Amarillo By Morning -- Woman rides horse 1,300 miles, for a job.

[Lord of Mirrors]

Click here for the column, amazing story in the Amarillo Globe. (http://www.amarillo.com/stories/070809/new_13910885.shtml)

In early February - out of a job, out of her house, out of answers, some would say out of her mind - she left the south central Florida town of Arcadia. This 44-year-old cowgirl took with her all she had.

They were her two horses, Tonto and Jay. A tent, a bundle of winter and summer clothes, a few odds and ends, a $100 bill, a map, and later, a cell phone that she was talked into getting.

She left for Amarillo. Not in a truck pulling a trailer, but on horseback. She rode atop Jay, a 5-year-old mare. Tonto carried her worldly goods. She took it, as she said, one day - one lonely, rough, unpredictable day - at a time.

Nearly five months and 1,300 miles later, she arrived. Through cold and heat, through a tornado, through the kindness and harassment of strangers, through the death of her beloved Jay, through a refractured back from an ornery bull, a dislocated shoulder, dehydration and a kidney infection, through the loss of 22 pounds, Byrne made it.

And still doesn't have a job.

[snagswolf]

through the death of her beloved Jay
In the long run, wouldn't it have been better to sell Jay and use the money to take a bus?

Better for Jay, at least.

[ScottFree]

In the long run, wouldn't it have been better to sell Jay and use the money to take a bus?

Better for Jay, at least.


From the sounds of it, what she would have gotten for ol' Jay would have only gotten her as far as Pensacola by bus.

[RogerDodger]

Poor Jay.

[snagswolf]

From the sounds of it, what she would have gotten for ol' Jay would have only gotten her as far as Pensacola by bus.
Bus fare from Florida to Texas is under $200. Are you saying a 5-year-old mare would sell for less than that?

[gwhughes]

Why didn't she just flip burgers? Valiant effort though.

[ScottFree]

Bus fare from Florida to Texas is under $200. Are you saying a 5-year-old mare would sell for less than that?

On today's market? Quite possibly. Right now there are a lot of people with horses they can't afford to feed, and not enough buyers out there who can.
I was in that boat. In the past 18 months, I have given away two horses to people with the means, just to reduce my feed bill, and to ensure the horses survival. one of them was the one you see me sitting on in my avatar.

[Lord of Mirrors]

She wasn't interested in selling her horse, and wasn't interested in rides, according to the column.

She just lit out like the pioneers, heading West. For a better life. And she definitely found it -- there's really not any better place to live on Earth than right here on the Llano Estacado.

But please, don't tell anyone that.

[gwhughes]

Read the rest of the article, good for her. Hope she gets a ranch job and lives our the rest of her days working her ass off doing what she loves.

[gdoane]

I don't get something.

5 months at 30 days per month is 150 days.

1,300 miles in 150 days is less than 9 miles per day.

That's pathetic. I can go further in an hour on my mountain bike than she can go in a day on horseback?

If a horse can't do 50 miles per day (6 MPH for 8 hours more or less) then something is lacking, like water, food, or sufficient resting. The trip, realistically, should have taken less than a single month, not five of them.

[gwhughes]

I'd venture to guess she was looking for work all along the way and not just trying to make good time.

[gdoane]

I'd venture to guess she was looking for work all along the way and not just trying to make good time.

I'd venture to guess that if I showed up for job interviews after a month on a horse ride I'd still be looking for work too.

I think I'd have called ahead. The article said she had a cell phone.

[Lord of Mirrors]

I don't get something.

5 months at 30 days per month is 150 days.

1,300 miles in 150 days is less than 9 miles per day.

That's pathetic. I can go further in an hour on my mountain bike than she can go in a day on horseback?

If a horse can't do 50 miles per day (6 MPH for 8 hours more or less) then something is lacking, like water, food, or sufficient resting. The trip, realistically, should have taken less than a single month, not five of them.She was laid up in the hospital twice during the trip.

I can well imagine this feat would have been a heck of alot easier and faster without highways, developments, fences, and all the stuff we have today, that didn't exist back in the old West. Back then, this trip is probably 14 days tops.

[ScottFree]

I don't get something.

5 months at 30 days per month is 150 days.

1,300 miles in 150 days is less than 9 miles per day.

That's pathetic. I can go further in an hour on my mountain bike than she can go in a day on horseback?

If a horse can't do 50 miles per day (6 MPH for 8 hours more or less) then something is lacking, like water, food, or sufficient resting. The trip, realistically, should have taken less than a single month, not five of them.


Have you ever spent more than 4 hours in the saddle on any horse? And not the kind you plug in, either. If not, you should try it sometime. It is a lot different than riding your mountain bike. 9 to 11 miles/day is about average for horses and their riders in full pack at a walk. Horses will move at roughly 4 mph at that gait. When you factor in potty breaks and meals, and stretches for the rider, you can figure that in a 10 hour day, that rider was off that horse once every 2 hours for anywhere from 5 mins to an hour. Most riders will only break from a walk to a trot (8mph) or a canter (13 mph) for short spurts, usually when maneuvering up a hill, and only because the horse feels more comfortable doing that. So why walk, you ask? The reason for this is that trots and canters, although faster than walks, are somewhat uncomfortable to the rider. lots of up and down, jerky movement. It's simply not sustainable for long periods. Also one must consider the terrain and how the horse is shod. Concrete? Black top? Stones? Back country? Is it raining? Is the horse in shoes? Barefoot? many of these conditions can be hard on a horse outside a walk. Not to mention dangerous for both horse and rider. Now, one could break into a full gallop (27 MPH), which most horses that are in shape love, and is much more comfortable for the rider than a trot or canter. but after the first couple miles, the horse starts to get tired, and by mile 10, if they are not dead yet, they are definitely ready to lay down.
ETA: Not to mention that a full gallop is the most dangerous for horse and rider. Just hink potholes, slippery and greasy roads, traffic, back country prarie dog holes, etc...

The Pony express ran their horses at full gallop always, but remember, the pony express had over 400 horses which were rotated out every 10 miles. The riders weight did not exceed 125 lbs, and they were only allowed to carry a total of 40 lbs of gear, water, food, and mail. Again, once that 10 miles were done, so was the horse for the day. The rider got a fresh horse and continued on. ETA: Lots of horses died in their service to the PE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_gait

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express

[ScottFree]

I should add.... Or concede, this woman may well have been able to cover 20 miles a day, if all she wanted to do was get to Amarillo quickly. (who knows, she may well have covered that much ground on many days during her trip.) But as has been pointed out, the Odyssey in which she embarked, provider her several adventures which obviously conflicted with getting to her destination quickly. Then again, I do not remember reading anywhere that she had a set itinerary. Maybe she simply a believer in the adage, "Life's a journey, not a destination."

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

She was laid up in the hospital twice during the trip.


What? No one asking who paid her bills?

It's a cool story. Whether she gets a job at a ranch doesn't matter. She's going to be set for life. Book, movie, TV appearances, etc.

[curtis123]

Bus fare from Florida to Texas is under $200. Are you saying a 5-year-old mare would sell for less than that?

Depends. Horses are literally a dime a dozen nowadays, depending on where you are.

Animal rights busybodies have successfully shut down slaughter plants and pmu lines, flooding the sale market with horses the last couple of years. Even if they're a good rider, they're hardly worth anything anymore.

There's a woman in a neighboring state who had her entire herd of horses put down last year, because she couldn't afford to feed them. People are dumping them out it the wild and giving them away to anyone who will take them, just to reduce their feed costs, because there's no return in sight.

This is what happens when well-meaning people who don't know what they're doing interfere with people who do.

Where I live, it's not that bad. You can still get a somewhat decent price for a good riding horse, but it's nothing like you could a few years ago.

As for the lady on the trail ride; I doubt if just getting there was her only objective. Sometimes how you get there means more than how soon.

[ScottFree]

She was laid up in the hospital twice during the trip.

I can well imagine this feat would have been a heck of alot easier and faster without highways, developments, fences, and all the stuff we have today, that didn't exist back in the old West. Back then, this trip is probably 14 days tops.

Agreed that modern development and her injuries slowed her pace. Disagree that she could have covered 1,300 miles in 14 days, even 150 years ago. Even without the Mississippi Delta, and the Louisiana Bayou to deal with, you are not going to cover 92 miles per day on one horse, while ponying another. It would require both horses to be moving at a trot or canter for 9 hours strait. For 14 days straight. No rider would survive that. Let alone the horses. Movies are not real.

http://forums.hannity.com/showpost.php?p=57463391&postcount=14

[Lord of Mirrors]

Agreed that modern development and her injuries slowed her pace. Disagree that she could have covered 1,300 miles in 14 days, even 150 years ago. Even without the Mississippi Delta, and the Louisiana Bayou to deal with, you are not going to cover 92 miles per day on one horse, while ponying another. It would require both horses to be moving at a trot or canter for 9 hours strait. For 14 days straight. No rider would survive that. Let alone the horses. Movies are not real.

http://forums.hannity.com/showpost.php?p=57463391&postcount=14Yes I was greatly exaggerating the speed at which horse travel happened in the old West. Too many Bonanza and Gunsmoke episodes watched!

But at least she DID bypass the delta and the bayou, she cut across the middle of the two states mentioned.What? No one asking who paid her bills?Medicare?

It's a cool story. Whether she gets a job at a ranch doesn't matter. She's going to be set for life. Book, movie, TV appearances, etc.One would think. I wonder who would they get to play her?

[ScottFree]

I was once on a 3 day pack trip with 15 other riders. My favorite quote from one of our more experienced participants came half way through day two. The horses were not liking the fact we were riding as much as we were, and they were getting somewhat agitated. This rider looked at me and said... "If this were 1850 and I had a gun... ther'ed be a lot of dead horses around here." meaning back then, horses were like cars. They were every where. If one didn't work right, you shot it to save the feed, and then you'ed go find one that did work.

[gdoane]

What? No one asking who paid her bills?

What bills? She had no car, no house, and everything she owned fit in the saddlebags on a horse. They had more bills on Gilligan's Island!

It's a cool story. Whether she gets a job at a ranch doesn't matter. She's going to be set for life. Book, movie, TV appearances, etc.

I can see that phone call from a Hollywood Agent:

Agent: Hey Cowgirl, how about doing the talk shows? How soon can you be to Hollywood? April??!!?? Nevermind, don't call us, we'll call you.

[ScottFree]

What bills? She had no car, no house, and everything she owned fit in the saddlebags on a horse. They had more bills on Gilligan's Island!



I can see that phone call from a Hollywood Agent:

Agent: Hey Cowgirl, how about doing the talk shows? How soon can you be to Hollywood? April??!!?? Nevermind, don't call us, we'll call you.


I think she meant who paid her ER bills. I am guessing she is making a reference to complaints of tax payers footing the bill for illegal imigrant health care. Or some such thing. She does have a point. No one has brought it up.

[curtis123]

I was once on a 3 day pack trip with 15 other riders. My favorite quote from one of our more experienced participants came half way through day two. The horses were not liking the fact we were riding as much as we were, and they were getting somewhat agitated. This rider looked at me and said... "If this were 1850 and I had a gun... ther'ed be a lot of dead horses around here." meaning back then, horses were like cars. They were every where. If one didn't work right, you shot it to save the feed, and then you'ed go find one that did work.

We did about 12 miles in one day in the Badlands of the Dakotas. Very rugged terrain. We started at dawn and came home in the dark.

The next morning, our horses were so sore they'd cringe when you touched them.

I wasn't doing much better myself. :D

But you're right, back then, they didn't waste time on a soft horse.

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

Medicare?

Not at age 44 and not disabled.

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

What bills? She had no car, no house, and everything she owned fit in the saddlebags on a horse. They had more bills on Gilligan's Island!

Her hospital bills.

[Lord of Mirrors]

Not at age 44 and not disabled.Maybe she had health insurance. Who knows?

[gwhughes]

Emma has a point, I'd rather not foot the bill for anyone other than my own healthcare, but if I had to, I'd much prefer a us citizen over a noncitizen. I doubt she had insurance, maybe shea making monthly installments on the medical bills she acrued.

[gdoane]

Her hospital bills.

They might not be that much. I just got the bill from my ER visit a couple of months ago and the whole thing was only $350. If I'd have known it was going to be that penny ante I'd have just paid it out of pocket and not wasted the insurance card.