Kelly and Quang's Global Roam

According to Quang, all men secretly want to be cowboys. “It’s the machismo of it all,” he told me over breakfast. “You know, like City Slickers. That’s why dude ranches are so popular. Commune with horse and nature, smoke a peace pipe with an Indian, wear a cool hat. Did you ever notice how cowboys are always really attached to their hats?”

I hadn’t noticed that cowboys were always really attached to their hats, but I was about to spend the day with real live Mexican cowboys, hats, boots, spurs and all. Yes, today we went horseback riding again, but this time, we galloped. Lots.

Rodrigo, of Coyote Canyon Adventures, picked us up, along with another group, in a beat up old van this morning. We were on our way to Coyote Canyon outside of San Miguel de Allende to ride horses, adventure style, for the day. But before we could get on a horse, we had to get to the ranch, an adventure in itself … we got a flat, flat tire.

The road to Coyote Canyon was battered and pocked; the flat tire seemed almost inevitable. With the flick of a cell phone, a cowboy soon appeared in a pick-up truck with a jack and we were on the way again.

We pulled into the dusty yard of a working ranch, climbed out of the van, signed waivers, and swung into saddles. We were off, along with a handful of ranch dogs, four mutts and one purebred, blond cocker spaniel.

The wind was light, the sun soon hot and the sky was a crisp blue. The scenery was breathtaking: cacti lined the way, a small stream trickled nearby, canyon walls rose straight overhead, and hawks circled above. And the cocker spaniel kept up the entire way. She swam across the river more than once, ducked into and out of scrub and in between horses’ feet. “Nobody bothered to tell her she was a cocker spaniel,” Quang said.

And even though we had fun watching the cocker spaniel, it was a different dog all together that was watching Quang. We stopped for an afternoon rest beside a stream and one of the other ranch dogs, an black, lab-like mutt, feel in love with Quang.

But the best part about the day, we both agree, was galloping at top speed with the canyon edge in sight. We were galloping so fast, my very own hat flew right off my head and landed in the dust.