175 miles on two horses in a span of five days in one of the most stunning areas of the country, La Veta, Colorado was pure magic. It took two days of traveling to get there (and two to return) but it was worth every minute and dollar spent. Even if I file for chapter eleven.
Nisha, my Supermare Extraordinaire completed 150 miles like the powerful queen that she is. Cat, who’d never hit an endurance ride before, climbed “over the wall” to breeze through a challenging 25 mile Limited Distance ride. Memories, friends, and miles were made. Some of those miles took the form of cracks in my lips and skin, but I’ll take 20% humidity every day if this is the experience I get.
It started earlier than the actual drive, beginning somewhere in the twisted depths of my addled mind, where I worried to the point of sleeplessness if Nisha would be able to handle the terrain sans shoes. I keep my horses barefoot (except the orchid thoroughbred who is supported with hoof protection and prayers at all times), but worried that Colorado would be rockier than the sandy pillows I have at the ranch. Ergo, like a woman who doesn’t have her life as together as she pretends, I did a last minute scramble to get her fitted for EasyCare shoes and ended up making a friend in the process.
As an internet savvy Millennial (but I repeat myself) I ran over to the EasyCare website, checked for hoof professionals in a doable radius, and found Wolverine Hoof Care and Rehab. I Facebook messaged the owner, Kristen, who responded to me in minutes and agreed to help my procrastinating self to squeeze me in the day before my trek, on the one condition I hauled in.
Do I recommend waiting until the absolute last second to get your horse’s feet prepared for 150 miles in the high desert? Of course not. But my self-sabotaging tendencies are a topic for another time. Let’s stay focused.
Behold, the fruits of my last minute panic:
Nisha is a nervous shit squirter. She is who she is and she’s so practically perfect in every way, I don’t care if she sharts all over the planet. She’s pooped on me once or twice and I know she’s done it on purpose. She knows there’s nothing I’ll do about it.
Now back to the journey. It was a two day trek in a caravan of four sweaty Texas ride teams heading to the cooler climate of La Veta. It’s been triple digits in Texas with humidity akin to Satan’s armpits. We were all eager to get the heck out of hell.
We met up in Wichita Falls and drove as a group to Lone Star Bed and Bale Horse Motel in Amarillo on Wednesday, August 14th.
Our plan of breaking up the drive into two manageable days was to keep the horses out of the trailers during the hottest part of the Texas day. Fortunately, a refreshing thunderstorm splashed us with some cool rain in the afternoon, which really helped my cheap ass sleep in my oven of a trailer. I had to save money somewhere.
We were all up early on Thursday to make the final leg of our journey, going through the Texas Panhandle, dutifully avoiding the Raton Pass (it’s narrow, the road is rubbly garbage, and Google kept recommending we take it), by instead swinging east through Des Moines and Folsom, New Mexico, then climbing up into Branson, Colorado, taking 160 west toward Trinidad.
We made a final stop for fuel and ice at the Loves Travel Center in Walsenburg, Colorado, where diesel costs slightly less than a college education, and proceeded to La Veta.
Then it was a slow climb, 4 wheel drive engaged thanks to a sign that told us to do exactly that, up into ride camp.
Because Texans are weird (another subject for another time) we all seemed to park in the same line at ride camp. Someone even put out a little Texan flag for this, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Other state residents aren’t like this, y’all. It’s a bit much.
We arrived Thursday, had a day of rest for the precious equines on Friday, and the first rides commenced Saturday, August 17th. Which meant Nisha was up on deck…
Read Next: PART TWO: RIDING NISHA 150 MILES AT SPANISH PEAKS
