7-15-08 Horses

Tuesday July 15, 2008

Up early at 6:00am to give us enough time to make it through Logan Pass and on to Many Glacier by 8:00am. Roll up to Swan Outfitters in Many Glacier. Chad makes emergency b-line to Many Glacier Hotel (about ¼ mile away) for potty break. Little did Chad know there was a potty station just behind the Swan Outfitters building…Mike was aware and effectively blew an O-ring before show time.

Assigned our horses. Chad gets ‘Brad’ (the pretty boy horse everyone was calling Brad Pitt) and Mike gets ‘Hoeback’ (named after Hoeback Junction, Wyoming). Weather partly cloudy and breezy. Our first cloudy day…not too bad! Quick instruction, mount up and lets rock and roll. 4 total in group; Chad, Mike, a woman whose name we forgot, and Bill our wrangler. Bill has been at it for 5 years and in the winters he makes saddles and trains horses. Bill’s a cool dude...a true wrangler, got the chaps, cowboy hat and a wad a dip going. His calmness and overall collective experience proves to be EXTREMLY valuable.

Trip basics: 4 hour out and back up to sub alpine meadow elevations through what is regarding as significant bear country. Hiking trail up the road closed due to bear activity. On the way up Bill displays prowess with his wild flower knowledge…he has memorized 50 of the over 300 species. He also points out all the bear markings; rolled over rocks where the bears search for grubs and the scratch marks on the trees where they sharpen claws to puncture hiker’s skin. ‘Steel’ the woman’s horse is lazy and lags a bit, Chad’s horse is constantly eating the grass, and Mike’s horse is doing more sightseeing than Mike. Brief break at the halfway, stretch it out and start heading back. Stop and took some pics of a big moose and baby. Almost back…everything looks fine and dandy.

So as we approach the stables we have to cross a wooden bridge over a road that’s about 40 feet off the ground and only two arm’s length wide. We’re in a line; Bill, Chad, Mike, woman. Bill and the lead horse, of which Bill explained earlier has a chemical imbalance and can get a little schizo, stop halfway. Bill asks a construction worker who’s on the other side to move a block that’s in the way. Move forward…Bill’s horse sees shiny craftsman tool, gets scared, stops on his own…doesn’t want to move….starts to back up bunching all the horses real tight. Meanwhile the wind is starting to gust, all 4 horses are on this wooden bridge (that’s 1200lb a pop plus rider)…people are starting to gather below and watch as Bill’s horse begins to buck! The other three horse’s are getting agitated! Mike shits pants. Hoeback, stay with me buddy! Bill’s horse stops bucking…Bill tries to get the horse to move forward…its does for a foot or two…then freaks out again…backs up again faster and with more force…pushing himself into Chad’s horse…Hoeback wants none of this…hooks a U-turn, squashing both Mike’s legs and woman’s legs into each others horses…Hoeback wants off the bridge!!! Mike shits himself again as horse starts running off the backside of the bridge. Mike quickly assesses potential fall zones at the same time pulling on the reigns with what felt like full steroid-ized Hulk Hogan strength and lets off a big, ‘WHOA!!’ Horse stops…phew. In the midst of Hoeback’s antics, Bill took control, jumped off his horse, kicked the horse, then pushing and pulling gets his horse to other side of bridge. Then he starts whipping his horse, old west breaking-in style. Chad turns around…mouth WIDE open, Mike can see his heart, its in the upper bi-cusped region of his mouth. Bill slowly mounts horse. Others follow. Unknown woman is impressively silent throughout.

Bill gets big tip.

Lunch at the Many Glacier Hotel, get in car and head to Banff, AB.

View of mountains driving west on Mt. Norquay Road is pretty cool. Got that whole different shades of blue effect going on. Really sunny.