[Ag-eq] my packing trip

Sat May 8 21:52:29 UTC 2010

Susan:

Is your horse really 38 years old?

What kind of horse is he?

I think I hit my helmet on a fallen log on my way down, but don't really 
know.  Mike didn't see it happen, so doesn't know either.  He said he her 
heard me say damn-it Allie and then a crash.  We were going pretty slow and 
I'm sure it must have looked funny!

I had been wanting to get a new helmet any way!

Nella
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Roe" <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 8:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] my packing trip

> Nella,
>
> How wonderful for you.  I'm so glad you and Mike enjoyed yourself, it 
> really sounds like a beautiful place to camp.  Don't you just hate it when 
> the trip there and back is harder on you than the actual roughing trip 
> itself?
>
> You actually cracked your helmet?  That had to have been a pretty good 
> lick, thank God you were waring one.  The trip sounds really great.  Matt 
> is my outdoor cook and I'm the prep and clean up person.  We've done trail 
> rides around here and when I was younger, my uncle would get a group 
> together and go up to a place in the mountains here in Virginia called Big 
> Meadows and then ride down the mountain to meet back up with the trailors. 
> I wasn't able to ride back then because I was going through all of my eye 
> surgeries, so I went with my aunt and a few others who took the trailors 
> back down.  My horse, Beau Beau, is now 38 years old, but he's still 
> hanging in there.
>
> Susan
> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Nella Foster" <nfoster at extremezone.com>
> To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 1:42 PM
> Subject: [Ag-eq] my packing trip
>
>
>>I think I mentioned that I was training my mules Jack and Cricket for 
>>packing.  They were doing very good, so my boy friend and I decided that 
>>they were ready to go since they acted as if they had been packing their 
>>whole lives!
>>
>> On Friday, April the 23rd we left for our big packing trip.  We went to a 
>> national forest area in the Superstition Mountains, which is about 2 
>> hours from here.
>> Half of the trip is on a long, narrow, winding and hilly road.  The last 
>> 8 to 10 miles is on a dirt road.  It was a terrible road for a horse 
>> trailer.
>> I thought that Mike, the animals and I would all die before we ever 
>> started the packing part!
>>
>> I was so relieved when we got to the trail head in one piece.  It takes a 
>> while to get the animals packed up.  Everything has to be weighed, so 
>> that each
>> side of the pack is evenly balanced.  The majority of the weight was 
>> horse pellets.  We had to take enough food to feed Mike's horse and my 3 
>> mules for
>> 3 days.  It took us an hour or so, but we were finally ready to go!
>>
>> It is about a 10 mile ride to the camp site.  We camped at an old ranch, 
>> which is now national forest.  The trail was pretty good; the footing was 
>> good,
>> but a little rocky in places.  There was quite a lot of brush, so I was 
>> glad I wore my chaps.  There was a lot of gradual climbing with a few 
>> short and
>> steep areas.  There were several ledges, but they were fairly wide. 
>> After the road to the trail head the trail was a piece of cake!
>>
>> Mike rode his horse and lead Jack.  I rode Allie and lead Cricket.  It 
>> started getting very windy and cold after about an hour into the ride.  I 
>> hate riding
>> when it is windy because I can't Hear.  The wind made it almost 
>> impossible to hear Mike, so I just had to trust Allie and hope for the 
>> best.  Allie didn't
>> let me down and we got through a couple of tricky areas with no 
>> difficulty.  It took us a little over 4 hours to get to camp.  We were 
>> all pretty tired
>> by the time we got there; I think I had to drag Cricket the last couple 
>> of miles or so!
>>
>> Jack and Larry, 2 guys from our riding club had ridden in the day before 
>> and set up a camp.  They were there to meet us and help unpack.  Our camp 
>> site
>> was beautiful.  We were in a valley with a lot of grass, some trees and a 
>> stream.  The animals could graze, so they were happy. We had to hobble 
>> them or
>> highline them; they are fine with both.  We had to walk them to the 
>> stream 3 or 4 times a day for water.
>>
>> On Saturday Jack and Larry went for a ride, but Mike and I decided to 
>> hike instead.  We explored the valley and the old ranch area.  There is 
>> nothing left,
>> but the house foundation, parts of fencing, some abandoned farm equipment 
>> and an apple orchard.  The apple trees were blooming and smelled 
>> wonderful.
>> We saw a grazing mule deer and all kinds of birds.  We waded in the 
>> stream, which is very cold.  We had a great day, just relaxing in nature.
>>
>> We were able to build a fire for cooking and heat; the nights got below 
>> freezing.  Mike is a great camp cook and made wonderful meals the whole 
>> time.  The
>> nights were wonderfully quiet, with only the sounds of nature.
>>
>> Sadly we had to leave Sunday, so Mike and I could get back to work on 
>> Monday.  On he ride out Allie was acting up and I had a terrible time 
>> trying to lead
>> Cricket.  Finally Mike tied Jack and Cricket together and lead them both 
>> out.  Allie finally calmed down, but not before getting us tangled in a 
>> tree.
>> I thought I could lean back far enough to slide under, but couldn't and 
>> had to slide off, backwards and headfirst!  I wasn't hurt, but some how 
>> cracked
>> my helmet.  Allie was fine after that and we made it back to the truck 
>> and trailer in 3 an one half hours.
>>
>> The worse part was we had to take the same rode out as we did in.  The 
>> traffic was worse than before and I was a nervous wreck by the time we 
>> reached the
>> good road.  The road was the worst part of the whole trip.  Mike and I 
>> plan on doing some more packing trips.  We both had a great time and are 
>> looking
>> for more places to go.
>>
>> I was pretty tired and achy after the trip all that time in the saddle 
>> and sleeping on the ground wasn't in my best interest.  It took me a few 
>> days to recover, but I'll definitely do it again!  Well sorry this turned 
>> into a novel.
>>
>> Take care.
>>
>> Nella
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>
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