2013 Eastern Mojave Scenic, Day 1

Once again we arrived at camp very late in the day, resulting in the early-morning trot-by "vetting" Dave Nicholson is famous for with horses he's seen frequently. When I set up camp, I discovered I'd forgotten to pack the new propane tanks for the Coleman stove. What a problem. The only tank I had left was nearly empty. I managed to cook myself dinner and breakfast on it, but I knew it wasn't going to last me all four days.

This year, the whack-a-doodles had made quite an impact. All horses were to be eating weed-free hay not only during the ride, but for 48 hours prior to entering public lands. I had brought along pellets, figuring they were novel so Hoss would be thrilled to eat them for four days. I hadn't been able to find certified weed-free hay before heading out. So the pellets would have to do. I also figured I'd be able to procure some hay at the ride.

We left camp in the morning, eager and ready to go. Hoss was his usual strong self, but also had good self-control. I had started working with him a little bit on getting himself under control and being more responsive again.

I managed to get us into a "pocket" on our own. Hoss was cheerful and happy to keep moving. When we got passed, he was okay with being left behind by the other horses.

Because we didn't have hay, I stopped Hoss to graze pretty frequently. It didn't take him long to start taking advantage of this and asking to stop at every little clump of grass he saw. Mostly I did let him stop, since I felt bad that he didn't have hay, but I didn't exactly let the grass grow under our feet either.

At the vet check, Hoss was unhappy. He ate his bran mash, but what he wanted was hay. There wasn't a great deal of grass around. I found some left over hay, but it was orchard, which he is allergic to. In the end, I let him eat some of it and crossed my fingers.

After we left the check, we caught up with Cheri Briscoe and Echo and rode with them for a time. We missed a turn, which evidently happened to several people, and had to back track. The trail we took had plenty of hoof prints, so it took us a few minutes to realize there were no trail markers, and there were just as many tracks going the way we were going as back.

We crossed the highway, and Echo picked up the pace. Knowing Hoss couldn't really keep up, I held him back and we continued at our own pace.

The ride was uneventful and we finished at a reasonable pace. I plopped a bucket of pellets in front of Hoss, as well as some bran mash. It wasn't quite cold enough yet to put his blanket on.

Once Hoss was settled, I unhitched the truck and drove into Baker to look for propane. I stopped at every single store, likely and unlikely, in the little town. I finally found one tank, the only one of its size which appeared to be in town. Once I found it, I got myself some dinner before heading back to camp to put Hoss's blanket on and go to bed.