This certainly is not a one-horse town!

When I write a blog post, I usually decide on the title after I've written the content. Sometimes it's an easy choice, but other times I have to turn to Greg for help, and he's usually quite creative. Today I didn't need his help; the title came to me immediately. Lo de Marcos is certainly not a one-horse town. When checking on the term, I learned at one time it was often used in Wales, my native country. Amazing what I sometimes learn from doing this blog!

We have a few well-known horsemen - I'm not sure if they'd be called cowboys - living in this town. They do tours for tourists, but we also see them leisurely riding around town. Also, when we go to one of the popular bars here, we often see a horse patiently waiting outside, but not tied up at all. Well trained, I'd say.

I think this is the rider who trains horses on the beach, but I haven't seen him actually doing that. You may have read an earlier post of mine, where I was amazed at how he had such control over his horse. Here he was just stopping near the beach to have a drink. We were in a third-storey restaurant at the time, hence the photo from above.

While he quenched his thirst, we went down to take a closer look. Talk about looking like tourists; fascinated by getting up close to horses, camera in hand. Greg didn't get any closer as he said you need respect for an animal that size. I kept even further away. I've never been around horses, so I don't have a comfort level with them at all.

Today these riders passed us, drinks in hand, on one of the main streets in town. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to take the photo I was after. As they passed me, the four rear ends seemed to fill the width of the road. I thought of Sharon, our friend here, who often ends her daily posts with photos of various rear ends, usually of birds or animals.

In case you're wondering, traffic drives on the right side of the road in Mexico. However, when you have four horses coming towards you and they choose the other side, I don't blame the driver for obliging and moving aside. Usually a truck gets priority, but not when faced with four horses.

The riders turned off the main road, and shortly after we heard loud neighing. I followed the sound and saw the horses and riders in this enclosure. Greg later told me he had a clear view from the main road, and the horse was rising up and resisting the rider's control. You can see the head of the particular horse at the back of the photo, and the man's head to the left of the horse.

When we later passed by, the same horse was tied to a tree and tightly corralled between two posts. He could manage a couple of steps forward or back, but that was about it. I guess he had a lesson to be learned about who's in charge!

Earlier in our trip we saw this man riding with an additional horse behind. The rear horse was limping badly on a hind leg. I wondered what had happened, and  felt bad that the horse had to walk home with that injury. 

The next day at the beach, we saw a replay of the same scenario. If I'd taken a photo it would have been just like this one. That's when I realized the trainer was strengthening the horse's rear leg, rather than taking him home because of an injury. 

We haven't seen him doing this at the beach since, so hopefully it means the horse is fully recovered.

This beautiful blossom is on a tree in front of where we live. The photo was taken about a week ago. This is just a section of what we've been marvelling at each time we leave the property. Unfortunately, today I noticed how withered it looked, with many dried up petals on the road. Never mind, we've been able to enjoy it for a few weeks. I never tire of all the blossoms we see around this many-horse town.

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Location: Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico
Weather: High 80ºF (27ºC), low 71ºF (22ºC)
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