Our Birthday at Coyote Canyon!

Since we started planning this trip at the beginning of the year, we knew that one of the things we wanted to do was to go horseback riding.  Or at least some of us wanted to go horseback riding, and others were willing to go along with it at the risk of permanent disability.  We decided to make it the big birthday event since it’s one of the more expensive activities on the itinerary (although at this point I feel like I’m spending money like a drunken sailor so I just keep reminding myself that you can’t take it with you).  We really loved our pyramid trip with Albert Coffee, and he recommended his business partner Rodrigo for a horseback riding trip, so we checked out the options on the Coyote Canyon website and decided to do a modified half-day adventure.

Our birthday started with a great breakfast prepared by Elizabeth and Aliya – eggs, turkey bacon, watermelon, and donuts from la panaderia, complete with a paper banner to decorate.  Then Rodrigo picked us up (at Starbucks again) at 9 a.m., along with a grandfather and grandson.  I felt a bit sorry for them to have to hang out with the Noisies for the day but they were very patient.  Rodrigo also brought along his daughter Monique, who is close to Aliya’s age.  The girls loved her.  We drove out to the ranch, which is right next to the pyramid.  Aliya had milking a cow on her bucket list (do 11YO’s make bucket lists?) so our first stop was the cow pen.  A few of the calves had been separated from their mothers overnight, and the ranchers let them out one at a time to get their mother’s milk flowing.  Each of us had several turns at milking with the help of some of the ranchers who probably had more fun watching the gringos try to milk cows than we had doing the actual milking.  I think they got sprayed a few times.  Ultimately we were all successful, although considering my breastfeeding experience I don’t think it’s much of a challenge to milk a cow after her calf got her started.

The girls had their first outhouse experience:

After signing our liability waivers (insurance was included for free – red alert!), Rodrigo gave us a lot of instructions on how to ride the horses.  Hannah is the only rider with experience – the rest of us have had a combination of pony rides, those mechanical horsie rides that the grocery stores used to have out in front, and a couple of trail rides.  We had to place all of our trust in Rodrigo and the cowboys who accompanied us, especially since we were headed down a steep trail into the canyon, up (and through!) the river, and then back up another steep canyon trail.  He told us that in over 8,000 riders only 35 people had fallen off…so either our odds were good or they were overdue for an accident.

Rodrigo giving instructions, Chato and Adlani listening intently:

The cowboys had all of the horses saddled up, and picked out one for each of us.  Adlani’s was small but perfect for him – he turned out to be a total natural.  I don’t know if was because he hasn’t developed any fear yet or if he was a cowboy in a past life, but he did really well.  Rodrigo even recommended that he do a 2-week internship as a cowboy’s right-hand man.  As we were heading out, 2 dogs got into a little tiff and ended up under Adlani’s horse, and he stayed on and didn’t freak out.  Norah was very unsure about the whole thing, and started out with a cowboy leading her horse.  She was strapped into the saddle, so there wasn’t much that could wrong short of her horse toppling off the canyon wall, but she was really nervous.  When we reached the bottom of the canyon Rodrigo convinced her that she didn’t need the cowboy, and she rode back up on her own.

Norah at the beginning:

And at the end:

The ride down into the canyon was a little scary but the horses were very sure-footed, and Monique explained to the girls that since horses have 4 legs they can easily recover if they slip.  We all hung our hats on that and it was also comforting that Rodrigo was riding all around us back and forth up off the trail, sometimes in much steeper areas, and his horse had no problem.  We had 4 or 5 cowboys with us plus Monique and Rodrigo.  What could go wrong?

Rodrigo keeping an eye on things:

There were a few opportunities to gallop when it was safe, and Adlani galloped every time.  Rodrigo took a great video of him, which we will have in a few days, along with a ton of photos.  We’re so happy to have Rodrigo’s photos since all of mine are of the butts of the horses in front of me.

When we got to the bottom of the canyon we got off the horses (ouch) and walked along (or in) the river looking for quartz and geodes.  The kids LOVED it, and brought home a TON (literally) of rocks.  The cowboys carried them home for us so they definitely earned their tip.  Norah found a really cool rock which was formed by cooling lava.  She wrapped it up and gave it to me for my birthday.

I was more comfortable going up the canyon than down, but some members of our party preferred the downward trail.  Maybe I was just more comfortable with the horse or my meds had fully kicked in.  (:  Once we got to the top the horses knew that there were only 9 gringos standing between them and lunch, so they got a little excited.  Mine didn’t like the look of one of the cowboys’ horses and tried to give him a bite.  I think he also got a bug up his nose because there was a lot of snorting and head-shaking for a while.  But we made it back without incident, and had a fabulous lunch of quesadillas, fresh cheese made that morning, guacamole, breaded and fried peppers stuffed with cheese, rice, veggies, and potatoes with scrambled eggs – all so delicious.

Then Rodrigo drove a very tired band of bow-legged city slickers back to town and we limped home.  My UP band said I walked over 17,000 steps yesterday.  I know most of it was on horseback but it was hard work just staying in the saddle, so I have no problem claiming those steps as my own.

I will post more photos once I have the ones from Rodrigo.