Stupid dog owners

On Thursday, we had a fifteen person ride for our two hour trail.  We had three guides (Carly, Sabrina and myself).  That makes eighteen horses in total.  We were about forty five minutes into the ride, when I moved up to go on the backguiding trail.  My horse (Rocky) stepped on a log, and then he spooked, hopping, spinning, crowhopping.  I looked to the right and saw that the other horses were doing it as well.  Some were even fully rearing.  I thought "I am in big trouble for spooking all these horses"  Then movement on my left caught my attention.  There was an elk running towards us.  And there was a big husky standind there with his tongue hanging out.  As soon as he saw the horses, he ran back into the woods.  So, what happened?  The owner let his dog off leash (illegal in a national park), and the dog chased the elk right into the middle of our ride.  Thankfully only one little girl fell off, she was fine, and all fifteen guests got back on and finished the ride.  We radioed in to the stables, and she called security on the dog (this is not the first time we have seen the husky).  Security called Parks, and they came down just as we were starting the trail again.  I told him what happened, and they are on the lookout for the dog and owner.  Carly said that she saw the owner come and leash the dog, and walk away, not even caring what just happened.  The moral of this story is to keep your dog on a leash when there are wild animals, other people, and horses in the area.  

On another note, I had to ride a different horse yesterday (Friday) as Rocky was taken to the back country because they needed more horses.  They had a bunch of guests riding in , so they took Baldy, Redeye, and Rocky.  I rode Copper, who is an okay horse to ride, but has no ground manners.  he breaks ropes, spooks at everything...

Today is my day off, so I went to church, did my laundry, and am now going to watch a movie.

Edmonton

Today, Sabrina and I went to Edmonton.  We got up at 05:40 and were on the road at 06:00.  It was a fun day.  I bought the Rambo Complete Collector`s set (with the new one and special features).  I bought a Monty Roberts book, and a halter for my horse here (The halters at work keep breaking (some of the horses are spazzy) and Rocky`s halter does not fit properly, so Sabrina and I both bought our horses new halter (she got green, I got red).  On the way back, we were laughing so hard that I was crying and I could not breathe.  We were making silly comments, and talking about horse names (Dave is naming his foals from this year, and they have to start with U (Canadian Horse Breed).  We came up with the silliest names.  I am now going to watch a movie and go to bed.  I am very tired (Last night, one of the girls in the cabin started screaming, and crying at the top of her lungs (at 01:30)  It was very annoying.  She was drunk, and apparently homesick.  Thats it, Bye

Black Bear

This time I did see a bear!  Jamie and I were on the evening ride tonight, and we saw mule deer, elk, coyotes, and a bear.  We were about halfway done, when my horse Rocky pricked his ears up, and stopped, Jamie came up on Chank (Canadian Hank, shortened to Chank).  I managed to get Rocky going, and I was just saying that there had to be something as all the horses were paying attention, and one of the guests said..."there is a bear"  There was a black bear about twenty feet away, on a hill.  It looked like a young one.  It just watched us, and the horses watched it.  I have seen bears before, so it was not that big of a deal for me, but Jamie was excited (she is from Australia).  Then after all that we had seen, we did not get a tip at all!!  And they were from the U.S  (Usually they tip more).  Gas prices are definately affecting tips this year.  

Bear

No, I did not see a bear.  Tonight, Sabrina came running into the cabin, calling my name.  I came out of the bathroom , and she said, put on shoes we need to go to the stables right now.  I put on sneakers, and Alex caught up with us.  She told us that we were going because there had been a bear sighting by the barn, and the wardens were coming to tranq it.  The tranq gun sounds really loud, like a real gun, so we had to be there in case the horses freaked (broke the fence and got loose).  We ran over, and talked to the wardens, and they went into the woods to look for it.  We waited about twenty minutes, and nothing happened, so we left.  As of now (fourty minutes later) there still has not been a shot.  We think that this is the same bear that has been spooking Lex, and causing him to throw guests.  

P.S  Today was a easy and relaxing day.  I slept in, did my laundry, watched a movie, had a nap...I have to work tommorow though, as I traded with Maria so she could have three days off and go to Edmonton with her family.

Friday

Today Brad and I were the guides on the 10:30 ride.  He was in the front, and I was in the back.  We had barely gotten to the end of the white fence, and one of the horses started to freak out.  He was full out bucking, his head down, spinning, leaping.  The woman managed to stay on for most of it, then fell off.  Lex (the horse) took off.  I turned around to see that Rocket was running towards the grass in the same direction as Lex.  I jumped off Rocky, radioed the barn, asked the women who were off if they were okay, then caught the horses.  Sabrina and Carly came up to help.  Carly held Rocky, Rambo, Sally and Rocket (Lex was by now tied to a tree).  Sabrina and I talked with the women.  Two of them had jumped off, and the one on Lex, had of course been thrown.  The one on Lex got on Sally to finish the ride, and the one on Rocket decided not to finish the ride.  The rest of the ride went well, and we even got ten dollars tip each.  Lex is now going to the backcountry, as this was the second time in two weeks that he threw someone.  We think he smelled a bear that has been running around the area both times.  All in all, it was an exciting day.  

Rainy

Today was a fun day.  It rained almost all day.  It started after Sabrina and I came back from the hour and a half ride.  We were glad that we had missed it.  About ten minutes after we got back, there was a radio call from Carly and Maria's ride.  One of the horses had spooked and someone had fallen off.  Sabrina went out on Hayes to where they were while Ange (photographer) and I went in her truck so we could drive the person back.  When we got there, neither the woman nor her husband wanted to continue.  They went back in the truck, I jumped on Lex, and Sabrina jumped on Lefty and ponied (led behind her) Hayes.  When we got back, we were soaking wet.  We had a half hour lunch, then came back.  There were two people booked for the one thirty ride so I volunteered to take them.  It rained the whole ride, but they were fun, and said they were glad that they came.  Dave came back from the back country lodge, and since it was raining, said two of us could go home.  Sabrina wanted to go, and suggested that I go as well, as I was soaked.  So now I am back.  I am going to Hinton tonight, as I needed to buy some underwear and socks, and was going to go on my day off, but Maria has Fri/Sat off (she was going to her sisters in Edson), so she said she would help pay for gas if I could drop her off (half way), so I figured why not.  Then Carly and Jamie said they would come to, so that helps for gas.  I am off to watch Sharpe's Challenge now.

Work

Today was my first day back at work here in Jasper.  It was a lot of fun.  The guys seem pretty cool to work with.  I went on the hour and a half ride with Sabrina, and we made ten dollars each in tips.  I rode Rocky (I think he is going to be my guide horse again).  I remembered the trail, and I remember all the horses.  After lunch, I was on the two o'clock, two hour ride.  There was supposed to be twenty one people, so we were going to to do it in two groups.  The first group was thirteen (three diff families from Scotland, they all came over to Canada together to vacation).  So we went, me in the lead, Maria in the middle and Eric at the end.  Brad's ride caught up with us, as only two other people showed up.  It was a pretty good ride, the kids from Scotland were so cute, and they kept me talking for the whole two hours.  Then when work was done, I came back to my room and watched Sharpe's Mission, then went to the bank to cash a cheque (that finally arrived).  Sabrina and Jamie came with me as they needed to go to their banks.  I came back, finished Sharpes Mission, wrote this blog and am now going to bed.  Good night

Jasper

I have been in Jasper since Monday, but have not had the internet.  The weather has been great for us, hot but not too hot, rainy at night, clear skies.  We got here Monday night, went to Hinton on Tuesday, then Jasper.  Today we were planning on going to B.C, but the road was closed due to a mudslide.  So we went back, and I took them riding (we were planning on riding on thursday).  I got Rocky, Tori got Sox, and Natasha got Ace.  We did the hour and fifteen minute ride.  Natasha got on pretty well (due to her knee, we thought it would be harder.)  We went to the hot springs after that.  It was very helpful, and Natasha said that her leg felt better.  I was the only one out of the three of us that actually went in the cold pool.  We did not last very long in the very hot pool, but the warm pool was nice.  We all felt like pudding after a while.  When we were done there, we went to the Bean (staff cafeteria) and had supper for $2.50.  We then went to the movie theatre and saw Kung Fu Panda, it was pretty funny.  The movies here are $8 an adult, $6 youth (Tori passes for one).  The snacks are $4 for a large popcorn, so Tori can get a movie and a snack for what a ticket costs back home.  We might be going to watch Karoke tonight with Sabrina (my roommate).  We are going to try B.C tommorow, and hopefully we can get through.