Training Day

Preparations are underway for Pat's first pack trip of the season. Since Shadow's illness will keep him home for the first time in ten years, Pat will need to rely on our young Tennessee Walker/Thoroughbred cross, Liam, who will make his maiden voyage with a six-day trip into the Scapegoat Wilderness Area. The trail begins at Elk Creek and will take the group of four men and 14 horses to the camping area known as Welcome Creek. From there the group will set up camp relieving the horses of their heavy loads that consist of clothing, tents, food, and a commercial kitchen. Then each day, the group of men and horses are free to enjoy trail rides traversing the wilderness, scaling mountains, stopping to fish, and returning back to camp each evening to enjoy a hot meal and spend a few hours chewing the fat under the spectacular night sky.


In the meantime, Pat has essentially 48 hours to ensure that Liam can handle the rigors of managing himself in the middle of a three-horse pack string as well as the plethora of challenges that await from stepping over logs to negotiating draw bridges across fast moving water.

After only a few hours, Liam shows himself worthy of the challenge. He wants so much to please Pat carving his place as one of the boys; it's very sweet to watch him blossom as he becomes the newest member of our herd.

On this day, just 24 hours before they hit the dusty trail, Liam will work his lessons a few more times reinforcing what he learned yesterday. Unfortunately for Shadow, he's sitting this one out, but one horse's misfortune becomes an other's opportunity, and this little guy has shown himself worthy. And in Pat's own words, "he's a dandy".
And so it is.