First Time but not the Last Time this Season

Brenda made it safe and sound down to Dogpound South and we spent the week just loafing around enjoying the great weather and catching up with our neighbours down here.

Yesterday I loaded Blue and headed out to a favourite trail over near Superior. We re-discovered this trail last year when we were riding near Picket Post mountain and figured there must be some way to circumnavigate it. Oh yah, Blue and I did pass right by Retired Rod's place over there in Mesa but thought maybe his neighbours wouldn't appreciate an organic fertilizer delivery on a nice Friday afternoon.

The whole gang, Suzi, K, Julie, Blue, Teresa, and Janet with Ted on the camera

 Hard to believe but this was, K, who has shown us most of our Arizona trails, first time around the mountain. It is a great ride and passes some pretty nice scenery along the way. Most of the horses there had a lot more riding than ol' Blue but he made out pretty well. A little sweated up but still stepping along at the end of the 11 or so miles. He'll get his trail legs back pretty quick down here after a pretty soft summer.

Good to be back on the trails down here in Arizona

Always nice to ride a trail with a little water down here in the desert

Looks like the fall colours will be along eventually but not in full glory for a week or two.

And these saguaro's have made it in the blog before and hopefully will again

I am hoping to get this blog a little more current than in the past few months but it will probably be more focussed on trail riding than RV'ing although we still do a lot of boondocking as we follow the trails around Arizona and back home in Canada.

Deja Vu All over Again

Well I made it back to Dogpound North and spent a few busy days up there, getting things ready for our imminent departure. The folks doing the flood repairs are working hard to get things done so they are gone when we are gone also.

I had a couple of ponies that were going to my friend Wayne's place for the winter so they had to be moved up there. That is where Rosie came from ten years ago and it was obvious that she knew where she was as soon as she got out of the trailer. She will spend the winter with a group of mares, including one that she grew up with 18 or so years ago. Hank is spending the winter with Wayne's geldings and a couple of young stud colts, so they will be living the life of Riley.

While I was home I managed to sneak in and see Annika playing a soccer game, the first of the winter season. Boy those kids got a lot of energy, I was tired just watching.

Another job that had to be done was getting the horses blood tests done, not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I had already done this a couple of weeks ago. Appears that my usual vet's CFIA certification had expired so she arranged for another vet to come and redo the tests. All was good and we managed to get the federal vets (CFIA) signatures on Wednesday when we were in town for Brenda's appointment with her surgeon. That done we had a green light for an early morning departure on Thursday morning. I was up and loading horses about 4:00AM. After a quick stop at the border so the USDA vet could check our paperwork and have a look at the horses and give us the OK to head further south. That first day we made our stop at the Dillon, MT rodeo grounds. They had a nice big pen so were able to move around and work out the kinks of standing in the trailer all day.

Next morning we were up and loading again by 4:00AM. It is nice to get out on the road early, not much traffic except the odd transport truck. Late in the morning we ran the gauntlet that is Salt Lake City. The interstate through there is in a constant state of construction but timing is everything so if you make it through at a none rush hour time it is a relatively painless journey. That night we made our stop once again at a rodeo grounds. This time the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale, NV supplied the pens for our overnight. They were having a barrel race there that evening so even Max and Maya had lots of folks to watch as the evening went on.

Saturday morning found us slipping through Las Vegas very early and got us down here into Dogpound South about mid-morning. Needless to say horses, dogs and I were all glad to get out and stretch our legs without the need to jump back in the rig for another long drive.

Sunday was spent washing cars, trucks, trailers and the deck and house again in anticipation of Brenda's arrival Sunday evening.

And that brings us to today. I have moved the leftover 25 bales from last year under cover and readied our stack yard for arrival tomorrow of another squeeze of hay. And now that the horses have had a couple of days off it is time to start legging them up so we can get out and get a few pictures for this blog.

Oh Yah! A reminder of just why it is we come to Dogpound South. Dogpound North is pretty but also pretty cold this time of year.