As the year nears the end, and the weather is cool or downright cold, it’s the time for taking stock of what passed while setting sights on the year ahead. 2019 was pretty great for Roxy and I. After we managed to make it out of Guatemala, we began our second long ride and forged forward thru the majestic Mexican mountains and valleys, land of horse lovers and living legends.
Month 6 | THE LAST MONTH
I’m putting the 4 weeks of Month 6 together because they are the final four weeks of our second solo journey. 4 weeks spent resting Roxy and getting set up with an English teaching job.
Preparation and Persistence
September 4, 2017 | Rockingham, Canada. Chris MacLuckie and purebred Morgan mare OTR She Roxs, b.2008.
This was the first day of my first journey by horse. But it was 3 years after dedicating myself completely to learning what I needed to endure a year long ride.
Month 5 | Takeaways
Here are my 5 takeaways from Month 5:
>Mexican Horse culture
>Cities and Towns
>Hoof care
>Teaching English
>Team
The horse culture in Mexico is pretty substantial. As I reached the Mexican altiplano…
WEEK 22 | Mexico a Caballo
“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint”. Edmund Burke.
WEEK 22 | Mexico a Caballo.
WEEK 21 | Mexico a Caballo
“All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim.” Christopher Morley.
WEEK 21 | Mexico a Caballo. Colón, Queretaro, to El Milagro, Queretaro | 4 days riding, 80 kms.
Javier Perez Rocha | Profile and Interview
Javier Perez Rocha is the owner of Rancho Santa Marina, an organic sheep cheese farm, located just west of Atongo, Queretaro. When Javier was a boy his father bought the farm and since 1983 it had seen many iterations: cattle, hay, asparagus, mixed vegetables. Now, since 2009, it produces organic sheep cheese.
WEEK 20 | Mexico a Caballo
“Sometimes our power resides not in what we do, but in what we don’t do.” Paulo Coelho
WEEK 20 | Mexico a Caballo. Huichapan, Hidalgo to Colón, Queretaro | 3 days riding, 65 kms.
WEEK 19 | México a Caballo
“We can move water easily with plastic pipes. We can move shade around with nursery cloth like a tinker toy for animals and plants. Yet we have developed this necessity to grow food with chemical fertiliser because we have forgotten the magic of manure.”
Joel Salatin
WEEK 18 | Mexico a Caballo
“Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith.” Garth Brooks. Week 18 was a 5 day push retracing last year’s route from Apizaco to Pachuca.