Journey Europe Officially Begins!

News Desk | January 11, 2013

Few things in life bring me more joy than riding good horses with good friends. This weekend was full to the brim with joy and happiness but as with most wonderful things it didn’t come without tremendous effort. What was supposed to be our sunny south Texas getaway started early Friday morning at the balmy temperature of -20F with frozen water, frozen hands, and frozen highways….

After a long cold morning and five hours on the road, we were informed that the highways in Texas were closed. So our first adventure became finding lodging for ourselves and our seven horses. Thanks to the world wild web and the surfing skills of my father we contacted Johnny Bean’s horse farms in El Paso. He was willing and capable of caring for our equine friends for the evening. Once the horses were settled we sought refuge in a local hotel to wait out the ice. As the sun set and the temperature dropped it appeared we had made a good decision until we tried to leave for dinner. Then we were informed that we needed to return to our room while the police processed the armed robbery scene in the lobby. So with the glow of the red and blue lights we faded off to sleep hoping the next day would be less eventful. We woke the next morning to fresh snow in El Paso, so much for less eventful. After a quick breakfast for us and the horses we were on the road again heading across West Texas with the iPod blaring Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keen Jr. For the first time in my life I saw snow on the Guadalupe mountains which was spectacular sight except for the fact we were planning on sleeping in a tent. Our plans of camping out were quickly replaced with a soft bed in Marfa, Texas. So after a rough start, Journey America’s 60 miles to Mexico was about to begin.

Sunday morning in Marfa, Texas…blue skies and fresh snow made for a cold but beautiful beginning to the end of Filipe’s ride across the US. As we rode along the highway enjoying friendship and times with good horses we were continually reminded that most of the horses that travel this road are on a one way journey to Mexican slaughter plants. Semi load after semi load passed by stuffed with horses that were no different from the very horses we were riding. Four years earlier I bought Gunsmoke, one of the horses being ridden, at a slaughter auction in New Mexico. Had he not come home with me that day he would have been in one of those trailers instead of proudly carrying Daryl to the border. I was struck with sadness as I watched Gunny making that trip to Presidio knowing that it was only by the hands of destiny that he would get to come back to the ranch with his new best friend Texas. Texas was Filipe’s horse. He was donated to him in Wyoming by a rancher and he has traveled diligently alongside Bruisier and Frenchie all the way to Texas. But apparently his name was an omen of where his trip would end. Not all horses are made for all jobs and traveling another 8,000 miles was not in Texas’ future. But again fate was good to Felipe and I was able to find him a beautiful American Mustang to replace Texas. Taos is an adorable palomino mustang from the Taos herd in New Mexico. He is a pint sized version of Frenchie and will make the trip to Brazil with dignity and honor. Already the three of them have buddied up and are getting along well. Texas returned to New Mexico with me where he and Gunny have become best friends and he is enjoying a simpler life on the ranch.

Monday we arrived in Presidio as the sun was setting over the West Texas desert. Taking pictures in front of the “Welcome to Presidio” sign it seemed almost scenic and beautiful. Unfortunately you don’t have to look far to see the pain and desperation of humans and animals on the border. The war on drugs, the fiasco that is our immigration laws and the transport and handling of livestock all combine to make Presidio a very sad and depressing place. We didn’t linger long after our photos and headed back to Marfa to get the horses a night’s rest and fill their bellies before the long drive back to New Mexico. After the horses were tended to we all met for one last dinner to share a meal and stories from the trail. Everyone had ridden for their own reasons and to support their own causes but in the end it was about the horses and respect. Respect for each other, respect for animals, respect for our planet and respect for our heritage. Filipe had ridden from Canada to Mexico for his own reasons but along the way he has shown us this country is full of goodness of humanity. In the midst of so much sadness and despair pressed hard against the Mexican border this group of rag tag cowboys that Filipe has collected along the way proved to ourselves and the world that where there is kindness and humanity there is hope.

Leaving Marfa proved to be as hard as getting there. Not because of the weather but I knew I was leaving Filipe and Emma behind, if not forever, for a very long time. The friendships we made with Neta,Daryl, Trent, Deborah, Gary and Margo will last a lifetime and Filipe and Emma will always be considered family but life moves forward and for now that means moving away. Filipe is headed to Brazil and Olivia and I are headed to Ireland, each of us on a Journey with horses but each of us on a path of discovery all our own. Many have said human history has been written on the back of the horse, for me, my history is written through their eyes and on their hearts. As we rolled out of Marfa the under the big West Texas sky the iPod played Guy Clark’s “Desperado’s Waiting For a Train”, I wiped away my last tear as the BNSF train rolled past headed for the border.