So What's the Big Deal

(Another of Diego's letters home from Camp)

Sunday November 11 2007

So you know how I like to go to the Hair Spa, right? Well, I figured out how I can go there every day! Every night I go and get into the saltbush or the tumbleweeds. Saltbush is made of spiny branches, and grows well in our sandy rocky desert here. The deer and antelope and rabbits like to eat saltbush, and I tried it too. It doesn't taste bad, if you can eat it without poking your mouth with the thorns. Humans can eat the seeds and the leaves, if they want to go to that much trouble. The tumbleweeds are pretty thorny too. Sometimes it kinda hurts, rubbing my neck in the stuff, trying to break off those branches in my mane , but the pain is worth the pleasure because then I get to go to the Hair Spa. M has to spend some time getting the thorny branches out and combing out the tangles from my mane and spray foofy stuff on it, making it silky smooth and good smelling again.

Then it's time for more games: The other day M put my halter on and we started walking toward... this LUMP on the ground that wasn't there before! EEEK! It was scary and I didn't want to walk toward it, and when M started walking toward it, I hid behind her and crept forward with very tiny steps. All the other horses also saw this big LUMP, and they all crowded up to look - standing behind ME, mind you, they all wanted ME to be the brave one to get closer. Why me?! I'm just the baby! It was just toooooo scary to go any closer, but then there went Jose nosing up to check it out, and there went Mac, poking it around, and well if they could do it, so could I, and I did, and it was nothing! Just my bonnet, which M picked up and pounded me with and put over my ears, and then a saddle, so M threw that on me. She tightened the designer belt so I was wearing the saddle all by myself for the first time, and M was so proud of me she started giving me Smoochies. It's just a saddle like everybody else wears, I don't know what the big deal is, but I graciously accepted the Smoochies nonetheless, and I stood there and looked cute. (I'm really good at that.)

Then I REALLY looked cute today when M put a necklace on me. It was made of 2 milk jugs and an orange juice jug (which smelled really good). She said it was the first horse necklace she's ever made, and she made it specially for me! Now I know what I want to be for Halloween next year. The Milkman! I can pretend like I'm delivering milk and orange juice to people's houses while I'm really going to collect bags of carrots and apples (and, of course, I can carry my own bag!). The necklace makes cool noises when the jugs bang together in the wind, or when I move my head or walk, and when M bounces them off my butt. Rhett and Finneas were looking at me with big wide eyes, like they were jealous of my necklace, or like they were scared of it. I don't know what the big deal was, but I know I looked cute!

Posse

Saturday November 10 2007

Last night we got the posse-ball rolling to begin searching for K's missing horse at Wilson Creek. Karen and Carol rounded up riders to meet us. I found some ATV groups online and emailed a plea for help, a lookout if they were in the area this holiday weekend.

Carol and I met Karen and Pat in the parking lot at Wilson Creek at 10 AM, heavy clouds covering the sky, chance of rain today, chance of snow tomorrow. So - time to plan a strategy, Plan B, since Plan A (Thunder standing in the parking lot, waiting for us to pick him up, no such luck) didn't happen.

If you were a runaway horse, where would you go? He was headed toward home (some 15+ miles as the Raven flies) last we saw him, and he was running. Would you stop, turn around and come back to a place you know? Would you come back to the adjacent feedyard, where there's companion animals to hang with - cattle and horses? Would you go up high, where some lost horses have been found, grazing in a meadow (there aren't any in this area)? Would you go to a familiar water trough for a drink in this desert?

Pat said often a horse is found within 2 miles - even though it may be a week later - of where you last saw him. Thunder knew this area, would know where the parking lot was, would know the trails he'd been on, would know a nearby water trough.

I scaled the hill I'd looked from yesterday with the sweeping 270* view, this time looking with binoculars - nothing. Much of the land was flat, though you can't really make out hidden washes. Some of the rocky hills were too steep - no reason a horse would go up there. We first checked all around the feedyard (and Carol had talked with them, and left phone numbers with them), and didn't see him, or any hoofprints around the perimeter.

Now where? We'd try some closer loops first. We split into pairs, Karen and Pat circling some hills one way, and Carol and I the other, to meet up at the water trough. As Carol and I made our way out onto a trail, it really hit me that we were looking for the virtual needle in one Big Mother Haystack, "a moving needle," said Carol. There's little canyons and hills and mountains and dips and washes - in every direction. The horse could have been anywhere - we might choose the wrong trail that might have gotten us close to him. And, as Pat said, we might choose the right trail, but he could be moving on the opposite side of a circle from us and we'd never see him. Some sandy areas had hoofprints - from other horses. Thunder was unshod, so that would help if he left us a good print in the sand, but it's hard to get lucky and find a hoofprint on this mostly rocky and hard soil. We doubted the horse would stick to the few roads anyway, he'd be moving across country, or maybe follow an occasional trail. But who really knew?

From the top of one hill, we saw a group of 6 riders far below us, headed out the direction Thunder had taken off yesterday. We hoped they'd seen our signs posted, or they might just come across a horse somewhere and know what to do about it. We hoped Thunder might see or hear our horses and they'd whinny back and forth, and he'd be looking for company.

We finished our loop back at the trailers, then went to Plan C. Everything I felt told me the horse took off towards home according to his Equine Internal Compass. Carol and I headed off that way. Karen and Pat went opposite, on trails Thunder had ridden quite a bit over. Carol and I thought we'd have a fence to follow, limiting Thunder's direction - and came across 3 open gates. Hoof activity around some, possibly unshod feet - but unable to tell for sure. He could have taken any of them, and that opened up thousands more acres of possibility for him to disappear on. Or he could have taken none of them and gone in a totally different direction from where we were searching. He could be in Nevada by now. We're all little specks on the landscape when you think about it. Rather discouraging.

We all returned to the trailers again later - nothing. The 6 other riders we'd seen were heading our way - we were hoping they'd say they found a horse and ask if it was ours - and it turned out to be 2 endurance riders (and 4 of their friends) that Karen had called to come help. They'd headed out a slightly different way and saw nothing. Josette actually knew Thunder, and said she thought he'd be heading downhill, staying off the rocks - which might have taken him through one of the 3 open gates Carol and I passed.

We called off our search about 2 PM - dark clouds massing and cold breeze picking up. K's boyfriend was maybe coming out tomorrow to look; we planned on coming back out on Monday. We'd try contacting some other riding groups. We checked in with the sheriff - no found horse reported. We checked on K's progress - broken ribs, collapsed lung, but now other problems surfacing; she was still in the hospital.

Dispiriting day. Hard not to think of the horse out there - if he had no tack on, we wouldn't worry so much - and very hard not to think of how hard K must be taking it in the hospital.

Keep those fingers crossed.

Here Today Gone Today

Friday November 9 2007

Once you get a Good Horse Knocking-Around, a really serious injury, I think you sometimes have a wee different perspective from those who haven't. I never get on a horse and go out for a ride, any ride, long or short, without the miniscule thought in the back of my mind that I might not come back. It's not a fear, just a tiny awareness, and I accept that. And when I come back in one piece, there's always the diminutive little follow-up thought in the back of my head, Thanks for the Safe Ride.

Today Carol and I hauled out to Wilson Creek to meet K to ride. Another lovely day, lovely place (new for me), lovely horses.

We rode out of the parking lot, Carol on trusty August, me on trusty Jose, K on her young gorgeous bald-faced chestnut Thunder. He was a little green but had been out in this area plenty of times, and what do you do with green horses, but get miles of experience under saddle on them.

We weren't 100 yards out on the trail when K's horse, out in front with August, did a mighty spook - at what, we never figured out. Such a big spook that August and Jose spooked too. K managed to not come off, and as she was clambering back on into the saddle, her horse bolted.

"Uh oh," we said, as we calmed down our own horses. Usually when a horse bolts, you can get a hold of him after a few (or many) strides (well, the couple of bolters I've been on, anyway). K looked like she had a hold of him, but he kept going - and going. We couldn't believe he kept going. In fact, they disappeared out of sight around a hill.

It's easy as an armchair reader, or rider, to say, She should have hauled on one rein, or, She should have pointed him up a hill. That was obvious to us sitting on our horses; that's what we were yelling: "Pull on one rein!" "Point him up the hill!" Maybe K did and it didn't work, and either way, things are happening so fast when shit happens on a horse, you don't have time to sit back in your armchair and say, wow, you are right, I should be doing this. Everything shifts to instinct as things are flashing by - instinct for the horse to bolt in panic, and instinct for the person to react however they are going to react - and it does all flash by, giving you no leisurely time to reason things out. People who haven't been through the GHKA sometimes don't get this. (I got all kinds of helpful coaching after my accident, thanks).

We turned August and Jose back toward the parked trailers, thinking we'd see K pulled up in the parking lot when it came into view. As we got closer, we did see the horse trotting - but no K. Shit. We started trotting toward the lot, and Thunder saw us, came to a stop, hesitated, then whirled around and took off again in the opposite direction over a hill.

We got to the lot, and no sign of K anywhere. We should have seen her by now. Not good. We tied our horses up, and ran off in different directions looking for her. As I ran up this hill in the last place we saw her on Thunder, I was starting to have all kinds of nasty flashbacks in my head. At least I wasn't on the receiving end of things again, but K might be, oh shit oh shit. I looked back toward Carol - no K. I was panting by the time I reached the top of my hill, and I was just on the verge of panic because there was NO K. I turned to look way back toward Carol, and finally saw two figures standing. Whew! If she's standing, that was a good sign.

I met them in the parking lot, K walking gingerly, holding her arm to her side. "I think my rib's broken," and her face was skinned up, and she was a bit foggy (yes, she was wearing a helmet). At first she didn't remember exactly what happened, how far we had gone. I reminded her, and she remembered, and she remembered Thunder running all over the place, and jumping a ditch, which was her undoing. "I just can't believe it! He's never done anything like that! I don't know what it was! I just don't understand it!"

Carol had her sit down and got water and a towel for her face, and I headed up to the opposite hill where we'd last seen Thunder. I climbed to the top of that, which gave me a sweeping view 270* of the plateau below, stretching to the foothills of the mountains - and no Thunder. NOTHING. I searched and searched - if he was anywhere close, a chestnut horse, especially moving, could be seen. I needed the Elf eyes of Legolas (or binoculars), because there was nothing to be seen with the human eye. He was long gone - disappeared.

Now what? I just happened to have my cell phone with me, and it just happened to work. K didn't feel bad enough to get hauled off to a hospital immediately, but we were keeping an eye on her. We decided I'd take our two horses back home, K's boyfriend would come pick her up and take her to the hospital, and Carol would wait at the parking lot with K's trailer, hoping the horse would come back. He knew the area, and the parking lot, so maybe he'd return at some point.

I waited at home all day for news. Carol had talked to people at the nearby feedyard, asked them to keep an eye out for the horse. She flagged down a few groups of ATVers coming in to play, and enlisted their help in the search. The sheriff was notified also. By 4 PM, K was still in the hospital emergency room (so far just looked like broken ribs), and the last of the 4-wheelers were coming in - no sign of the horse. Carol was getting picked up at 5 PM, as was K's horse trailer.

We've organized a posse for tomorrow to go out and search for the horse.

Somewhere out there in the night a lone horse with saddle and hackamore roams the hills and mountains. He could be in Nevada by now if he didn't stop running, or he could be in the parking lot, or hanging near the feedyards tomorrow morning.

You just never know. It's good to acknowledge and appreciate every good thing you've got, because you may go out for a ride and not come back one day. Or your horse may not come back.

Diego Games

Tuesday November 6 2007

Diego: "Hey Jose come watch me play games today."

Jose: "OK, sure."















Diego: "See here Jose, this is called a Bonnet and you wear it on your head."

Jose: "You think so huh."









Diego: "Yes for real! M said I may have to wear it on my head if it gets really cold here in Owyhee. My ears will stay warm. If it doesn't get that cold I can wear it on my back. M also uses it to swat flies off me."

Jose: "Uh huh."






Diego: "See Jose it goes like this."

















Diego: "And see I can hold my own leash? M can tie my Bonnet on my head and then I can hold it on if it gets really windy. Don't I look good in my Bonnet?"















Diego: "And this is an Equine Designer Belt. All the big famous horses wear them. I can wear it because I will be big and famous later, and because now I am cute and slim. Dudley can't wear this because he is too fat."








Diego: "If it's not real cold this winter I can use my Equine Designer Belt to hold my Bonnet on my back. And see sometimes I hold a plastic bag instead of my leash."

Jose: "I can see your name in lights, kid!"

Diego's Letters Home

DIEGO'S LETTERS HOME
(FROM THE TEETER SUMMER/WINTER CAMP)

October 11, 2007

I JUST HAD A GOOD DAY (by Diego)

Today, I went to the Spa!

My pal Billy had dreads in his mane and I didn't think he looked so good with them, and neither did he. And then he got to go to the Hair Spa the other day and got his mane
combed out all beautiful and silky, and then he looked all gorgeous and smelled good and I was a little jealous. Then, he got new shoes too. So when was it going to be my turn?

TODAY!

Today this shoer dude came, and I got chosen out of my pen to go to the Hair Spa AND the Shoe Spa! I got my first pair of shiny silver shoes, and I was a GOOD BOY, because it was fun, and it meant now I was all grown up, being a long 3 years old and all, and while all that fun was going on, I got my hair done too! So I looked and smelled just as good as Billy. AND I got my ears done with War Paint against those nasty bugs, and when it was all over, I didn't want to leave the Spa!

It was just a Good Day!!


November 5 2007

I AM SOOOO SMART (by Diego)

I am!

Every day or two M puts a halter on me and we play some games for a few minutes. We go forward or backwards together, we go in circles, I spin around her with my butt, or I hold my butt still and move my front legs around.

I know how to back up good, because that big butthead Finneas sometimes chases me back from the water trough, even when he's not drinking and he's just standing there not letting anybody else drink. And I know how to back up when someone touches my nose. One day I learned another way, to back up when the rope on my halter wiggled. I didn't know exactly what was happening at first, but I figured it out in like two minutes. The next day I was perfect at it!

One day I learned to turn my head back to touch my girth, I didn't know what that was all about either at first, but in like 2 minutes I had that down too. Then the next day I was of course perfect at it. I like to turn my head back and grab hold of the rope against my belly and hold it like a dog leash. M keeps saying "Diego, you are soooo smart!" Yes I am. : )

Some days M throws things all over me, on my neck and back and head and eyes and ears and butt and legs, like ropes and jingly things and soft fluffy pads and plastic bags (which sometimes have carrots) and I just stand there because I like it.

Actually, M can't figure out whether I already know all this stuff, or that I am just soooo smart I am a fast learner. I won't tell her, it's my secret : )

One thing is for sure, I am one Smart Cookie!

P.S. M and Carol both say I have grown an inch or two. I am So Smart AND Big!

Sterile Desert

Sunday November 4 2007

I can just hear them, city people driving through the deserts of southern Idaho, Nevada, southern California, rushing to Las Vegas or LA or Salt Lake City. "Ugh, it's so ugly! There's nothing out there." Nothing but dry, dry land, rocks and sand, brown scrub or cactus or sage. No life. Barren. Depressing.

But the secret is, you go up into those hot dry bare hills or mountains, find a rich canyon, or just walk over one of those little hills, and you might see all of this in a week without trying:

A long-eared owl that flew RIGHT OVER ME in a canyon in the daylight. Right after which a Raven was heard to be badgering him. I yelled down the canyon, "Hey Raven! Stop pestering that owl!" At which point the Raven flew out of the canyon, alighted in a tree and regarded me for a time. Had to have been Hoss the Raven.

Along the Snake river (while riding through 3 separate eagle territories): 2 Northern Harriers, a blue heron, many coots (how can you not like a bird with that name), a Cormorant Convention (a row of cormorants sitting on a cable across the river), an osprey nest on a pole (unoccupied, it's not nesting season) - they like to decorate their nests with twine.

Cooper's Hawk (twice) in a golden tree in a golden canyon, being haughtily ignored by 2 Ravens.

Numerous kestrels, red-tailed hawks.

Many does; one lone big buck with a BIG rack.

A golden eagle! Sitting on the top of a hill below where we rode, she took off as we approached, and flew away. But then she worked her way back towards us, (with a Raven circling over her for a time), spiraling closer and closer, doing wing-hang time over us, taking a good look at us. "Give me a feather!" I yelled at her. Today she didn't. Tomorrow she might.

City folks driving by fast: "(Shudder) I hope we don't break down here! Must be awful to live out here."

Well, somebody's gotta do it. But we who do'll just keep our desert secrets.

Ride Through History

Saturday November 3 2007

About 32,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville formed, covering most of northwestern Utah (the Great Salt Lake is a remnant). About 15,000 years ago, it broke out of its natural dam near present-day Pocatello Idaho, creating the Bonneville Flood - possibly the second largest ever on the planet, the largest possibly being in Siberia 14,000 years ago. For 8 weeks it flooded out at maximum, carving canyons and falls, ripping out boulders from canyon walls, depositing them along the river.

By 12,000 years ago, humans were living on the Snake River Plain. (The earliest evidence from a cave near Dietrich, Idaho, are tool flakes and a basalt knife 14,500 years old.) Petroglyphs carved on many of the tens of thousands of boulders along the Snake are evidence of early inhabitants. Some petroglyphs are probably from the Early Archaic (5000 to 7800 years ago) and Middle Archaic periods (1000-5000 years ago), though most are from the Late Archaic period (340 to 1000 years ago). Many of the petroglyphs along the Snake resemble Shoshone Indian art found in California and Nevada.

1750 AD marks the beginning of the Equestrian period, which 'revolutionized' the Shoshone and northern Paiute way of life, by expanding hunting and trading territories, and improving hunting techniques and weapons. You might get lucky enough to stumble across a horse petroglyph from this period along the Snake River.

Another hundred years later saw the beginning of the decline of the Native American Indian (if you have never read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, it's one book you should read) and the real pioneer immigration to the West and Northwest. The Oregon trail was a main route for thousands of settlers. Parts of it were scouted as early as 1823 by trappers and traders, and by 1841-1869 it was used regularly.

This corner of Idaho was also home to Gold Rush fever. Searching for the legendary Blue Bucket Diggings and a Lost Mine somewhere near the Oregon Trail led to first gold strikes northwest of Boise, in Idaho City, in 1862. In 1863, just south of the Snake River in the Owyhee Mountains, the gold rush was on below War Eagle Mountain - you can see it from the top of the river canyon - where the mining ghost town of Silver City lives on.

On the plateau, you may still come across some old mining relics. Or, you may ride right by an as-yet-unrecorded pioneer grave, (discovered by Tom Noll on an endurance ride in May) not far off the remains of the Oregon Trail (where you can still see what looks like old wagon tracks), at the top of the canyon road leading down to the Snake and the Swan Falls Dam.

Swan Falls Dam, the first dam on the Snake River/Columbia River system, was built in 1901 to provide electricity to the mines in the Silver City area. A new dam was built in the 1990's, and the old one relegated to a historical display.

Saddle up a horse for a Saturday ride down to the Snake River in Owyhee County, and these are some of the historical ghosts you get to ride with.