Horses, Horses, Horses - A dream come true.

When we got to Sportsman's we knew we would be workamping for Jon Reed. An added bonus was the opportunity to work for Crazy Horse Outfitters as wranglers, taking folks on trail rides into the San Juan National Forest. Bill and Willie Swanda own Crazy Horse and work the rides out of the corral there at Sportsman's. Buddy had to get his Red Cross First Aid/CPR certification to be the head wrangler. Although I do have a Certified Nursing Assistant certification my CPR was not current. Therefore, I became a "tail rider" bringing up the rear on any rides with four or more people. A "tail rider" is required by the Forest Service. The horses were pastured 5 miles away so each morning we took a truck and stock trailer to the pasture, caught the horses, loaded them in the trailer and brought them back to the corral at Sportsman's to be groomed and saddled in anticipation of rides that had been booked. We came to know and care for each of these hard working mounts - dependable 18-year old Brownie, beautiful Patch (short for Apache), a flashy paint that preferred girls, docile old Popcorn, a gentle Appaloosa, Little Joe, another paint and also a "rescue" horse who was the personal mount of Willie and the youngest in the herd. Rebel was a tall, sweet tempered Tennessee Walking horse. Buddy's main mount was Blackie, the second tallest mount on the string. I rode Twister, another Tennessee Walker...oh what a wonderful gait he had. Then there was Hawkeye Pierce, Hawk for short, (named after the character on M.A.S.H. because he always had something to say!) Bill's personal mount was Dollar, a 23-year old Leopard Appaloosa who was so well trained he could open and close gates, be depended on to find his way home in the dark, and load himself into the trailer. Buddy also rode a big Andalusian named Mo. Standing over 16 hands high this horse was massive with a back as broad as a table top!
The main two rides we did were: 1) the 2-hour ride to the Ice Cave ridge and a look at a geological oddity - a fissure in the side of the mountain where snow packed and accumulated as ice through the winter. (The pioneers who settled the area used to bring wagons up to the caves to harvest ice for their ranches.) 2) the 4-hour ride went the other way up Chubb Draw to a large meadow with wonderful views of Toner Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain. Many times on these rides we spotted elk, mule deer, wild turkeys, and coyotes. Of course, the whole area was just so beautiful that either ride took you to some awesome scenery.
We surprised ourselves by being able to keep up the pace workamping as well as working with the horses.
I have loved horses all my life and met Buddy horse back riding so the chance to work with these beautiful creatures every day was absolute bliss for me! We rode several days a week, 4 to 6 hours a day starting in June and continuing into September. What an adventure!
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!