The Day That Pablo Got It Right

I'd like to introduce you to Pablo Erikson, descendant of the great Viking warhorses. In all honesty his heritage probably isn't that grand, but if you knew him you would understand the embellishment. Pablo is a character.

We became well acquainted on my first trail clearing ride at Glorieta. He was our packhorse and carried the chainsaws, fuel and other tools. When we reached the top of Baldy after a 4+ hour ride, we stopped for lunch and turned the horses loose to graze. Pablo, friendly fellow that he is, came over to see if what we were eating was more tasty than grass and took interest in my sandwich. I thought it was cute and hopped up to snap a photo. Much to my surprise, when I returned to my seat there was a large bite missing out of my lunch!  That was just the beginning... Pablo kept my life interesting by mastering the art of snatching Lefty's wallet out of his back pocket, fitting an entire lead rope in his mouth like a wad of gum, blowing out his belly to keep his cinch loose and giving me the innocent look when I came out of the tackroom to see what the disturbance was at the tie rail.

Known as the horse with the mohawk, he often lived up to it and was a real punk. But every now and again, the mischief gave way to a glimpse of something brighter. One of those times came on a day when the mud was so deep it was seeping into the tops of my boots. The trails were much too slick to ride and so I was filling my day with barn chores. About half way through the morning I decided to let the horses out into a small area of grass we had fenced off with electric wire for grazing. Since I was going to be at the barn, I could keep an eye on them and let them enjoy the good grass - a rare treat in New Mexico!

So, I started making my way out into the pasture, whistling and calling. The mud and muck were deep and slick and I slipped, slid and almost face planted several times. When I finally found a few of the herd, I started making my way behind them to drive them in, thinking all the while how much they were going to enjoy that grass. However, as soon as they sensed my intention to take them in, they snorted, wheeled and ran away into the hills. They thought I was going to make them work. I started to follow, slipped once more and realized that it was useless - there was no way I was going to catch them in footing that bad. 

Frustrated and muddy I headed back to the barn. As I rounded the corner to the catch pen, I heard a noise and looked up. There was Pablo looking expectantly at me, "Hi! I'm here! What are we going to do?" I laughed, patted his neck and led him out to the grazing area where he spent several hours with the grass all to himself (the stuff of dreams for that pony).

As I walked away, recalled that C.S. Lewis once wrote we are all like children who continue making mudpies because we cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea.  I wondered how many times Jesus had wanted to offer me green pastures and I chose mud instead. I'll probably never know in this life, but the day that Pablo got it right has inspired me to keep my heart open for any sea holidays that might look like just more work at first glance.

Told you so...

Well, I wrote at the beginning of this adventure that I am a slacker blogger and it's proving true. I could blame it on a number of things, including that this week has been a huge adjustment curve for me, but it mostly comes down to the fact that I tend to forget to write about stuff.

Anyhow, I have the afternoon off and am chilling at one of the wifi spots on campus enjoying my "Celtic Woman" Pandora station and catching up on my web browsing. I spent the morning on the high ropes course with the rec staff learning rope rescues and the belaying the boy's and girl's camp staff. I really enjoy working the ropes course. It's a lot of fun and a good change of pace. I even got in a ride on the zipline with my roommate (who camps has stolen for the next three weeks). Flying through the air upside down is good for the soul.

Things are going well out at the barn. We served 74 riders this last week, including youth camp track times. It's a much tighter schedule that I was anticipating, but we're working through the kinks and I expect things to go more smoothly next week. This past week, our mornings were slow and we spent a lot of time working on rec staff projects and getting things ready for various activities. Then, it was an early lunch and full steam ahead in the afternoon with two one hour track times and then two one hour trail rides before a late dinner. In the coming three weeks we will be adding camp lessons in the mornings and possibly a few morning trail rides.

My job is never boring! Crazy busy and sort of stressful at times, but I'll take that over boring any day. Besides...how many places can you be both a wrangler and a high ropes facilitator? I'm having fun and looking forward to what the next weeks hold.

Quick Update

Whew...today is the last day of staff training and I feel like I've been running like crazy for the past 2-3 weeks. Tomorrow will be my first full day off in over 2 weeks and I am looking forward to the rest. However, I have been enjoying the work and particularly getting to know the rest of the summer staff who arrived last week. Overall, it's been a good kind of running.

Besides training, which has taken up the majority of my time, I've been working on developing the horseback riding program for camps and the youth camps. Today I finally submitted some paperwork that I've been working on for about 3 weeks. That felt so good. Now it's on someone else's plate for a while.

We have a cook out tonight and I'm looking forward to enjoying that and my day off without worrying about all the office work I have to do...because it's mostly done!

Time flies...

Shwew...it's been a busy past couple of days... Let's see...
Friday we took an all day ride up to Baldy - the highest peak in the area at about 10,000 feet. We probably spent about 6 hours in the saddle and several more clearing trails. And we had a little time to enjoy the spectacular views. I'm putting pics up on Facebook.

Saturday I slept in a bit, stopped in at the graduation party for our campus director's daughter, went to lunch, raced out of the lunch line to answer a call about a horse who was down (false alarm), ate my lunch, did laundry and played speed with Micki (one of our co-coordinators), cleaned my room, and did a little planning for the week ahead.

Sunday I went to church with Holly and Andrew. They're church threw the coolest baptism celebration I've ever seen. They did the baptism in a neighborhood pool (and it was a little chilly outside!), then had their service outside followed by a catered meal and live music. The pastor says that a public profession of faith through baptism is the biggest decision of a person's life, so they should throw the biggest party too.

Today, I went out to feed and get Jason started on some jobs then spent the rest of the day in the office. I worked on finishing up the horseback Standard Operating Procedure (which I've written about 1/3 of), planning out the next week and developing a training schedule for the people who will be working at the barn. It was a full day of paperwork!

We've had a few new staffers arrive during the last few days too. It's been fun to have some new faces!

Adventures Recap

Here's a recap of a few of my adventures since arriving:

-Santa Fe with Molly and Holly. Quite the cultural experience at the Plaza and the best guacamole of my life. More details here.

- Riding the zipline! 900 feet of flight. I loved it. The second time I went off backwards and hung upside down.

- 1st Trailride up the ridge and down Ruiz Canyon. The ridge was piney woods and we came out on a spectacular view of the campus. The canyon is full of granite rocks and a beautiful creek. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so no pics. But I'll be going back and will get some!

- Second and Third Trail Rides: Ghost Town and another ridge. Ghost town is beautiful! Ruins of an old sawmill and hotel sit in a green valley surrounded by mountains. We ate lunch while the horses grazed. Quite scenic. The ridge we rode boasted a view of mountains as far as 75 miles away. I had fun using Scott's GPS to mark both of these trails. Thanks Scott!

- Santa Fe with Debbie B. Ed and Debbie B. have been visiting us for the past couple days and today Debbie and I ran into Santa Fe for the afternoon. (I got off early because I have to work tomorrow morning when the farrier comes). I took her to the Plaza and was very proud of finding my way around without having to make too many u-turns.

More to come...

Dust and Mud

It was another beautiful, sunny day. I somehow missed breakfast - they must have served it earlier than yesterday. Meal schedules are kind of crazy right now since groups are coming and going and we haven't hit peak season. So, I had a protein bar.

Anyway, I got out to the barn about 8:00 and started organizing the tack room. Throughout the course of the day, I organized all the saddles, hung nails for the bridle rack, made and hung a helmet rack, hung some hooks for the rain coats and bathed six horses.

I also fed the six we have at the barn right now and then found and fed the five that are still in the front pasture. I'm working them back to being fed in the morning instead of the afternoon, so they weren't there waiting on me. I whistled and called, but they didn't come. They've been trained to come at the honking of a horn, so I honked and they still didn't come. Then, I drove through the pasture, honking, whistling and calling. It is a fun but strange feeling to go barreling through an empty pasture honking your horn and yelling out the window. Especially since two of the horses I was yelling for are Nip and Tuck. Hahah!

Anyway, I finally found one and then had to hike to find the rest. They were back by the water treatment plant and evidently couldn't hear me because the came a soon as they saw me.

I also gave Pablo a much needed hair cut. I'm going to post before and after shots as soon as I can get an after one. After my very productive day, I was extremely dirty with an interesting combination of both dust and mud and had to jump through the shower before dinner. So, I didn't have time for the last pic.

Santa Fe

Yesterday, Molly, Holly and I went and "did" Santa Fe. It is a very neat town where everything - including Target, Walmart and McDonalds - is adobe. We visited Target to pick up a few things for me, including a hair brush and ties to replace the one I mysteriously lost between check in and move in. Go figure.

Anyway, we ate lunch at an amazing place called Gabriels what is known for its authentic Old Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. I had the Plato de Carnitas which was sort of like pork fajitas on corn tortillas. And we ordered the guacamole appetizer where they come prepare it at your table. I was a little apprehensive since I've never been a fan of the green stuff, but this was amazing!

Then, we toured the Plaza in Santa Fe. It is very interesting with lots of handmade jewelry and other items being sold both in stores and on the street. Bargaining is expected not only on the street but also in some of the stores. I didn't buy anything yesterday, but I plan to in the future and expect that it will be an interesting experience.

There is a big mix of cultures here and at times I feel a little out of place with my light hair and eyes. One of the salesmen/bargainers in a store asked Holly and I if we were from Florida because of our "blonde hair and beautiful eyes." She is blonde and while I've never considered myself blonde, compared to the majority of the population around here, I guess I am - la gringa rubia.

We made it!

Well, after 8 more hours in the car yesterday, we finally arrived at our destination in New Mexico. The weather was nice for the most part though we were a little concerned starting out due to severe thunderstorms near by. However, other than a little rain, we were not affected.

Highlights of the last leg of our trip include lunch at The Big Texan, driving by the American Quarter Horse Association HQ and the incredible western landscapes.

I loved the varied scenery crossing western Oklahoma, the smokestack of Texas and on into New Mexico. Western Texas and New Mexico had a variety of landscapes that are the essence of western land to me. So, as you might guess, I have a lot of landscape pictures to share.

By the way, I will be posting my pictures on Facebook so, if you are not on Facebook and would like to see my pics, shoot me an email and I will email you a link to the album.

After we arrived, we met up with Holly (Molly's friend) who was working the front desk. She helped us find the person who showed us around and then we worked on getting settled in my room in staff housing. I'm pleased with the accommodations so far. It's bigger than either of my dorm rooms were. I will have 1 or 2 roommates who will arrive later. I'll try and post some pics of my room later.

That's about all for now...oh, we did walk out to meet "the herd" yesterday and I was impressed with how healthy everyone looked and how friendly they were. I'll try and get some pics of them soon too. I'm sure you will be reading many stories about Paco, Nip & Tuck, Midnight, Rusty and the others.

And Oklahoma City Looks Oh So Pretty

Shwew! We made it! After over 12 hours on the road, our hotel outside of Oklahoma City looked very nice indeed. The city itself looked very nice with all it's lights. Altogether, the trip has gone very quickly and smoothly so far. Molly and I have had a great time talking, laughing and listening to music and Les Miserables.

Speaking of laughing, we've seen some funny sights on the way... Here they are in no particular order:

1) A tree hung with over a dozen pairs of shoes somewhere in western AL.

2) Sign: "Territorial Museum" (don't get too close to that one!)

3) Sign: "See Salisaw!" (OK has a lot of See Suchandsuch! signs and they're all enthusiastic, but this one was my fave).

4) Sign: "Now Entering Citizen Preservation Area" (As opposed to??)

The landscapes have been varied and beautiful as well. The more northern route through Arkansas is much preferable to the southern route we take to Dallas, which I have affectionately termed "Arkanblah." And as we were rolling into the city area here, we were treated to a most spectacular lightning show in the big sky.

I'll see about getting some pictures up soon...but for now I've just got to crash.

T-minus Less Than 24 Hours

For anyone who's interested, here's my blog where I will be chronicling (or attempting to chronicle) my out west summer adventures.

I can't believe it...I'm leaving for New Mexico in less than 24 hours! And I don't have half of the stuff done that I had hoped to at this point. It's like I've been in waiting mode so long that it is been hard to kick myself back into high gear and get stuff done.

But, since my still-on-eastern-time body decided to wake me up at 7:30 this morning, I'm going to try and take advantage of the extra hour or so this morning. Blog post - check. Next...