Horsing Around

There are two other horses at the place where we are staying. Angel is a mare who is currently in foal. Her son, Maverick, lives in the paddock next to Angel. Angel is in the paddock next to our horses - who are sharing a large paddock. Both Angel and Maverick have gotten attached to our horses.

When we come back from a trail ride and bring in our stock trailer, Angel runs over and blows kisses at our horses while they are still inside the trailer. Both Angel and Maverick greet our horses and celebrate their return. Our horses are less interested.

 

Riding the Maricopa Trail in Usury Regional Park

We had planned to ride in Usury Regional Park, but found the Bulldog Canyon Trailhead where parking is free. Half of the area is set up for off road vehicles, but we rode the Maricopa Trail up to the Wind Cave trailhead. The Maricopa Trail is reserved for hikers and equestrians only. Lots of hikers during this Christmas Day ride. It was an easy ride and the horses did fine. 

We liked this section of the Maricopa Trail so much better than the section we rode in Cave Creek. The Cave Creek section was rocky and poorly maintained.

 

Jacob's Crosscut Trail - Superstition Wilderness

This trailer was parked next to us. I just liked the way the fellow had decorated his trailer. He was a local, lives in Apache Junction. Dressed in Western gear. He gave us pointers on which trails to ride.

Plenty of trailer parking, no toilets. It was a nice ride, but a bit rocky when we got toward the top of the mountain.

 

A visit with Ari's sister

Stan, Chantal's husband, was a bit shy around the horses but he enjoyed petting them and feeding them treats. 

He said he liked my horse better - maybe because he likes sticking up for the underdog. Lennox bosses Mercy around.

Lunch was lobster rolls and cole slaw. Chantal and Stan brought dessert. It was a lovely afternoon.

 

A Leak Under the Sink

I was annoyed to see the plumbing under our sink was leaking. Apparently, the vibration from driving around loosened the connectors. Ari tightened up the flanges and added some plumbing tape and it was fixed. But, so annoying! When I brought it to Ari's attention, he initially put off fixing it. I pulled everything out of the cabinet and told him I would not be putting any of the items back until it was fixed. A couple of hours later, he capitulated and made the necessary repairs.

 

Picketpost Trailhead - Apache Junction, Tonto National Forest

 

Our next trail ride was from the Picketpost Trailhead in the Tonto National Forest.

There were hitching posts available for the horses in the equestrian parking area.

There were vault toilets available.

We rode the Arizona Trail. It was a beautiful ride with some pretty views. There is dispersed camping areas coming into the trailhead.

No mishaps and an easy ride.

Queen Creek Wash Trail, Queen Creek, AZ

 

J, our host and landlord, recommended the Queen Creek Wash Trail for our next outing, so we took his suggestion. A wash for those of you who are unfamiliar with cowboy terms - is a dry creek or river bed. No water and the ground is usually sand or rocky. 

You park at the Desert Mountain Park. It is tricky because the equestrian lot is accessed from Ocotillo Road - not the main entrance. Once you get in there, there is plenty of parking for horse trailers. This looked to be a popular place with local equestrians as there were several trailers in the lot.

Ari got off his horse at one point in the ride to adjust his bridle. You ride under several overpasses, so if your horse is not ok with traffic noises or riding into dark places, it might be challenging. Our horses did OK.

The trail was deep sand, about 3" deep so the horses really had to work hard.

My horse was nervous and jumpy for much of the ride. When we stopped for Ari to take my picture, I saw why. A coyote had been tracking us and following us. I don't think the coyote was interested in us as much as what game we flushed out for him to eat. There were lots of cottontail rabbits and quail on the trail.

As we headed back to the trailer, my horse spooked and went into a gallop. I got him slowed down, but he twisted on the one rein stop. I lost my balance and fell out of the saddle. Luckily, I was wearing my Hit Air Equestrian Vest. This is the first time since I bought it over a year ago it actually deployed. It acts like an air bag and uses a CO2 cartridge to inflate the vest. I could feel the vest fill up with air and tighten around me as I left the saddle and when I hit the ground it felt like I landed on a life boat or air mattress. No broken bones, not even a sprain! I started laughing as soon as I hit the ground. I was so relieved that it actually worked. We had thought that when it deployed the cartridge might make a loud pop which would scare the horses, but it was more of a PHAH sound of inflation. Like exhaling a breath. It wasn't loud or spooky at all. 

I had sand in places that usually only get sandy when you lie on the beach, but I was OK. Mercy had run off but he came back on his own while I was dusting myself off. Ari had dismounted and was checking on me. 

We mounted up and finished the ride with no more mishaps. When we got back to our LQ, I re-assembled my vest with the replacement CO2 cartridge I bought (just in case I did deploy the vest), so I will be safe for the next ride. I am so happy I finally have a vest that actually works and protects me.

Upgrades to the LQ

 Shout out to Jeffrey Potter, Hummingbird Woodworking, of Phoenix who built our new cabinet for the kitchen area. I designed the cabinet using Solidworks, a CAD software I use for work. I emailed the plans to several woodworkers, but only heard back from two of them and I liked Jeff best. Jeff is a retired project manager from Silicon Valley, who moved to Arizona when he got laid off in the 2008 recession.

I wanted to replace the small table I bought from Wayfair because it rolled around, didn't actually do what I wanted, and was just generally annoying. The Wayfair table only cost around $50 and was ok, but I always considered it a temporary fix until we were some place long enough to get a real cabinet installed. Jeff did a great job of matching our color scheme. The table has four drawers and four small shelves. There is a folding leaf which I can use as a desk or as counter space when I am cooking.

It fits perfectly in the empty corner between the door and the fridge. I was worried about the drawers coming out while we were driving, so he installed earth magnets to the back of the drawers. A good tug will bring the drawers out and the magnets keep the drawers in place.

Jeff charged us $300, including installation, which I thought was a bargain. I doubt we paid for all of his time, just his materials and some labor. Cabinet is made of oak and stained.

Shelves are used as a pantry and for storing our shoes and flip-flops. Drawers are being used for various tools and stationary items.

The same day we got the cabinet installed, we took our LQ to Copper State RV in Phoenix for upgrades. One of the items on the list was installing a bidet. Toilet paper is not really great for RVs and we missed our bidet from home. I bought a bidet without an arm because an arm would block the door we use to access the mid-tack area. Instead, the bidet uses a remote control - which I mounted above the toilet paper holder. Some folks have commented that bidets are unsanitary, because we are using the water in our RV tank or well water, but we use a very expensive water filter for our water and this is the same water we use in the shower, so we are pretty confident that the water is fine. I also will freely acknowledge that a bidet in an RV may seem incongruous to the idea of "roughing it", but frankly once you have succumbed to the flat screen TV, the stereo system, the satellite internet, etc. you pretty much can't make any claims about roughing anything.

In addition to the bidet, we had Mike improve the dinette bench, make the hay pod area more water tight, replace the electrical box for our bale bucker (it had cracked), and install brackets for a sun screen that can be attached to the awning.

By the time we picked up the LQ and got the cabinet installed, we didn't make it back to our home base until 9 pm and it was well past dark.  We didn't want to risk backing into our spot and breaking something - like running over the septic connection - so we parked in the arena area, figuring we would back in and set up in the morning. 

Riding Rock Peak Wash - San Tan Regional Park

 Well, it felt like it took forever for Mercy's cinch sore to heal. Actually, it took about a month. While we were waiting, Ari took Lennox to ride almost every day on the local trails. To access, he would ride down the road, turn left and then ride into thousands of acres of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.  The BLM area was criss crossed with trails, punctuated with cow dung.

My first ride back in the saddle, Ari led us on a ride of the BLM land. I felt very shaky since I hadn't been in the saddle for over a month and Mercy was nervous as well.

Our second ride felt better. Both of us were more relaxed and comfortable, but I found the BLM scenery a bit boring.

J, our landlord, recommended we try Rock Peak Wash Trail in San Tan Regional Park. So, we decided that would be our next ride.

There is a good sized parking lot at the trail head with plenty of places to park for horse trailers.

We rode the San Tan Trail to the Mailpais loop. The ride was around two hours and it was pretty much a perfect ride. The trail was sandy, well marked, and easy. The scenery was pretty. Both horses were relaxed and happy to be out on the trail.