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[RC] [Guest] Arizona Horse Drive - Ridecamp GuestLin Sutherland lsutherland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =================== ARIZONA HORSE DRIVE Lin Sutherland c 2003 Tel: 512-292-1607 Lights! That incredible sunrise illuminating the Apache mountains. Action! Pushing a herd of 40 ranch horses galloping to beat the hail storm bearing down. Drama! The wild mustang that invaded the herd and bolted over the ranch owner. Did John Ford script this, I thought? It was like I was in a John Wayne movie. We were pushing the ranch horses of Beaver Creek Ranch in Alpine, Arizona through 80 miles of grasslands and mountains on their annual trek when all this happened. I?m just a regular rider and horse owner from Austin, Texas, so this 5-day horse drive was an amazing event. You may find cattle drives, but there aren?t many horse drives you can go on ? the reason being, cattle drives go at a glacial pace, so almost any rider can do it, but horses move out at a breathtaking trot and canter when they travel ? so you better know how to stick that saddle and have your riding muscles in place. Every year Billy Wiltbank allows 14 riders to go on their three horse drives in May and October. Wiltbank?s knows what he?s doing: he grew up on his family guest ranch, in business 80 years in the Apache Wilderness, and is a well-known horseman in eastern Arizona. After marrying Caren and starting his own outfit Beaver Creek Ranch 12 years ago, his horse drives, along with the regular summer guest ranch activities, have become increasingly popular. We started by camping at Lake Lymon, about 6,000' feet, outside of Springerville, where the herd winters. The colorful remuda in the corral circled and turned toward the wranglers with lariats and was roped. One by one, our horses were selected for us. Some of us had brought our own saddles, and those were put on and checked. This was our shake down ride the day before the drive began. I got a fine little black and white Spotted Saddle horse named Desert Rose who was smooth gaited and game for anything. Just as we thought everything was set and we could take off working the kinks out of our tack and horses, Billy Wiltbank spied a wild-eyed mustang that had been given to his father. It had infiltrated his herd and was racing around causing havoc with the mares and colts. I could see the BLM tattoo on its neck and you could tell it was completely unbroke? in fact, pretty crazy at being in a corral. When Billy got a rope over its head, it bolted straight forward over him, sending him flying face forward onto the dirt. I saw a hoof go over his back and then the horse kept going straight through the fence and never stopped. Mustangs populate this area and some of Beaver Creek?s herd are half mustangs from mares being taken off, which is why Billy also offers Horse Hunts to get these wayward horses back to the ranch. The actual drive started the next morning as that sun rose over the incredible Apache Mountains, full of history. This area not only has ancient Indian rock art sites, but it is also called the Coronado Trail, for when Coronado came looking for gold. We pushed the horses out onto the rolling BLM grasslands and began a long first day crossing them. It takes some doing to keep them together and moving. Nate Jones, a ranch regular, rode lead, while other guests took point and drag. As the sun went higher, the horses slowed a little and got into the groove of the drive. They know the way: they?re itching to get up to the ranch?s green alpine meadows at 8,000'. One horse, a two year old, kept veering off and kicking at others. He had to be wrangled back in to place and the older mares let him know who was boss by snaking their heads at him. My mare proved to be a great horse, keeping after the stragglers, reining in the strays. That night we camped at an old Sawmill camp, surrounded by Ponderosa pines, spring water and clear starry skies. We washed up in a pure spring, were fed a hearty dinner and slept in big white canvas tents on the pine needles. Our second day out was up the mountains ? the most grueling but the most spectacularly beautiful. Grasslands gave way to inclines, creeks and arroyos choked with juniper, pine and spruce. The air was filled with the fragrance of these evergreens. The horses climbed each incline and drank at each watering hole, sometimes stopping to grab a bite of green grass. A life force happens with a herd ? they start moving as one, in unison, and out of that grew a rhythm to the drive. On our third day out the skies blackened ahead of us and we saw lightning bolts ripping out of the dark curtain. "Well, you know the saying: the best way out is usually to go on through! Push em faster!" Billy Wiltbank shouted, and he whistled and shouted. The horses needed little encouragement ? they could smell the ozone of the rain coming and the air went electric. The herd broke into a good gallop and we headed for a canyon with an overhang of rocks. I had to trust my little mare and she did the job, galloping sure-footedly over rocks and hard terrain. I gave her free rein and she picked the best trail. Two elk and a herd of antelope ran off to the side of us, glancing over. We were both just animals running to beat the storm. Just in time we reached the arroyo? the rain hit with a surprise package of hail too. Lightning struck the top of the canyon as we nestled down underneath, keeping the herd together. Our slickers and hats began to run rivulets of water and the horses turned their backs to the quick mountain storm. We clung under the rocks, munching on trail mix and watching Nature show us her hand. Billy kept a tight rein on his buckskin just in case the herd bolted. Finally, the storm moved on, and we mounted up and drove the horses on into the ranch-- with a feeling of great satisfaction. You could tell the horses were feeling "we?re home," sinking their muzzles into the green grass hungrily, the little colts frisking and running circles around them. The home headquarter horses nickered plaintively to their friends when they saw them coming in. Noses met, squeals, old friends reunited. Exhausted, we went to our cabins to find hot water baths ready for us and homemade quilts on the beds. I could still hear the thunder of the hooves and the vision of color when the horses bunched together. Desert Rose and those horses took me to a new level of confidence in riding, and a new appreciation of the beauty and spirit of horses. ######### SIDEBAR Beaver Creek Ranch is 10 miles from the New Mexico border, at 8,000'. It offers horse drives in May and Sept, with riding in the Apache Wilderness all summer. Rates are $690 for the drive, $385 per person for a regular riding week. All information is at www.beavercreekguestranch.com Tel: 928-339-1913. Email : beavercreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx TAG LINE Lin Sutherland is a writer and rider and horsemanship teacher at Onion Creek Ranch in Austin, Tx. She is published in Field and Stream, Horse Gazette, Gaited Horse Magazine, Woman?s Day, Persimmon Hill quarterly of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and other national magazines. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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