Arrival in Farmington

I arrived at the Cumberworth's Stable just on the outskirts of Farmington, New Mexico on Wednesday evening.  Got Buddy settled in a pen next to a mare who fell in love and a gelding who wasn't happy, the mare had a new boyfriend.  The pen had a tree in the center of it and the tree was home to 5 or 6 Guinea chickens, I asked if I had to pay extra for the "guinea training", Cristy said no.   The guineas would fly in and out of the tree in the evening and morning.. No better thing to do to help a horse  learn to not spook at moving birds.

Judy, (Cristy's Mom), Cristy and I went out for dinner at a local Brew pub.  First one in Farmington to be exact.  They had a really tasty Peach Beer and the other beer was pretty good too.

Thursday morning I decided that not only was I smelling antifreeze, the coolant level was way low and I looked and could see it drip down on my front axle..  Well, time to do something with this.  I decided to take my truck to the Ford Dealer for repair hoping it was just a leak somewhere.  I had to run errands first, get some groceries, get feed and hay.  I was finally running out of hay for Buddy. He had taken quite awhile to eat 6 bales of my hay.  The slow feeder Nancy Mitts made for him really helped slow down his eating.

So I called the dealership,  I explained I was from out of town, traveling  with a horse and a trailer and found  a coolant leak.  The gentleman's first question, do you have  a place for you and your horse to stay? Well, bring it over and our shuttle will take you back.  They also said they would come pick me up.  They also had a second shift of employees so if they couldn't get to it today they will work on it in the evening. Wow!

So an hour or so later, it's the water pump and they need to replace the serpentine belt since it had fluid all over it.  OK.. fix the darn thing.. A couple hrs later.. even before 5pm, it's done, the shuttle guy comes to get me, I pull out a credit card and off I go.  Repaired truck and all.

Thursday evening, fellow competitors start coming into camp.  I'm asked to go out to dinner with a fun bunch and we go have Mexican  food. So far I'm liking this local cuisine thing.   I have fun meeting everyone and people are really curious about my trip.

Friday. I get ready for the ride.  I think I should preride, but it's so windy and  to get to the trail, I have to go under a road in a huge culvert and I just am not sure if Buddy will have a meltdown.  So I just stick around and don't ride.  Turns out it wasn't a bad decision.  Go to ride briefing and right after  they have a gathering to eat "junk food " and drinks. Now that's a fun idea.  Got to meet some more people and talk to their "first time competitor"  Then to bed and wonder what the next day will bring.  I decided to enter the OPEN  class which means that Buddy will have to go a bit farther and pick up the speed a bit..   We'll see how that goes.

By the way.. I think the fish might need to be fed, please go to the right hand side of the page and feed them.
Click your cursor on the water to deliver the fish food.  The fish thank you..