Smokes hoof wall on one front and one back hoof. With closer inspection I realized the one of the screws holding the velcro enclosure was extended past the lock nut on the inside, and was rubbing on the hoof wall. That was an easy fix with a file. So I will add that to my check list when I get new boots. Also at the end of the ride there was some sand and small gravel sitting just above the heel bulbs. After looking at the video, I realize this probably happened when I came down the really sandy hill at the very end. I think for the next ride I will play around with the velcro closures. I'll keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

 

Colorado Trail Segment 7 "The Climb"

 

 I just finish working on the video for Segment 7 of the Colorado Trail Debbie and I rode the summer of 2010. The memory of this segment is still fresh in my mind! The climb was so dramatic, the views so spectacular and Smoke and Flame were simply amazing. We climbed to nearly 12,500 ft on a fairly narrow ridge of mountains called the Ten Mile Range. Even though it was August, snow still hung along the highest ridge lines. We mingled with the clouds looking down on Lake Dillon and Breckenridge. After reaching the top-out point at 12,494 ft. we could look just to the west and see  Copper Mountain Ski Resort! Some trails will aways remain with me. This is one that had so many metaphors for difficult challenges, for over coming fears and not giving in to life's worries. I have climbed a few 14-teen-er's on foot and this was every bit as challenging and exhilarating! The fact that your horse and you are a partnership, he carries you, and you must make good decisions in his behalf, has the effect of forever melding your hearts, and minds together.

What is the Lady Long Rider doing?

I am sitting here in my nice warm house and I started wondering....Where is Bernice Ende,Lady Long Rider?

So I went to her website and checked her current information:

Greetings to all of you that follow the ride:

    Well I am still in Forsyth, Montana and it looks like this is where we will winter. I think I just ran out of the much needed forward motion, ran out of petrol, coasted to a stop here in the wide open, spacious flats of eastern Montana where the wind is brutish and nothing stands in its way but low lying, firmly rooted sagebrush. It is all sky. The sun  peaks from the flat eastern horizon, makes a long slow climb warms the day with plenty of sunshine and then seems hold itself, lingering long, settling easy into the unobstructed  western horizon.  I  could easily be in Arizona or New Mexico, but remind myself I am not, I am in Montana, nearly home.  With the great Rocky Mountain Range in my path now  layering itself with a thick blanket of fresh snow that keeps me from crossing into Trego until spring.

    My  home for the winter is a small barn surrounded by a set of  wooden corrals. Hand-hewn, grey weathered, rough-cut boards with rusted tin that make a solid windbreak.  All of which sits in open range, no fences and belongs to Bill Straw, 90yr old Bill Straw whom I met in 2006 when I stayed at these very same corrals for two weeks with my grey mare Honor. Bill's father built the barn and it still has the stanchions for milking cows in it.  My tent is wrapped like a yurt with several layers of blankets. I have electricity and water. I am cozy and warm inside .The horses are safe and have hay and salt and goodies, Claire has never ending rabbit duty and so here we are for the winter of 2010.  It feels good to rest, to be still to have a certain amount of structure and routine. Perhaps I will get started on that book that people keep asking me about. Read, write and prepare for next years ride, that's about it.

    Forsyth is a small western town, cowboy hats and cowboy boots, ranches and irrigated farms spread in all directions. A town rich in smiles and handshakes, a good place to call  "home" for awhile. I will keep a posting on the website going and will have time to return emails, and of course letters can be addressed to: 

Bernice Ende, general delivery, Forysth, Mt. 59327

    My heart and thoughts go out to all of those who have helped to bring me and my traveling troupe safely to this "rest stop" in the ride.  We are warm, safe and dry for which I am grateful. As I have said so many times, I could not have done it with out your help.

Happy Trails, Bernice Ende

I think I'll drop her an email!

Lady Long Rider Has a New Horse

The Heart of Texas

March 20, 2010

 

Greetings from the "the heart of Texas" where spring has arrived, wild flowers and green grass show their color, the delicious scent from the Agarita plant fills the air and the local folks shed their winter jackets.  (And I think Montana is scarcely waking from winters cold and snow, I may never go back -- I am only kidding I'll be home before next winters snow covers the ground.)

Well, with the help of a great many people I am back in the saddle and have another horse. It has been quite a story and here briefly is how I have come to have another horse and beginning a new 2010 ride.....

After leaving Wimberley, TX on Essie Pearl with Francis tucked behind me on the bed roll, packed lightly with no tent and "lean" as I call it, (single horse riding is "lean" no frills riding) I was heading north by north west.  We over-nighted at the Wayne and Jenifer Ziegler home.  We spent time at the Steward's lovely "fishing cabin" on Cyprus Creek and gave a talk to 100 screaming and terribly excited kindergartners dressed as cowboys and cowgirls at the Walnut Creek Elementary in Dripping Springs.  On to Llano with trail visitors from Jennifer Frame and friends that brought out delicious hot burritos and we visited until late into the night.  Its nice to have guests for dinner...The Rick Smathers family hosted an over night and then another night at the stock yard corral outside of Llano.  Nice weather, easy ride.

It was in Llano that I met up with Holly Nixon, a cowgirl and now a dear friend that I had previoulsly met when I rode in heading east for Wimberley, Texas.  I stayed at the Nixon ranch a week when I had an abscessed tooth.  Holly and her husband Tommy had a downed cow (me) on their hands and they so graciously cared for me and my entire family of animals until I recovered.  So Holly feels like an old friend that I have known forever, truly a kindred spirit.

There had been a couple of offers from ranchers in the Menard area for horses to replace Honor and to help get me back on the trail.  One from Carl Kothmann and one from Odie Wright, both of which I had met earlier on the ride.  So there we were, Holly Nixon and I on the lawn of the magnificent historical building in Llano having lunch deciding whether or not to trailer over and look at the horses.  I had in my mind that I would pick up another Fjord but there are so few Fjords in these Texas hills and I really did not want to ride single horse much longer.  So....we did.

Mr. Kothmann's horses are well bred quarter horses but were "more horse" than I needed.  Then there was the horse from Odie Wright....Now get this his registered name is "I'm a Lucky Kid".  Well, I thought, as I looked at this huge 16.2 hands (it is how a horse is measured)14 year old gelding, a beautiful horse with kind, quiet  eyes and a strong build.  "You are the one".  Well, needless to say he's no Fjord, but I feel I have a great horse to carry on with.  I have named him "HART", because... We are in the geographical heart of Texas and because he has a heart as big as Texas itself and the Wrights must have big hearts to have donated such a horse and... because I can now say... "I ride with Hart".  I affectionetly call him "Mr. Right". 

Odie Wright has the Title and Abstract Company in Menard and his son Tyler has "FIND A RANCH.COM'' and how in the world I will ever repay them for donating this wonderful horse I don't know.  When a horse like this comes into my life and rides with me for 1000's of miles, he is needless to say mine for life.  He'll never be sold or given away, these are life long committments.  Thank you so very much Odie and Tyler Wright, Thank you.

Essie Pearl likes her new friend and they have bonded unlike her and Honor, I think she just wanted a boyfriend!!!  It has been a busy week getting supplies together.  Holly and I have been running here and there, putting Hart thru spook tests like covering him with plastic tarps and umbrellas and the like.  He is good, real good.  Dr. King from the Equine Veterinary Clinic in Fredricksburg gave him a thorough going over and vaccinations all of which he so kindly donated, many, many thanks to them.  Oh so many people to thank.

With new horse shoes from Rusty Felps the horseshoer for the Nixon ranch and a brand inspection paper we should be set.

Tuckers Saddle has sent me out with a beautiful new Gen II saddle and you can see that on their website.  Another comfortable saddle that fit well from the get go. Outfitters Supply has sent replacements for picket lines and hobbles and water buckets.  But for the most part all of my gear is holding up amazingly well...I HAVE GOOD SPONSORS WITH EXCELLENT PRODUCTS!!

We head out on Thursday March 18th almost 1 year to date from leaving last year on my 7000 mile ride.  I know it is hard to leave with out my beloved Honor, always so very hard to leave behind that which we love. But one must go on, and so we do and of course we go on because there are so many that have helped us and that are willing to believe in us.  To all of you whose lives we touch and who touch mine -- A deep, heartfelt thank you, my pockets are bludging with Texas.

Happy Trails, Bernice Ende Long Rider

50 Year Trail

The 50 year trail that starts at Catalina State Park and ends North in the Golder Ranch Area is nearly 8 miles one way, and if you add a loop trail off of it and then go back to the park nearly  20 miles round trip. In fact I rode a 25 mile CTR/Endurance ride here put on by a local riding club the County Line Trail Riders of Catalina  (I took 2nd place heavy weight on Smoke, and a friend,  took 1st light weight, and novice on Phlame.)

This is just too cool. I was looking for a map on line to show you the 50 year trail that leads out of Catalina State Park and I found this , it is an app for iphone. Someone on a bike rode the trail and was able to make this map. WOW , ok now maybe I'll have to get an iphone.

50 Year Trail

Map your trip with EveryTrail I have done this whole trail on horseback. Close to 20 mile round trip. And yes you share the ride with mountain bikes, but with the open terrain you see them coming. Here is a cool video that show you just what the trail is like. And yes it is from a bike.  

Here is some more information from a local bike riding website on the trail and also some spur trails.

50 Year trail map and info.

Riding at Ft Robinson Nebraska

I took a trip back to Colorado this week to attend the Riding Colorado Christmas Party. We always have a wonderful time, best time we have if we are not riding. Horse women are the BEST! Love you gals! Here is a video of our trip to Ft. Robinson Nebraska we took this summer. The State Park is full of history and fun riding also. You get to keep your horses in the original Calvary barns and ride where Crazy horse and calvary troops trod.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Robinson

Horseback Riding in Central Park

Horseback Riding Returns to Central Park By SEWELL CHAN horseback riding in Central ParkRiders from the Claremont Riding Academy, which closed last April, on Central Park’s bridle path. (Photo: Suzanne DeChillo/The New York TImes) In April, equestrians mourned when the owner of the Claremont Riding Academy, the last public stable in Manhattan, announced that it would close. The riding school was formed in 1927, in a tan-brick building erected in 1892. The owner, Paul Novograd, said the decision resulted from financial pressures and the diminished usefulness of Central Park’s 4.25-mile bridle path, which is often crowded with pedestrians and cyclists. As Manny Fernandez wrote in a farewell piece to the stable: The academy was the oldest continuously operated stable in New York City and, according to Mr. Novograd, the oldest in the United States, offering riding lessons and the renting and boarding of horses. It was a patch of un-Manhattan in Manhattan, definitive proof that the city indeed had it all — skyscrapers, a nearly naked cowboy in Times Square and horses you could rent for $55 an hour. Of the more than 40 or so horses left, some retired, some went to a horse center in Maryland and five were donated to Yale. As of May, three horses remained at Claremont, all part of the Parks Enforcement Patrol, an arm of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. (They horses were to be moved to a Parks Department stable in Central Park.) With the closing of the Claremont Riding Academy, recreational riders in Central Park had nowhere to turn — until now. Under an agreement announced today by the Parks Department, the Riverdale Equestrian Center will offer horseback riding by appointment at the North Meadow Recreation Center, off of 96th Street in Central Park. But the riding will not be cheap; a guided trail ride costs $100 an hour. Pony rides will also be available. “In keeping with its 150-year equestrian tradition, we are happy to bring horseback riding back to Central Park,” the parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said in a statement. “Just as the first visitors to Central Park did, you can now ride a horse along the four miles of bridle paths — one of the best ways to get out and enjoy the peace and serenity of the park.” How popular the new riding program will be remains to be seen. Central Park was originally designed with a bridle path for horseback riders. On the path’s three sections –- the 1.65-mile Reservoir Loop, the 1.1-mile North Meadow Loop and the 1.5-mile Southern Spur — you are far more likely to find joggers, cyclists, dog walkers and stroller pushers than to see a recreational horse. To make an appointment, riders should contact Riverdale Equestrian Center, which is based in Van Cortlandt Park, by e-mail or by phone at (718) 548-4848. Visitors may see and pet the horses from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends at the North Meadow Recreation Center hitching post. Riding will continue through Thanksgiving, and start up again in the spring.

Cowgirl Up!

Had a great working trail ride today with the NW Arkansas CowGirl Up riding group. I tracked these ladies down on the internet, but found that most horse people had heard of them or knew someone who rode with them. So today I was glad to meet up with a few of the ladies at the Wedington Lake area of the Ozark National Forest, and take a trail/trail clearing ride. Last year after the big ice storm, trails were left blocked by downed branches and trees. These gals know their woods and have worked hard to keep horse trail going in this part of the forest. They ride all over the area and do a lot of camp outs. Here is what they have to say about their group:

 

Cowgirl Up Riding Club was started by a lady in the Pineville area who was recovering from health problems and wanted to ride for exercise. She posted a note somewhere, wanting ladies to ride with, and the rest is history.

We currently have over 100 members from Missouri, Eastern Oklahoma, and NW Arkansas. We ride on Wednesdays and Saturdays and sometimes schedule campouts. Our ladies get together to have fun and relieve the stress of everyday life. They ride all different kinds of horses, some gaited, some not, it doesn't matter. We meet every 2 months at different locations on designated dates. A newsletter is posted following the meeting with scheduled rides and subjects of discussion. We are always doing something fun and welcome new members. Come ride with us.

Membership dues are $12.00 yearly, which gives you access to our web site.

Carol Ferguson, Cowgirl Up CarolFerguson35@myfamily

 

 

 

Phlame fits right in with these fellows. Even though we stopped to clear trail, we still covered a little over 8 miles.

Butterfield Stage Coach

As I had mentioned before, the Butterfield Stage rode right though Fayetteville and by the barn where Smoke and Phlame are staying. One rainy day for lack of anything else to do we followed the route of the Stage from Pea Ridge Military Park, to south of Fayetteville. I had seen a video of a reenactment that showed the stage going though a large barn it was mentioned as the Fitzgerald's Station stop. By carefully following the Heritage Trail signs and our directions we were able to locate the barn ( a few photos are posted below)

 

 

Day at Devils Den State Park AR

5 more Freedom miles