OWYHEE SPRING

Once again there I was, driving off to a local endurance ride in a big windstorm. At least I had a tailwind most of the way to help me there. But setting up camp in the wind was a challenge. I didn't dare leave a trailer door open becayse I might lose it, or get knocked over by it. Ride camp was a big ranch located just off Murphy Flat Rd. near Murphy, ID.

On Friday morning I had a plan, take Blue down to the ride and do the 60. Or maybe just putt through the 75, heck it's only 15 more miles. I figured I'd take Thunder to Prineville the next weekend. That plan changed around 3 PM because Amanda Washington's horse had gotten scraped up escaping from her pen during the night. I had a message from her, "Wouldn't you rather ride Thunder this weekend?" So after some talking and a bit of planning, both horses were going to the ride and we'd do the 60 miler. Her friend, Elly Burnett, was doing her first long ride and we were going to keep her company at tourist pace.

Saturday morning the horses were saddled, Easyboot Gloves on all fours, the wind was calm. Looked like a good day! And it was a good day, with some wild Idaho weather added into it here and there. We had a bit of everything but for the most part, as long as you were riding and keeping warm it was OK.

The first loop out was 25 miles and this took us down into the Snake River Canyon near the Swan Falls dam. The views were spectacular, the rock formations awesome and the petroglyph rocks were fascinating. Thunder had to check them out! Thank you Steph and Regina for this great treat!! The river was smooth and mirrored the rocks sticking up in the middle. As we climbed up through the rocks to the top plateau, again the views were amazing. You could see for miles and miles!

Back to camp for an hour hold that was shortened to 45 min thanks to the cold wind and the hailstorm that we'd missed. Good timing! Loop 2 was 21 miles and we hit portions of the Oregon Trail and the horses had lots of grass to eat. Blue was just sure we were going to be out there forever and he was in a hurry to get going. Some places had nothing to tie marking ribbons to - and Steph hung ribbon from a cow skeleton - yeah that's Idaho! After another 45 minute hold we had a 15 mile loop. Great trail and beautiful views of the Owyhees. One snowy mountain top would have blue sky, and another would be covered in a storm. Then we could see camp - and we were done!! And it started to sleet just as we were trying to get horses vetted and unsaddled. The horses were buried in blankets to keep warm.

Regina had barbecued pulled pork sandwich fixings and cole slaw for everyone and the rancher's shop gave us a warm place for dinner!! What a great ride and fun day!! Then I loaded up the boys to get them out of the wind, and headed for home.

We are Tough Suckers!!!!

We left home in high winds and driving rain mixed with snow Friday on our way to the first ride of the season, Tough Sucker. This year the ride was held at Regina Rose's a few miles out of Oreana, Idaho.

Regina's place is near the site of the Utter Disaster, a bit of early Idaho history. On September 9, 1860, the Elijah P. Utter wagon train was attacked by Indians along the South Alternate of the Oregon Trail northeast of the present day town of Murphy, Idaho. The attack on the 44-member wagon train resulted in the deaths of 11 emigrants and an estimated 25-30 Indians.

The view of the snow covered Owyhees greeted us Saturday morning. The wind was cold but at least we had sun. The rain and snow had subsided and there were two brave riders on the 75, about 30 on the 50 miler and close to 20 on the 25. Considering the weather, it was a great turnout. I had planned on the 75 myself but decided Friday that there was no way I was doing 75 miles in that cold cold wind. And I'm glad I just rode the 50.

Thunder was really good at the start and we teamed up with Lynn White. Her mare Agnes traveled the same pace as Thunder and it was a great day! I had many layers of clothes so I wasn't cold even in the wind. Actually everyone was so buried in layers of clothes that it was tough to know who was who. We went out to Wild Horse Butte and along the Snake River. We passed through the Birds of Prey area and rode a portion of the Oregon Trail. The footing was fantastic!

This was also our first endurance ride in the Easyboot Gloves on Thunder and they worked beautifully. We did have one gaitor rub but a little vet wrap took care of it and he was fine. We did the 50 in a bit over 7 hours finishing 12th. We vetted through with no problems and I thought he looked great!

What a day! We all earned the title of being tough suckers! An apprpriate name for this fun but cold ride!!

FABULOUS FEBRUARY

What a gorgeous February day!!

Sun. A few clouds. Grass starting to sprout. Most of the mud has dried out and left soft fluffy sand. Early this morning it was 25 and everything was frost covered. But by 10 AM the frost was going away and it warmed up to a whopping 39. No better way to spend a good day than on a great horse! And we trotted and trotted and then went some more! Woohoo!

This entire month has been pretty mild with a lot of days in the 40's and a few in the 50's. Once the snow melted it has been grand! I know I haven't contributed much news to my blog because I have been having fun riding every chance i get!!

Plus I never get tired of the view between those wonderful furry ears! The Snake River is beautiful. There are a lot of geese right now to watch. They are quite noisy too. The high desert changes color all the time. I especially love the rock formations near the Owyhee River. There are deer, coyotes and long eared rabbits to look at. It is just a beautiful place to be. God is good!

OWYHEE FANDANGO MULTI-DAY

Hi all. Just got back from the Owyhee Fandango ride down at Oreana. Rode 2 days. I rode day 1 on Hollie with Josette and Elvis. Our time was 7:51 for 3 loop trails out of camp. Joe rode Thunder and Linda rode her mare Aire. Joe & Thunder finished 11th and 2nd HW in 5:45. Linda was 13th and a minute behind. It was a great day, it got a bit warm. But never fear - it's Idaho. A thunderstorm moved in to cool things off, soak everything, then the sun came back out again. There were 42 finishers.

The second day I rode Thunder. Linda was on her mare again and Joe was riding Dudley, a Russian Orlov/Arab. This was an awesome trail. We went down through a canyon and into a ranch with beautiful green pastures and a lake. Then we swung out to the Snake River where we waded out and let the horses drink and splash. Then we went back into the ranch on the Oregon Trail for another vet check. We had 17.5 miles back to camp from the ranch for a 55 mile total. We were 12, 13, 14 with a time of 7:03. Not too shabby for two days. Thunder had completed two days, 105 miles, in 12:49, and he looked good! We had considered riding three days but the third days trail was much like the first and I thought we'd done enough. I had a great weekend and awesome ride and was content. :-)