Dreary -yet challenging- ride

Today Heather rode down to Sinwaan's to meet me for a ride. I do not feel comfortable riding on the road alone, so I was very glad for the company! It also meant that Heather put in an extra 10 miles (5 miles each way) of riding to accompany me. WOW! I joked that her horse would be in twice as good of shape and she commented that since he was older, he would need the added fitness for the upcoming ride season. Heather rides a Mustang that she acquired as a youngster and he is 19. They have done dressage in the past, and last season Ruth got Heather hooked on limited distance rides.

Sinwaan was a muddy mess when I got to the barn. In all honesty, I thought I may be riding in the rain today. It had been drizzling all morning and it was foggy and gray. I had been stalking the weather report all week and the prediction was 10% chance of rain Saturday, 50% chance of rain Sunday. Well I was not risking Sunday's weather. I told Heather and Cheryl that I was riding Saturday, even if I did get rained on a little bit. A little would be better than a lot. I only have the opportunity to ride once a week and I can't afford to throw it out because of a little rain. Heather and Cheryl were both in, until Cheryl discovered a flat tire on her trailer.

I took my time grooming because on the drive over I had not passed Heather on the road like I thought I would have. So I was trying to figure out if she was running a little behind, took a different route, or what. I didn't want to ride alone on the road, and wasn't jumping up and down about riding by myself in the field. I had gotten most of the mud curried off of Sinwaan's back and toweled him off a bit when he suddenly perked up. He had caught site of Quincy coming down the road. I hurried then to tack up, but still took care to be sure nothing was twisted or ill-fitting.

Off we went.

Now I don't know what has gotten into Sinwaan. Usually, riding in a group of horses he is content to take up the tail end and follow at whatever speed the leader sets. He falls into line and you could put a beginner on him. Today, and last weekend, riding out from his barn, he has been full of nonsense. Jigging and tossing his head and almost crow-hopping and threatening to rear. I can feel him under me, just a bundle of nerves and energy all tangled up and he wants to explode but can't decide which direction. I try to channel it and keep him moving forward, as this is the only thing that seems to help but lately this means he is in the lead, which doesn't help matters because the lead horse is also the lookout horse. So not only is he bouncing around like an idiot, he is also half-spooking at puddles and mailboxes and stumps and all kinds of scary things that he normally (following) would not even see.

I have, at this point, come to the conclusion that this is how he acts riding away from HIS BARN. We'll see if my theory proves correct the next time I trailer him out, if he is the same challenge. He has been challenging. I had been thinking what an easy horse he had become and how it was almost too easy, how fun a challenge would be. Well, now I have my challenge.

The jig is not so awful I can't sit it and pretend I am riding a fancy show horse in a park class. What gets to me is the antics out on the road. The last thing I want is to come off a horse and land on asphalt!

Heather and Quincy are as steady as they come, so I was glad to have them along, and Heather offered to take the lead for awhile to help settle Sinwaan down. Our first encounter was a donkey in a field who started braying and trotting over as soon as he saw us. Then the Appaloosa came galloping over. They were quite a bit below us and Sinwaan just did not know if he could handle all that noise and excitement. But I talked and eased him through it and we continued on up the hill. Quincy was a bit slow, after all, he had already done 5 miles, so Sinwaan quickly took the lead. After about a mile he settled down into more of a working mindset. He doesn't do a very good job at maintaining a steady gait however, something we need to work on.

We had a nice ride, all-told, with the horses playing leap-frog on occasion. We chatted the whole way and did not get rained on at all! Sinwaan got the lead back when he sensed we were heading for home and went into a power trot. Until he saw cows. Oh my stars, what are those??!? What a moron, he shared a pasture with cows for a couple of years at least before he came to me. What is wrong with this horse? He stops and stares and then wants to leap off the road into the field if they dare look at him. More power trotting until we get to Jenee's place. What is THAT? It's just a dog agility course. Ok, but what is THAT? Just a stump. Once we got past more scary stuff we went back into the power trot. He can really move out when he wants to.

I feel like I am really dogging on him in this post. I don't really mean to. I am so thankful to have him, and I am glad to see he is acting more fit every time I ride. He was just as strong at the end of our ride today as he was at the start (in fact I was having to hold him back quite a bit the last 2 miles), I wish I could have done the loop twice! Just didn't really have the daylight for that, with Heather needing to ride on back home at the end.

He definitely does need more miles and more consistency to get him back into the steady easy horse to ride that I remember. He is too old to be acting this green. It makes me second-guess everything. Is the tack not fitting right? (I always use the same tack every time) Is something hurting him? Is he running too hot from the tiny bit of alfalfa and grain he gets every day? Is he just testing me to see what he can get away with? Is this simply a new trick based off his barn-sour attitude I have always seen? Time will tell. I think once we get out away from HOME he enjoys himself, so that tells me I can probably rule out any pain or tack problems.

Ruth loaned me a Wintec endurance saddle that I am dying to try out but I don't have a girth that will work with it. I am hoping to find one soon. I am also planning on riding 4 times over my Christmas break. I hope it doesn't rain. :)

Ride in the snow

Today's high of 21°F felt warm compared to the frigid temperatures we had been experiencing, so when I realized riding was an option today I got downright giddy. Ruth picked me up and we headed to Heather's to pick up the trailer. We had planned on picking up Sinwaan and bringing him back to Heathers so we could all ride together from the start. Hope opted out so we trailered Ruth and Heather's horses out to Sinwaan. New starting point!

There were flurries in the air as we tacked up. I had to readjust my stirrup length since my aunt rode last in my saddle. Mounting up, my seat was downright cold! We rode on down the drive and Sinwaan was acting up a little. The way he usually acts when he is being ridden alone. Barn sour? Tossing his head, prancing, pulling at the reins. Itching to go! Although my riding partners saw a different side of him today, I think it did help to have them along, yet I found myself in the lead part of the time, which is unusual for him. We walked a bit to warm them up and then did much of the rest of the ride at the trot along the edge of the road. At one point I could hardly see, the snow coming down was hitting me in the eyes. The scenery surrounding us was beautiful and I would not have traded that ride for a warm spot on the couch! My toes froze, my thighs and knees felt the chill of the air as we picked up speed and yet I felt overwhelmed by happiness. Yes, it's snowing. Yes, it's cold and YES I AM RIDING!

Ruth commented to me "You know everyone who sees us thinks we're crazy."

There was not much traffic to deal with, thanks to the weather I imagine. One person honked and spooked the horses a little. Otto had a misstep and slid a bit anther time. Yet all-in-all it was a wonderful winter ride. All I needed to complete the moment was a jingle bell. :) I checked the milage when I got home and we traveled 5.8 miles today on horseback. Not bad, maybe next weekend we can go farther.

Model project, #4

The project horse is coming along. I have started painting and have worked 2 or 3 days on him with pattern and shading. Tedious work and I am too much of a novice. I don't plan to post any more photos until he is done and in the mail because I don't want to risk my partner stumbling across this blog and ruining the surprise :)

Riding time

Getting back on track here with reporting my ride times... lol

Last weekend Ruth and I were able to go out and have a very nice extended ride at Bennington Lake. We did a lot more trotting and even a couple short cantering stints. The boys were feeling really good. We rode a lot of the different trails out there and I would guess that we could have covered 7-8 miles.... maybe?

Now my aunt Kim is in town, she is the one who sent Sinwaan to me, so we are planning a ride with her for this weekend. Just waiting now to see how the weather is the next two days.

Model project, #4

The little horse is coming along. It has been a real trial and error learning period for me. After that last primer job and sanding I decided to paint him white because Matt had brought home some spray gloss. After that I decided I still wasn't happy with some of the rough areas on the neck where I had done work with the epoxy. Some holes and rough areas. ARGH! Matt showed me how to use putty to fill in the holes and then I had to sand him again.

Here we are into mid-November and I still haven't started painting! I don't want to do a poor job on this model, but I also don't want to drag it out, I need the motivation to keep working on him weekly.

After all that Matt thought he looked like he had gone through a massacre.

As of tonight, he is primer'd gray again. I decided I didn't like the white gloss, I am going to have to pick up some white matte as my base coat and then maybe I can finally get started painting in the next couple of days!?

Model project, #3

Time for primer! Ah that's much better. However now I could painfully see everywhere that this poor little horse needed to be sanded. I didn't do a great job adding the epoxy, so now I had to sand the edges to get it to blend in better.



Unfortunately I thought he looked too muleish with his new ears and profile, so I broke off the tip of one ear. Now I have to rebuild that. Oh well, I still have to add more epoxy to his rear to fill that hole.



Now I am back to a multi-layered horse again. But he's so much smoother!



*Update, in the process of trying to get his tail down to a more realistic 'tailbone' size, I lopped it off. So I built him a new one out of wire and added epoxy to it.

Model project, #2

Well as you can see in the last photos on post #1 with this model, the epoxy on the neck was a little rough. I posted some pics on a model horse messageboard asking for tips. I got some! The cocked hind leg needed to be further under the body. So I reheated and moved it under a tad more.





After making some more subtle changes and doing some sanding it got to the point where it was very hard for me to tell what on earth was going on with all those layers.

Riding is a GO

I have just been doing a horrible job at keeping up with this blog lately. The GOOD news is that YES I have been getting out for a ride once a week. It's not much, but it's something. My friend Ruth has been kind enough to trailer us out with her to Bennington Lake most weekends.

Yesterday was my first time riding Sinwaan around the property where he now resides. It was incredibly windy. He acted up a bit. Typical barn-sourness. We worked and worked and worked. Walking and trotting back and forth and all around. He started sweating on his shoulders and behind his ears. Since it was so windy I thought I had better put a cooler on him and walk him around until he was dry so he wouldn't cramp up or catch a chill. I took him to the other paddock and walked him around and then let him graze for about half an hour. He loved that.

Model project, #1

This doesn't really belong in Sinwaan's blog but I wasn't sure where else to put it. I am working on a model horse currently for a "Secret Santa" partner. It sounded like fun, so I signed up, and now here I am trying to do a portrait model. Yikes! I looked online for a week trying to find the right "body" horse to build on. I did not have any luck. I remembered that my mom had a model that might work so I stopped by tonight and bought it from her. This model was included in a "body box" of multiple models that needed to be repainted. Someone had even gone an extra step and added a new mane and 'feathers' to this one.

Well the mane was on the wrong side of the neck for my portrait model, so it had to come off. It's been awhile since I ran a dremel. Have to admit it was kind of fun.

The feathers had to come off too because they were positioned way too high on the rear legs. This model I am portraying does have some light feathers so I will have to add them back on with epoxy once I get it cleaned up. I also cut the tail away from the body while I was at it. I drilled out the ears and nostrils and even the mouth to some degree.

Then I heated the horse up with a heat gun so I could reposition parts of him. I wanted to bring the head & neck down a little to a more relaxed position. I also bent his back leg so it looked like he had that rear foot cocked and resting.

As you can see, the heat gun was not kind to him, it really changed his neck and now he does not look very realistic! I also moved his ears just a bit so they look a little more floppy, like a lazy gelding expression.

I added epoxy now and sculpted his neck. I was happy with it at the time, but looking at this photo and how the light/shadows are catching it, looks like I need to do some more work on the muscles to make it more realistic. I built up his head, making it more roman-nosed. I added feathers to all four feet and fixed the ear-tip that was missing. I had a wretched time with the tail and the mane, but I think the mane will be ok. The tail kept falling (gravity) as I had the model on it's side working on adding detail to the mane. By the time I got to it, the epoxy was hardening and would not stick together very well. So I am going to have to start over on that next time!

All in all it was a satisfying evening's work! I have a very limited amount of time to get this model done. Wish me luck!

Trail course and new digs

Sinwaan and I participated in the second Detour Ranch fun day hosted by the Blue Mountain Rider's ladies club. Even more work went into the trail course this year, it was really amazing!


After that Sinwaan was delivered to his new home and settled right in with no problems.

Will add more details later. :)

Catching up

Well I haven't been keeping up very well on here. I last rode on the 12th. Levi came out to the barn and rode Ginger the pony on the 13th and Sinwaan had a visit from the farrier on the 15th (long overdue). I had hoped and wished and dreamed of trailering out for a ride on the 19th but after Boston Terrier Meet-Up the weather was a bit windy and damp, and the trailer I would have borrowed did not make it back to town until 6 pm. (It is getting dark now about 7 pm)

The ride on the 12th was....interesting. We rode around again in the fields surrounding the barn. More so in the "scary" field near the snapping crackling power lines. We did a bit of side-passing. Sinwaan was trying to walk around sideways anyway so I thought it best to direct the energy and make him work a little on minding. He had a good spook when the horses in the pasture next to us took off running. Overall he was not very well behaved, as is typical lately. I can't wait to ride on a trail!

One of the other boarders told me about some lessons that are happening out there, I may try to join one if possible. They are on Sundays when Matt is busy filming so it may not work out, but it's something I would like to try and schedule in at some point this winter. I have never had a lesson on Sinwaan and feel it would benefit both of us (and it's something to do on one of those dreary winter days)

I am planning a ride with Ruth at the lake next weekend. She has a new (young) horse so we're hoping they get along so we can boogie. Even if it's a slow ride, at least it will be a change of scenery!! :)

Barn time

I think I forgot to blog the past couple times I have been out to the barn. Last weekend my brother was in town and I did not make it out. (But I did the weekend before) This affected my overall attitude for the day more than I realized it would have. Wow. So I made sure to get out there today as soon as the kids went down for their nap.

Had a chat with Cindy when I first got there, then pulled Sinwaan out and started grooming. He wasn't too bad but his feet were fairly packed. His frog really shed as I was picking out his feet. Saw a little black and white in one hoof (the one with the shed frog) but it didn't smell too bad and the other three hooves looked normal. So I tacked up and out we went. He stood nicely for me to mount up and walked fine to the field. Then the fun began, as it always does now.

I sometimes feel like I am on an Lipizzaner stallion, trotting in place although without all the hair and properly arched neck. Nay, Sinwaan has his head up in the air, dancing around like a moron, not watching where he's putting his feet. He stops, tries to eat and I don't allow it since he isn't behaving and we aren't on a trail ride training for endurance anyway! He could take a lesson or two from Ernie's horse Spot, who can eat on the fly without breaking stride. He walks sideways without me asking for a sidepass. Needless to say it is a test of my own horsemanship - will he buck for real today and will I stay on?

I think he is just full of beans. We used to go out on a straight road and after a short warm-up walk he could trot until he tired. Now I make him walk until he behaves and sometimes that takes a while. I think it is driving him a little nuts. He wants to GO for once in his life and I am telling him NO. At least for now. I too ache for the open road, a destination, instead of circles in a field.

He spooked pretty good at...what? I didn't see anything...not really like him. Maybe the mailbox? Or the sound of a water sprayer hitting a pole? He acted like the shadows of the leafy trees were going to get him. Who is this horse? I steadied him with my voice but twice had to give a quick pop for really acting up. Once we moved up to trotting he did better, finally a place to channel his enthusiasm. But he stumbled twice and then I thought he was a little off. Felt like the same hoof that shed the frog. Not knowing enough about the natural hoof I decided to call it safe and call it a day, not wanting to add to injury if that was indeed the case. By then he was doing reasonably well - it is important to me to end on a good note. All he really wants is to be done so he can EAT anyway.

He is due for a trim again, starting to chip a little. I have not felt that I am out enough to have him shod, although it would be nice to not have to worry about taking to the gravel roads and getting more miles for my time out there. I used his boots once this year, but they were fairly time consuming to get OFF, and I don't always have much extra time right now.

Ah well...at least I am back in the saddle, trying though it may be.

A long time coming

Went out to the barn today. Thought about going yesterday while we had some cloud cover on these hot summer days but just didn't make it. So this morning I was feeling determined. One problem: Ellie. I waited for her to take a nap. It didn't happen until about noon! So there goes any hope of riding in cooler weather. Full sun and 89 degrees. Felt a little hotter than that!

Sinwaan heard me open the barn door and came trotting over. Slightly unusual. I think it's because Cindy has been feeding him treats in my absence so he was expecting a goodie. Too bad, he just got me. Because I rode the motorcycle out and didn't want to carry a backpack in this heat I didn't take any carrots. Poor horse.

He wasn't too dirty so grooming went quickly. I gave his bridle path a trim with scissors...horrors!

Tacked up and took a bucket out with me to use as a step-up. Sinwaan stood still as a stump. Hmmm. Well so far, so good. Confidence.

We headed down the gravel driveway and I glanced over and noticed that the surrounding fields didn't seem to be planted with anything in particular and 3/4 of them were mown. So I turned Sinwaan around and headed onto kinder footing (he's still barefoot). Almost instantly Sinwaan started to jig. He had his head up and was all out of sorts, acting like he wanted to just tear around. Yeah, this was the horse I expected last time I rode. Almost a year off is not good for anyone or anything. Although to his credit, riding in groups he is a perfect gentleman. By himself you had better be an intermediate rider. I knew this time I had my work cut out for me.

So I did my best to keep him to a walk. We turned circles. We halted. We backed up. We turned more circles. We walked laps around that field, changing direction frequently. At first I was sure this was the day I would fall off. I could envision being drug around by the stirrup as he bolted for the nearest hay pile. Withering confidence!!

Finally he settled into more of the horse I remembered from regularly being ridden. So we trotted, up and down and all around. Once when I brought him back down to a walk (headed for home) he gave a little faux buck. Bad horse! At least he is too lazy to follow through with most of his misbehaving. And I was still on. Confidence coming back...

After we finally had a solid good 10 minute jaunt I turned him back in to the barn. He's going to take some more work but at this point I don't think it's anything we can't work through. I am just going to have to get out there to ride more often. It's hard to get motivated when my only ride for the year was cancelled...

It was hot out so he got a bath and then I worked on detangling his mane. I didn't want to turn him out damp again (last tine he rolled right away) so I led him out and let him graze while he dried.

All's well that ends well, and we ended on a good note.

First ride

It has been a long time since I rode, probably last September sometime, before Sinwaan broke my leg in the AHA halter class. This weekend Ruth and Heather agreed to come out to the barn where I board Sinwaan so we could all ride together. I was really glad to have their company because one thing I have learned is that Sinwaan is a much better-behaved horse with company. He prefers to follow, and when he has someone to follow that works out well.

I got there a little earlier so I put Sinwaan in the round pen and worked on walking and stopping. He did great so I brought him in and started grooming him. Just then I heard the trailer pull in so the girls had great timing! We all got tacked up and were ready to go at the same time. Sinwaan's girth was only 1 hole bigger also. I wasn't sure how much weight he might have gained with all this time off but apparently it wasn't much. And it was closer to only being 1/2 hole bigger but I didn't want to make it too tight. He practically threw his head into the bridle, I think he's missed our riding time together.

I also put his red front boots on him since he is currently unshod. I was glad he had been trimmed recently, they went right on without too much fuss.

I was a little worried about getting back in the saddle, but I used an overturned bucket as a mounting block and popped right up. Yeah! Man it felt good to be aboard again.

We headed down Elliot and we walked until we got to the turn, then we did some trotting to the railroad crossing. We walked more to the dirt road and then did more trotting. It was getting warm but while trotting we had a nice breeze. It was a fantastic ride.

I could tell Sinwaan was out of shape because when I would ask for him to transition to a canter from the trot he would stumble on his hind end. He also was slowing down on the way home, instead of speeding up like he usually does.

The hardest part for me of the whole day was getting that last boot off. The first boot was not as tight and popped off pretty easily. The second boot, man, I had to really work at it and I was glad that Sinwaan was cooperative!

It was fairly hot by then so I hosed Sinwaan down before turning him back out in his paddock. The first thing he did was go and find a good spot to roll. What a pig! He looked comfortable and I was thrilled to have finally taken him out for a ride again.

Easing back into barn time

Well it's been a very long time but I finally found myself at the barn again. Chad was scheduled to meet me at 1 pm for a farrier appt. I got out there a little early so I turned Sinwaan out in the paddock surrounding the round pen so he could nibble on some greenery. In the meantime I scrubbed out his water tank and started refilling it. In no time at all I heard a truck coming up the driveway so I went out and caught Sinwaan and brought him in. I didn't notice the time then, but when Chad was done with the trim it was only 1:07 so he must have been pretty early. While Sinwaan was getting his feet trimmed, I worked on detangling his mane again. It sure gets knotted up! I gave him a good grooming, trimmed his bridlepath as best I could with scissors (it looks terrible but works) and then we went out to the round pen for a little refresher. Well Sinwaan started out at the trot like he always does but wasn't as frantic about it as I remember him being when I first started working him when he arrived on western soil. It didn't take too long and I had him walking both directions and stopping on command. Good enough! I took him out of the round pen and held his lead so he could hand-graze on some grass...he earned it today. I am looking forward to the day when I can climb back aboard. Seems our one endurance ride for this season might be cancelled, so there goes my motivation to really get him in shape quickly, but we can still enjoy some rides with Ruth once I am ready.

Leisurely Sunday

Sunday the weather was beautiful. I wish I could have been out riding. A grooming shall have to do... the family accompanied me out to the barn and while Levi chased cats, I gave Sinwaan his spring cleaning. Now that spring has sprung, he is shedding out, I could have made a sweater with what came off of him from just a quick brushing. He was looking good today, no more signs of gas or whatever that problem was a couple days ago. His mane was all in knots again but came out easier this time. His feet looked good but he will be needing a trim shortly. I trimmed his bridle-path as his mohawk was getting quite unruly. Having only scissors it doesn't look fantastic but it will have to do for now.

My mom had given me two boxes of apples so we took one out to the barn for everyone to enjoy. Sinwaan does love apples. It was nice to spend some time with him again, though limited.

False alarm?

Had a bit of a scare last night. I went out and tossed Sinwaan some hay and he was in his usual spot, behind his shelter socializing with the stud colts. He came around and took a bite, so I went to the opposite run and looked for Norman. In the time it took me to do that I noticed that Sinwaan was acting strange. He was turning around in circles and his tail was lifted slightly. He was obviously agitated and not eating (not like him).

I went and fed the stud colts and Garreth, and came back to check on him again. He was down on his knees with his rear up in the air. He was acting like he wanted to lay down but couldn't. So I went into the tack room and called the vet. My first concern was colic and the sooner we could get him help the better his chances would be. Well it was after hours and there was another number to try. That was an answering service but I had to leave a message. I do not have a cell phone and do not answer the owner's phone at the barn so I left a message that I would try back again in 10 minutes. I went to check on Sinwaan again and he was backed into a corner next to his water tank and the railing, standing still. Hmmm.

I knew I still had chores to do so I went out and fed the other six horses on the other side of the property. I was looking around for Jen because I had seen her going out on a ride as I pulled in. She works at the vet clinic that I frequent and perhaps would have some advice, or at least a stethoscope so I could listen for gut sounds and heart rate. Checking on Sinwaan again he was quiet now but still not eating. So I got back in the truck and told Matt to drive around and look for Jen (it was dark out by now). Just as we made the turn around the driveway I saw her coming in. She came over with me to take a look at Sinwaan and what do you know, he is acting normal as ever, eating away on his hay pile. Jen said she would be out there another 20 min and would check on him again before she left.

I went home and then at midnight before bed, we drove back out to check on him. He was standing in his shelter, sleeping. I tossed him a little more hay and he dove into it with his usual gusto. I am not sure what to make of this mystery.

This morning when I went out to feed he was his usual hungry self and acting as normal as could be. I am relieved that he did not need treatment last night but wish I could have had some answers to what was going on with him. :-/ ...puzzled....

Out at the barn

Monday I was home sick from work and starting to have cabin fever. It was a nice enough day so I decided to run a couple errands with Levi to get us both out of the house and into the sunshine. On our list of things to-do was to stop by and visit Sinwaan and feed him some carrots.

It was a busy evening at the barn. Jennifer had just left on Phoebe, I could see her riding out across the barren field. One of Garreth's owners was there with him in cross-ties, with a boom box blaring sound effects. Barking dogs, a crowd, fireworks, trying to desensitize him (I guess) as he is still a young horse.

We went out to Sinwaan's paddock and he had drug his salt block base over into the mud so I went over and put that back on his mat under the shelter and then dug his salt block out of the manure. Not sure if he will have any interest in it now but I couldn't very well leave it there.

Levi watched with great interest as I showed him how to feed a horse - it's tricky to feed a round treat on a flat palm!! I offered to let him feed a carrot a couple times but he was shy, or nervous, about those big teeth. He did want to pet Sinwaan and got in a couple of pats on his face and neck. Not sure if he'll be a natural little cowboy or not. "Sinwaan eat carrots mama!"

Dirty horse

Well it's been ages but I finally got out to the barn today. I did not plan on riding, but with the current season being as it is, I figured Sinwaan would be a muddy mess and might enjoy a good grooming. So that is all I did. He stood behind his shelter, peeking at me from the crack as I cleaned his run, then when I came back in with a halter he finally did walk over to me once he saw my commitment at stepping into the MUD. Yuk. Silly horse. I was hoping he would save me that part. He sure has a sense of humor sometimes.

I opened up the barn doors and let the sunshine in, tying him up at the end so he could stand partially outside if he wanted to continue his sunbathing. It didn't take long and I was peeling off my coat! I was brushing him in just a t-shirt and it felt great. He was FILTHY. He had multiple knots in his mane again but after soaking with detangler I was able to get them loose. I spent the most time on that probably. His mane has grown down past his neck now.

I spent about an hour away from the house. If I had more time I might have been tempted to bathe him, but Matt wanted his turn outside on the motorcycle so I made my way home.

Maybe tomorrow I will get out there to work him in the round pen...? It will depend on the weather and the footing. It's still a bit too wet today even with all the sun.

PNER Convention

This weekend was the PNER convention in Portland, OR. Sinwaan was fortunate enough to be awarded the Rookie Senior Horse of the Year for completing three consecutive rides. I imagine in past years the competition for this award has been tougher but I was really thrilled by both the acknowledgement and the actual award.

Carlene Bensen is the sponsor for this award and personally called me before convention to ask me about color preferences (red of course) and if I would be there to receive it. At the time I was not planning on going but since she called me and I had an award, I got the plan in motion to go.

Matt and Levi and even mother joined me in driving over Friday after work. We always look forward to a chance to spend time with brother Wes and wife Joanie.

Saturday morning I attended the seminar about the Top Ten Mistakes Endurance Riders Make and I found it to be very informative. Afterwards I ran into Candy Schrader and had a very nice visit with her and talked a little with Ernie also as he came and went from the table.


Saturday night Matt and Levi and mother and I attended the awards banquet and I went up to receive the award from Carlene. They displayed a large photo of me on Sinwaan on the projector screen. I thought it was neat how they did this for most people, and during dinner there was also a slideshow of ride photos.

At our table were three ladies I did not know and had never heard their names before, and Laura Applegate and friend Robert. It was nice to meet Laura after so many months of e-mail correspondence.

It would have been fun to stick around and dance and listen to the DJ afterwards but Levi was not very agreeable to sitting still through the awards so Matt had to take him out to the lobby and chase him around for a couple of hours.

Thank you to PNER, Carlene, and my family and friends for their support in attaining this award.

Visit from the farrier

Had the farrier out today to pull shoes. Should have had it done back closer to Thanksgiving but with the crutches it got postponed. Sinwaan was quite overgrown and I am sure he was glad to have them off. Chad said he wasn't going to trim off as much as usual because the ground was so hard (14 degrees with crunchy snow) and didn't want him to be sore.

After he left I spent some time trying to get a comb through his mane again and put his blanket back on. His tail was all frosty. I also fed him a little grain for a treat and hauled some water as his trough was looking low. He seems to be in good spirits.