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.