[Ag-eq] my packing trip

Nella Foster nfoster at extremezone.com
Sun May 9 14:24:41 UTC 2010 

Susan:

He sounds beautiful.

Nella
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Roe" <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 6:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] my packing trip


> Nella,
>
> Yes, Beau Beau is really 38 years old.  He was born here when I was ten, I 
> got him when I was twelve and I turn 48 in June.  He is Mustang/quarter 
> horse on his mama's side and Tennessee Walker/Quarter horse on his daddy's 
> sie.  He is a dark chesstnut with dark bay markings, four white stockings 
> and a white blaze.
>
> 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: Saturday, May 08, 2010 3:52 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] my packing trip
>
>
>> 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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>>
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>
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