Thursday morning we had planned all along to go horseback riding. There were some hiccups in the planning throughout the week. We had assumed Joel, and possibly Gabriel and Macy, could ride ponies. WRONG! 50 pound limit for ponies. I was pretty concerned about both boys, but especially Jojo, trying to ride full size horses. It just seemed too dangerous for a 4-year-old. We called them several times and finally worked out that one of the guides would lead Joel's horse the entire ride.
I had in my mind that the three youngest might bow out at the last minute when discovering how far off the ground you are when you get on a large horse. I had also decided that I wouldn't mind sitting out the ride and waiting with whoever might back out. I have been on a couple of horseback rides, and though they were fun, it wasn't something that I just couldn't wait to do again.
But as they say in the West, there was a changin' wind blowin' down the mountain. Or something prophetic and poetic like that.
We found the place and walked up to the office to register and sign all the legal paperwork. These are the ponies that kids under 50 pounds are allowed to ride. They look so cute. But once you spend 20 minutes watching them you realize that they are MEAN AS SNAKES. Actually, I think that's an insult to snakes. They kept nipping each other and trying to kick each other. The black and white one nearest the guide in red was the worst. I found myself a tiny bit less worried about Joel riding a full-sized horse.
They gathered us together and wanted to know how many of us had ridden before, and if any of us considered ourselves "experienced". They picked out the fresh horses for us. I know it's silly, but we want to remember the names of everyone's horse, so bear with me:
Scout was my horse. He was in a big hurry to get the ride over with and kept bumping into Cade's horse in front of him. Cade's horse kept kicking him which only made him want to go faster.
My mom had raised her hand when they asked for more experienced riders, which left me a little surprised. They gave her Jag.
My dad had Captain. Not the upright creepy Ranger mascot.
April had Sarge. Philip had Hondo, who was a beautiful and really tall horse. Cade had Virgil, or He Who Likes to Kick. Alot.
Gabriel had Socks (or Sox? We should've asked him how he spelled it). Macy had Mr. Wilson and Jojo had Barron. And Jav, who I forgot about when I first posted this (love you honey), had Golden Granite. How could I have forgotten a great name like Golden Granite???
They saddled us and I was just waiting for someone to yell that they wanted down, or that it was too scary. Macy was very nervous but one of the guides agreed to lead her horse, just like one was leading Joel's. I was a little shocked to see how calm my boys were. As you can see in the picture, they both looked to me like they do this all the time. They were ready for adventure big time. So it turned out that I didn't have to stay behind. I went through a little wave of panic, and realized I was HOPING one of the kids would want to stay behind. Then I told myself, once again, how long will it be before I'm back here, riding a horse in the mountains? If ever? I listened very carefully to our guides' instructions.
And all of a sudden, something amazing happened. I relaxed. I was so comfortable up there, more than I'd ever been on a horse. I leaned forward in the saddle when we started going up, and kept my feet relaxed and long in the stirrups. It felt so natural to be up there. Luckily they had placed me in front of Joel because I think I would have been really concerned about him. I could see Gabriel, though, with his Ray Bolger scarecrow way of moving loosey goosey all over the place. I finally realized he wasn't holding onto the saddle horn, and had to show him where it was. It was a beautiful ride up, but it never occurred to me that we would have to head back down those steep hills after awhile. Even when, after a break to make sure we were all still sittin' pretty, one of the guides' horses tried to roll over with her on top (she jumped out of the way just in time), I never got nervous at all. I actually felt like I was one with my horse, no matter how cornball that sounds.
The way down was really tricky. We had all of these "steps" down that the horses had to navigate. The steps were an average of a foot wide. That causes a huge dip, but I quickly got the hang of leaning back and holding on with one hand to the saddle horn and the other on the back of the saddle, just like our guides were doing. It. Was. So. Fun. It was like an amusement park ride. Except for worrying that one of the kids would fall off on one of those dips and hit their head on a rock. And except for everytime I saw my mom, she looked like she was leaning sideways and had a panicked look on her face.
When she was told that we still had an hour to go, she said she couldn't go any further and felt really dizzy. My dad helped her off the horse and she realized she was having trouble moving her hands. It turns out she was dehydrated. Not only did we not know that riding in that elevation increases your water needs, but it was a hot day (temperature was 88 while we were riding). Stupidly, none of us brought water, being concerned about where we would hold it while trying to hold the reins and saddle horn. The guides had extra, thank goodness. Mom decided she couldn't get back on her horse. She was just too shaky. They didn't have a way to get people quickly down the mountain in an emergency, which we all thought was crazy. (Maybe they do now that all of this happened). But the problem was that our two remaining guides had to deal with two extra horses.
The guide who had been leading Macy decided to let her be on her own and lead one down. This did not go over well with poor Macy, who had I think had been tolerating everything as long as the guide was in control. There were some near meltdowns, lots of tears, pep talks from all of us that she could do it, but nothing was working. Finally the guide had to come to the front where Macy was and just kept talking to her all the way back down. When Macy would start freaking out again, she would start singing "Let It Go" from Frozen. Once my brother started singing it in a really high girly voice to make Macy laugh. We ALL did! The other loose horse posed more of a problem. The other guide (the one leading Joel and pictured below talking with Cade), said to just let it go off and graze and she would ride back up after we were back down and get it. She was SIXTEEN years old, and told us she had been riding since she was three. Her horsemanship skills were truly amazing.
Groups kept passing us, because when we stopped for that long period of time, scrambling around trying to figure out what to do, we got really behind. There were several kids riding that had on helmets. Oops. April and I agreed we would not be winning any Parent of the Year Awards this year. And even though I was truly worried about Mom, I still loved being up on that horse so much that I was already wondering how to go about signing up for a ride after we got back home.
We got back and I was relieved to get all four kids back on the ground. Then came the tortuous hour-long wait for my parents. We chatted with the girl who was both a guide and a photographer, taking a shot of everyone heading out on the trail, She was super nice, but joked that she assumed everyone from Texas knew how to ride a horse. She also told us that there were two rides we could have taken. The other side of the ranch had normal, flat trail rides. We just happened to pick the climbing and descending trail. It was a huge relief when we finally saw three little dots that got bigger and bigger. They had zig-zagged down the entire mountain. Joel, who I assumed wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, ran and gave my mom a HUGE hug, letting me know that I underestimated his capacity for understanding and empathy yet again.
Mom was still shaky, but felt better after they got back home, had some food and more water, and got to rest for awhile. We were all exhausted and enjoyed our take out while rehashing tales from trail earlier in the day. We saw beautiful mountains, with snow still capping them. We saw the Stanley Hotel, infamous for inspiring Stephen King to write, "The Shining" after staying there and getting really drunk in the bar. We bonded as a family while smelling pine trees and fresh clean air. We truly learned how to not just ride but stay on a big pack horse while walking up and down steep paths. We were so thankful Mom was ok, and impressed with our three smallish cowboys and one small cowgirl.
I have never been so proud of all of them as I was that day. Brave, fun-loving, up-for-the-challenge kids!!!!
