Back from Columbus - Part 2

OK, it's been three weeks or so since we returned from Columbus, New Mexico and you're probably wondering what else happened (or not...but if you're reading this, I figure that you might be interested! :-)).

Anyway, we successfully completed the "Raid Day" ceremonies which were put on by the Columbus Historical Society on March 9 and made arrangements for the State cermonies that were scheduled for March 10 at the Park (entitled "Camp Furlong Day").

While I had been a bit concerned about a horse rental, things began to work out better than I had ever expected. Early Friday morning while we were eating breakfast, one of the museum volunteers had asked our group if anyone planned on riding in the parade scheduled for March 10. I indicated that I was planning on renting a horse (a trail ride operator was going to bring four horses down from Silver City for rent). The lady then asked me if I'd be willing to ride her Tennessee Walker gelding named "Pablo". The lady further explained that he's a good horse and that he doesn't get out a lot but he's good around other horses and in parades. She also mentioned that Pablo was a rescue horse and when she first got him, he was grossly underweight and "all skin and bones".

I was a bit nervious but without hesitation, I agreed. So early Friday morning, the lady drove me out to her place which was located about three or four miles north on the Columbus-Deming Road (now New Mexico State Highway 11). We tacked up Pablo after a short period of having to chase him around the pen- "Oh boy", I thought..."This is going to be a FUN day!"

After tacking up Pablo, I got on him- he was probably somewhere in the 14.2 - 14.3 hands range and definately smaller than Max. However, he was well-muscled so I didn't feel so bad (I'm, 6'1" and weight about 230 pounds). After assuring myself that Pablo wasn't going to buck me off and that he understood simple commands like "whoa!", we departed for town.

The morning had started cold but as I rode back into town, it began to warm up quite considerably. After getting back to the Park, I hung around to await developments. I didn't have to wait too long before one of the Park maintenance guys calls out to me "the riders are going to meet the riders from Mexico down at the border!" I spurred Pablo on and soon we were going at a nice "Walker" pace down the road towards Palomas. The only thing I had to watch out for was all the discarded bottles, cans, and other trash that motorist have tossed out of their cars (isn't it just grand?).

I have to say, I had never experienced a Tenessee Walker before but Pablo made me a believer! Although he was relatively unschooled, he did have it together enough to give a nice pacing walk, a very "floaty" trot, and an incredible canter. Jeeze, if I was able to work with this horse for a few months, there's no telling what this guy could do. We only had a couple of episodes where Pablo tested me- he definately wasn't used to being worked and I seriously doubt if he'd been asked to canter in a long time.

I managed to meet up with the Mexicans about a mile north of the border and I rode alongside their "Pancho Villa" (I remembered him from last year and had witnessed him give a long, empassioned and drunken speech in Spanish the night before at a party we'd gone to in Palomas). We rode towards Columbus shouting "Viva Villa" and waiving at everyone. It definately felt a bit strange since I was portraying an American enlisted soldier...(the whole thing was sort of billed as a "reconciliation" and improving relations sort of a thing but there's definately some hard feelings that still remain).

By the time we hit town, things were in full swing and the weather was definately cooperating (a relief, compared to last year!). The procession made a circuit around the town and we then headed on into the Park.

During this whole time, Pablo was the perfect gentlemen (although I declined an invitation to take a position between the two riders carrying the US and Mexican flags- why tempt fate?) although it was evident that a Tennessee Walker walks a lot faster than a lot of other horses- I had to hold him back which necessitated the use of a combination of breath control and gentle half-halts. Fortunately, that was enough for Pablo and things were kept in check- thank god for that dressage training!

Pablo and I On Duty - Pablo wasn't too happy about having to work and was giving the evil eye...

The riders all gathered on the West side of Cootes Hill where there were a couple of corrals with water and alfalfa for the horses. After watering and feeding Pablo, I rode him around and basically did the "meet and greet" thing. The one unfortuante thing was that the saddle and tack were completely wrong- earlier, Pablo's Mom had tried to contact another gentlemen by the name of RL Curtin who has a shed full of 1904 McClellan saddles and tack (we'd met him last year) to see if she could borrow one but was unable to make contact. Oh well! At least I had a horse!!

I pretty much spent the day riding and resting Pablo and I was actually able to school him pretty well- he wasn't bad but definately needed some polishing (plus schooling on halting when verbally directed to do so). It was a very pleasant surprise because it could have been the direct opposite- the horse from hell who won't do anything.

By about 3 PM, we'd had enough (I'd been at this since about 8 AM) so I took Pablo home by the scenic route. On the way home, I purposely rode all around the area where the major events of the raid had taken place. Probably the first time anyone in uniform had ridden through town in at least 60 years or so (maybe).

Personally, I believe that there's no better way to get a "feel" for the country, wherever you go, than by riding around it on horseback. Cars are just too fast and hiking is too slow plus you simply don't get the visual perspective. What was also nice was that because I wasn't renting a horse, I could ride around on my own (usually rental string operators aren't too keen on you going out on your own- liability and all that!) and really take my time. For me, this was probably the best part about being in Columbus although by 3 PM, the temperature was in the high 80s and the sun was beating down pretty fierce (welcome to New Mexico! Why do you think they call it a desert?).

I got back to the lady's place, untacked Pablo and gave him his reward- a handful of grain, a flake of alfalfa, and a nice big tub of water. The lady's husband then drove me back to the Park.

I rejoined my compadres and we pretty much hung out until sunset where we retired to the Pancho Villa Lounge for food and liquid refreshment (not too much liquid refreshment since we had to leave early the next day).

We finally left Columbus early Sunday morning (March 11) at about 8 AM after quickly packing up our camp. One of the last sights we saw on our way out of town was the cemetary where some of the raid victims were buried.

A side view of Pablo and I- Unfortunately, the saddle and tack were all wrong...

We finally arrived back in the LA area arount 9 PM that night. What an adventure!

I'll post some more stuff soon!

Be At One With The Herd...

I just couldn't resist on this one- the herd lined up for this picture the moment they saw the sheep dog!

Dealing With the Fearful Horse (or I want to go home!)

Recently, as a favor to one of my trail riding buddies who's been laid up due to a knee injury, I've been turning out his horse while I'm riding Max after work.

My buddy's horse is an 8-year old Thoroughbred Mare who originally was a race horse (I'll just refer to her as "The Mare"). Thoroughbreds have a reputation for being high-strung and this one is no exception. Worse, being a mare, she's a bit moody and you never know how she'll act- definately not my choice for a horse but as they say, "horses for courses"!

Anyway, she gets a bit high-strung and downright crazy when she hasn't been turned out so my buddy asked that I turn her out since he can't make up to the stables. For a couple of weeks I've been turning her out with no drama. The drill is: I'll tack up Max and leave him tied up while I go get The Mare and put her in the main arena. The main arena is pretty big and it allows a lot of room for a horse to run around.

Getting The Mare back in her stall has always been a tad difficult because besides what I've mentioned above, The Mare is also afraid of low-ceilings and the insides of trailers. Our theory is that she was forced into the starting gate one too many times in a somewhat brutal manner and this has given her phobia to low-lying ceilings and the like.

Everything was fine until I went to put her back in her stall. Usually, I lead her to the entrance to her stall and let her walk in on her own. You can't rush the process or force her- you have to talk softly to her. Usually, this is sufficient...

Unfortuantely, not last night...when I urged The Mare into her stall, she took a couple of steps, immediate froze up and then backed out at warp speed. It was like a freight train and I almost got run over. She then proceeded to run around the stable and barn like a maniac until she found a patch of grass to graze on.

15 minutes later, I'd managed to corner The Mare and get a lead rope around her neck. Once again I tried to get her into the stall and once again, she backed out in a panic and it took another 15 minutes to catch her. The third time, she refused to move at all. I'd walk her up the her stall but once there, there was no moving her forward. I tried everything I could think of (and keep from getting injured from a flying hoof) with no success. Talk about frustration- it was a real trial trying to keep my patience.

There was simply something there that The Mare was afraid of and no amount of urging, bribes, gentle tapping from a driving whip, etc. could get her budge.

I finally had to call my buddy to let him know and we ultimately wound up leaving The Mare in the arena and my buddy's daughter will try to deal with her during the day.

Personally, I would have gotten rid of The Mare long ago. She has many undesreable characteristics and I know some people love the speed aspect but to me, it's simply no fun having to deal with a high strung horse who won't even listen to simple commands (whoaa means nothing to her- completely unacceptable).

Of course while this was all going on, the other horses were getting buzzed up and excited. At this this point, Max decided to act up by trying to back up uncontrolably (he was tied up and I was going to move him into his stall). I managed to command him to halt and keep him under control- thank god for all the training I've done! The SOB was definately taking advantage of the situation.

In the end, all this took over an hour and I didn't get home until after 10 PM and pretty much ate a snadwhich and went to bed. What a royal pain in the ass!

Back From Columbus - Part 1

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted- life got in the way and basically I've been lazy.

So how was it? In a word: awesome!!

Me and two friends left for Columbus around 9:00 PM on Wednesday, March 7 and drove all through the night. We made good time all the way through Arizona and New Mexico and we arrived in Columbus around 12 Noon the next day. After checking in the park staff, we set up our camp, minimal as it was, and rested up for the festivities. Two more of my friends rolled in a bit later around 3 PM.

The weather was much warmer than last year with temperatures going up to the 80s during the day and dipping into the 40s at night. As usual with camp-out situations, my feet got the coldest and I cursed not bringing a third blanket (I'm tall so two blankets doesn't really work too well). Luckily, I was able to bum an extra blanket off of my compadre Chris.

Our Camp- "home" for me was the tent on the right. My compadre Chris shared the dogtent with me. Believe it or not, it actually fit both of us with room to spare.

Now, for the important question: was it windy? Fortunately, no- wind was pretty minimal and rarely rose above a slight breeze.

We spent the rest of the day Thursday getting ready to act as an honor guard for the memorial ceremonies scheduled to commemorate the raid on March 9.

Friday, or "Raid Day" (March 9), found us up pretty early and the park volunteers were kind enough to cook us breakfast. Afterwards, we prepared for our part in the memorial ceremonies. The memorial ceremony started around 10 AM and it was pretty moving although some of the speakers were a tad long-winded (as what usually happens in these sort of small-town commermorative ceremonies).

Overall, it was good and we concluded with firing a 15-gun salute (I still need to clean the rifle!).

Me and my compadres as the honor guard

Afterwards, we were given a walking tour of the town, featuring key highlights of the raid. The tour was given by the command historan of the Sergeants Major Academy at Ft. Bliss, Texas and Richard Dean, president of the Columbus Historical Society and great grandson of James T. Dean, one of townspeople that was killed in the raid. It was very informative and for the first time, I really walked away with a clear understanding of the sequence of events and how they occurred during the raid. Very instructive!

We even made in the local newspaper, Deming Headlight:

http://http://www.demingheadlight.com/news/ci_5421885

More to follow!

Columbus Last Year (2006)

Here's a picture of me shaking hands with one of the Mexican riders at last year's Camp Furlong Days. I found this on a Mexican website- it's one that I didn't have. I think it was originally taken for a Mexican newspaper. Amazing!

The Counter-Canter Defined...

OK- more on the Counter-Canter and a more precise descrition. Here's a "dictionary defination" from Sue Morris:

Counter-Canter. This is a movement where the rider, for instance on a circle to the left, deliberately makes his horse canter with the right canter lead (with the right fore leading). The counter-canter is a balancing movement. The horse maintains his natural flexion at the poll to the outside of the circle, and the horse is positioned to the side of the leading leg. His conformation does not permit his spine to be bent to the line of the circle. The rider avoiding any contortion causing contraction and disorder should especially endeavour to limit the deviation of the quarters to the outside of the circle and restrict his demands according to the degree of suppleness of the horse.

Sue Morris's website is at:

http://www.classicaldressage.co.uk

Max Gets A Break...(or Dad's Out of Town)

Since I won't be in town, Max is going to get a bit of a break until next Monday, which isn't a bad thing considering he needs a rest plus the rub spot on his right flank will have a change to heal up without my foot rubbing there.

What's kind of neat is that for the past two nights I have ridden without spurs and for the most part, it appears to not have affected him in any way. The weather the past two nights has been warm and Max has been cooperative- he did everything he was told to do and seemed to enjoy cantering.

The training program of late has been to trot two to three laps around the track in each direction before asking for a canter. It warms up Max's legs and he seems to have an easier time of things. I've then done some arena work with transitions and even a counter-canter (something I learned from my trainer last Saturday).

The Counter-Canter is especially an interesting move- it's the latest I've learned in dressage and I was told that the purpose of it is a training/discipline aid towards getting the horse to pay attention to the rider.

The Counter-Canter involves riding across the diagonal and then holding the lead instead of switching leads (i.e., maintaining a lead opposite to the direction of travel- left lead while cantering right or vice versa). Basically, you're turning on the wrong lead and to keep balance and not put a strain on the horse, you have to do as wide a turn as possible and to not wait until you're deep in the corner. I suppose the purests will probably laugh at my description here- it's easier to show pictures or just do than describe it.

I sucessfully did a few in my trainer's arena and practiced a few over the last couple of nights. Neither Max or I will ever be a dressage competitor but dressage has really helped my riding skills and Max seems to benefit.

Off to Columbus

Well, I'm off to Columbus, New Mexico. I'll be leaving right after work and hooking up with my compadres. We'll be driving through the night and I expect we'll roll into Pancho Villa State Park sometime around noon tommorow.

In a neat piece of news, the Park has arranged for horse rentals so it looks like I'm covered in this department. Cool!!! Now hopefully, the horse won't be too bad for a rental horse- they can be a real handful when they're being made to do something that isn't "normal" (i.e. nose-to-tail in a string with rental riders who haven't a clue about riding so the horse do "whatever").

I've done a bit of background reading (but didn't get too far, unfortunately)- one interesting book is called The Jaguar and the Generala: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge by Eileen Welsome. It's interesting reading and appears to be well researched and the author is a journalist/non-historian (not necessarily a bad thing). It's not too kind to Villa and portrays him as a bit of a military incompentent who succeeded in getting many of his men killed in hopeless frontal assaults (sounds like the Western Front, doesn't it?).

This is definately going to be interesting.

Post Script:

I've just found out that Pancho Villa State Park has engaged an outfitter to bring in horses for rental and there will be a three-mile trail ride included. I've also been informed that besides the Villistas, there will also be Apache scouts. This is getting better and better!!!

Columbus, New Mexico

Here's where Columbus, New Mexico is located:

Map of Columbus, NM US

The Stupid Stuff We Do To Our Horses...

Riding was excellent this weekend and for the most part Max was the picture of cooperation, even with the winds that kicked up on Sunday.

After the ride, as I was taking off his saddle, I noticed a postage stamp-sized spot on his right flank where my foot would be if mounted. Upon examiniation, I notices it was a bare spot where the hair had rubbed off and there was the beginning on a raw spot. Strange, I thought, it was a perfectly square spot and it's obviously been going on for awhile- funny I hadn't noticed it before (although it could be argued that his winter coat partially hid it and now that he's losing it, the spot was now more obvious).

After thinking about it, I concluded that it was a sput rub from my right spur. I use a pair of cheapie "Prince of Wales" model spurs that have a squared-off end so it's concievable that the square edge could rub. I also tend to grip tighter with the right foot and I do remember sometimes grinding Max's flank to urge him along.

So there it is- my idiocy by not controlling my feet better has caused an injury, albiet light, to my boy Max. I immediately put some iodine solution and some goop to keep the flies away. I also figured that it would be a good idea to immediately stop using the spurs and give Max some time to heal. I also decided to order a pair of spurs with rounded smooth ends so there's nothing to grab or rub against Max's flank.

Since I'll be out of town most of this week, it would be a good time to let this heal up. If I ride him tonight or tommorow, I won't use spurs and trust to training and my regular foot (backed up by the crop) to get the job done.

Boy, do I feel like an ass- it pays to keep close attention to what's going on with your hose. Gee, maybe one of the reasons he was being a bit pissy last week was partly due to this...maybe Max was trying to tell me something. I whisper to my horse but sometimes he shouts back- maybe I need to listen more. Lesson learned.