As you may have read in last week’s post, the dynamic dun duo from our Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustang herd and I were in Pagosa Springs for a packing workshop turned total immersion experience with Gabe and his family at Colorado Pack Company LLC .
I hadn’t planned on completely disconnecting from phone and internet during that time. Once we got started it felt like the right and also somewhat of a daring and adventurous thing to do. The week was not just a whirlwind, but a tornado of meeting mules, learning more about packing, making friends, riding gorgeous country and eating great food.
I got home Saturday night after a 5ish hour drive with just enough daylight left to unload without a headlamp. Lacy was in a foul mood when I loaded her and Echo again only 12 hours later. It had been an exhilarating week for all 3 of us and we were all still tired.
Her attitude changed immediately when she realized what was on the agenda: Moving cows. Lacy loves working cattle and I figured Echo has taken everything else in stride, so why not take the opportunity and bring her along too?
At less than 2 months out of holding and after a week of carrying lightweight packs, crossing a river, seeing ancient ruins and camping in the backcountry in a different corner of Colorado, Echo, a 2yo filly from Twin Peaks, CA went on her first cattle drive.
Lacy is a cow eating machine, ears back and mouth wide open biting slow ones in their hind end if I let her. Echo’s style is different. She’d calmly nuzzle a tiny calf’s tail to encourage it forward. These two Mustang mares are so similar and yet so different and I love them both for it.
More from last week’s adventures to come. I’m catching up on office work, and very, very slowly unpacking because I hit the ground running as soon as I got home.
I’m excited to get back to working wild ones and to update you on what’s new, what’s happened and what’s coming. Thank you all for your patience and support.
Here’s to using social media and the internet for good things and to being brave enough to disconnect when we need/want to. I like to ask myself sometimes “Do I have it or does it have me?”
The mares spent a glorious Sunday morning working cows in their Rowdy’s Ropes halters and leads. Echo doesn’t have anything else yet and I didn’t have time to dig out a hackamore or bridle for Lacy. Spicy as she is, our brakes and steering work well. Quality gear makes effective communication easier, so no problem there.
