Anticipation

Friday morning I took the day off work and tried to make sure all our stuff was packed and ready to go. I went out to the barn about 9 am. I got Sinwaan out of the pasture and wet him down, shampooed him and put a horse whitener on his tail. Once done with his bath, I scraped off the excess water and then went to work on his tail. (In the meantime he ate his hay). It had started forming mini dreadlocks so I got it thoroughly combed out and that took me about half an hour but then it looked spectacular. I also did his mane and spritzed him with Show Shine so he would be handsome for all the mares. I picked out his feet and put on some hoof oil, applied fly spray and got my tack in order. I took an extra bridle, spare reins and stirrups, and my box of grooming supplies. Lara was to pick me up at 11 but she was a little late so I handwalked him and let him graze.

I had taken my rainbow halter home to wash it so it would be nice and clean for the ride. I forgot to bring it back out with me to the barn so I used Dee's old rope halter. When Lara pulled in we loaded him up in the back as she already had Rocker loaded. He is getting better about loading now, or maybe he just prefers the rear section in her slant. She had gotten some neat little hay mangers and they were all in place and ready to go with misted hay. I got my stuff loaded and did a mental and visual check to be sure I had everything.

Then we drove on down towards town and I had to put gas in my truck, Lara made a stop at the feedstore, and then we switched trucks so I could park the trailer at the house to finish loading while she ran more errands. Matt wasn't home yet so I loaded up as much as I could and then once he got home I took a shower. We had SO MUCH stuff! Tent stuff and baby stuff and horse stuff (extra halter, lead, two extra saddle pads) in addition to the people stuff and food. I knew I must have forgotten something but couldn't figure what it might be.

We were quite the little traveling band, with 2 horses, a Pointer and mini-Daschund, my husband Matt, son Levi (13 mo), Lara and I. We aimed to leave town at noon but we were just a little behind schedule.

We made it to Odessa with no problem but once there the directions I had from expedia were no good. They had us turn onto Division and then from there onto May, only there was no May. We finally just stopped at a grocery store and they told us we just had to stay on Hwy 21 up the hill and it would be there about 4 mi up. We could not wait to get there. Lara was getting a little carsick, the drive up was not on a major highway so it was slow going around curvy roads.

The first turn we saw for Lakeview Ranch had a big gooseneck trailer pulling out. Matt pulled in and the driver told us it was the wrong turn for the endurance ride so Matt had to back out into the road. He did a great job and thankfully there was no other traffic at the moment. So we drove on to the second turn for Lakeview. From there it was marked really well. And in all fairness, the first turn did have a neon arrow pointing straight ahead (as in, stay on the main road) but we were just confused. (A precursor perhaps?) LOL

A couple of miles in we crested a hill and below could see the whole ride camp. (about 5 pm) WOW! What a neat sight! My first ride camp! This photo shows it from the other direction, look to the top center of this photo at the gravel road we came in on. This photo was taken from the perspective of the vetting area. It was a little bit of a hike from our camp to the vetting area because we were parked in the farthest possible area from the RM and vet station. We wanted some privacy for our tents. We are just behind the last trailers you see to the left of that last porta-potty.

We got camp set up as quick as possible and once everyone was settled in I walked around and asked everyone where the ride manager was. They all pointed me towards the trees (the only real trees in the area). I first met Dory and she walked me into vet check and introduced me to Patty who wears pink, who then helped me find the Ride Manager, also named Patty. It was pretty amusing, when I would introduce myself they would ask Shana, as in Shana Bobbitt from the internet? I had pre-entered so I was able to pick up my packet right then and I was horse #1! That has to be good luck! They told me to bring my horse back down to get him vetted in. They also showed me the corral available to us that I had rented. It was huge, with high wood panel sides. It would be great for our two horses overnight.

I went back to camp and told Lara and she walked down with me with the horses. I held Rocker while she got registered and she was number 31. For awhile we thought she would be the last one in the 25 mi distance but later on we saw a 34 horse so some other people must have come in pretty late. Once the people working the check-in found out it was our first ride they gave us special treatment by drawing on our horses with the grease stick. First Dory wrote a #1 on each side of Sinwaan, and then she wrote "WON" across the top of his rump and then she came back with a blue stick later and drew smiley faces on his shoulders and arrows down his butt. One gal asked me what that was supposed to mean ("This end up?") but I had no idea. At first I was a little upset that they were greasing up my horse but quickly adjusted my atitude, after all you only have your first ride once and this must be part of the experience, like initiation or something. Lara's horse got a heart on each shoulder but hers was all in blue to match her tack. After all that they started looking like Indian ponies.



So then it was time to vet in. We had our little vet cards from our ride packet and they took the horses' pulse, checked respiration, gut sounds, capilary refill and a bunch of other stuff. Then we had to do a trot out for the vet. Sinwaan did awesome, he gave me no hesitation or trouble at all. When I got my card back I was thrilled to see he had ALL A's! Rocker did almost as well, scoring a B only on gut sounds. Lara had been warned that this mare doesn't like to drink water away from her trailer so that was a concern going into it. With Rocker when they pulled the skin on her neck out it tented and didn't go down. Another vet came over and said the neck is not always a very accurate place to check a horse for hydration. He checked her on the shoulder and while it did tent, it came down. She got an A- on skin tenting.

Matt was around the whole time with Levi in a stroller so he could get some nice shots of us with the horses vetting in. He got this beautiful shot of Sinwaan doing his trot back to the vet.



Once we were both checked in with our horses numbered, and vetted through, we were ready to go! Photo op!!

Well after that we walked the horses back up to the trailer. We have a tie-high system on Lara's trailer for them so they have a little more room to walk around while tied and we set them up with their water buckets and hay bags. Sinwaan did not seem to want to drink from his bucket but when I took it off the clip and lowered it and held it, he sucked some right down. Rocker was also eating and drinking, so far so good.

We went back down for the "novice/newbie" meeting at 7:30 pm. I had barely enough time to throw two hotdogs in some buns and take them down with me for dinner. Matt stayed back in camp with Levi this time. Lara and I sat at a picnic table and waited for the meeting to begin. The real riders meeting was to start at 8 pm but this early session was for us greenies who needed a little extra Q/A time. All the vets were there at another table eating their bbq dinner and reminiscing about past rides and situations that had come up. They started the meeting and it seemed like maybe there were only two other ladies who were new riders. The vets/Patty/Dory (I think) explained a lot of things about rides in general, and then we all had a number of questions that got answered pretty well. After this people started showing up and bringing their chairs and settling in for the regular meeting. I forgot to bring any kind of chair but luckily Patty had two extra ones that no one was using so Lara and I got off the picnic bench and reclined.

They started out by talking about the trails, the 75 milers (there were 9 of them) trail order and things to watch out for. Their first loop was 25 mi and went clear into town with one out vet check. Then they talked about the 50 milers (32 of them), their trail order and ride time for everyone. Apparently they changed some things, like start time. We had thought 25 milers would start at 8:30. Well looking at our packet earlier I had noticed the ride time was 7:30 am. UGH! The 25 milers would be doing the 10 mile trail first, then come in, pulse down/vet check and do a 50 minute hold. Then we would go back out for our 15 mi ride. At the time of the ride meeting there were 31 people doing the 25 mile ride. It was a very informative meeting. I couldn't believe I was really there.

By the end of the meeting darkness had fallen so we went back to camp and got the horses and hay bags and brought them down to the corral for the night. I put a blanket on Sinwaan but Lara came around and started laughing because it was too small for him. Even with some adjustments it was still pretty tight. Darn! Should have checked that before we left. I decided not to keep it on him overnight since the corrals were a distance from our camp and I didn't want him uncomfortable or restricted in any way before his big day. The horses settled in quickly and seemed glad for the space and for each other.

We made the trek back to camp and went to bed. Levi was already asleep so I got changed, made up my bed and tried to fall asleep.

August 28 2007

Tonight I went out to the barn to gather up saddle pads that need washing before the big day, but I also brought Sinwaan in and let him munch on his alfalfa/grass blend hay while grooming him. We have been easing him into the hay diet so he will be able to handle the change over the weekend at the ride, where there is no pasture. Once he was "clean enough" (ie, he could really use a bath but that happens Friday morning) I led him out to the pasture and Matt got some side shot photos for me so I could use them as a reference to learn conformation. I put some fly spray on him and turned him back out to pasture. He took off running as fast as he could go across the pasture, through the gate, and to the other end of the second pasture where the other geldings were. I was worried he would slip and fall with all the wet grass (the water guns were on) but he did just fine and it was really a sight to behold.

I also finally connected with my farrier and we talked about some things and decided I will use my boots at the ride and once I get back I will make an appointment with him to come out and try to fix the problem. By then Ollokot will be due for a trim again anyway.

We leave Friday morning! Probably no more posts from me until we return from THE RIDE. :)

Harris Park/South Fork

Tonight Lara picked me up about 5:30 pm at the barn. We loaded Sinwaan up with hardly any fuss at all into the back section of the trailer, as Rocker was already in the front slot. We drove up to Harris Park/South Fork which took quite awhile with all the windy roads and section of gravel road.

We found a place to park, brushed the horses and tacked up. I put Sinwaan's boots on him again and after a couple of funny steps he was fine. This was to be an easy walking ride as the footing was very rocky and there were many water crossings. I had never forded a river before and tonight we crossed it 8-10 times. I lost count after four! In the water we could see LARGE fish, the Chinook were spawning and many of them were black and some were dead (which seemed to really get to Rocker after awhile, Sinwaan I don't think ever even noticed them). The trail was double track winding back and forth across the river with little single track offshoot trails.

We took one of the little offshoot trails and came to a LARGE downed tree across the trail. We dismounted and led the horses over it and Sinwaan did a funny little jump to clear it. Then the trail wrapped around and we never did have to go back over it the other way.

Very soon into our ride I heard the buzz of a dirt bike motor. I was in front so I held up my hand and tried to be as visible as possible. Thankfully this part of the trail was wide with good visibility (some parts are so thick with brush on the sides there are blind corners). The biker slid around to a stop and said "Oh hey, how are you!?" I said, do I know you? I could not ID the person with the large full helmet and goggles. The rider removed his goggles and then I could see it was Miles. He was with another rider and they went on their way. It made us aware of the possibility of more riders.

The horses were full of themselves tonight and Sinwaan was eager to trot. I held him back most of the time due to the footing. He did awesome with the river crossings. I was not sure what to expect but he gave me no trouble at all. About half way into our ride, he started kicking out his foot and shaking it and Lara noticed his boot was twisted. I dismounted and fixed it, and checked the other one but after another river crossing it was obvious they were not going to stay put any longer. I took them off and managed to stuff them into my saddlebags. They are fairly large, I was surprised that they fit. I rolled them up real tight and folded them over and that worked. After about five water crossings I started smelling an odor and realized it was the fishy water that had hitchhiked with us in my shoes. Sinwaan kicked up enough water to soak them and they were starting to get cold too!

Towards the end of our ride out there was a section of crazy deep smooth rocks. It was like a dry riverbed. That led us to a river crossing that looked too dangerous for us to attempt this evening. So we turned around and headed back then. I gave the camera to Lara so she could get a picture of us in the water and she doesn't know if it will turn out, she thinks she cut off my head. We took a number of photos tonight, I can't wait to post them.

On the way back we decided to take one of the narrow winding single-track trails, as it looked less rocky. Turns out it was less rocky but it also had drop-offs. There was one part, the view above was so magnificent, I wanted a photo of Sinwaan and I with the mountain in the background. Lara told us to go up on the knoll in the trail for a better angle. So we did and climbing up there was like a mini Cougar Rock. Well then Sinwaan's butt is to the camera and she wanted me to angle him more into the hill. So I did and his rear foot slipped a little on the edge but it was ok. He got turned around and then I think Rocker tried to walk off or something, anyway Lara didn't get the photo. So then somehow we got turned around again, I don't even remember how and started down the trail. The ledge there at that knoll was making me nervous so I went farther down the trail to turn around again to face the camera. Coming back to the knoll, Sinwaan started walking ON the edge of the ledge and lost his footing (it was soft dirt) and started slipping down! I have never been so scared in all my life (except the time[s] Dee would run away with me) I was yelling for him to get back up on the trail and I could feel him slipping and scrambling below me. I was really close to bailing off of him when he made it back on the safe part. WOWIE! Lara wished she had taken a photo of my horror-stricken face. :-P Sinwaan was a little more careful about where he put his feet after that. We did finally get our photo.

The sun was setting and we knew we didn't have much time left to get back to the trailer before dark. When we got to the end of our single-track offshoot trail we again heard the buzz of motorbikes. We waited where we were since we were off their trail and they went on by. There were three of them and we thought that was the last of them. We started down the double track main trail and heard some more coming up behind us. Sinwaan does great with them if he can see them but he doesn't like them behind him. We turned around and faced them and this guy turned off his motor and waited for us to get out of his way. He thought he was the last one but turns out there was another behind him. Rocker was starting to get really tense and bothered. Lara said we needed to get the heck out of there so we went back across the river again.

At one point there was a little no-hands bridge and I didn't know if Sinwaan would do it but he followed Rocker right over with no hesitation. Shortly after we realized it was a wet, steep and potentially dangerous trail so we turned back again. There are all kinds of options for riding around out there on trails, if you don't want to cross the river at all you don't have to, but then you are stuck with the bike trails which would be really troublesome if a biker came around a corner and ran into your horse.

In the thick parts it was really getting dark and COLD, it was a beautiful day to begin with, and now that it was dusk it was really cool next to the river, and with my feet soaked I was chilly and so glad I remembered my jacket. On our last stretch Sinwaan was getting spooky and jumping at noises in the bushes. We let them trot a little bit on the smooth parts of the trail to get back faster but they were short-lived and we were hesitant to let them go with how jumpy they were then.

We made it back safe to the truck and untacked as fast as we could and loaded them up just before darkness fell. It was perfect timing. It was a great ride full of new experiences and challenges and memorable moments. :)

Less than a week now until the Lakeview Ride!!!

Hard Ride

Today Lara came to the house at 2:45 to pick me up with the horse trailer. On the way to the barn we stopped at Triangle L Tack Shop and happy day they had some Slide-Tec Skid Boots for about $10 less than the online price I found, plus I didn't have to pay tax since it is in OR and also saved myself shipping. I was thrilled. The only downside is the only color they had was black, I wanted red, but I will take what I can get at this point to protect my horse!

We were running a little behind on time for our appointment with Tom Groff the Brand Inspector so we just loaded up our tack and Sinwaan in the trailer and went straight away over there. Lara brushed him for me while I helped with some paperwork on his Lifetime ID Card. Then Tom took a few photos of him. Lara helped me set him up square and I think Tom got one photo of him looking straight ahead but then he wanted one of Sinwaan looking at the camera, so then Sinwaan had moved his feet and looked totally goofy for the other photos. I don't know which one he will end up using but he sends it all in and then the state will send me a little id card that looks like a drivers license for a horse. In the meantime I have copies of the paperwork that is good for 60 days.

We got back on the highway towards the Lake about 4:45. We arrived at Bob and Sue's about 5 pm or a little after and Lara brought Rocker in from the pasture.

Lara thought I should learn some stretches for the horse as she has been doing them every time and thinks we should do it before our LD ride next weekend. I need to learn them sooner since later is no longer an option. So we did that and that took some time. I took a photo of Lara stretching out Sinwaan's hind, she says he is very flexible back there. (Also because it shows him on the tie-hi and this is his first time) Then I got tacked up but had to switch out saddle pads (back to the white one) and saddlebags (back to the front one) and put on the HR monitor. More time.

Then I put some more Corona on Sinwaan's heels before putting on his new black boots. He stood very well for all of this. I put on my helmet and his bridle and started to lead him away from the trailer. He balked and stood on three legs. It was quite comical. He would take one step and then hold his rear leg up high and away from him. I took a photo of that too but these were on my throwaway camera so it will still be a while before they are developed. Lara said I had better lounge him before getting on to give him a chance to get used to the boots. He was acting so weird we didn't want him to buck or anything when I got on (although I really doubted he would go to that extreme). So I took him in the round pen there and lounged him. At first he wasn't even keen on walking but soon he was moving out and doing really pretty well other than a funny little gait in the rear. Then I asked for the trot and he obliged, going into a smoother gait in the hind. He seemed to be getting used to them pretty quick so I took him out and mounted up.

As we rode down the driveway Lara realized Flint (the dog) was loose. We have to tie him up before we leave otherwise he will try to follow and then end up wandering in the road. Lara dismounted and went to catch him in the horse pasture. She had to let go to fumble with the gate, and in the meantime he took off over into the other horse pasture. So then she had to go over there and catch him. This time she was able to tie him up in his designated spot, at the hitching post in the shade under a sign that says "Rangerfarthen." Well there are some other words on the sign but I can't remember them right now. It is a funny psudeo-German sign.

Now we're finally off, right! Not quite. Lara was following and noticed the boots had slipped. We had taken them off and shook them out after lounging him since the round pen has a lot of sand. We didn't want the sand to irritate him on our ride. She dismounted AGAIN and tightened them up for me. What a friend! I crossed the road and Rocker was acting up a little. We determined she was just being a mare and our ride officially began about 6:07 pm.

Our goal for today was to do 10 miles - each lap around the lake if you take the longest way is 2 1/2 miles. We aimed to do each lap in 30 minutes or less. We started our first lap at a slow jog. Well Rocker did a slow jog and Sinwaan tried very hard but gained on her quickly and then would drop to a walk. A few times I was able to get him to jog a few paces before breaking stride. This is something we definately will work on since it works different muscles in the horse and gives the rider a chance to ride without posting at something faster than a walk. When we reached the crest of the hill we stepped it up a little to a working trot, slowing to a walk for downhills since Sinwaan was dragging his feet on those. We were at the rear most of the ride, Sinwaan seemed to be moving a little slower at the trot than usual with his new boots.

If memory serves, we made it around the first lap in our goal time and Rocker went right into the Lake, that mare loves the water. Sinwaan got his front feet in this time and put his head down and put his lip in the water but I don't think he drank. I had to dismount to sponge him since my string isn't quite long enough to throw it in from the bank. He seemed to like that. Mounted up and off we went for round two.

I don't remember much from lap two, which means it must have been uneventful. I think perhaps trotting the hills raised Sinwaan's HR so we let them walk for five minutes. I think we ended up coming in 5 min over this time. There was a group of people standing down at the boat ramp this time, it was amusing, it looked like they all had nametags and half of them were Asian. They seemed touisty but of college student age. They asked about our horses, and what we were doing, etc. Lara did a good job of answering their questions.

The third lap the sun was setting and the air was getting cool. We were able to really move them out this time. Sinwaan took the lead for a little while and set a pace (trotting) that Rocker had to canter to catch up to. I saw a number of deer out in the harvested fields that surround the trails and the Lake. Sinwaan saw them too. At one point I saw four on a knoll and was able to get a picture of the deer and Lara, looking off the wrong direction for them. For the most part on this lap Sinwaan had a nice pace of trotting and some cantering staying right about 118 on the HR.

Coming around one bend there was a triple track trail, where a vehicle has made two ruts and people have also walked or ridden down the center making a third, higher trail. We were in the center and Sinwaan was trying to move down to one of the ruts and my seat was not secure and I wasn't being a very good rider. I just started to lose my left stirrup and he sensed it and came right down to a walk before I could even ask. He sure takes good care of me out there!

The last stretch we were having a lovely fast trot/canter interspersed since Rocker mare was back in the lead and man can she move out! We would canter every so often to catch up to her. We were going right along and about 10 car lengths from the parking lot just as Lara went under a tree (that has little leaves that hang down and hit your helmet) Rocker dove to the right and Lara went off on the left and then Rocker backed up real fast and Lara still had a hold of the reins. Sinwaan turned sideways parallel to her and I said "Woah mare, easy" and just then Lara lost her grip on the reins, or let go, and Rocker went backwards right down on her bottom and fell over to one side. She got up and seemed to be fine but that was a scary moment. Lara said she landed on her thigh and was a little tender but back on she went and we walked the rest of the way back to the barn.

By the time we got back it was DARK. Lara noticed all the horses (five of them) were still out in the pasture so decided to bring them in. First she put a warm towel on Rockers back and then rubbed in some lintement and put a blanket on her and put her away. I untacked Sinwaan but we didn't hose them off tonight since it had gotten so cool. I had him do a trot out over to the barn where the lights were so we could see how his back legs looked. No signs of wear or rubbing, I think maybe we have a solution for now! (RELIEF) I let him graze for awhile in the yard while Lara ran about gathering feed for the horses' stalls. She reminded me to grab a bale of hay for Sinwaan this next week to acclimate him to it before the ride. So I tied him back up and managed to move a bale of grass/alfalfa blend from the barn to the truck. ARGH.

I helped Lara with the last two horses and she took the dogs in to feed them, I let Sinwaan graze some more. FINALLY we loaded up Sinwaan (he is not great about trailering still, with a little encouragement from someone behind he will get in but I have difficulty by myself)

It was so late, I don't even know. 9:30 pm maybe? We had to make a stop at one of Lara's pet-sitting clients to take care of some more dogs. Then we had to make a stop so I could take care of the pig I am in charge of for the weekend. We finally pulled in to Sinwaan's home about 11 pm. YAWN!! I put him straight out to pasture and he trotted all the way over to the gate with me. Fresh as can be. He must have had a little nap in the trailer while we ran errands. Lara unloaded the tack in the meantime and then I had to unload the hay bale. He will get a flake a day between now and the ride. He should like that.

I was so tired by the time I got home I just wanted to climb into bed. I was exhausted, but surprisingly not very hungry. I had not eaten anything since probably 11:30 am earlier today. I always carry some kind of snacks in my packs, I gave Lara one tonight but I guess I didn't have the energy to chew. Ha ha. I didn't bother eating one myself.

I took care of my dogs and nursed the baby and realized I had left the Rooster's door open so I had to drive back out to the country to close it, finally getting in bed about 12:30 am. What a day!

All told we did about 10 miles today. I think I am ready. I am not as sore as I anticipated with all that trotting (7 1/2 mi). I think Sinwaan is ready too. Time will tell. Our goal is to finish, with the horses fit to continue. Ride our own ride and all that jazz.

New Troubles

Went out tonight to ride and Kittee was ready for me. Dale was not feeling well so did not go. I groomed Sinwaan and gave him a carrot. Checked him over and saw a small injury to his left fore. Looks like his rear shoe clipped the side just above the coronet. Checked his rear and he looked a little beat up back there but nothing fresh. I used my endurance saddle pad again with the rear packs since it was still set up that way from last time.

We rode across the mini creek and up the steep hill into the harvested pea field. Such a glorious evening! We did some trotting and cantering and just had a wonderful time riding up the moutain in the dirt. The horses enjoyed an occasional munch of wheat straw as well. When we came back down, I asked Kittee about the time. She thought we had sun for another five minutes. I didn't think about it then but she was wearing sunglasses. I asked her if we had time to then go up Cache Hollow Rd a little ways and she thought sure. We trotted the horses up a fair amount and then walked for awhile and then let them rest, I would guess about 1/2 mi up. We talked a little bit and then thought we heard Dale calling for us. We turned then and trotted most of the way back down. We saw no sign of anyone. As we pulled back into the ranch we saw Dale sitting in his chair. He had not come out looking for us so it is a mystery as to who the voice in the trail belonged to.

After I untacked Sinwaan and was doing my post-ride groom and check, I noticed he had a bloody spot on each hind fetlock. It is like he is clocking himself with his new shoes. I put some corona on them and made a mental note to call the farrier. This is only the second time I have ridden since his new shoes. I think his hind shoes may be heavier now to try and prevent the overreaching he does. Apparently it is solving one problem and creating a new one. I am freaking out and paranoid and hoping to find a solution to this in the next couple of days.

I also was able to rub his back to check for soreness and found none. That was at least good news. Another carrot and back out to pasture he goes.

Tonight Ollokot was there close to the fence so he got a bite of carrot also and some pats. He seemed taller tonight.

* * * * * * * * *

On a different note, our team t-shirts came yesterday in the mail. WAHOO! They look awesome, they fit great. Well mine does, Lara's is a little tight through her shoulders but will do. Here's a pic.

Brand Inspector

Tom Groff called me today and answered some questions I had regarding brand inspection. I made an appointment to take Sinwaan to him for a lifetime ID card for Friday before our ride.

Time Off

Well, we went camping this past weekend and had a good time. I had planned to ride Sunday afternoon when we got back but it had rained a lot Sunday and I figured Sinwaan would be soaked, also the footing would not be great for all the effort involved in hauling him out to the Lake. So Lara and I decided to ride together next Friday at South Fork for something new, also it will give us a chance to see how the two horses trailer together.

LVRR Topography

Here is a map of the loops, red spots mark water for the horses. The Blue Loop is 10 mi and the Yellow Loop is 15 miles. On this map you can see the topography of the land is very mild, mostly an elevation of 500-550. All vet checks are back in camp, which is in the top right where all Loops intersect by Pacific Lake.



Here is a overhead view of the ride area, taken from Google Maps.

August 16 2007

Two weeks and two days until the endurance ride. The countdown has officially begun.

I went out tonight to ride and Dale joined me on a light jaunt up the dirt road and into the pea and wheat fields. I had been up there once before but didn't go very far because of the rolling hills, it would be easy to get turned around up there and lose your way. Tonight Sinwaan had no trouble crossing the small "creek" (about 5' wide) ahead of Misty. He gave it a thorough lookover and decided it was no big deal.

Once on top in the fields, I was in awe of the vastness of it all. You can see for miles, rolling hills and firm dirt footing now that everything has been harvested. You have to watch for gopher or fox holes and we did see two. Tonight we took it easy and mostly walked. The sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant pink masterpiece. The weather was perfect, cool and breezy. Dale pointed out where they usually ride to, and while we didn't go that far I did have a lovely time.

Tonight I used Kim's endurance saddle pad with my rear pack to see how that worked. I really do not like it as well as my front pack. For one thing, I have to lift my leg higher to mount up. When I open the velcro to pull out my water bottle it hits Sinwaan in the rump and makes him shake his skin. I guess if I ever start doing 50s I will want both packs just to carry all the water I would surely go through. But for now I think I will just stick to my front pack.

When we returned to the barn, I took Sinwaan out in the arena to get in some faster work. We did a fair amount of trotting and cantered twice. Both times coming down from the canter Sinwaan stumbled in the rear. It had me a little concerned so after a short walk to wind down we rode back to the barn and called it a night. It was starting to get dark. (Probably 8:30)

I gave him a thorough grooming since I had forgotten to do that before I tacked up (HORRORS! I am SO embarrassed!) and as I was checking his feet, I felt something wet on my fingers. I looked and it was blood, coming from his rear left fetlock. I took him over and hosed his foot for awhile and then Kittee gave me some Corona to put on it (not the beer, you ninny!) so I am hoping with some time off this weekend he will rest up and heal and be back to normal.

We are going camping with the boy so will be back out to ride Sunday evening.

Predicted forecast for LVRR

The Lakeview Ranch Ride, more lovingly referred to as the LVRR, is to be held outside of Odessa, WA. I did some looking around on weather.com to get an idea of what to expect for our first endurance ride. Here are the AVERAGES for August 31 for that area; a Hi of 83°F with a Lo of 48°F. Looks like perfect riding weather to me! The RECORD Hi was 100°F with the Record lo being 33°F (I don't believe it gave a year).

Sinwaan also got a new pair of shoes on Monday evening. This is his second set since I have been riding him this season. He gets plates and rims, and this time the farrier squared him off in the back a little more to try and help with his overreaching.

I was planning to ride today but we are predicted to have a hi of 101°, with temps about 10° cooler tomorrow so I am postponing the ride. I don't imagine I will have time to ride on Friday anyway since we have plans to go camping with our church group. That will be our first time camping with Levi and should be good practice as well.

Team Name

Lara and I (ok so I can't really take any credit here) came up with a team name for ourselves for our endurance team. We are Team Miaa Miaa. This is slang for 100%, which is a way of saying "It'll be fine" (which is my token saying). Lara likes it because 100% completions is our goal. In addition to being used to say something is "fine" or "okay" it is also used to tell someone that they they are "perfect" or "real excellent" or it can be used to say that you like something very much. Lara also discovered that although it is used by Egyptian and Arab people it is not really Arabic in origin, but rather is mainly derived from Hieroglyphics. Needless to say we think it is perfectly suited to represent us. We are going to have some t-shirts made up for our rides.

After yesterday's ride I have now logged 49 hours on Sinwaan since June 1. I forgot to mention in yesterdays posting that I used a HR moniter on him also for the day and was very pleased to see his resting HR at 37, and climbing up the hill at a walk he was low 70s. Walking on level ground he was mid 60s and even dropped below 60 at a walk a few times. In the last mile however the HR spiked to 288 and I thought no way, something has to be wrong with it, there is no way his HR could be THAT high, esp walking down a hill. When we got home and I untacked I saw that it had slipped out of position and by then didn't have any gel left on it. Since it had been such an easy ride, there was no sweat to act as a conductor either.

Finally back in the saddle

Well it has been over a week since I have ridden my fine horse. I was feeling much better today and had made plans to try a new ride with Kittee and Dale. I showed up about 8:30 am and tacked up and once again they were waiting on me. I was having too much fun running my mouth telling stories about last weekend's ride and not tacking up fast enough.

I had gone through my tack trunk from Kim last night and re-found some more treasures. My old riding crop, a pair of reins with a "popper," and endurance saddle pad with pockets, and a rump rug. So I brought home the blanket and rug and old rope halter and put them through the wash. This morning the blanket still wasn't completely dry so I used my usual english white pad. I don't have any d-rings off the back of my saddle so I am not quite sure how I will ever attach a rump rug back there but at least now I know for sure it is ready to take with me to the ride.

We headed out probably shortly after 9 AM. At least that was the plan, I never did look at the clock.

We rode up the road to Lincton Mtn Rd and headed on up. Dale on Misty and Kittee on Nugget. Today (which I knew in advance) was an LSD day. And no...I wasn't tripping. In the endurance circles LSD is also known as Long Slow Distance. The loop we rode was 10 miles and we did it pretty much entirely at a walk.

What a gorgeous day! High of 85 and such a breeze! Many times I lifted up my free arm to air out my armpit. I had flashbacks to The Titantic movie when Leonardo says "I'm the king of the world!" Well it was moments like that, looking out across the hills and valleys FULL of majestic colors. What a gift.

Going up the mountain the horses were oh so tired and oh so lazy and oh such fakers. We took a short side trail to see if there would be a way to get around the rockiest part of the road by cutting through a field. That turned out to be a lost cause as the trail we followed took us out through more fences and farther away from the road. But it was a fun distraction. As soon as we turned onto that trail (which was sort of aimed in the direction of home) Sinwaan suddenly woke up and lengthened his stride and soon took the lead and was very excited to be moving right along. This extra trail maybe added a 1/2 mi to our ride.

I did not see any wildlife today other than normal birds, and LOTS of hoppers (Grasshoppers), and there were also wasps out in force, Sinwaan probably has a headache now from all the tossing he did every time he saw one in his sights. He could headbang with the best of them, I am sure of it now.

When we turned from Lincton Mtn Road onto Kinnear Rd (approx 5 mi up) the horses really picked it up. Suddenly they were all awake and raring to go. Sinwaan again took the lead and the other two horses had to trot every so often to catch up with his long stride. Kinnear is a very nice road, as far as gravel roads go, not as rough as the rest of Lincton Mtn, and mostly level. There is a slight grade up and down both at parts, but a person could probably canter the whole thing if they were so inclined. There also is a grandious view from that road, and no large trees or cliffs from which cougars could pounce upon ye.

At one point Dale came trotting up and passed me so we all trotted for awhile and soon Sinwaan passed them again and we went on like this for a while and it was great to be airing out my drawers. I did not realize how hard it is to ride a horse at a walk for six miles. My breeches weren't fitting right, they felt like they were rubbing and I wished very much that I had put on some of the Chamois Butt'r that I had recently gotten. Today would have been the perfect test of that...oh well! My left ankle also kept getting stiff on me and I dropped the stirrup a few times on purpose to stretch. I never do that.

So I think the trotting got to be a little much for Dale and we all slowed down to our walk again and let Dale take the lead so Misty could set the pace. She moved out since she sensed she was headed for home. Then we started hearing gunshots. Lots of them. As we came up near the turn off to Cache Hollow Rd and the way home we caught a glimpse of a man with his rifle at a white pickup truck firing at targets. We stopped then and let the horses munch some wheat at roadside. Then I heard a chopper and within seconds a helicopter came flying directly above us. It was sure a lot going on! Kittee asked me then if I had a whistle to try and get the gunman's attention. I did indeed, thanks to my trusty friend Lara looking out for me in her travels to Wal-Mart for great finds. I blew it lightly at first to accustom Sinwaan to the sound of it and then really blew it hard twice to get the guys attention. Well needless to say, all that accomplished was upsetting my poor horse who by now surely has a ringing headache from the headbanging and now whistleblowing in his ear. He should do just fine when I take him to the next rock concert!

Well there was silence for a little while and I figured the guy must be reloading. We rode up then to try and get to him before he starting shooting again. That didn't work and all the noise was upsetting the horses. We did a short jog towards him and Sinwaan was getting irritable. He was very good though, I was impressed with how well he handled it knowing he doesn't like that sound. We were all yelling at the top of our lungs "Shooter!" "Stop shooting!" "Hey!" None of that did any good but finally he turned enough to see Kittee about 50' away from him waving her arms in the air like a line service worker at an airport. He gave us this look of just total disgust and put his gun down and walked around the other side of his truck. Then he goes over to a plastic bag that he had on the sideview mirror and starts rumaging through it which of course made the horses even more edgy. At that point I dismounted since just ahead of us was THE HILL (very steep and very rocky) and Sinwaan was starting to dance around a little and I had lost a stirrup. Not on purpose this time.

We walked them all down THE HILL and to the point that is 2 mi from home. While Dale was trying to line Misty up with the bank so he could have an advantage to getting back in the saddle, Misty swung her butt around and backed up, just about pinning Kittee (who was on the ground helping) between the two horses. That was a little scary but she was fine. We found a different bank for Dale to use.

Walking home was just great. The horses were all eager to go but well behaved and Sinwaan gave me no trouble at all. I could tell he really wanted to just run but he was quite polite and followed Misty along as I asked. What a good horse.

It was really an awesome ride today, the weather couldn't have been better, we had a few exciting moments, got to see some new trails and landscapes, and it was a nice way for me to ease back into the saddle after being sickly. I even learned some things today about my wardrobe and tack.

I did end up using the new reins by the way, with the popper. I am not entirely sure what to do with the popper end, exactly, part of the time it was in my way. I looped it around my front pack, and that worked until I needed it to fight off wasps, then it was a little awkward trying to unloop it as fast as I'd like to have had it. Then I figured out I could just toss it up over my shoulder and that worked the best until we starting trotting and then of course it fell off. At that point I just grabbed it up and looped it up with the rest of the reins in my hands. I am wishing I never spent the money on that darn crop, esp now that I found my old one, now I have two I won't use...maybe someone will take pity and buy one from me. I do like using the popper a lot better. It works for all kinds of things but especially good as bee repelent.

Sinwaan had his usual appetite on the trail and at one point snatched up a tumbleweed (mustard) and carried it along in front of him until he broke off part of it by stepping on it. Silly horse. When we got back to the barn I offered him some water in my new RED collapsible bag that I carried along with us. Well I am a little miffed that it is too small of an opening for him to get his whole mouth in it, at least if he wants to open it once he gets it in there, but by sticking his tounge in he can (and does) lick the water out of it. So I will take that with us in case he has trouble drinking from any of the sources on our LD ride. I had carried some carrots with us today also and he got little pieces of those from time to time. I didn't carry my sponge today but it does fit in my collapsible bag so next time I ride with Lara I will take it and learn how to attach it to my already-overladen front pack section. Darn missing rear d-rings!

I suppose I could always screw some in. I am just not that motivated.

August 8 2007

Well I was supposed to ride today after work but seeing how I was throwing up and running for the toilet, I had to cancel. YECH! Earlier this week Matt thought he had gotten some bad chicken but apparently it was the flu, and now I have it.

Here is Olivia's recount of the ride last Saturday. :)

"Okay, the first thing you should know is that I'm a really novice rider. I ride horses about twice a year. Well, I went to visit my sister, Lara and she wanted to take me riding. Because I am a beginner I was going to ride Sinwaan. He really is a well trained, easy going horse despite what happened. At first the group (me, Lara, Shana, and Hope) were just walking and trotting, but Sinwaan started loping and I did okay. Now, here comes the fun part, we decided to lope some more and every thing was going fine. Then all the horses sped up into a gallop. Still fine. I was in the rear and Sinwaan started gaining speed. I was getting a feeling that I should ease up a little, so I took my hands of the pommel to slow him down, but that didn't exactly happen just as I lifted my hands Sinwaan turned around in mid stride to bite at his butt for some reason. Well that threw me way off balance, I was literally riding on the side of the horse. I knew I was going to fall eventually so I kicked the stirrups and sailed through the air along side Sinwaan for a few seconds before I hit the ground. After I hit the ground I screamed partly because I didn't know if anyone saw what happened and partly because I was surprised I was on the ground. Luckily for me I fell in the grass not the gravel. I did get a little cut up from the grass, but it wasn't too bad. After I fell I tried to get up, but I couldn't move. I was dizzy and sick for a little while, but I did get back on Sinwaan. I got a sprained wrist, slices from the grass, and a pulled muscle in my side, and it could have been a lot worse. I still had fun on the ride and I still think Sinwaan is a good horse. I guess when you get on a horse you have to realize you might fall off. "

Group ride at Bennington

Lara's little sister Olivia is in town so we thought it a good idea to take her riding at the lake. We invited several other people along as initially we thought this would also be the first ride out for Lara on her horse who has been in training. Well, since Imaginn has injured herself, Lara rode Rocker today. Since Sinwaan is the most trustworthy horse we have access to, we decided Olivia should ride him.

I rode Bob's Morgan, Vashon. Ruth came on her solid paint Topper, Heather rode her black BLM mustang Quincy, and Heather's sister Hope rode her bay Morgan Echo.

We had a great time trapsing all over the lake trails and when we were done we found someone in the parking lot to take our photo which luckily Olivia had brought along. Heather and Ruth called it a day, the rest of us decided to go out and do more riding since Olivia hadn't had quite enough.

I should say at this point we had tried to keep it to walk-trot only.

We started down the path and Vashon is a cart-horse type Morgan, he moves out at such a fancy trot, he can trot as fast as the horse next to him can canter or gallop. At least he is pretty smooth. Bob rides him in a sidepull so he had no bit. The horse loves to GO. I had a hard time keeping him slowed down, which is probably why my back hurts now.

We got to a smooth stretch and Vashon and Echo the two bay morgan geldings had a nice fast trot down the trail and then Vashon started cantering and I could not slow him down for anything. Lara was in the back on Rocker (who was having a fit because her stablemate was leaving her) so she was bucking a little and Sinwaan was there with her just plugging away, I guess Sinwaan cantered a little to catch up because Olivia said she just noticed his gait got real smooth and she noticed they were going faster. HA! I heard a little "weeee" of pleasure at that point. Must run in the family :) Lara whoops once in a while too.

So we had some more nice walking and calmed them down and we were going along on a single track trail and two horses came the other direction. They asked if there was room to pass and they seemed a little nervous about it, they said they had a young horse but decided to try and pass. We were all standing still, off the trail as much as we could be in the wooded area. Well everything is ok until the young mare gets next to Sinwaan then she starts spinning around like crazy, round and round and I noticed she was winking in the process, so she was in heat. The guy riding her is yelling and trying to get her to move on and Sinwaan was SO GOOD he just stood there and watched her, he did get bumped and that made him spin around in a circle once but otherwise he was fine and behaved himself so well. We are yelling at Olivia to move him up, get away from that horse and she says "I can't move, I lost a stirrup." ha ha ha Anyrate that ruckus finally ceased and we started talking to the guy once he moved up and got off the horse and she calmed down, they are out trying to train for endurance too.

So then we go along and Olivia is doing so well riding with the trotting and occasional light canter that Lara kind of quits worrying about her and decides we should have a canter up this slight hill. Well Rocker was in the lead and I was behind, or should I say off the trail as Vashon was walking along in the weeds...why? I don't know... I couldn't hardly control him with the darn sidepull bridle.

You see where this story is going...don't you...?

HA

Well Vashon says "hey, we are headed home and now we have ourselves a race!" so he just takes off and passes Rocker and I can't slow him down, he is demented. I hear a shriek and notice Lara has pulled back but I can't look behind me because it is all I can do to pull the reins back into my body and the horse isn't stopping. So I had my own concerns. By the time I slow him to a mild trot and look back, Lara is yelling "Sinwaan is loose, go get him!" and there he is trotting down the hill into the weeds. I say "Sinwaan, come here!" and he trotted over and past me and on up the hill. I was able to get Vashon to walk, I didn't want to encourage Sinwaan to run off but I told him to WOAH! And Sinwaan stopped and stood and waited for me. WHAT A GOOD BOY! So I dismounted, although I didn't want to, I figured I'd have a heck of a time getting back on, this is a tall Morgan. I walked both geldings back down the hill and I couldn't see anything as the weeds are so high and there are two jeep trails there and I was on the higher one. I got back to where Hope was with her horse and asked where they were, what happened, etc. Lara was over in the weeds checking vitals and whatnot on her sister. Hope was holding Rocker.

The story goes that Sinwaan went into a hand gallop and Olivia wanted to try and hold him back a little so she had her hands on both reins and not one on the horn (she rode western) and we THINK Sinwaan got stung by a bee because in the midst of his gallop he swung his head around to bite at his butt and Olivia made the choice to bail as she didn't think she would be able to stay on. She didn't shreik until after she fell off, which I thought was kind of funny. She said she landed on her neck and right hip and had some pain, she got a bit of a road rash from the weeds she landed in, she had some nausea but otherwise nothing broken, thank heavens! We hung out there for awhile having her sit and rest and drink some water. When she would stand up though she would feel dizzy.

(We thought it might have been a bee because just two minutes prior Olivia had gotten stung in the ear.)

So Lara decided Hope and I should ride on home and get the truck and come back for them. Although they were out a ways and would have to get back to the parking lot somehow. There is no public vehicle access out there.

Lara kept Sinwaan with them in case she needed a horse for whatever reason. Later on she told me he behaved just fine with the other horses leaving him.

We figured I could pony Rocker on home since she and Vashon live together. Hope rode back with me. Well the horses knew they were going home so it was all I could do to hold Bob's fat round cotton reins on Vashon and try to keep him at a light trot (walking? What's that?) PLUS hold Rocker's flat large cotton reins, man I had my hands FULL. (I ride english so nothing to wrap the extra reins around for Rocker) Well we were riding along the top and I looked down and saw a Sheriff's car. So I started waving. PICTURE THIS! I am holding all kinds of reins and trying to hold back a homebound horse(s) and I am waving trying to get the cop's attention. LOL I start shouting at him because I can see he is leaving and has his window down. He picked up speed and so does Vashon. Pretty soon Vashon is flat out galloping as fast as he can possibly go and Rocker is doing a great job keeping up. I can't stop this horse!!!! He showed no sign of slowing down!! Up ahead I can see a double gate for park personel to get their cars through and I am wondering to myself, is this possessed horse going to stop in time? Does he think he can jump the gate? Is he going to slam on the brakes and send me flying over it?? HELP!!!!! I was yelling at him EASY! WOAH! WOOOOOAH DAMNIT!!!!! I have never run that fast on a horse at an actual obstacle. I was just a little scared. Rocker sees the gate and hears me yelling woah and I can see her thowing her head up, trying to stop, but is getting dragged along with us.

Wow what a rush.

Well he did finally slow down, about 10' from the gate (plenty of room, right!?) and we were able to WALK down around the gate in the little opening that they leave for horses. The cop was there by then and I talked to him and he actually had a key to the gate so we sent him on back out to look for Lara & Olivia. A guy on a bicycle said he had seen the whole thing and was a physician so should he go too? So I guess they both headed back and we left them, and headed on back to Bobs. Hope asked what she could do, I asked her to ride ahead of us and set the pace at a WALK please. She was glad to oblige. I am sure glad she was there. She led us safely home and pretty soon the horses got the hang of this ponying business and Rocker quit trying to crowd us off the single-track trail.

It was quite the experience. But it gets worse.

We get Vashon and Rocker untacked and brushed down quickly and put them away at Bobs and load up Echo, Hope's Morgan, and head back up the road in the truck/trailer to go pick up Sinwaan and Lara and Olivia. There are speed bumps on this road because it is incredibly curvy and otherwise there would be accidents. I was trying to drive carefully and slow way down for the speed bumps. Well after the first or second one we hear Echo banging around in the back. Hope said she wondered if he had fallen asleep and was scrambling around. So we continued on. When we got up to the main parking lot she went back to check on him and also to unload so we could put Sinwaan in first.

Sinwaan was mostly untacked with the girls holding him sitting on giant rocks. I was taking off his bridle and putting on his halter when I heard a gasp from Hope. Poor Echo had all kinds of hair missing off his back! Lara went on a mission to find out how he did it. The only thing we can figure is somehow he lost his footing and came up with his back under the divider!! There was nothing sharp there but there was a smooth lump that we saw he had gotten pinched up in. I felt sooo bad. Thankfully he didn't tear himself open, and was walking around and seemed ok, but I still feel horrible.

Trading stories with Lara in the car, apparently Olivia started feeling a little better and was able to get back on Sinwaan and ride (with Lara walking) down the trail and back to the main parking lot. The sheriff I sent in after them had a heck of a time careening down all sorts of dirt roads to try and catch up with them. I think he talked to them and saw she was ok. The physician never did make it to where they were.

Thankfully we made it safely back to the barn. I hosed Sinwaan down and turned him out and he had himself a nice roll.

* * * * *

I hope Olivia will write a little story about her experience that I can post here later. From what I hear she was pretty excited to get to ride an Arabian. They are the best, after all :-)

August 3 2007

With all this talk of cougars, Matt decided to go out with me tonight to hit the trail and decided to bring his video camera. He brought Levi up to the barn and Levi started singing to Sinwaan.

We headed up Cache Hollow with Matt following in the truck. Sinwaan wasn't too sure about that and would try to stop and pull over for him to go by. So we played leapfrog a little so Matt could get some shots from all angles. Sinwaan did pretty well on the way up, we probably trotted 1/3 - 1/2 of it.

We got to the two mile spot and I waited there while Matt drove on up to the top to get some scenic panaramic shots of the valley below and the sun setting. While I waited for him a car drove up with the same older man and four dogs as last time. The black dog again bounded up to us, hackles raised but when we didn't move he stopped and went on his way. He looks like a border collie mix. The man got all the dogs in his car and talked to me a little while. He thought maybe my horse came from Day Road. I told him no, he was from Virginia. The man thought he was sure a pretty horse. He turned around then and went back down the road as Matt was on his way down.

After all this standing around Sinwaan was starting to get antsy. He was tossing his head and just acting ready to head on home. I told Matt I would wait a minute for the dust to settle from the car and then head on down, as Sinwaan likes to trot all the way home. Matt said ok and went on ahead of us also to get set up for a shot. Well we started trotting and before we even got to the spot where I let him canter he just TOOK OFF. He was doing a full out gallop in no time flat and man was he covering ground. I tried to slow him down but to no avail, he would have none of that. It was like I was invisible. He had a couple little hops here and there as things jumped out at him (in his mind) and I did my best to keep my seat. I finally got him under control as he saw the truck up ahead. What a bad horse. Matt told me to take him on back up and come down again and I figured that was a pretty good idea since he hadn't been listening to me anyway.

He did much better once I made him go back up the other direction and down again.

After this point (the one mile) I went ahead of Matt and he followed us down at a slight distance. He was not taping anymore. Although I kind of wish he had, since Sinwaan acted up and I would have liked to have seen it on camera. I don't know what happened, I know we were trotting along and he decided to canter, which was fine at that point, I try to give him his head to some degree as long as he listens when I ask him to slow down. I think he jumped left away from a rock or something and then for a fraction of a second I thought he was going to start bucking with me. I don't know if his little spook made my stirrup fly up and startle him further or what but it was quite the experience.

When we got about 1/3 mi from the house I don't know what happened, we were trotting along happily and what do you know I lose a stirrup, and then I lose the other one so he is still trotting along in his big trot and I am trying to stay on. HA! I was slipping all around and had the seat been real leather I would have slid off for sure. Thankfully I got him halted with not too much trouble and my feet found their way and going on home we had no more trouble.

Once we crossed the road and were back onto McKuster grass, Sinwaan had to stop and take a pee. It lasted all through my whistling "on top of spaghetti" and then some ....

Tomorrow early is our Bennington Lake ride. So I hope I wore him out enough tonight to behave for Olivia! :)