Cowboy Hideaway
Adventure
...Continued from Page 1
Louisa: We got to practice taking our gaited
horses into their “gait” on the way back. I thought I had never ridden
a gaited horse, but the minute I felt it, I realized something really
cool! The comfy “Quarter Horse” I had as a kid, who always looked
suspiciously like a Rocky Mountain Horse, was actually gaiting on me
from time to time. He had some lameness problems, so whenever he would
start gaiting, I assumed he was just really lame, and I would get off
him. Hey, I was only 10. Anyway, being on a gaited horse again,
brought those memories back in an instant. It was great to finally have
the mystery cleared up…twenty-two years later.
I was really proud of Mark. He did a great job in
his condition, and I don’t think he was as sore as I was at the end of
the day…even with his camera injury.
Mark: We made it back to the Hideaway in
time for a great meal and a relaxing evening with a bottle of wine. It
doesn’t get much better than enjoying a perfect sunset with your main
squeeze after a long day of riding. All I have to say is aaaaahhhhhhh…
Louisa: Yeah, it was gorgeous. We also
watched the movie “Seabiscuit” since we were going to be riding on his
ranch
Mark: Day 2, excited about the prospect of
seeing the famous Ridgewood Ranch, we met Bill who already had the
horses packed up and ready to go, and we were on our way. It was a short
drive to the ranch which is owned by the Church of the Golden Rule. Bill
is the only Wrangler allowed to bring visitors in to ride at
Seabiscuit’s old home, which is another benefit of the Cowboy Hideaway.
We took a quick private tour of the ranch, including the original Howard
homestead. Bill, not only our Wrangler for the weekend, but our tour
guide at the ranch, had some very interesting history to share with us
as part of the tour.
We unpacked the horses, gave them a
drink, threw on our helmets (a mandatory requirement at Ridgewood
Ranch), and headed out on the trail. It was a beautiful example of the
California landscape, rolling hills, giant Redwood groves…just awesome.
Louisa: This was my favorite ride. We got
to ride through the ranch’s redwood grove. It was really special, as
there were no other redwoods in the area. This mysterious little grove
was just there in the middle of the mountains, hundreds of miles from
the rest that were further inland.
There was a lot of wide open space for some fun
play. I practiced putting Ozark into her gait. For our mounts, “the
gait” seemed to be a second language. They were fluent, but their first
inclination was to trot instead. So I had the opportunity to learn how
to put a gaited horse into its gait. It wasn’t hard. If you’ve ever
practiced collecting and extending a trot, you’d find it easy.
After a relaxing lunch by the pond, we headed
back. Mark told me he hadn’t gotten his horse to gait yet. Her
impulsion wasn’t there. Now here’s the coincidental Seabiscuit twist.
I thought, maybe like Seabiscuit, she needed a little competition to
motivate her. I cantered after them and came up beside Mark and his
mount. I brought Ozark into her gait. Mark’s mount sparked right up,
and Mark sat deep and played with the reins. For the first time, Mark
felt the gait! Then we cantered. Mark told me it was his first ever
canter too! I hadn’t realized that. So Mark got to experience TWO new
gaits! It was kind of exciting.
Mark: Dude, that was awesome!! Cantering was
great, I stayed in the saddle and felt some of what a horse can do. It
was only for a few seconds, but what a ride.
Louisa: There was some more excitement when
Bill’s horse spooked. We were stopped single file on a narrow wooded
path, and Bill was getting ready to dismount to open an electric fence
that would open into a field. His horse saw a cow through the woods
before anyone else saw it. He spun around and galloped past us for a
short stint. All the horses got excited and either tried to follow or
just get out of the way. I was directly behind Bill and Ozark was very
startled, but I’ve been in this position at least a dozen times. My
first thought went to Mark, so I shouted “Mark, pulley rein! Pulley rein!"
Mark was fine. He was on top of it! Disengaging was
something he had learned a few years earlier from a trail riding clinic
with Partnership Horse Training and again from our Wrangler on this
trip. He didn’t need my back-seat riding. He pivoted his mare as mine
bumped into her. Debbie was fine. Bill was fine too. Lots of cows
started appearing to stare at us. We decided to go a different way.
Mark: Thank god for the weekend working
trail ride we had done a while back with our friend Lynn Corrigan the
John Lyon’s certified trainer. DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE!
Louisa: We had fun cantering and gaiting
back to Ridgewood Ranch. I think Mark was feeling like a real rider at
this point. I looked up over Ozark’s naturally pert “happy” ears and
saw the ranch up ahead. I was a little sad that my ride was almost
over, but it was our unanimous decision to call it a day and hit another
vineyard.
Mark: Bill suggested Ceago, which was not
far from the Hideaway. I hesitated a bit to see how the ladies were
leaning, I was relieved they were up for relaxing a bit, my back was
shot.
Louisa: We untacked and hosed our horses
down. Ozark could have done at least another five hours. I was so
impressed by her. As she munched on hay by the trailer, I introduced
myself to some horses on the ranch. I met a little filly who was a
descendent of Seabiscuit and also an attractive paint mare and her
equally stunning foal.
When we returned back to the Hideaway, Bill told us
to go to the winery and he unloaded the horses by himself. Debbie, Mark
and I headed to Ceágo, a vineyard with a Latin flair. We did a wine
tasting and then sat down in the courtyard. Debbie opened a bottle of
chardonnay for us. It was our anniversary. What a beautiful place.
What a perfect day.
Mark: You said it Honey!! What a trip, but
it was a long time to be away from the munchkin and we were happy to be
heading back. Little did we know, she was having a blast with her
friends and grandparents and didn’t miss us at all.
Louisa: The next morning we headed out. At
the bottom of the driveway, I found that little Houdini of a foal was on
the wrong side of the fence again. We got her back in and said goodbye
to the Cowboy Hideaway.
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