Best moments in the saddle

[jbird]

I was up in the Wasatch Mountains doing some riding with my Brother, we had just hit a flat spot kind of a dry area and just below was a ridge that wondered in to a arch like formation. The clouds were forming over head so we ducked in under this arch to wait out the storm. As waited we had a awsome view of the rain in the distance falling on the mountains and there was a black bear and cub walking along, the sun beams flowed out the clouds with beauty and power.

We waited a bit longer and the rain let up as we rode out a huge rainbow layed out in the sky from side to side. the air was clear and we rode, rode like the wind on the tail of a rainbow.

To me that was a bit of heaven on earth and pure joy.

Josh

Edited July 12, 2009 by jbird

[Tosch]

Josh,

do us a favour - next time you go for a ride take a camera along and post the pics!

Tosch

[jbird]

So sorry I was lost in the moment.

Josh

[azrider]

Two years ago I did a ride with a good friend of mine, it was a four day camping trip on our bikes. (I was still living in Arizona at the time.) Old Rt. 66 is still there between Kingman and Oatman its a two lane road that has cliffs on parts of it, and is so curvy that 18 wheelers can't make the switchbacks. The country is black volcanic rock, cactus, palo verde, mesquite, and creasote. The road forces you to slow down, but you only get little glimpses of the desert, because it also demands your complete attention. We did the ride in February and it was cold for a desert rat. We pulled over at an old gas station that is being restored, and then later just on the side of the road. (There was a 50 foot drop about 3 feet behind me in this picture.) Sometimes you look at a piece of countryside, and just say wow. This was one of those times for me.

(When I transfered to Kansas to take over a department with my company, they wanted a picture of thier new boss. The second picture is the one I sent them.)

[Randy Cornelius]

My wife Debbie and I are headed to Custer State Park, SD to spend 10 days. I have a 4 horse trailer with sleeping quarters. We are taking 2 horses and my Goldwing Motorcycle. Plan on riding horses during the mornings/afternoons and the motorcycle during the evenings and at least 3 full days. Will take lots of Pictures and post some if anyone is interested.

Randy

[jbird]

Sounds great Randy let's have some pictures.

Josh

[rookie]

My best ride is every time I am in the saddle. Gathering cattle with me, my horse, and God.

Justin

[DJ1935]

It wasnt my best moment but it was sure the funniest thing ever. My girlfriend (6', blonde hair and blue eyed) and I were riding home on a dusty, winding back country road. It was a stinking hot day and my friend decided to put her bikini top on. "Here" she said "can you take Blackies reins". After a bit of fumbling she got out the bikini top and laid it out on the pommel of her saddle. "Can you hear any cars coming"? I strained my ears ....... "No". After more struggling her bra appeared from the sleeve of her shirt and was put away. "Are you sure there's no cars coming"? "Cant hear any". Vroooooooooop off came her T shirt just as a car load of youths appeared round the corner directly in front of us.

The rest of our ride was completed in stoney silence and I spent many months trying to convince my friend that I hadnt heard any vehicles approaching. I still wonder what the conversation in the car was like on the rest of their ride - the day they saw Lady Godiva.

Cheers

DJ

[Frank]

Randy,

Custer Park is great. I hope you have a great time. About a 1/4 mile outside of the West gates to Custer Park is my saddle making instructor, Dallas Stermon of Outlaw Saddlery. Stop in and give him a Howdy for me if you have the extra time. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a like-minded visitor instead of just a tourist, stopping by

[wildrose]

DJ, I'm lol at that one. Boy, I could tell stories of embarrassing moments (not quite as much as that one though!) like going over a fence without the horse, etc.

But to me, I just remember the joy of an all out gallop up the dirt road by my parents' old farm in NJ. I usually rode a mare named Ballerina who hated to be beat (she'd get really nasty about it!) so everyone else knew they'd better hang back ;-) I was the only one in my family who used an English saddle most of the time. It made jumping logs on the back trails a whole lot more comfortable!

I miss those days! The world looks better from the back of a horse.

[hidepounder]

It wasnt my best moment but it was sure the funniest thing ever. My girlfriend (6', blonde hair and blue eyed) and I were riding home on a dusty, winding back country road. It was a stinking hot day and my friend decided to put her bikini top on. "Here" she said "can you take Blackies reins". After a bit of fumbling she got out the bikini top and laid it out on the pommel of her saddle. "Can you hear any cars coming"? I strained my ears ....... "No". After more struggling her bra appeared from the sleeve of her shirt and was put away. "Are you sure there's no cars coming"? "Cant hear any". Vroooooooooop off came her T shirt just as a car load of youths appeared round the corner directly in front of us.

The rest of our ride was completed in stoney silence and I spent many months trying to convince my friend that I hadnt heard any vehicles approaching. I still wonder what the conversation in the car was like on the rest of their ride - the day they saw Lady Godiva.

Cheers

DJ

[tashabear]

My best day recently was riding as Moto Safety Crew for the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure in North Haven, CT (and neighboring towns). My job, along with my crew mates, was to sweep the course, making sure that the bicycle riders were safe and responding to any crashes that might occur.

It was pouring rain when I left my friend's house that morning (she hosted me the night before, as it's a 3 hour trip to the college in North Haven where the Tour was starting, and I had to report at 0630). I was dressed and out of the house by 5:30, and walked out onto the porch to a relatively light but persistent rain. I'd checked the weather before I packed everything up, and we were on the leading edge of a decently large weather system. I figured it'd take about three hours to pass, and as it turns out, I was right. I took a few minutes on the porch to put on my rain gear (the pants are getting trashed soon; I burnt holes in both legs on my exhaust pipes) and once I'd mounted my bag on the sissy bar, to put the rain cover on.

Finding Gateway Community College (the start point) wasn't that big a deal; the directions from Google Maps were good and there were signs. The highway was scary, though. My visor kept fogging up, so I had to leave it cracked open a bit, which was loud and wet, and at one point I got passed by a semi, which threw spray in my face and made it almost impossible to see. I faked it, more or less, and got to the school fairly early. I wasn't first, but I was there before the team chief, wringing out my gloves. :-D

We ended up starting late. Shocker. The "century" riders, those riding 100 miles, were supposed to leave at 6:30, and didn't leave till 7:20. I was tasked, along with my teammate Joanna, to sweep the 100K route, which was mostly the same as the 100 miles till the end. The rain let up and the sky was blue by 8, so we shucked our rain gear and had a great time.

This was WAY different than the Avon Walk for Breast cancer (I crew that, too). It was much smaller, more spread out, and much lower key. It seemed like less of a gestalt mentality and more of an individual one. We didn't get as much interaction with the participants as we do on the walk, but they were busy and working hard. Mostly what we did was sweep the route and respond to any emergencies that the riders might have as they go. There were a few issues that other folks caught, but I didn't really see much.

The riding was spectacular. The route was gorgeous, the weather turned out amazing, and while I had a job to do, it was mostly just riding all day long. I only wish that my husband could have been there with me; he would have loved it. (My other motorcycling buddies would have loved it, too, but he's my favorite.) The grin inside my helmet was a big as it's ever been, and given that I've only been riding for not quite two years, I was pretty proud of myself for doing this ride by myself.

We didn't get back to the college till about 4pm. We did the last 25 miles with a sweep car, and while I'd ridden those roads before, I swear they got bumpier. This assessment is entirely due to the fact that I needed to pee like a racehorse. The team leader wanted to wait for the last few riders to come in, but after I'd taken care of business, I just couldn't hang anymore. I took off, grabbed some gas and then some food at McDonald's (up till that point, my day's food intake consisted of a bagel, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cider doughnut from Lyman Orchard that was delicious, and a Clif Bar), and headed for home.

There was no Zen on the ride home. I'd already done maybe 150, 200 miles going around the course, and faced another 145 miles to get home. I pretty much did it in two legs. I stopped at a roadside rest stop near the CT/MA border to stretch my legs, because my knees were killing me. I just took off my helmet and sat it on the tank, and just rested on it, stretching out my knees and rotating my ankles to try to relieve the pain enough to continue on.

I stopped at the Charlton rest stop once I got on the Mass Pike, and got some water, Motrin, and a slice of cake. The Motrin didn't really help, but the cake seemed to. Charlton is almost exactly 75 miles from North Haven, CT, so I gassed up and made the run for home. I stopped one last time at the rest stop in Westford to put on a sweatshirt, and then made the last dash for home.

Rides like that are not necessarily transcendent moments. I have to be alert, watching for route markers, traffic, the riders I'm protecting. At the end of the day, everything hurts from the waist down, and sometimes my shoulder's not real happy, either. But I kept all those balls in the air, and I did it with grace. I did a job that other people might not want to do, and the best part is, they don't realize how much fun I had doing it, so they keep letting me come back.

[Echo4V]

David

[Shorts]

Click the link, have patience through my bad video editing and the good part starts about 3:12. That feeling of euphoria on that particular stretch of road is just absolutely beautiful. The descent from the summit with the broad sweeping curves just pulls at me as I sit here. And I think about it often when I just feel like flying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pasNQlSZba0

Those who get motion sick you've been warned

Keep the rubber side down

[Kani]

My best ride is every time I am in the saddle. Gathering cattle with me, my horse, and God.

Justin

Well said Justin.

Josh slip a camera in your saddle bag. Have it ready for the next time. That had to be an awesome scene.

[Butch]

My best time in the saddle was long ago. I started as a Horse Wrangler for Babbitt Ranches at Cedar Ranch for Bill Howell. From there I spent my time as a Cowpuncher at Pine Flats for Marion Perkins, Cowden Ranch for Marshall Hartman and the best job I've ever had in my life at Ft Rock Ranch for Jimmy Yarborough. All these ranches were in Northern Arizona. I regret quitting as a Cowpuncher, but no reason to look back now. Another reason I want to get to our property in Texas and live the life again.

[jbird]

Well I regret not having a camera with me it was a heavnly scene and as I sat there I thought it dosent get better then this.

Great storys all very interesting.

Josh

Edited July 21, 2009 by jbird

[Kani]

I would tell friends of the beautiful things I had seen on horseback. They finally got enough of it and told me to take a camera. They wanted to see those scenes too. Now I usually have a camera with me. With digital camera's (not the expensive ones) you can pick and choose the pics you like and get rid of the ones you don't. Heck even the throw aways are good cameras for something like that.

One time we was riding and right off to the left of us was this buck deer. Beautiful. He just stood there and watched us. Things like that are heaven to me. I love riding my horse away from civilization. Out in the woods just me, my horse and all of God's creation. So relaxing.

[bruce johnson]

I had a colt buck around with me, felt the "pop" and figured I had pulled my groin again. You do it once and it is never the same. Got him stopped and grabbed the fence and let him walk out from under me. When I went to take a step I felt the bones shift there in the middle and knew it was kind of a bad deal. I had broken my pelvis still in the saddle kind of like Don Butler did. It took a while to heal up, and I went back to starting some colts, but never had that "spark" to push one. About a year later I had one long trotting out on a levee by a rice field. A pheasant flew up, colt grabbed his ---, and I made about 3 jumps - each one a little looser. I hit the ground like a sack of rocks. When I got some air, got up, and could walk, I felt like King Kong. Nothing broke, and the confidence was back.

[jbird]

Wow

some great stories I think this has been a good thread.

Josh

[Kani]

Bruce you was talking about accidents. You do get a little shy once you hit the ground or get hurt. I had one throw me. It took 6 mo. a surgery and 3 screws (which are still there) to put my arm back together. Was leary for several years after that. Still leary of some young colts and horses that don't give me an easy feeling. I am sure all those that ride have been there. You get a second sense about horses if you have been around them for a while.

Call it an inner voice, common sense or what ever you want. I learned the hard way to listen to mine.

Yes, Josh this has been a good thread

Edited July 23, 2009 by Kani

[nobearsyet]

When I was stationed in San Antonio Texas me and a buddy of mine got the bright idea to go rent a couple of horses for a day and go on a trail ride, he had never been on a horse in his life, I grew up around them, so he got the dead hog broke, older than dirt retired from sort of arena discipline thing with no conformation, dead calm, etc. I got the retired (found out later just because nobody wanted to ride his ornery butt) cutting horse (they didn't tell me he was a cutting horse until later). We were riding a fence line on the edge of a pasture that had cows in it. In my infinite wisdom I nudges the horse's head over toward the cows just to let him know they were there, well, I discovered at that moment he should have never been retired, off we went, let me tell you, the old guy still had some nice moves for being 16 and supposedly "retired" for a year or 2. Needless to say I can't decide who was wondering more stuff at that time, me or the horse. Me for trying to figure out what he was doing, or him for trying to figure out why I wasn't trying to rope the cow we were chasing.

[Kani]

I'm sorry nobearsyet but I can just picture someone on a horse having that problem. Thanks for the chuckle of the day. Sorry I got a laugh at your expense.

[jbird]

I am affraid I had to laugh as well a couple times.

Edited August 20, 2009 by jbird

[Cowboy316]

well honestly guys and gals every day i wake up and see the sun riss in the morning weather it be in the saddle or not just knowing i made it another day is my best moments

Cowbboy316