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4/1/12, La Garita Creek Ranch - The two week adventure to visit the wild horse of the Rio Grande is beginning at the Ranch. This afternoon, I finished loading up the wagon and trailer, hitched the team, and drove over to the Ranch. Officially, the trip starts tomorrow, but I decided to get a little jump on things by first driving from the Trading Post over to the ranch on La Garita Creek.

Back in wagon travel mode, the lads are hitched up and on the road.

After a year and a half of being mostly paddock horses, it was a no-brainer for the boys to get back in to the swing of things.  All through the harnessing and the hitch, everything was routine.  I had Bob and Doc hitched up, which is my weakest pulling team.  Doc is my hardest pulling horse, while Bob is the laziest.  After a while, Doc looked over at Bob and gave him a look that said, ‘Hey, there are suppose to be two horses in this hitch, how about doing your share?’

After spending so much time in the paddock, I could tell we weren’t going to set any speed records traveling across the valley.

A couple of handsome lads, hitched to the wagon.

One of the reasons I wanted to start off at the ranch was to provide a little security while I reintroduced the horses to spending the night in their electric playpen. After parking the wagon above the creek, I put up the electric fence and closed the main gate to the ranch. Then, if they happen to break out of their enclosure, I only have to round them up on six hundred acres instead of the whole Colorado countryside.

Bill really enjoyed the trip, walking behind the trailer.  He started with a pretty short lead, but managed to stretch it enough to get a few mouthfuls of alfalfa from the back of the trailer.

After I turned my trio in to the electric playpen, they kicked up their heals, rolled around and started munching some grass and alfalfa.  Like people, horses get bored and like to see new surrounding. They seemed happy to be back in the wagon-mode.

My friend Dave Buck, from Michigan is riding along for the two week trip.  As far as he’s concerned, this is the ultimate vacation.

The horses aren’t the only one excited to be back traveling. Even though the cabin is only a couple hundred yards away, I had no desire to leave the wagon and sleep there. Tonight I’m bunking in the wagon next to the horses. I may cross the creek to take a shower in the morning; but, other than that, I’m perfectly happy to spend the night here in the wagon.

Our bivouac across the creek from the cabin.

Tomorrow morning, I plan on hitching up and hitting the road at about 7:30 am. Bill and Doc should pull us to a camping spot just north of Monte Vista.