Road Trip Ramblings

Saddling Up At Fort Huachuca

Yesterday evening my daughter and I had a sunset horseback trail ride reserved on Fort Huachuca. As my husband drove us on post, my already elated mood was sent into the stratosphere due to the gate guard thinking I was a minor. As this was the second day in a row that the “are you a kid?” phenomenon had occurred, I was starting to feel pretty good about myself.

With my husband exasperated and my daughter giggling with my glee, we continued on through the post to the Buffalo Corral. The base stables not only offer trail rides, but boarding for people’s ponies as well. It feels like the set of a John Wayne western, the stables are tucked into the foothills on the edge of the post and surrounded by all the accoutrements of a proper desert landscape.

After ponying up some dough, we were told we could go pet the horses while we waited for the ride to start. Now, I’m fond of equines, I even own a couple of them, but I have yet to not get excited when I’m in the vicinity of a horse, no matter whose it is. Tied up to one of the hitches was a diminutive little gelding. I was instantly drawn to him. Before you could say hay net he and I were pals. The lead guide walked up to put his head stall on and said, “I see you’ve met Chump. He’s a ham.” Chump proceeded to lean around and pick her up off the ground by her back pants pocket. I knew in that moment that he was the horse for me.

Chump

When I reserved the ride I was asked to divulge our heights and weights. I’m a little on the shrimpy side myself, so as they announced horse and rider pairings I was overjoyed to hear that Chump and I were teaming up.

Being a part of a trail string, Chump has some habits seen in trail horses. Most of them are as bomb proof as a horse can get, but some also take advantage of neophyte riders. Little did Chump know that Kat spent many an hour guiding trail rides on my sisters-in-law’s ranch. The guide told me Chump was a snacker, so after hopping on he and I went through a silent battle of the wills. Chump was used to his rider hopping on and not asking him anything. He tried to wander over like the other horses and gnaw on hay or grass as he pleased. Not this day. We did a little neck reining, backing, and circling dance to establish our pecking order. He got the picture quickly and obediently went to where I asked him too.

Our ride commenced, there were nine of us counting our guides. My daughter was astride an off track thoroughbred called Goose. He was aptly named as he constantly was trying to goose the gelding in front of him, but he was also a good boy. Chump tried to stop and eat one time. We had a meeting and that stuff stopped. I told him he could snag a bite as long as he didn’t halt while doing so, cause I’m not an ogre, and he was a peach on that front for the rest of the journey. We also worked on proper spacing, as it’s not nice to have your nose up your neighbor’s bum. Moose, the big gelding behind us didn’t get that memo, ad quite a few times I found his head on my leg, much to the embarrassment of his rider, a strapping hulk of a man. He was attired in fancy clothing and his overall bearing screamed that of an officer. He was on a date with his significant other, yet he and Moose had a heck of a time. All sorts of trail horse behavior exhibited there. He asked me quite a few questions throughout the ride as he noticed that Chump’s behavior kept improving. I did my best to help him out. And I might have giggled a bit. I couldn’t help it, the guy wore leather loafers to go on a two hour ride.

We saw deer and a big owl, but the most amazing thing of all was the sunset. Just look at its gloriousness!

We finally arrived back at the stables, and both my daughter and I were simultaneously joyous and sad. I could have rode for hours more, as could she, but we were both also so thankful to have the experience. After dismounting I gave Chump all manner of loves, scratches, and hugs, and as I walked to the truck I turned back to see him looking at me. You see, that’s the great thing about travel, the little experiences of the unexpected that plop into your memories, kind of like road apple treasures of the not hay and grain kind😉

And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author’s went on the horse ride tucked into her décolletage and probably traumatized iPhone.