The Last of the Saddle Tramps, Mesannie Wilkins and the Free Range Rodeo

Today was in interesting day. Sea G. Rhydr , a "long rider" and member of the Long Riders Guild, had just ridden into Maine. Sea, starting in Philo, CA, with her two horses, Jesse James and Saint Finehorn, were just completing their 2 year journey of riding across the country. Sea had in part been inspired to make her journey after reading the book, " The Last of the Saddle Tramps ". A book about Masannie Wilkins "Jackass Annie" from Minot, ME who, at the age of 63, after being told she only had 1 or 2 years to live IF she lived "restfully", bought a grumpy old camp horse named Tarzan for $5 packed up all her belongings and with her dog, headed for, and made it to CA. Sea  Rhydr rode into Minot, ME 59 years to the day of when Mesannie Wilkins rode out of Minot, ME on her horseback journey across America. A parade was organized in the Town of Minot to celebrate Mesannie Wilkins and Sea Rhydr. All rider were invited to come to ride in the parade. I was excited to ride in the parade and to meet Sea and the other long riders that would be there. I think most of us that ride have at one time or another dreamed of taking off on our horses or mules and making such a journey and we so greatly admire those that have actually been brave enough to do it.

My friend Amy Beem was going to ride in the parade and offered to pick me up. An offer I happily accepted. I was just hoping I'd have something to ride as I'd recently had 2 lame mules and my horse was out on a lease. As it turned out, my mule Buckshot was fine by the day of the parade and my mare was back home from her lease. I, of course, could NOT be seen in public riding a horse so chose to ride Buckshot in the parade. It would only be the 2nd time I'd really ridden him and being new to me, I had no idea how he'd handle a parade. I figured there was only one way to find out. It turned out Amy was coming down alone and had room in her trailer for another horse. I invited my friend Cierra to come along but asked if she would ride Marie. Cierra has a wonderful horse of her own but there were going to be some events after the parade we would be attending, a Bean Supper and a presentation from Sea Rhydr and several other Long Rider Guild members. So, I didn't know exactly what we'd be doing with the horses such as leaving them tied to the trailer, or in the trailer  or..... what......and I knew we would not be able to keep a close eye on them. Cierra's horse is young and inexperience with this sort of thing. I'm sure she would have been fine but Cierra and I both would have worried about her which would have made it hard to relax and enjoy the evening. My sweet mare Marie has "been there, done that" so I know she would be fine with whatever we did and would be a calming influence on the others. I gathered my tack in the front yard so I would be ready when Amy arrived and then packed a quick lunch for the 3 of us to eat.

Amy picked Cierra and me up at around 10:30 am or so. We loaded all our gear in her trailer, and then the critters. Marie of course hopped right on the trailer. Buckshot had to think about it for a minute but didn't really make any big fuss and soon we were on our way. I was the designated navigator and did my job well and we got to the parade gathering site in good time with no trouble. We unloaded the horses and Buckshot and tackled the job of cleaning them up. I had cleaned up my tack the previous day so we wouldn't look to disreputable. Buckshot was very calm and relaxed and didn't seem at all bothered by all the commotion. He stood quietly at the trailer munching hay while I groomed and tacked him up. My friends Susie, Joanie and Nancy had also come. Susie was riding her horse Bazeyn, and Joanie was riding Susie's other horse Dixie. Nancy was going to tag along on foot. We were sure glad Nancy had come as she proved to be invaluable in helping us all get ready to ride! The ride organizers were asking for volunteers to carry flags. Sea wanted to have a flag from every state she'd ridden through. I've carried a flag with my mare before so Cierra quickly volunteered to carry one. I thought about it and did have someone hand me one. Buckshot didn't do anything but got a little tense. Since I still don't know him very well or how he would handle everything once the parade started, I decided it would be best not to push my luck. Amy decided not to try carrying a flag also. Though it turned out both of our boys were wonderful and I don't think either of us would have had any problems if we had taken a flag.

When it was time for the parade to start, a fire truck led the parade followed by people on foot carrying a "Free Range Rodeo" banner. And then the riders were behind the people on foot. Behind the riders were vintage vehicles. There were people everywhere, children running around, bicycles and strollers. Buckshot didn't even blink an eye at any of it. The hardest part of the parade for him was walking so slowly. He has a fast walk and didn't see the sense of crawling along down the street at snail pace. He wasn't hard to hold though. I had to keep checking him back but he never pulled on me or misbehaved in any way. I was very happy with him. The parade ended at the old home site of Mesannie Wilkins. The farmhouse is now gone but you can still see where the old cellar hole was. And the old farm is now a housing development. We gathered on a big lawn at the old farm site and waited there for quite some time. Marie and Buckshot were very good. They were content to munch the available grass and didn't fuss at all about all the commotion or about standing around. Buckshot drew a lot of attention being the only mule in the parade and accepted it gracefully.

When the crowd started to break up, Amy, Cierra and I rode down onto the road to wait for everyone to get together that were continuing on. Just as Susie was riding down a little slope and across a shallow ditch from the farm site onto the road, something spooked her horse and he jumped into a big bunch of burdock and he came out just covered in them. Some helpful onlookers quickly jumped in along with Nancy to quickly get all the burrs out.

Cierra on Marie with the flag. Cindy on Buckshot and Amy on Washburn

The parade heading up Jackass Annie Rd. 

From the old farm site, some of the riders headed back and a group of us continued on to Messanie's grave site. Some of the way was on woods trails and some along paved roads. Again, Buckshot was as good as gold, with no fussing about any of the traffic on the road, which was light but did include being passed by the fire truck and going by various police vehicles with flashing lights. It was a longer ride to the grave site than I'd expected but we didn't mind and Buckshot seemed to be doing fine. It was quite a chilly day but for the most part we were dressed warmly enough. While we were riding along a tar road with Sea and Gryph, Cierra asked Sea about the bridle she had on her horse. Next thing we knew, Sea leaned forward and slipped the bridle off her horse and rode him the rest of the way bridleless. I guess you kind of form a bond with an animal you ride nearly every day for two years. Once we arrived at the cemetery, there was a bit of a ceremony at the grave site. Sea had put flowers into her horses manes and she took the flowers out to put onto the grave. Two other members of the Long Riders Guild, Gryph Wulfkil, who had traveled many miles with Sea, and Lucy Leaf who made a 4 year journey across America in both direction back in the 70's. They paid their respects to Messanie Wilkins and laid their flowers on her grave. Again there was a lot of standing around and waiting but Buckshot was still being quiet and patient. There was grass to much and he was happy. Marie, was happy too. Very happy actually. She had fallen madly in love with Amy's gelding, Washburn and had spend the entire day squirting and looking dopey. Silly girl!

Riding to Mesannie Wilkins grave site
Joanie Mitchell, Cierra Baxter, Susie Reinheimer, Sea Rhydr,
Sue Lejonhud (on bay Curly horse)

Sea G. Rhydr with Jesse James and Gryph Wulfkil with Saint Finehorn

Sea G. Rhydr on Jesse James

Sea taking the flowers out of Jesse James mane

Lucy Leaf, Sea Rhydr and Gryph Wulfkil putting flowers on the grave

Amy got a ride back to her truck so she could come pick the horses and Buckshot up at the cemetery. She got stuck with the chore of picking up all the stuff we had strewn around on the ground around her truck and trailer. Everyone loaded into the trailer well, with Buckshot having to give it a minutes thought again but nothing more than that. From there we headed to the West Minot Grange where the Bean Hole supper was. I HATE beans but they always have other stuff at theses suppers so I wasn't too worried. We were told there would be plenty of room to park the trailer at the Grange but that was not the case at all. And it looked like the entire town had turned out for the supper! ACK! As we were sitting at the cross road wondering what to do, a friend of Nancy and Joanie pulled up beside us an told us to follow her to her place. We could park the trailer at her house and she would drive us back to the supper. So that is what we did. Once the trailer was parked, we dropped the windows and offered the horses and mule water and made sure they were ok. They seemed quiet and relaxed so we headed back to the grange. When we got back, there was a long line to get into the supper. When we finally made it in, they had run out of all the "other stuff" and only had beans, bread and pie left. Oh, man! I had to settle for a piece of bread and pie. At least the pie was really good! After the supper, we went upstairs for the presentation and talks. A short documentary film about Mesannnie Wilkins was shown. The exciting thing about the documentary was that my friend Joanie played the role of Mesannie for the film. Her horse and dog also played parts in the film. It was really wonderful. After the film, there were talks given by Lucy Leaf, and Sea Rhydr as well as some great stories told by Sea's father about her life growing up. It was a very enjoyable evening. When we got back to the trailer we were happy to see everyone was still quiet and relaxed. We offered them water once again, then headed home. It was a really fun day.