I added more every day and little by little we worked towards being ready to hit the trail by April 2017. Every day started where we left off the day before. Adding more, skill by skill, gaining trust with each other, until the point that we could finally ride out on the open range. With no one by our side, one by one, we ventured out. Surprisingly enough, being out on the open range was much more inviting and excepting then the time spent in the arena.
There would still be arena time to correct and focus on the finer details but mostly we would spend as much time as possible alone, riding along the western slope of the White Mountains in the Owens Valley. Conditioning them, as much as myself, building the miles and hours in the saddle with every day. If I wasn’t studying maps and working on my spread sheets detailing where I would camp, then I was in the saddle, adding more miles to the ride before, exploring new sights, new smells, new sounds, and new-found trust without borders or panels.
For those that spend time in the saddle, you’ll know what I’m talking about when a man says, he can solve his problems with an hour or two in the saddle, for the world begins to come in focus. The long training rides weren’t just conditioning our bodies, but they were helping to create clarity on the logistics of this ride. So much was un-known. Through networking, I was able to put together a storyline of what might come ahead by talking to those that have ventured out on the PCT in sections. With these small bits of information, I was able to put together a greater understanding of what to me, was the great un-known.
Water was the biggest concern to me, especially in the South. Anyone that does any sort of long distance travel will say the same. Water is the most important resource and should be your number one concern. Because of the number of people that hike the PCT every year, there is an incredible data base built that addresses that very issue. The PCT Halfmile map, which can be found on the Pacific Crest Trail Association website, quickly became my most valuable tool. It is a topographical map of the entire PCT that’s been broken down into sections, loaded full of information. Some of which as a horseman was of no use to me but focusing on the relative information like watering locations and the topography of the area, I was able to know exactly how many miles between each possible watering source and grazing location.
Over the year I was able to build a spreadsheet that had
every possible camp, every possible water location, and
every possible resupply location. While on the trail I would
carry with me enough grain to get me from re-supply
location to re-supply location. The rest, I would rely on
nature and the trail to provide. Every day the horses got
nine pounds of grain, split between breakfast and dinner.
My grain was specially made for me by Starmill Feed out of
Paris, CA. This grain would insure that the mustangs got
everything they needed, and then with a full night of
grazing they would stay in top shape. Relying on the trail
to provide most of the feed is and was a major factor in the
decision to use the mustang. Here is an animal that Mother
Nature herself designed over the last 500 years. If you were
weak, you died, if you were lame, you died, if you couldn’t
endure, you died. In her brutal honesty Mother Nature
molded an animal that could walk thirty plus miles a day
from water source to water source and could survive
drought conditions and famine. There was never a night that we went without water, but there were long distances at times. Sometimes we had to ride 25-30 miles to the next watering hole, and nights spent eating on twigs or brush to fill their bellies. Because of their heritage, the mustangs took it in stride, and me, knowing that the next day offered the possibility of better grazing. There were only a few nights or days like this, but I can promise you no domestic horse of today could have done what these boys did.
Even with the best laid plans you still have to be adaptable. What’s on paper, isn’t always true in life. Studying the maps, and making my spreadsheet gave me some security, but most of all it allowed me to plan better where I was going to meet my supply trailer. Because of the how the PCT has been re-routed, new trails built, and old trails abandoned, you must plan to meet with someone, somewhere about every 5 days. Not only to re-supply, but to rest the horses as well. Through people that followed the project and volunteered to give support, my girlfriend, and most importantly my mom who wasn’t NOT going to be a part of this project, I was able to create a schedule that allowed me to get through hard sections of the trail as well as the easy sections. I knew that on the other side was a trailer fully stocked with water, food and feed where the mustangs and I would spend a full day just resting and eating to recharge our own batteries for the next leg. It allowed me the time as well to put new shoes on the mustangs. There is one thing that anyone that wishes to venture out into the wilderness on horseback must know, that is how to shoe a horse, because no hoof, no horse. Yes, the mustang naturally has good feet but there is no way that it can carry its weight and mine for that many miles without shoes.
It was through the people that formed the community around this project that the other half of the success of this story goes to. Myself, I’m just the man in the saddle, nothing more. Everything goes to the mustangs and those that drove the chuck wagon, as it was affectionately called.
The gear that I took with me was the same that you would with any backpacking trip. Yes, horses can carry more weight than people over longer distances, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be packing cast iron pans, fresh food, and all the other luxuries that typically are found on a pack trip. All of my food was provided by Backcountry Pantry and was freeze dried, weighing a few pounds at the most. Most of the weight was in feed for the horses and a few extra pre-shaped horseshoes that I would shape while at the trailer, in case one of the mustangs threw a shoe on the trail I could just tack a new one on. My gear weighed about thirty pounds while the supplies for the horses weighed about fifty, plus their feed got lighter with every day. My luxury items would be my camera, book, journal, and of course a little whisky to sip on at the end of the day next to the campfire. I also packed with me my Colt .45 revolver. A gun is something that I never go into the mountains without. Simply put, we are the strangers when we venture into the wild. But more importantly, self-protection aside, if either one of the horses were to fall and break a leg, the only thing I would be able to do is to end their suffering. Sometimes I used my bedroll and slept on the ground, but if I knew that there might be a chance of bad weather when I left the trailer, I’d pack my tent instead.
I started off packing Minaret and riding Gary, because while in training it seemed that was going to be the best order. But once on the trail, the two mustangs thought differently. About 300 miles north of the Mexican border they both told me that they wanted to switch rolls. From that day forward, there was never a fight, never a disagreement.
My packsaddle was made by Outfitters Pack Station. I didn’t know the shape of the back of my animals and would most likely be switching my riding horse and pack horse around so the obvious choice for me was their Phillips Form Fitter design with self-adjusting bars and will be from here on out. The rest of my rig, I would make myself. I made my pack bags a little lighter by using slightly lighter leather, these are my pack bags, not ones that would live at a pack station and get abused day in and day out. My saddle I would build off the Wade tree that Timberline Saddle Tree company made for me with my specs. But that’s where any notion of a modern saddle would end. I dreamt up my saddle over years of buying saddles and constantly being disappointed in it in some way. My saddle weighs 19lbs and is a full working ranch saddle without all of the extra unnecessary weight and leather. I had 2,600 miles to ride, and I wasn’t about to throw a 55lb saddle onto my horse’s back and expect him to carry it and me every day.
From the beginning it was my goal to raise as much money as possible for the Ataxia Foundation as well as increase awareness for the disease. I would raise money from private donations, but the bulk of it would come from the sale of the mustangs. This would be the hardest part of the entire journey. To let go of the animals that mean the world to me. Minaret would earn his place in my life forever while on the trail, saving my life on several occasions, but Gary and Banner would be sold. Minaret will stay with me and continue the story. He will help me to train the next generation of mustangs for future rides. Gary, I sold to someone that I met along the trail that fell in love with him after a chance encounter at Mammoth Lakes Pack Station’s spring horse drive and Banner is still for sale. As my remount that I never had to use, Banner didn’t get the miles and trail time as the other two, but it doesn’t make him any less of a horse. He just needs to find the right home, the right person.
The Wild In Us will continue. Not knowing how far or what kind of impact this project would have in the beginning, I wasn’t sure what would come at the end of the ride. But now that It’s over, I can’t let it stop. Not until a cure is found. Money buys research, research finds a cure.
How do you transform a totally wild animal into a willing one?