The ride out

It was a sunny five hour ride out, with the same river crossings, and a different trail at the end that took us past a trappers cabin.

The wagon and team crossed downstream from us, following the wagon trail

Cutting watermelon with a machete, at our lunch stop

One last mountain photo...

Day four - a rest day in camp

There was rain during the night and we awoke to blue skies and sunshine - on our rest day!
First there was baseball after breakfast, with a driftwood bat, a tinfoil ball, and four trees for bases.

Camp baseball -  one of the dogs caught a fly ball and the batter declared himself out!

The foal and her mom doze in the sunshine

One arm of the Clearwater river

Rockies ride - day three

This was the day of our longest ride - 3 hours up to Lost Guide Lake, an hour there for lunch, and a 3 hour ride back.  The trails were challenging at times - either rocky, or steep, sometimes narrow with a cliff or slope on one side, other times there were big roots, or logs to step over, or jump.

Stopping to look across the valley at caves that are grizzly bear dens

A first look at the lake

One of the young guides went for a quick dip in the freezing cold water

Group shot

Ride in the Rockies, day two

Another hazy, smoky day.  We rode to Harrison Flats, and had lunch beside an old First Nations teepee site - it was easy to see the depression in the ground.  Behind it, over near the trees and behind a hill were wolf dens, used in the Spring, but empty now.

Lunch time on Harrison Flats

Blue, one of the three dogs on the trip.  I think the dogs did way more miles than we did on horseback as they run back and forth and over into the trees and back...

Stopped to see the view of the river through the smoke.  Our guide Chuck is leading Rusty, who carried the satellite phone.

Ride in the Rockies - day one

We were nine guests, all Canadian, on a 5 day ride in the Rocky Mountains northwest of Calgary.  The sun was shining when we set off, though there was smoke from forest fires obscuring the view of the mountains.

This team pulled the wagon, which carried our gear and the food.  Ted, the teamster, built the wagon, and made it high with river crossings in mind.

This young cat came to camp too, and caught mice.  We were told he sometimes catches squirrels, and the occasional wild rabbit!

This was one of the first river crossings, a shallow one - later on we crossed the Clearwater river, which was almost up to the horses' bellies, and very fast flowing.

Banff trail ride day three

Another rainy day, though by the time we'd had breakfast and got on the horses, it had slowed to a misty rain. We hadn't gone far when we arrived at the Stoney creek warden station - years ago park wardens and their families would live full time in the park, in small cabins.

The park warden lived here with his wife and son

And on we went, stopping again for lunch beside the river, riding back to another corral near town. It was a great ride, despite the clouds and rain - a wonderful group, a great guide and good, sure-footed horses. We saw lots of wildflowers, some of which I could identify, lots of deer, one rabbit, a heron, and a Spruce grouse. No bears, thank heavens!

Denver, my horse for the three days

Banff trail ride day two

When we woke up to pouring rain, we knew we wouldn't be riding up to the Dormer Pass.  Greg had told us the night before that if it rained the pass would be in the clouds... so plan B was to wait for the rain to either stop or slow down, and do a shorter ride up the river.
By 10:30 there was only a slight drizzle, and we were heading north up the trail. We crossed Stoney creek and arrived at an old fire road - these were built in the thirties when fires were fought by hand, with a hose in the creek.  Several hours later we turned off into a meadow to have lunch beside an old elk pen - years ago when there were too few predators and too many elk, they would capture them and truck them off to other places.

The old elk corral

Again Greg unpacked the mule and got the fire going - no bagged lunches for us! This time it was grilled cheese sandwiches - grilled in tin foil over the fire.

Crystal the mule carried wood, a stove and food for lunch

We took a different way back to camp, on a narrow twisty trail beside the river, sometimes climbing high above it and then having to descend down steep paths. We crossed a slide, and at one point the trail had a cliff on one side and a drop-off on the other, but mainly it had a lot of sharp turns. A memorable quote from one of the Australians, who was on a really big horse, part draft: "it was like driving a semi - the front end would go around and then you had to wait for the back end to get around." It was a memorable ride, not for the faint of heart, and gave us much to talk about back at camp.

Banff trail ride day one

We met at the barn the first morning - eight riders in total: three Australians, four from Ontario, and myself, the only one from BC.  After collecting our saddle bags we were driven up to the corral on Mt. Norquay, which is a ski area in winter.  There we met our guide, Greg, and our horse for the three day trip.
We set off with Greg leading a mule, rode under the chair lifts, and headed up a trail. Soon we were in the forest, on narrow trails that were steep and rocky; we crossed a few creeks, some with wooden bridges over them.
After several hours we arrived at a meadow - it was time for lunch! Letting our horses graze, it was good to get off and stretch our legs. Greg unpacked the mule, and from the two boxes came a small barrel stove and wood - soon there was a fire crackling and he got water from the creek for cowboy coffee and for tea. Once that was ready out came small steaks - we ate them with potato salad.

Our guide cooks steaks over the fire

We got on our horses again and headed up the trail - a few hours later we crossed the wide and quite deep (up to my horse's belly) Cascade river and arrived at the Stoney Creek camp. The cook greeted us and showed us where to find our duffel bags - they had been transported by mule along a shorter route. She showed us the kitchen tent, our main gathering place, and lead us up a trail to a clearing and our tents.

Home sweet home for 2 nights - it had a comfortable cot inside

After dinner we sat outside around a campfire beside the river - the sun came out briefly. Since the flood two years ago the river is a lot closer to the camp.

The Cascade river

The R Lazy S ranch

Only a mile from Teton Village near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the R Lazy S Ranch sits at 6400 feet, and looks across to the high peaks of the Teton mountains. I had a fun filled week there riding through aspen trees, sage bushes, beside the Snake river, and up into a pine forest to the mouth of Granite canyon. We saw lots of elk, and heard of moose and bear sightings, but didn't see any.

Looking west towards the Tetons - they still had patches of snow on top

We had great weather - only one rainstorm - and enjoyed a breakfast ride and the next day a cookout dinner. This is the fifth ranch I've visited, and the food at the R Lazy S was the best - truly delicious.


Late one afternoon six of us went to an open house at John Mortensen's studio, and saw his bronze sculptures, including his work in progress: a grizzly bear and her cubs; it's a commissioned piece.

Paintbrush: my little cabin

Friday afternoon was team penning, and my team (3 of us) had the winning time for awhile, but then 2 other teams were faster, so we came third.  Saturday morning was the gymkhana, which I participated in with 2 other adults and 11 kids. We played Simon says, musical saddle pads (you had to be close to one of the saddle pads on the ground when the music stopped), had to carry a raw egg on a plastic spoon, and had various relay races; in the one I did you had to trot down the field, get off your horse, eat the M & M's hidden in the whipping cream without touching the plate, get back on the horse and trot again to your group.
Such fun!

Me on Tinkerbelle at the gymkhana

It was a wonderful week that went by too fast, with friendly people, great horses, beautiful scenery, good times and fabulous food.

The RCMP Musical Ride

Recently, we were fortunate to see the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Musical Ride. After some warm-up acts: Japanese drumming and a police dog show, the 32 horses and riders entered the outdoor grass ring. About half the riders were women. They ride with such precision; some of the drills are quite breathtaking. 

 

Three Bars Ranch

Dennis took me up and down mountains, across creeks, across fields and through forests. He's a big Bay, my horse for the week at Three Bars Ranch, where I spent a week at the end of July. And what a week it was: I rode a lot, went river rafting, tried target shooting and archery, watched a reining demonstration, a fire hose relay race and a crazy Wranglers against the Rest of the World soccer game.
The ranch is between Cranbrook and Kimberly in South Eastern BC. They have a creek on one side, a river on the other, and beautiful mountains all around. While they raise cattle, they also train reining horses, as well as run the guest ranch. It was a great week, full of fun, friendly people, good horses and trails.

 

 

Proper names for dressage moves

Thursday, when we went to the Dressage Exhibition, we saw some incredible dressage moves, but didn't know the names of them, as they're not something you see every day. Probably only classically trained expert dressage riders would perform them.  Yesterday, when we visited the museum at the dressage school, there was a handy display that named all of the moves, and also gave an explanation.
Here's what we saw, with links to short Youtube videos:

Courbette: the horse jumps on his hind legs; there was no rider on the horses doing this - just a rider guiding them from the ground.

Pesade: the horse rears at a 45 degree angle.

Piaffe: the horse trots in place; there's not supposed to be any forward or backward movement.

Capriole: probably the most dramatic move; the horse jumps up and then kicks out his hind legs behind him.

Levade: the horse rears up, but then sort of sinks down, so that they're at a 30 degree angle.

Spanish Walk: a slow, high stepping walk where the legs are thrust out in front.

Passage: a vigorous trot, high stepping where the legs seem suspended in the air.

More Jerez dressage school

Yesterday we went back to the Dressage school for a tour and to watch horses and riders training. There are a few different things you can study here: saddlery, riding, driving, to be a vet assistant, or a groom.
The most popular program is riding, and students can study for either two or four years; then they usually go home and become dressage instructors. To apply, you have to be between 16 and 24 years old, speak and write Spanish, and be a fairly high level dressage rider. As well as a written exam, applicants have to do a practical test, on one of the School's horses that they've never ridden before; they only get 10 minutes in the warm-up ring on the horse before the dressage test.
While on average 60 people apply every year, only 6 are accepted. Students pay only 1000 Euros per year, since the school provides scholarships, in order to encourage the best students to apply.

Our guide in the tack room

In contrast, private students pay 2000 Euros per week! We saw two of those in the ring; they're easy to identify as they wear whatever colour they want, whereas Dressage students wear green, and instructors wear dark blue. Fourth year students may be invited to ride in the exhibitions, like the one we saw yesterday; only two or three students were in it yesterday we were told, all the rest were instructors. There are 15 riding teachers and 2 driving instructors. Some of the instructors have been to the Olympics and also competed in the World Equestrian Games, which was held in Jerez in 2002.

There are 120 horses on site; all are stallions if they're pure Spanish horses, or geldings if they're a mixed breed horse. Most come from their own stud farm, but some come from the Military, as they're one of the sponsors of the school. The horses' training starts at age 3, and by the time they're 7 they may be participating in the Exhibitions. When they're 20 they're retired to the stud farm (the best), or sold.



A student lunging a horse in the outdoor arena with the indoor behind

After the tack room and stables, we walked over the Carriage Museum; one big carriage was used a few years ago for the King's daughter's wedding in Seville, the carriage was pulled by 6 bay horses. We then went to the arena to watch some training, and also walked through the saddlery. Each horse has his own made-to-fit saddle and bridle.

It was a very enjoyable tour; Brad did an informal survey of our tour group: most of the women were riders, the men were not. One fellow said "I just cut hay..."