Wild West Trailride - aka Hubert "Joe" Atene - 435-459-2626 - joeatene@yahoo.com (assisted by…read moreguides such as Larry and Elias)
SUMMARY: UNFORGETTABLE HORSE RIDE - THE BEST EVER - PERFECT TRAIL AMONG THE MESAS AND BUTTES. RIDER ASSUMES ALL RISKS.
We rode on the 1.5 hour (45 minutes out, and 45 minutes back) 5:00pm trail ride on Monday 10/21/2024. Our guides were Larry (lead) and Elias (trailing).
Let me tell you why this ride was fantastic, and also about the little mishap that reduced it from 5 stars to just four. HINT: If they try to put you on Little Warrior, ask for another horse.
PRELIMINARY: You'll need GPS coordinates to find the meeting location, which is an easy-to-miss locked gate on Hwy 163. Once let in you'll follow a guide in his truck some distance down a rough dirt road to a corral of horses and a locked wooden shed with the tackle and other gear. Need a restroom? You'll be told to "go behind the shed" and just take care of business in the open desert.
WHY THIS RIDE IS GREAT: The views cannot be surpassed.
WHY CAUTION IS IN ORDER: This is a business and as such its sole purpose is to make money. There is no love lost between Navajo and non-Navajo. It is solely your money that makes you "welcome". Thus, all risks are assumed by you, and you sign a waiver putting this in writing. If you have a riding helmet that fits you, bring it. There were only four helmets observed hanging on the wall of the ramshackle shed; sizes undetermined. None of the six paying riders opted for a helmet; made to initial our refusal in writing. My wife and I refused helmets so as to look better in photographs. And in what some might call irony, I was later thrown onto my head by my mount Little Warrior. Read more on that later.
WHY MEH: There was very little commentary by our two guides, Larry and Elias. Perhaps this is a good thing, since nobody wants a jabber mouth cracking the quiet wilderness silence. These are Navajo, quiet and respectful people. Larry did manage to say a few very interesting things at two or three points along the ride, including identifying the buttes and mesas. He also mentioned the high number of tribes in North America, and they all have their own different language and different religion. Fascinating! He also told us how to say "Hello", "Goodbye" and "Thank you" in the Navajo language (Yá'át'ééh, Hágoónee', and Ahéhee', respectively)
WHY ONLY FOUR STARS: We always have to take these online reviews with a grain of salt... does the reviewer have an axe to grind? Well, please notice that I am emphasizing the "fantastic ride" aspect, and am quick to point out that 5 out of 6 riders were not thrown to the ground onto their face. Five out of six is pretty good! Read on...
LITTLE WARRIOR GOES DOWN: I've ridden horses 6 or 7 times now in my life, always on a paid tour, so I am not exactly a beginner, but simply an average horse riding tourist. Having a horse stumble a bit or take a misstep is fairly common. On this ride my wife's horse Silver stumbled, but didn't go down. However, about 4/5ths of the way back on our return trip, my horse Little Warrior suddenly stumbled with both front feet and went all the way to the ground. In less than one second I was thrust forward, landing on my face and forehead, left shoulder, and right hand. Thankfully the point of impact was dirt and not rock, so I was able to stand up after a few stunned seconds and pick up my eyeglasses. I was able to take a moment to slowly bend the left temple from their bent 45-degree angle to almost straight again. Forehead was bleeding a bit, my right hand even more, but I was able to get back up and ride back.
CONCERN BY GUIDES: Larry returned to see me (I was last of the 6, just before very quiet Elias). He expressed his concern with "what happened? Did the horse stumble?" Elias, the trailing guide, did offer "did you want to get back up, or do you want to walk back". Thus ended their words of concern.
SUMMARY: Book this ride! The trail around Brighams Tomb is fantastic. Just don't let them put you on Little Warrior (if he did it once he'll do it again)
PS: Oh, if you were wondering about the concern expressed by business owner Hubert "Joe" Atene: if you have a good calculator, you can total up the sum of his concern as: ZERO. Joe was very responsive to both emails and text messages before we'd paid our balance via Venmo. After the ride, however, thinking he'd like to be informed of the spill, I reached out to him, but there was absolutely no response. No response to my text. No response to a followup email. That's okay; I signed the waiver, and was only providing feedback, but it's a nice reminder that as a person, you are NOT welcome on the land of the Navajo Nation. As a Venmo account holder, you are "welcome" up until the time you have paid for your tour. And hopefully you don't get hurt, as you probably won't. 5 out of 6 un-hurt ain't bad.
PPS. Dogs
