There are moments in this Long Ride where my body wants to explode into a million tiny atoms bursting with happiness. Then, there are times where life transforms into a nightmare in which I cannot awake from. Shadows try to rip my soul out of my body as a faceless man stands on my chest.
Although these feelings are polar opposites, sometimes it feels as if one yearns for the other. Much like how the darkness of the night is always chasing the rays of the morning sun.
As the boys and I got closer to the Costa Rican border, I was filled with happiness. It was as if someone had lit a fire in my stomach which brought a warmth to my entire body. Here I was with my 3 beautiful horses getting ready to enter our seventh country. Emma was back on the road with me, and to top it all off, I was riding in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Southern Nicaragua is like a painting. Lake Ometepe stretches along the pan american highway as its two volcanoes, Madeiras and Concepcion, peer over the clouds. On rolling green pastures belonging to cattle ranches, large windmills dance in the afternoon winds.
As I rode by a ranch called “El Castillo,” I laid my eyes on a breathtaking view. The kind of view you could open your window to for the rest of your life. I had to stop, even if it was just for a picture. Like many times before, I let the ponies eat grass by the fence as I tried to capture this heavenly place. I could hardly believe what I was looking at. I could hardly believe I had arrived here on horseback. I was high on life.
Just as my body prepared to explode into tiny atoms of happiness, I slipped deep into the abyss of one more nightmare.
As I filmed the volcano, I heard Dude make a horrible noise followed by the sound of medal banging agains his hoof. I threw the camera down in the tall grass and ran to him. As soon as I arrived I realized the seriousness of the situation. My little mustang had tried to walk across an old cattle guard. With blood squirting out of his left leg, he used all his might to try to pull the jammed hoof out. His eyes filled with fear as mine filled with water.
“Its going to be okay buddy. Stop struggling, please calm down,” I whispered into his ear while holding his neck.
Finally, he calmed down and stopped pulling. He laid down next to me, breathing heavily. I ran my hand down his neck kneeling next to him. I was petrified but I couldn’t let him see that. I kept reassuring him everything was going to be okay. But as I inspected the jammed hoof, the only thought that kept running across my mind was, “Im going to have to put him down.”
When a horse falls into a Cattle Guard, it almost always means a broken leg. And when a horse breaks its leg, it must be put down. I tried to wipe this thought out of my mind but at that moment I felt so helpless. I was there by myself and had no idea how I was going to free my best friend from this metal trap.
As I slowly stood up, Dude did the same and with one swift movement he put all of this weight forward and his leg came out. He struggled through the bars until he was standing on the other side frozen like a statue. I hugged him and held him for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn’t believe he was out.
As I inspected his leg I realized it had been cut badly, but when I walked him around and felt his leg it was evident nothing was broken. I felt so blessed. I thanked the heavens and comforted my little mustang until a truck came to haul him to the ranch we were riding to. Once we arrived, I doctored him and finally began to calm down.
It takes one second for the most beautiful sky to be covered with a devastating storm.
