Best of America on Horseback!

Tom interviews the pair from WA Dept. of Natural Resources

What a Fun day!  When I heard that Tom Seay & his crew from Best of America on Horseback were coming to Butlerhill Equestrian to film an upcoming show for RFD-TV, I just HAD to sign-up for the ride!

The day dawned cool, gray & overcast - actually pretty typical weather for Western, WA - but not during August!   Driving up to Burlington - I ran through a pretty good little rain storm outside Mt. Vernon.  I'd been told that the ride would go on rain or shine & was at least hoping for dry!  We all met-up at the stable then headed out for the trail-head.  Lots of riders - about 18 & lots of rigs too.

Let the unloading begin!

Cindi Pendel, owner of Butlerhill had done her usual amazing job of matching horses & riders.  Some - including myself - brought their personal mounts - but others had opted to ride horses provided by Butlerhill. 

We're mounted up & ready to hit the trail!

Everyone was taking photos of everyone else!  It's the age of smartphone cameras!  :-)  Tom & his crew were so gracious in allowing all these amateur photos - unusual in the professional world of TV.  Our travel orders were given by head wrangler Patrick & no one objected.  They were intended for everyone's safety.  Farah seemed to know that this would be no ordinary ride for her.  With only a few bucks on the downhill descents she settled in - giving Lee's beautiful 17 hand sorrel as much grief as he would bear from behind!  :-)  It was so hard to get photos - the pace set was good for all the horses & we didn't have to make as many stops as I'd imagined for the crew to ride out ahead of us & get set-up for filming.  I did take the short video below.

 Our group was so very l o n g - that it was difficult to make conversation with anyone but the riders near you.  I did mention some of the native plants & noted the springboard marks on the old Cedars.  It was a shame in a way that it's been so dry, as all the little beautiful waterfalls were down to a trickle.  We had a lunch break at the small dry camp near the lake.  Now Checkers knows that I'm the Cookie lady too!  As usual Mark was riding bridle-less & when I opened my zip-lock of trail mix, I suddenly had a new Best friend in Checkers!  :-)  (Farah did remember Checkers too - after that snarl that he'd given her earlier this year :-)

Forgot to turn the GPS on for a little way at the start~

Of course, anytime you get the opportunity to hang around with Bill Richey - you'll get plenty of laughs!  Bill's dry, New Yorkers sense of humor is never wasted on me!  :-)  We tossed a few quips each others way during the ride when one or the other of us would appear around a corner of the trail :-)

The "Cowgirl" & the "Cop" - PD too!

No speeding ticket for us!  We talked our way out of it!  Once we were on the gravel road & almost back to the trailers, I let Farah walk & walk she did - quickly finding her way to the front, we passed Patrick at a 5.1 mph - her fastest to date!

Tom surprised me back at the trailers, when just after I'd taken my helmet off - he interviewed me!  We'll see if it makes the final cut - when the show airs, I believe in November.  (Farah stuck her head in on the first take - so we had to do a second :-)

Everyone involved with the show could not have been nicer - it made me want to go & visit some of the amazing places that Tom told us about - so much fun listening to just the stories we had time for!  He asked what my bucket list ride was - my response -  Yosemite!  He replied;  "Just Do it!"  Good advice from a man who does just that!