Our first morning ride is a warm-up ride and we head out around 10:20. The horses are happy to be out and Hank is more active than usual. He really is not acting right and after investigating it seems I have his curb chain so tight it is hurting him. Bad mom. After a tack adjustment he is back to his old self and lagging behind, head down wondering where he might find some green grass. Not much of that around as you can see in this photo. The group is fun no drama, horses are all good we take our nice warm up ride through the hillside. When you have a ride without incident, its a good ride!

We pass on our trail a small cemetery, I am told that buried there are families that fell to an attack, not sure what type and was not able to stop and read the history marker. Maybe one of the Hoofers on the trip can solve this mystery for me. Thats our buddy Pie looking at the site!

This is a photo or our trail leaders, they did a great job and we appreciate their time and service to this great group of riders. Thank you both for your time and bringing us safely through the desert on our first ride out!
We return to camp get the horses set, fresh water and some treats for their service to us and off to the chair race. It seems that we bring a chair to the large tent, fight for a spot at the table you want to sit. Well Val and I had to get our products together as we were going to participate in the vendor tables. I brought my husbands cooling vests and Val her daughters jewelry, so we left our chairs in the hands of Cindy-Ann and Carmen… we scored a great table with other new riders… Thanks Cindy-Ann and Carmen!

Well the night events are upon us and the first night is a wonderful meal, with free flowing beer and wine, along with the weekends announcements and awards. The dinner is catered freshly prepared at the site. The meals are hot, plentiful and serving all dietary types, Yummo.
Our MC is Geneil and she is entertaining and commands the room with confidence and gets this rowdy group even rowdier.. awards are given to the helpers, trail leaders and then to the Hoofers who have 5 years plus attendance on the ride. When you hit the five year mark you receive a directors chair. The following photos are of some of the prior years chairs and pinned to them are the leather chair markers, which are given to you upon arrival. As you can see many of these ladies have been on the ride for many years.



This is mine!

Our first day comes to an end and we are all off to our designated campsites. Val and I call it a night early and look forward to day 2, which is really 3 as we came early. Tomorrows ride is for 4.5 hours and we head out at 9:45 with breakfast at 7 we are looking forward to our ride!
This is our campsite!

Oh and did I mention I was also car camping.. I came from the Phoenix area in AZ to meet up with Val and our horses who came from Riverside Ca…. fun times.

This is the last mild post….. as the Marde Gras starts the following night!!!! I promise the photos will be approved for all age viewing!