Two Poems: End of Riding Season

This is the last weekend of the horse riding season at Tahoe Donner Equestrian Center. Soon the horses will be taken to winter pastures.

Years ago, the Tahoe Donner Equestrian Center shared its facilities with the cross-country ski amenity; thus, the horses would be brought up in May and be taken back to the Central Valley pastures for winter. This last weekend in September marks the end of the season. Driving past the Center in to town for errands, one morning I saw the horses all gathered in the front corral. By the time I returned, they were all gone. It was like magic, like the faery folk had spirited them all away. The magic remained even stronger, though, when I participated in this seasonal farewell. The barn managers had organized the loading of all a couple dozen horses so well, it only took about an hour or so to load them into a semi truck's double-decker stock trailer. They would be taken to a huge pasture in the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada for the winter. One year, we loaded Abby with them and accompanied her to that pasture. What a sight to watch the herd gallop from the holding pen after inspection to the pasture. 

When the Horses Come and Go				        

They appear one day in spring					
to a corral barely dry of snow					
their arrival and departure					
frame an arc of seasons filled 
with aromas of dust, pinesap 
and green moldering earth.
We rake the paddocks clean
listen to the swallows fly
up and down the breezeway
the rhythmic chomp of molars 
grinding hay at sunset
eyes roll closed at end of rustic day
after day.
We watch every year as the Barn Rats grow
from cherubs to sleek young women
working through the ranks 
from pony attendant to guide.
My daughter casts me a sassy grin 
as she leads a line of tourists
toward Bear Meadows.
Her mare and I both lame and limping
sprinkles of grey turning us to roans
push ourselves around the pony trail.
Even though we can no longer follow
the trails across the mountain
we can still trace the rituals of summer. 
Full moons float in alpenglow 
four times before breezes chill and frost 
mane and wither. 
The morning of the horses’ leaving
announces Fall.
Despite the golden mantle upon the marsh
dark storms brood ready 
to cover the corral beyond the rail tops
the smells and sounds of summer buried.					
My daughter leaves for college,				    
My man leaves for a job in the city,					
I tend the fire and shovel snow						
watch the drifts wrap around the house		
press the seams of quilt squares
and pull another book from the shelf.

Abby waiting to be loaded onto the stock truck

Winter Haitus

Every year she fears where we’ll take her
a new place every winter
new people to feed her
this fall she’ll go with the dude string
quickly packed on the truck
she presses her head into the rump 
of the horse next to her
if she only knew she was headed 
for a sea of rich grass.

Unloaded, examined for cuts
the horses wait in the holding pen
milling, anxious, wary
she squeals with duress at each touch
of nose or flank 
at last the gate opens 
they bolt at full run
manes flying 
dirt clods spinning
she follows the confidence of the herd
down the road to whatever fate
as they spill and spread in the endless field
they soon become rounded  
islands among green waves
her head rises at our call 
then disappears below the verdant horizon.


These poems are from my poetry book, When the Horses Come and Go.
All photos by Sue Cauhape

If you enjoyed this post feel free to explore other poems, essays, and stories in the Ring Around the Basin Archive. I also love to read your comments, so please share your thoughts. Let’s start a conversation. And if you wish to support my writings, please consider subscribing or upgrading to a paid subscription. It’s now only $50/year.

All my books, Paradise Ridge, When the Horses Come and Go, and Ghost in the Forest are currently available on Kindle.

Ghost in the Forest, is available in paperback as well for ten bucks.

Book Review:

E.R. Flynn, Illustrator, Cartoonist, Storyteller and Creator of "Escape from Clowntown Comics" here on Substack.

"Ghost in The Forest" is a great read! Take note People. If you love stories about environmentalism and nature, its clash with urban mindsets, as well as personal transformation, this is the book for you!

"Ghost in The Forest" is a quick 126-page read. It's the story of Dori, a woman trapped in a mix of grief over parental loss and refusing to accept how her hometown and her friends have changed over the years. Because of this, Dori has become a recluse and a self-imposed misanthrope who finds more comfort amongst the hiking trails around her hometown of Morristown than in her dealings with the raw reality of other humans.

The book, in some ways, resembled Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” in that the story follows a protagonist's love of nature and angst about humans encroaching on it. In this case, it’s how Morristown is transforming into a mountain biking destination where cyclists run rampant on trails and nature.

However, a tragedy involving said mountain biking becomes a major pivot point for Dori, leading to a series of events that eventually bring about personal evolution and discovery.

If you're a nature lover, this book is a must-read. It beautifully portrays the clash between environmentalism and urban mindsets and the journey of personal transformation. The book's vivid descriptions of nature and the protagonist's love for it will surely intrigue you.

---

Paradise Ridge Review by western author D. B. Jackson:

If you draw circle roughly around an area that includes northern Nevada, southern Oregon, and southern Idaho, within that circle exists a culture and people who live a lifestyle largely untouched by modern values. These are the "buckaroos" and Basque characters author Sue Cauhape brings to life in her literary novel, "Paradise Ridge".

Leandro, the illegitimate seventh son of patriarch Xavier Arriaga and his mistress, Gisela, is at the center of this intriguing story that travels exceedingly successfully at both the personal level of the characters, as well as the compelling level where the story is told.

Cauhape writes in a literary style that reminds me of Annie Poulx. Paradise Ridge, on the surface, appears to be an upscale Western novel...once inside the pages, you will soon discover a potential classic waiting to be discovered.

I rated this book a 5...because that's all the stars there were.

Alas, Paradise Ridge is out of print. The Kindle version is a re-edited version of higher quality.