Black Boogers

Patty Wilber      

Ever had black boogers because you breathed in too much trail dust?      

Well, mine only got black on the last day of the three day horse pack trip into the Pecos Wilderness because the first day it was raining—but not on us!      

Jim and I left 2 hours late from home, and pulled into Jack’s Creek Campground at about 3:30 pm. We were expecting to pick up and pack up a mule, pack Risa, saddle Penny and Cometa, and ride in about 8 miles to Beatty’s Cabin, a Forest Service Administrative site in the Pecos Wilderness. The previous Saturday some other  Back Country Horse folks had ridden in and we thought we’d meet them there.      

It turned out that a small crew had come down to bring in a sore-footed mule, some garbage, and two guys who were heading home. They had been sitting in a stock trailer while it poured for 2 hours.      

When we arrived, so did the sun. There were still plenty of clouds, so we thought for sure we would get wet on the ride in.  Our rain gear was handy, rolled up behind the saddle. The alfalfa-grass mix pelleted horse feed on Risa was tarped in blue and secured with a box hitch.  We had to bring in feed for the horses because there is not enough grazing.    

In the meadow after the climb out of Jack's Creek.

   A word about rain gear. I tried a slicker—hey that’s the traditional cowboy rain gear. BUT they don’t have HOODS (most of them anyway). I wear a helmet, usually. My helmet looks distressingly geeky in all my photos……. I do like that my brain is more likely to continue to function in case of an unintentional dismounting……    But in regards to rain, helmets LEAK.  A felt cowboy hat could work to keep rain off my head and not running down my neck (straw hats also leak).  Both squish if you fall off on your head.      

Another problem—the slicker is really long if I am on the ground, so I trip over it all the time.  Once on the horse, it shrinks up and then when it rains, the wet runs off, onto my legs, soaking my pants. How did the cowboys really do it, back in the day? I think they were wet and miserable a lot.      

Forget the slicker.      

I went for rain pants and a poncho. Ponchos have a hood, my reins and hands can be under it, and the pants keep the legs dry. Perfect….      

Except…when horses go to pitching (bucking) the poncho flaps around and kinda gets in the way. Not that Penny is big into bucking, except when Risa wraps the leadline up under her tail…..      

And then there is the ponying problem. When Risa is behind Penny, my arm sticks out, holding the lead line. My arm  gets all wet. Slickers have sleeves….      

Solution: Wear the poncho over the slicker! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Of course then I look like (to paraphrase my charming friends) a pregnant nun or a Tibetan Monk……with a helmet. Nice.      

Slicker (yellow), poncho (red), rain pants (black--but covered) and helmet. This photo is from the weekend before when we packed in supplies for the current trip and packed out some folks (note coolers of garbage on Risa) that were doing some inventories in the back country.

  Maybe a slicker with a hood + rain pants…..      

We had a beautiful evening ride. The ground was damp, the air was cool, the smells were fresh, and there were so many bird voices it felt tropical! Got to Beatty’s cabin around 7 pm and hobbled the horses in a light drizzle. I used 3 different types of hobbles on the three horses: Risa: my figure 8’s; Cometa: twist hobbles (all leather—more old timey); Penny: grazing hobbles.      

All worked well, but the grazing hobbles were the easiest to get on and off because each leg has its own buckle. The horses grazed for an hour.  They have been on grass a little at home to prepare their innards—nothing like a major feed change to cause  the guts to seize up.  Colic, colicking. Colic can be life threatening.      

Finally, they got to practice using feed bags.  I gave them 4 pounds of  pellets each and strapped the feed bags on. I had been prepping them at home with pellets, too.      

Risa and Cometa employed the nose to the ground technique, but Penny was more into flipping the bag….      

 

 Our three were in a pen with a little stream, but some others were high-lined over night. Horses must practice this because one panicker can tangle the whole line.      

Four animals on a high line. Sun's coming up--gotta stretch!

  We worked the next day—all the way up to 12,000 feet! We cleared 20 logs off the trail!      

Jim Wilberand Richard Kingsbury using a two man saw.

    Came out on the third day…and still no rain, but by now it was drying out and the black damp had turned to black dust to black….in my nose.