Gait-in Gals Ride the Red Cliffs
Desert Reserve

After the Holidays have become a memory, riders in Northern Utah start looking forward to spring and that’s when Southern Utah becomes very appealing.

The “Gait’in Gals” is a foursome of friends who enjoy riding together whenever the weather is not too windy or cold. These are actually gals who have done bad weather riding in the past out of complete desperation to ride and have decided it is not worth it.

The foursome were planning a trip to St. George, Utah in early Feb. 2011 to enjoy the warmer springtime temperatures and have a break from the colder snowy weather in the Salt Lake Basin. One of these gals, Marilyn, had sold a horse to a guy in St. George named Ted. Ted and his wife had told her to visit them sometime and bring her trail riding buddies and he would take them on several rides. Due to stormy weather the trail riding trip was delayed until Feb. 25th. One of the foursome, Julie, unfortunately was unable to go because she and her husband were having their Grand Opening for another grocery store. However an outlaw from Northwestern Wyoming was in town and volunteered to go in Julie’s place.

Roads were great and about 4-5 hours later we arrived in St. George to sunny skies, warm temperatures and green grass. We all thought we had died and were close to Heaven! Ted met us at a gas station and then drove us to his corrals where we saddled up for our first ride. The four horses, all MFTs, were very pleased to get out of the trailer and stretch their legs. This first ride was just behind Ted’s corrals and it had many arroyos to go up and down besides a view of Washington and St. George, Utah. Ted, being the keen trail boss he is, was accessing all the horses and their riders to see just what he had gotten himself into. I guess we all passed because he said to be at the corrals and saddled by 9am the next morning.

After the horses were fed and the water tanks filled we headed to our luxurious accommodations that Marilyn and husband have time shares in. Thank you Marilyn and hubby!

During the early early pre-dawn, Marilyn woke up and was worried about her horse that is prone to getting a touch of colic. Thank Heaven Saundra had the keys to the truck and was the designated driver! The two of them tried to slip out to go check on the horses but Diana heard them leaving and had to count sheep the rest of the pre-dawn before rising to walk several miles before breakfast. The WY outlaw continued snoring away until her alarm clock went off.

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