3/21/05: King Ranch Trail Ride

What an exhilarating weekend! My friend Rick and I loaded our horses Rio and June Bug and left for the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas at 3PM on Friday. We arrived at the King Ranch at about 8PM that night and after checking in, having them look over our horse coggins, and branding our horses with the "Running W" brand in white paint, we set up our portable stalls, fed and watered our horses and tried to get some rest for the big day ahead. Rick has a nice 4 horse trailer with living quarters and generator so we had wonderful bedding accommodations along with hot showers and air conditioning if we wanted it. Rick's friend David also arrived that evening with two of his own horses.

At 6AM on Saturday David woke us up and we checked on our animals. As I watered and fed June Bug, I got my first glimpse of the huge field we were camping in. Trailers were still coming in and people were milling around caring for their horses. The air was full of whinnying and horse calls and the temperature was perfect with a good breeze going. We had coffee and talked some while the horses ate.

At 7:30 AM I began to brush June Bug and start getting things together for our 8AM trail ride. I had cleaned her up real nice the day before in Rosharon so my work was mostly done. I saddled her up, got my rain gear together, put on the saddle bags carrying my water and camera, double checked everything, triple checked everything, and climbed into the saddle. With a few minutes remaining before the ride started, Rick, David, and I rode up to the feeding house and posed for pictures with the huge King Ranch Running W brand that was painted on a small silo behind the house.

We then heard the bullhorn and rode over to were people were gathering around the trail boss. After a brief lecture about safety and rules, we fell into line and set out across the King Ranch on horseback.

The horses were as diverse as the riders. Some rode Western, some rode English. There were two miniature horses pulling small carts with seats and there were cow horses, halter horses, arabians, and many others. The trail ride was supposed to be around 12 miles or so and we would get back to our camping area around lunch time. I have spent a fair amount of time in my life hiking and camping in the outdoors - not car camping but high adventure camping and hiking. Looking around at the people on this ride, I believed that some of them really had no clue about what they were in for on this ride - that is, sitting in a saddle for 12 miles (4 hours). Some saddles were loaded down with stuff and some, as our friend David pointed out, were not even saddled correctly - the saddle was not squarely on the pad with parts touching the horse. The King Ranch was very accommodating and provided a "potty trailer", a tram trailer, and a horse trailer on the ride. The idea was that people who grew tired on the ride (or incapacitated in some way) could load their horse in the horse trailer and ride the rest of the way on the tram trailer. some people who did not even have horses just rode on the tram trailer the entire way. All trailers were pulled by trucks.

The trails were nice and wide and the scenery was pristine. we saw lots of rolling pasture with green lush grasses dotted by the occasional cow, deer, and even a coyote. Along one stretch of the ride, along the King Ranch dam, we saw probably 50 to 75 alligators of various sizes. Every hour or so we would stop for a 10 minute break and I talked to many people about their horses, riding technique, and collected a few compliments on June Bug. at the recommendation of my trainer, I dropped the reins down for the entire ride and let June Bug get comfortable. after the first 2 hours, there were already three horses in the horse trailer. About 150 people were on the ride - not bad. I met some really interesting people on the ride and gathered a few email addresses. I also took many pictures along the way that will surely end up on the web site.

We got back to camp around 12:30 PM and made a run to the grub commissary where they were serving a beef stew, rice, beans, and bread meal. the fresh baked bread was especially good. we sat down with some of the other trail rider and talked about the ride. we found out that the evening ride was supposed to start around 4:30 PM. I listened to the weather report on my portable ham radio and figured that the evening ride was going to be very different.

At about 3:30 PM I began to notice a slight drizzle. the clouds had moved in and the temperature was noticeably cooler. I saw thunderheads in the distance but wasn't sure if they would reach us. The weather report had announced severe weather in surrounding areas but made no mention on Kingsville. Again we saddled our horses and got prepared for the evening ride. We soon heard the bullhorn and met up with the trail boss - this time we had about 30 riders. The clouds moved in but the rain held off and we had a nice 4.4 mile ride (according to my GPS). The highlight of the ride was our brief stop at the graves of the famous horses of the King Ranch - some thoroughbred, some quarter horse. The graves of Mr San Peppy, Hired Hand, Assault, and Old Sorrel were all there. It was surreal.

We returned to camp and fed and watered our horses - I could tell June Bug was happy to have the saddle off of her back. Perhaps as happy as I was to not be sitting in it. Rick cooked a nice rib eye and t-bone with baked potatoes - David left for bed soon after. Rick and I walked around the place and visited with some of the other riders for a while. We went to bed a few hours later and slept well.

Sunday morning we were all up by 6AM though I would have liked to have slept in. First order of business, feed and water the horses - while doing so I noticed many people moving out. Apparently they were done riding - we were not. The morning trail ride again fired off at 8AM.

Thirty minutes into the ride, things went wrong. Some cows and calves on the trail spooked one of the miniature horses pulling a cart. I was in the front of the line and the cart was in the back. Next thing I know, people are yelling to get out of the way. The miniature horse that had spooked was running at full speed and had thrown all riders from the cart. Cart and horse were now barrelling through the trail ride line of horses. People were scrambling to get out of the way. One woman had her horse throw her when the cart got close, some people were trying to stop it. I tried to divert the horse towards a fence line corner but he cut the other way. soon after the cart got caught on a tree and the horse ripped away almost doubling his speed. Rick, Dave, and I (and a Navy pilot we met on the ride) went to head him off. I knew I was in unfamiliar terrain on a horse that I was wanting to "bring down (slow down) so I did not take chase but rather, trotted to a cutoff point where I though I might be of help when the horse was corralled a little tighter. Dave joined me - Rick took chase from behind. I spoke to Dave about how Rick might get lost on the huge expanse of the King Ranch while chasing this horse, a modern day Alice in Wonderland. We watched as the horse careened over cactus and mesquite. Soon the horse and his pursuers were out of sight. We checked on the woman who was thrown from her horse and surveyed the cart damage. She would be okay - the cart was loaded into the back of one of the pickup trucks.

With all the excitement, the ride ended early and we headed back to camp. Rick and the cart pulling horse were there as he had chased him back to camp - we suspected as much. We compared our accounts of what had happened and then packed up our camp.

On our trek home we stopped by a ranch owned Mr. Bowers. He raises King Ranch bloodline horses and often leases horses to the King Ranch for bloodline diversity. He gave us a first-rate tour after which we began our trip home to Rosharon. We soon found that Rosharon had been in the line of the severe weather. Very high winds along with one and a half inches of rain in less than an hour. What a great weekend...

3/15/05: Baby Goat Pics

Looks like both of our new baby goats are going to make it - at first we were worried because the mother would not let them feed. They are getting fatter and more active everyday - here are some pics as promised...

3/10/05: Goat Kids Born

Heather and I were pleasantly surprised to come home and find two healthy goat kids on Wednesday - a boy and a girl. Both are healthy and have been relocated (with their mother) to our kidding pen.

3/7/05: Horse Training and 6th Annual Turley Ranch Crawfish Boil

Every year we invite friends out for a crawfish boil of epic proportions and take people on a tour of the ranch. This year the event will be held on Saturday April 30th. If you frequent this site and have always wanted to visit, this would be a great time to come out. Send me an email at: turleyranch@gmail.com

Each Sunday, I select two horses to take over to D-talk Ranch and train. It is good for me to get additional outside training and good for the horses (who [I think] know where they are going). Anytime I trailer a horse anywhere, I groom them and try to make them look good since I feel that our horses represent our ranch. Here are some pics of Cito in his Sunday morning regimen.