A Day On The Trail

My People Persons, 

Few announcements before I get into tales and recollections.

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• Currently camped out in the rain outside Picacho AZ heading west to Joshua Tree. 

I often wish I could look as cool as my shadow. Something to aspire towards.

A glorious audience at my glorious host Carol's home. Every now and then I've gotten to be the first event in someones home. It's an honor to shout songs into fresh paint. This show was the final event in Carol's home, as she's setting out to be a road collector across the country. Loved being part of the last thing in a home. Circled back to her place for a visit a few days after my show and everything was in boxes. Many special parts to that evening. I was particularly thrilled to have another long rider in the audience, Katie, who rode her Mule from Missouri to Tucson at the age of 56!

Dr. Jen did the horses Coggins test, new health certificate, checked a lump on Gus's penis, listened to their guts for sand, and gave them some chiropractic work. I learned a handful of new things from Jen, my favorite of which is a move I like to call "Reach For The Tush". I looked over and saw what I thought was the good doctor reaching into my horses rear end. Turns out she was just reaching betwixt the cheeks to find a curious protruding tendon/muscle so she could pull on it. You could see the horse leaning into the pressure for the sweet relief. She taught me the tush reach and its now a part of our daily routine.

Checking tooth health.

A Day On The Trail (Wrote this down to compare to a day later in the tour. Lots of minutia here. Not expecting anyone to find these details worthwhile but just in case I thought I'd share. Can skip ahead to the pictures.)
3:30am : Alarm goes off. Hit the snooze. Peek out the tent to make sure horses are there and untangled. Desperately re-encapsulate back into the sleeping bag feeling weak that I'm a snoozer and not a waker. 
4:15am : Hit snooze button angrily.
4:30am : Turn off alarm desperate determined to WAKE UP! Lay there trying to will myself into the myriad of tasks. Allow myself 30 more seconds before I have to start moving. Start to count. Make it to 18 before falling back asleep. 
4:35am : Wake up and throw myself into the morning. "What kind of piece of shit can't wake up at 4 to tend to his horses?" I mutter to myself while shivering out of my fleece onesie and into my work clothes. 
4:35am-4:45am : Pants on, shirt on, long sleeve shirt on (all warmed over night in my sleeping bag with me, sweater on, jacket on hat on, socks on. Body returns to reasonable warmth from the gripping frosted morning. Attach belt with pistol, leatherman, knife, and GPS unit. Deflate bed roll. Load top pack with all flexible goods strewn about the tent making sure to balance top pack and have enough bulk on both sides so my box hitch rope has material to grab onto. Remove all items and luggage from tent onto tarp outside. 
4:45am - 4:55am : Water the horses. Carry two to four buckets of water from the water source to the horses. Feed horses 8lbs each of high protein quality pelleted beet pulp based food on the pack box lids with one scoop of electrolyte spread atop each portion. Sometimes I'll soak the feed for 20 minutes before hand.
4:50am - 5:20am : Dismantle and pack tent. Weigh the pack boxes again and again moving item to and from box to box to get each box equal pound for pound. Having a balanced pack saddle is everything. I travel with a spring loaded scale to get each box to be the exact same weight. You might think I'd dial in my system and pack the same items in each box each day, but since the horses are eating 16lbs of feed everyday the balance is constantly changing.
5:20am - 5:25am : Brush the horses. The horses sweat a lot while working hard. Their hair gets dirty and crusty. Brushing it out into nice dust clouds that invariably float into my face allows the hair to return to its soft and fluffy state. Dirty crusty hair under a pad while riding can lead to bad sores and rub spots. Going over their bodies with a brush, making contact regularly, helps me notice if they have any sore spots that might not be visually obvious. When I touch them or brush them on a sore spot they let me know by twitching that area of skin. I palpate their backs running my fingers along their spines to see if their backs are sore. If they have a sore spot they'll move away from that pressure. Long rider Will taught me how to do the move and it's proved most useful.
5:25am - 5:30am : Pick out their feet. Horses hoof health is everything on the road. 1200 pounds on top of these 4 little hoofs! This beautiful hoof pick was made for me by my Santa Fe Farrier Brad Derickson. He made it as a gift out of an old horseshoe, put his name on it and stamped in my initials. I use it every day. 

Climbing up Mt Lemmon from Oracle on the Arizona Trail was like trying to train bees to tap dance, hard but worthwhile. I wish horses appreciated views. If views tasted like molasses they would, but alasses they just passes view care notly asses. And the view cares not about them. Tragic. We hit ice on this mountain, blowdown (used my saddle saw finally!), nearly impassable narrows for the pack horse and rocks whoopsy as a lubed up inner tube at a slip and slide festival.

I lift each one of their feet and pick out any mud, crap and pebbles that might be stuck between the hoof and the shoe potentially bruising sole. Working their feet keeps me connected to how each foot is doing: how worn are the shoes? Is the shoe wearing evenly or is the horse dramatically favoring the inside or outside, how soft or hard is the hoof and the sole? Are there any gouges or abscesses that need to be dug out? Does the hoof wall look like its growing out even and healthy? Are any shoes slipping (falling off)? Working their feet regularly also keeps them accustomed to having their feet handled. If we do have some emergency they are already accustomed to having their feet futzed with. I've come a long way with their feet. Growing all I learned about horses was the second you walk behind them they will kick you and kill you. It's been aslow process gently annihilating my foot fears hoof by hoof. 
5:30am-5:35am : Apply any salves or ointments to small wounds and rub spots. At the end of the day the horses and I often have little scrapes from the trail. Most of the spots on a horse are pretty harmless. Its all the places that come in contact with the saddles and the straps I have to worry about, those are the places where small rubs and cuts can grow exponentially under the pressure and friction of the saddle. Keeping any rub spots clean and moisturized helps the skin regenerate. I've used aloe vera cream, baby diaper rash ointment with zinc, bag balm with lanolin from sheeps wool and triple antibiotic gel and more. 
5:35am-5:45am : Fill my water bottles and purify the water. Often on the trail we are getting water from cow tanks, rain catchment tanks and streams all which need to be sterilized. I mostly use a "Steripen" which emits an ultraviolet light into the water as you stir it. This does not remove any nasty taste of the water but kills most of the bacteria. If the water is a bit brownish or particularly wretched I'll add some electrolyte cranberry powder which makes it taste nasty, sugary and cranberryish which is much better. I prep the riding saddle, attach my raincoat and sweater to the back, secure the saddle bags and the pommel bags with the necessary snacks and emergency first aid objects. 
5:45am - 5:52am : Saddle my riding horse. Place the pad on center, a bit up on his on his withers so it can slide back in the direction of the hair growth. Throw the saddle on the pad and line everything up making sure no twigs or bits and bobs have gotten stuck under the saddle or the pad in the transfer as even atiny object can cause a bad sore after a day of riding. Tighten and adjust the cinch, the back cinch and the breast collar. 
5:52am-6:35am : Saddle the pack horse. I try to regularly switch who is the pack horse and who is the riding horse.  This helps the ware on their backs as the pack saddle and riding saddle put pressure on them in different places. The riding horse's load (me) moves with them. I have 30% of my weight in my stirrups and I'm shifting with his movements, rocking my hips back and forth with each step he takes, leaning forward up hills and leaning back down hills. The pack horse has dead weight. The pack saddle just sits there, doesn't move with him. Gus is a bit more mature and experienced, less likely to bug out so I try to pack him when going through a town or on side of a busy road. Troubadour was balking for a little while when wearing the pack. This is bad news. Balking means he stops moving and pulls back on the lead rope. I made the mistake of letting Troubadour win that argument twice. There was nothing wrong with the saddle and he had no sores he just decided he didn't want to do it anymore and fought me on it. I confirmed for him that he could get his way if he stubbornly refused to move by taking off his pack saddle. Bad Giddy! Next time I put the pack saddle on him I stayed in the argument until he understood I was making the rules and that he was the pack horse that day. The saddle was finally removed when he displayed cooperative behavior not when he was abalky little turd muffin. 
Saddling my pack horse still takes me a while. Lots of straps, heavy boxes, then a top pack with more straps and cords, banjo on top of that, tarp on top of that then throwing a box hitch over the whole bundle, applying bunjy chords and securing outer items like flexible bucket for quick access to get water. I'm trying to love it. I still hate it some. When its all done I do feel powerful and satisfied. Getting ready in the morning took me 4-5 hours at the beginning now it takes me 2-3. 
6:35am-6:45am : Get the bridle on the riding horse, double check equipment and hit the road.

Trying to train them to make out with each other.

6:45am-11:00am : We are moving forward. These early morning hours when the air is still cool and the horses are curious about what lays ahead are my favorite. None of us are exhausted or sweaty or hungry yet. We are happy traveling, hopeful the day will agree with us. We encounter lots of gates along the way. Some gates are well constructed with smooth hinges and easy latches. I can lean down from my horse, unlock, swing it open, pass the horses through and close it up without getting off my horse. This feels fantastic. Most of the time the gates are a bit sticky. Some bent pieces of barbed wire need finagling. When we encounter a new kind of gate the horses might be nervous to go through. The subtlest new element can give them pause. Might take 5 minutes to work through it slowly till they understand that the new shape of gate or fencing will not kill them. Sometimes one of them might be stubborn to move through a gate or between to large rocks and I'll get off the horse and drive him through the space. I'll put pressure on them from behind to encourage them forward. This seems to work infinitely better than pulling on the lead rope. Sometimes just walking behind them does the trick, other times I'll give the lead rope a friendly swing behind their bumb. They know that if the rope starts swinging and they don't get moving soon ill start tapping their bumb with it and that will get very annoying very quickly. 
Troubadour poops while moving. Gus thinks he needs to stop for poops, though he doesn't, but I'm a push over and often indulge him. If I feel he's stopping for lots of breaks and using tiny poops as an excuse I'll push him forward and ask him to poop while moving. Horses can only pee while stopped. They often pee at the same time. If I get off and start peeing and they both join me. I take this as a holy sign of connectivity. I do not try to poop with them while walking. 
If they begin to get distracted from the trail and start leaning down or fighting me to take snacks its a sign they are hungry. I make note of it, push em a bit further and when I find some decent grass give them a snack, but I make it my decision when that happens not theirs. Its been pretty sparse in this Southwest, but every now and then we'll come upon a good deposit and have a feasting break. Watching my horses eat green grass feels physically nourishing to me. If I'm hungry and we take a break to let them graze on some golden greenery my hunger often goes away. I am awash in relief watching my horses eat grass or drink water. 
In the morning hours I'll push em a bit harder knowing they've got their best energy and strength in the morning. If I do a good job keeping them focused they are able to keep themselves focused. If I'm mind wondering and letting them snack off the trail their distraction builds exponentially. Snacking on the trail can also be really dangerous. They get in a mindset looking for good bites they can swiftly grab while on the move. Their eyes go off what's in front of them and all they can see and think is food food. Maybe there's a complicated step through some big rocks, or an infinite precipice we are walking alongside, or lots of cactus to carefully move through. If they are thinking about that next bite they can steal its way more likely they might stumble through a most unfortunate moment. Same goes for my focus. Many times I've been paying close attention to riding, the terrain, the horses gate and attitude, the gear being situated correctly, the pack saddle remaining balanced and then I get in a daydream about clouds or the infinite notion of outer space, or bikini barbecues and instantly my horse stumbles or the pack horse bumps into a tree and blows up or a branch pokes me in the eye. Reality swiftly reaches out and says "WAKE UP! YOU ON A HORSE. WAKE UP!" My cowboy horseman host Doug recently said "There are riders and there are passengers. Things seldom go wrong when you are riding. It's when you're a passenger that it quickly falls apart." True words indeed. 
11:00am-11:30am : Snack time. I'll give the horses a brake to forage. A wild horse will graze 15-17 hours a day. I'll take the bridle off my riding horse so he doesn't have to hold the bit in his mouth while he eats. I might hobble one horse so I only have to hold on to one. I'll find a shady spot and rest my knees while I watch the fur friends chew. I'll look around where we are and survey the land for potential hazards. Those used to be large ominous holes in the ground, abandoned spools of ancient rusted razor wire, a blood thirsty panther foaming at the mouth, ya know big bad stuff. My dangerdar is now much more attuned and covers a much larger radius. I see a small stick on the ground and wonder if the angle its pointing could dagger a horse if he was to get stung by a bee on the snout and jump to the left as a reflex response. Could the hobbled horse wonder into a more dangerous spot nearby if he got extra curious? Are they going after the same patch of grass with an enthusiasm that could get them tangled to each other with their saddles and the various accouterment hanging off of them? These overtly cautious thoughts come more and more natural. Most of the time this type of practiced caution is unnecessary. Its the rare occasion that makes this mindset useful. 
11:30am-11:45am : Readjust the saddles. Make sure the bars are sitting just behind their shoulders. Swipe my hand beneath the saddle pad and make sure no bits of branch, leaves or twigs got stuck beneath the pad when we were bulldozing through the trees, look at their feet make sure no shoes have slipped, make sure no one is bleeding profusely, check the pack saddle so its balanced, even and forward we go. 
11:45am-1:45pm : We ride. Our energy atrophies in the heat. Things start to get sore. Our minds wonder more as we push through. The pack horse might stop more in the later hours. He might stop suggesting "I think now we stop? You know how sometimes we stop and you take all this shit off of our backs and we just eat and rest for the remainder of the day? How about now? Do we do that now?" and while I appreciate his sentiment I say no. We keep going and we do that thing you are talking about later. When we are done moving, but right now we move forward. 
1:45pm-2:00pm : I feel my riding horse slow down and then get a bit limpy. I wait to see if he just whacked his knee and it might pass in a moment, but the limp remains a few more steps and I hop off. I check his feet and find asignificant pebble stuck between his shoe and his frog (the main blood pumping element of his hoof). I dig it out with my hoof pick. I drop my lead rope and my pack horse wonders off down the trail. I call after him as I walk to catch up. I'm frustrated but I realize walking feels good. Maybe he knew I needed to walk for a bit and was helping me out. When I'm done walking I whistle and he turns around for a treat. I give them each a nugget of condensed grass that smells like berries and dish soap. They are thrilled, delighted and ask me for 30,000 more please with deep laryngal horse grumbles. I tell them I've got something even better! More riding! and we continue. 
2:00pm-4:00pm : We ride looking for a decent spot to camp. Most of our rides we try to move from water source to water source. Its ideal for horses to be able to drink in the morning, the evening and throughout the day if possible. Sometimes they go a night or a morning without water. I hate it, but its' inescapable. I try to find some flat ground for them, some spot with grass to eat or at least weeds to nibble. Sometimes our camp is nearish water and I'll spend some hours ferrying a 3 gallon bucket back and forth to get them their fill. We find camp.

Gus used to always stand up when I'd approach him lying down. Now he lets me get on the ground with him. This fills me with joy.

4:00pm-4:30pm : I take everything off the horses. Loosen the cinch on the riding saddle while I off-load the pack horse. I've always enjoyed quick sequences of actions one can do with their hands. One of my favorites is getting into a car.
1. Open car door, enter, close car door.
2. Seat belt. 
3. Radio.
4. Emergency brake.
5. Window down.
6. Shift into gear.
7. Drive! 
That boom boom boom feeling is splendid. I could do it with my eyes closed. Taking the saddles off feels similar now. It goes quickly and I feel the horses anticipation of relief and excitement to have a cool breeze on their sweaty tired backs. If it's chilly I'll leave the saddle pad on for a while so they slowly cool down and don't get a chill in their kidneys which is bad news. 
I do the dance for pack saddle removal
1. Remove the bunjee cords holding the flex bucket and hobbles on the pack. Put the cords in the bucket.
2. Undo the box hitch holding it all together walking back and forth side to side of the horse looping the top for safe keeping. Put the hitch rope with the flex bucket.
3. Remove the manty cover (water proof canvas) throw it on the ground where I'll throw everything else on top of it. 
4. Untie the blue parachute cord from the front and back of the banjo, coil them and remove the banjo before the horse can shrug sending the banjo plummeting to the ground (this happened once. Sad banjo sad Gid).
5. Remove the side straps from the top pack attached to the Paniers (hard packing boxes) hang ropes. 
6. Take the top pack down and place it on the manty cover.
7. Lift the pack boxes off of the pack saddle slowly making sure I don't pull my back out. 
8. Take note of how much the pack saddle has shifted during the ride. 
9. Unclasp the hooks on the straps from the britchen and the breast collar that attach to the O rings on the cinch.
10. In one swift movement pull the quick release packer ties on the cinch latigos to release. I always feel rather disappointed no one sees that move cause I do believe it would make me look cool. 
11. Pull out the loops and let the cinch fall.
12. Tuck the horses tail in the britchen while talking to him so he doesn't startle, kicking and kill me. Lift the straps up past the saddle hooks. Thank the horse for not kicking and killing. 
13. Undo the breast collar. Hook the hooks to each other. Swing it around the horses neck and across the pack saddle. 
14. Place the cinch on top of all the straps and wrap the latigos around the whole mess creating a nice stinky bundle of leather metal and plastic soaked in horse sweat and sunshine. 
15. Slide the saddle and pad off the horse hoping what I find underneath is happy hallelujah and not oh shit what have I done! 
16. Sigh relief finding a nice healthy sweaty horse back with no nasty rub spots or mysterious wounds from a little acorn that snuck under the pad and rubbed ahole in my friend through the day. Go over his body making sure there are no problem spots. Check under his belly. Check the contact points with the straps from the britchen on his legs, butt, chest and shoulders. 
17. Scratch his ears, thank him and move on to the riding horse. 
I do the riding saddle removal dance
1. Take off the bridle and hang it on the saddle horn. 
2. Undo the back cinch. 
3. Undo the main cinch and tie up the latigo nice and pretty style.
4. Undo the breast collar. Hook the hooks to each other. Reach around and hang the breast collar on the saddle horn. 
5. Walk around and hook the back cinch to the buckle of the main cinch and loop it to the thingy on the back of the saddle. Slide it all off with hope in my heart to find a healthy back. 
6. Brush down both the horses. 
7. Pick out their feet checking for pebbles and bruising. 

At one point while ascending Mt Lemmon, Troubadour decided he was not interested in moving unless I was walking. I'd get on Gus to lead him and he would not move. I tried everything I knew including asking him "Why Troubadour? Why is this the way you feel? What difference does it make to you whether you're following a man on ahorse or a man walking? Could you please be a different way?" He was not interested. Many hours of that day Troubadour would happily follow so long as I was walking behind Gus driving him forward with gentle encouragements. Gus was quite gassy that day. Perhaps that's what Troub wanted me to experience. Maybe they do have senses of humor.

I might high line the horses which is tying a rope between two trees and attaching both horses with their halters to a lead rope on a swivel so the can walk in a big circle and eat the grass on the ground for a while. I might highline one and hobble the other to give one more mobility and a chance to wonder while keeping an eye on him to make sure he dont wonder too far. Often these days I'm hoof picketing both horses to the base of some chaparral plant or the trunk of a tree. This is a long rope tied to just one ankle and gives them more mobility than a highline but less mobility than hobbling. They've gotten really good at not getting tangled up in their ropes. They walk carefully lifting their feet gingerly to not get caught. Occasionally they will get tangled. They give a little grumble, I come find them and undo the mess. There have been many moments where they are hung up in something and I'm grateful that they just wait patiently for help rather than freak out and make the problem worse. Recently Troubadour went to scratch his face on the pack saddle while it was rigged to Gus. A bungee cord got hooked to Troub's bridle. It was bad news. I freaked out which made him freak out more and the three of us danced around neighing and hollering while I tried to relieve the cord fearful it would snap and blind him. Just as I got my knife out it broke. We lucked out. Had I remained calm I imagine Troubadour would have patiently awaited my assistance. 
4:30pm-4:45pm : Water the horses. My flexible bucket carries 3 gallons. It has two small holes. At most the horses will drink 6 gallons each in one thirsty go. If I have to ferry water to them from the source this can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. If they are really really thirsty I will try to slow them down halfway through their drink so they don't explode their brains with water. I particularly enjoy the wiggling motion of their ears that occurs with each gulp. Every now and then I'll have to set up a water drop, giving a host or friend or stranger looking for a gig, gps coordinates to leave water. 
4:45pm-5:00pm: Feed the horses their high protein complete feed which looks like pelleted dog food. A 50lb bag costs about $23. Often I'll be carrying acomplete feed and packer pellets which is dried compressed alfalfa and grass mix. When passing through a town I'll load up on 80-100 pounds of feed for the horses. If there is little to no forage on the trail I will feed them 16 pounds a dayper horse split between the morning and evening, though I should give them athird of their portion mid day. If they get to graze for a couple hours in the day I can give them a smaller portion of the travel feed. As they quickly eat off 30+ pounds a day the pack horse is carrying less weight. I dig out the feed from the hard boxes. I have the feed separated into several dry bags in order to easily balance the pack boxes. I weigh out their portions using my packing scale and pour it into the lids of the packing boxes (their dinner trays). If we have access to water I'll often soak the feed so that the boys are absorbing as much moisture as possible in addition to drinking water. I add an ounce of electrolyte mix to the feed in the morning sand evening. Ive seen cowboys dumb gatorade by the gallon into water for the horses. Same thing. They eat their feed quite quickly snarfing it down dropping all kinds of bits and bobs onto the ground below. Once they're finished they'll spend about 30 minutes skurgling the fallen bits out of the dirt and sand. Once every month or two for a week I'll give them some psyllium mixed with their food which is a type of fiber form a plant that helps clean out sand that accumulates in their gut. 
5:00pm-5:15pm : Sit on the pack boxes and watch the horses. Sometimes this sitting and zoning out carries on for a while. It feels real good to do nothing. To just watch the horses. To reflect on another day complete and safe. Sometimes there is no time for this sitting and zoning and I am a lesser man without it. 
5:15pm-5:30pm : Break out the tiny stove and gas. Boil a couple cups of water in a few minutes and pour it into a foil sack of freeze dried food. This food choice is expensive but convenient. Chicken and Noodles reminds me of my mom, lasagna feels like a dinner of just sauce and the chicken teriyaki tastes like an idea of an idea of an idea of asian food. Eating on the trail thus far has been entirely utilitarian. Maybe some day soon I'll graduate to some dutch oven moves, but for the time being its just about getting some calories in me to keep going. My hunger on the trail has been less than I would have expected. Don't know why. I eat 1,000-2,000 calories a day which aint much considering what we are doing. I've lost about 20lbs but happy to keep loosing a bit of extra Gid so the poor horse dont have to carry it around. Some evenings I'm so beat and so eager to be horizontal I won't get around to dinner and I'll smush a cliff bar into my face hole. 
5:30-5:45: Brush out saddle pads to clean them of hair and sweat. A clean saddle pad helps keep the horses back healthy. Organize the gear best I can to minimize work in the early dark morning which is often quite cold but finally warming up. 
5:45pm:6:00pm : Set up the tent. I do the tent dance. Quickest I can do it now is about 15 minutes. I close the packing boxes. Place the riding saddle on top the boxes, the pack saddle on top the riding saddle, all the accoutrement on top of that and cover the pile with the manty cover to protect it from the morning frost and curious critters. I don't worry much about bears and animals smelling the food cause no one comes close due to the horses. I toss my saddle pads inside my tent for some extra cushioning, inflate my blow up sleeping pad which takes 30 large breaths or 55 quick breaths and lay my sleeping bag on top which I'm sure by this point smells like a fine potpourri of feet, manure, Gid and horse sweat, but to me it smells like the sweet potential of sleep. I remove my utility belt with my various tools placing each item in its special tent place. I change into a fleece onesie that my host from Cerillos Steve Gibbons (sea kayak builder, fire truck designer, luxury cadalac deliverer and motorcycle side car salesman) generously gifted me. I use my wool sweater as a base pillow, my wool jacket as a top pillow and my clothing dry sack as a pillow between my legs which helps my back. I charge my head lamp and my emergency gps unit with my solar charged battery and I lay down. 
6:00pm-8:00pm : I'll consider writing notes from the day, deep thoughts or astounding revelations, but the idea of removing any part of my body from the sleeping bag to engage any muscle group for any task seems impossible so instead I'll forgive myself for not writing. If I cannot forgive myself I'll just resign to being a failure in that moment remembering my favorite Becket quote "Fail, fail again, fail better." I might make a voice memo of notes into my phone. I'll consider taking my banjo out and writing my best songs yet, but thats as far as I'll get, the consideration. I allow myself to be exhausted and often fall immediately asleep. I wake in a while to brush my teeth and check the horses. They are standing sleeping resting happy to not be moving. Maybe one is a bit tangled up and I help him out. I take a piss under the stars deeply uncomfortable with the alleged infinity of space. 
8:00pm-12:00am: Sleep with lots of shifting side to side. I wake with strange noises. I wake to peek outside the tent and check on the horses. Every time I check on them and there is not a problem I am overcome with a warm feeling of relief. The minutes of sleep just after checking on the horses are always the sweetest and most peaceful. 
12:00am - 3:30am: Sleep with 1-2 tent exits to check on the horses. Often some small element of where a horse is tied up will feel completely fine to me till a tiny detail launches me out of the tent in the middle of the night. A tiny detail that I missed that could ruin the world. I check on them. I fix any big oversights. I tell them I love them. They ignore me having realized I'm not bringing them more food and continue their sleep standing or ground nibbling. 
3:30am-4:00am: My alarm clock goes off and I hit my 8 minute snooze button feeling if I can just have 8 more minutes I can do it! I can get up and get to work! In 8 minutes that impossibly unpleasant sound returns and I hit snooze again deeply ashamed with my defective will. This third 8 minute snooze creates just enough self disgust to take a breath and begin the day though it will feel like night for the next few hours as I bustle about in the cold sorting items, stuffing bags, pouring grains, and futzing bundles towards the grand goal of saddling up and beginning again. If we are moving at first light I feel powerful and enthused for all the hours to come. If it takes longer I flog my spirit with mind arrows for some time, then decide to be thrilled and delighted. 

Spent a couple nights with this sweet family off the Arizona Trail. Their 4 year old Zoljar wakes up every morning and puts his yellow hard hat on. The yellow hard hat does not come off until bed. This is every day for the last six months since he was given the hard hat and a hammer.

Their daughter Raya was enamored with the horses. Never met one before. 6 years old and she spent hours quietly being with them. She held Gus's lead rope while he ate, fed him treats and brushed his hair. When I let her ride on top of him for a while she was wearing a smile twice the size of her body. One of the great joys in this has been introducing some first timers to horses. It's a real privilege to be the conduit for that first time. They are big beautiful mysterious creatures, all the bigger when you're 6.