Monday, March 07, 2011

Mendocino Zanzibar - Sam Yates

Round The World On a Horse... Blog

by Samantha Yates

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Yes I know, I’m a bad girl for failing to update this blog regularly. Real life just gets in the way!

I am currently in New Zealand, but more of that later…

First back to summer 2010 and Ricochet Ridge Ranch, in Fort Bragg, California.

Life at RRR is hectic to say the least! Guiding trail rides from 1 1/2 hours to 1 week-long, we all work long and hard.

We have about 40 horses at the ranch – half are the ‘string’ horses – suitable for taking beginners up and down the beach, and the other half are the ‘trek’ horses – better for more experienced riders and for week-long vacations. And then there are the guide horses – the ones not quite ready to put paying guests on yet!

If you remember I broke both of my legs on the last trip to this ranch, and was very much looking forward to completing a whole season with no injuries.

It was Lari, my boss, who introduced me to endurance in the first place. Back in the UK I had done a bit of dressage, jumping and cross-country, and I enjoyed riding and re-training ex-racehorses, but I had never had an interest in endurance. Who wants to trot around for 6 hours? And Arabs? Ha! As a thoroughbred lover I considered arabs to be far inferior!

However Lari offered me the chance to compete in an endurance ride at the end of the season if I wanted and if my legs were feeling up to it. Quite honestly it was just another box to check for me – I’d tried polo in Argentina and lassoing in Ecuador, so why not endurance?...

Read more here:
http://cageybird.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/mendocino-zanzibar/

1 comment:

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