Antelope Island Again Nov. 7

Turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride! The ride was planned by an Ogden area "Horse Meet up" group. Bob and I went and we took our new boarder, Doc the paint and his owner, Robyn. Here is a photo of Robyn and Bob just starting at the White Rock Bay trail.View of White Rock Bay.
Me on Wayfarer and Bob on Shrek.
Robyn and Doc.
We met a new friend, Judy H. from West Haven and her horse, Buck.
Absolutely gorgeous scenery and ride up on the Elephant Head trail.

Judy and Robyn chat at a lunch break...what a view!
Cowboy Bob has a story to tell about the huge "dinosaur" tracks on the rocks.




We even came up close and personal with some bison.
Heading back to the trailhead. Great ride! Many bikers were on this trail today. For all you bikers in the family--this is a great trail.

Clam Chowder

Modified from a recipe from Bratten’s by Judy.

1/3 of a celery bunch, cut, chopped, sliced. (about 1 ½ cups)

½ of a large onion or one small onion, diced

1 cup carrots, finely diced or grated.

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 cans of chopped or minced clams.

Fresh thyme, about 2 – 4 Tbl. of the fresh leaves. Or dried Thyme if the fresh is unavailable.

1 Tbl.Spinach flakes (optional)

1 tbl.Parsley flakes

1 t. All purpose seasoning

1 cube of butter

½ c. flour

Approximately 3 cups of milk

Salt, pepper, to taste

Prepare vegetables and put in a large pan with the juice from the clams. Add seasonings. Simmer until vegetables are done. (about 20 mins) Remove from heat.

Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter on a low heat, add the flour, stir well, then add 2 cups of milk. Slowly cook until mixture begins to thicken. Do NOT boil or it will burn. Add another cup of milk, then add the white sauce to the veggies. Add the clams and stir well. Add more milk if needed to be thinner. Warm to serving temperature.

Antelope Island 2009 Bison roundup

Upon hearing that the Bison roundup (or buffalo depending on who you talk to... It's a Bison Roundup, but you eat Buffalo Burger.) was today-- we finished our manure mucking chores and headed out to the island, hoping for a chance to ride anywhere we wanted, as happened last year when we got to ride South of the ranch. We just about didn't do it when we found they had changed their policy and required a $25 permit for anyone to ride this weekend. It permitted us to ride anywhere and to actually herd the bison if we wanted. Workman's comp even applied if we were injured because it was a State run event. We found the round up group half way to the Ranch, but the herd was pretty much stationary and the riders were just sitting around. I read in the paper this morning, there were over 200 riders. I also found out that the bison were "very stubborn" and were grazing and drinking at a siesta when we saw them. We also read that three horses were gored by angry animals.

Some of the trailers parked at the ranch...
That didn't look like too much fun, so we went down to the ranch and rode toward Sentry Peak.
The trail was much softer than I remembered--appeared to have been "graded" and widened in most places.
Looking north. This was an attempt at a self-portrait. This was my first ride with my "good" camera. I retired the old one, due to a scratched lens.
We were able to ride a trail that is usually off limits to trail riders and we spied this multi-pointed buck staring at us.
Then a doe...she's just in front of that middle bush.
A nice vista with the Oquirrh mountains in the background.
This trail eventually led to the beach on the other side, but hadn't allowed enough time. It would have been another hour of riding.
I thought these rock formations in the background were interesting.
I love this shot.
More interesting rocks on another trail that is usually off limits.


Can you see Salt Lake City downtown?
This guy missed the round up.
Birds on the Buffalo.
After our ride, we put the horses in the trailer and drove to the west side of island at White Rock Bay. We spied these bison out on the beach. No food, no water...maybe they just like hanging out on the beach like we do.
White Rock Bay.
We grazed the horses for an hour while we waited for the sunset.




Memorable ride, beautiful sunset...yes, I am ready to go back again next week!

Scenes of Fall

Horse Crazy Girl and only 2!

White Pine Lake via the Bunchgrass Trail

This was a "girl's day out". I drove to Nibley, where I met Wildbound and two friends. I was able to use my own Aussie saddle on a fine horse named SweetPea. As I got to know him better, he indicated that he would like a "braver" name. He had a wonderful, smooth gait--typical of the best of Missouri Foxtrotters.We set out on the trail from Logan Canyon, near Tony Grove. I followed Kathy and Misty.

We enjoyed mountain vistas...

All variety of evergreens and streams...

Lots of dirt trails and aspens...

Sagebrush meadows...

Mountains...

And eventually White Pine Lake...

Lunch on the Log at the Lake...

Then back for a different view on the same trail.

Beautiful ride....but looong. Around 16 miles of varied up and down terrain. My brave horse was ok as long as he was the tail end. He likes boundaries and "rules" and didn't care for Rio "stepping off the trail" in back of him. He was very focused on his job which he perceived as making sure those behind him (or at least Rio) stayed on the "trail". Postscript: Sweet Pea has been re-named "Red River" aka "Red". Great choice, Kathy and Tia.

There is something magical...

Lexi, age 12 has never been around horses or ridden a horse. She came to the MRR and Cowboy gave her some pointers about riding Wayfarer. She caught on so fast... That after a while, she was even willing to try it bareback...

I hear now that she has simply "fallen in love" with horses...or at least Wayfarer.

Her mom, Kimi even tried a ride...

And then her cousin Jake tried Wayfarer

And also bonded with Shrek