I need to back up a little, before I go in to the story of the ride. Calico and I had been working on building my confidence to ride her again by walking, trotting and eventually loping in the arena. Then we did three trail rides out in, what used to be called, The Vegas Wash. Now after all the sewage goes through the water treatment plant and before it heads down the valley to Lake Mead, where the water runs behind Sam Boyd stadium, the water district and other city planners renamed the area Wetlands Park. They built a equestrian trail-head where you can park large trailers; there are hithching post and a round pen and restrooms. It's very nice; the trails are mostly gravel. The first time we went, we worked on mud and water crossings, and this was the first time Cali had gone out with other horses. Robin's daughter came along on her thoroughbred gelding. We also did lots of hills; up and down, up and down. The second ride we found a long gradual grade up into the hills and we did lots of trotting and loping. The third time we tried to cover more distance, and to trot for longer periods. So that was it. That was all the conditioning we did tor the 35 mile ride at Ridgecrest. You could say I was a little nervous. Luckily, we happen to be in the process of buying a house where I'll be able to have Calico in the backyard, so my mounting (no pun intended) fear about the ride was diverted by my excitement about a new home. That's another story.
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