Danielle and I had the pleasure of riding days one and two
of the Eastern Mojave Scenic Sunrise Ranch/XP ride. I rode Jazzi day one
and Dani rode Jazzi day two as her horse, Lyric was not in shape for the
ride. Due to an unexpected rain all day Thursday, we were late getting on
the road Friday. Fortunately, we only encountered one traffic jam were
interstate 15 meets 215 just below the CajonPass in San Bernardino.
The ride camp was massive, relatively flat and less than a
quarter of a mile from I-15 (this is the main road to Las
Vegas from LA and southern California).
This is the good and bad news. Super easy to find, a joy to use,
but the incessant freeway noise got to me the last night in camp.
The weather was beautiful and perfect for riding. The
nights were cold with ice covering the water buckets in the morning giving way
to high 60’s and low 70’s by mid day. Although the wind was
cold, it was less than 5 mph and intermittent. Jackets, hats and gloves
were either being removed or added both days. It was deceivingly
dry. The horses’ hard work was not evident in their sweat
patterns.
The views were also deceiving. What appeared to be a
relatively short distance away was in fact miles down the trail. This is
due to the clean Mojave Desert air and the
short stature of the umbikuous (?sp) Joshua trees that are usually less than 10
feet tall. This landscape is a stunning mix of native cacti, evolved
through the ages to survive in a land both beautiful and dangerous. I
found that the native plants could pierce the toughest jacket, jeans or
gloves. The horses found the chollas cacti very dangerous as the spines
had tiny barbs that make them difficult to remove. If left in the horse’s
legs the spines could cause lameness and infection. This was not a place
to brush against the flora as it would bite back.
Jazz, my 7 year old half Arab, half saddlebred mare did very
well traveling without Lyric. In camp and on the trail she had the
handsome Bubba G to keep her company. I am forever grateful to Karl and
Bubba for sponsoring both myself and Dani. No one could ever have a
better companion or mentor. And that Bubba, he can fly down the trail!
In true Duck fashion, the ride meeting was short, sweet and
to the point. We were admonished to stay out of the washes with the deep
sand by using the single track on either side. The maps were a joy with what
appeared to be National geographic topo maps and numbered boxes on one side and
matching GPS coordinates, mileage and helpful hints on the other. (Now I whine
about losing Jerry who knew everything about a GPS and would have loved
teaching Dani and me how to use a GPS on the trail. I’ll stop
whining now.) A typical hint was turn left here, water at this
corral. The trail was superbly marked and the footing, aside from the
deep sand washes, was excellent.
Day one was very cold in the morning with ¼ inch of ice in
the water buckets. Our phone alarm did not go off. It was a race to
eat, get dressed and in the saddle in 45 minutes. Somehow we got all the tack
and trappings on in time and we were off in the cold, clear morning air.
Bubba and Jazzi had one small disagreement and then settled down. Well,
Bubba settled down and Jazzi took a bit longer. We ended up behind
Crockett and Sharon for several miles. It was a beautiful thing to see
how they moved down the trail taking turns leading, following always pushing
ahead, but always safe and sane. Their horses moved along happily listening
to their rider’s commands. I am grateful to have witnessed such
cooperation between man and beast and between two people.
Now Bubba is something else, an American Spotted Saddle
Horse that can fly down a trail at a trot, rack or a canter. And Bubba is
always happy to fly down the trail; any trail is fine with him. I never saw him
take a bad step, all day. Karl and Bubba are one of the best teams I have ever
seen in action. They have logged thousands of miles together and are one
of the top rated mileage teams in the nation. Karl would never boast
about this, he is a humble man who is happy to be owned by Bubba.
All day Karl and I took turns leading and following, finding
the single track, discussing important life issues. Bubba, true to
form was fine as long as he was with Karl. Jazzi however, was better
leading; something to work on at home. Karl was always on the look
out for the ribbons, as he admits to having a bad case of “Ribbon
Attachment Disorder.” This syndrome causes extreme agitation when
ribbons are not found every few minutes while on the trail. Not a bad
syndrome to have if you are a distance rider.
We ended up walking most of the gentle up hill trail in to
lunch as by then Jazzi was tired and hungry. We lost time here, but Karl did
not complain. At the lunch stop Jazzi was drinking well and eating
anything but what I brought for her. Due to the cold lunch was only 30
minutes in stead of the normal hour hold. I stayed a bit longer and let
Jazzi eat more as she needed the fuel to get us back to base camp. Again,
Karl did not complain.
The ride home went fast as it was mostly either flat or a
gentle down hill grade. I am the first to admit I do not like trotting
downhill. According to Dani this is because I am an old worry wart.
Well, she is right, but we trotted most of the trail home with no
trouble. It seemed like we were back in the ride camp in minutes when in
fact we finished at about 4 pm. In true XP fashion we vetted out and in at
the same time with happy though hungry horses. I was tired and very sore
from the new saddle that put my feet too far forward for my liking.
At the trailer Jazzi ate continuously for over 2
hours. Her head never can above the hay bag or her pan of beet
pulp. Dani found several chollas spines in Jazzi’s butt that came
out easily. Dani was an expert on removing chollas spines as she removed
many for riders at the lunch stop while helping with the pulse checks.
And true to form no spines were found on Bubba, that’s the kind of
campaigner he is.
Jazzi started a new fashion craze, soon to be seen at every
ride camp: fleece blanket with contrasting waist band. What really
happened is I forgot her clean cooler in the back of my car at home. (I
need to finish making my check lists as last time I forgot Dani’s
helmet.) Soon it was time for the ride meeting and bed as day two was
Dani’s turn to ride. To be continued.
