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.