It had been a crazy week - working full time and then adding a trip afterwards to VBS for the kids for the next two hours before bed. Matt agreed to take the kids Thursday so I could ride.
Thankfully the heat wasn't so terrible, or I might not have been able to meet my goal of setting a pace and keeping to it. We had a goal going into it of averaging 6 mph, because Sinwaan needs to be able to keep moving, and learn to recover at a slow trot, so that is what we did. Walking to warm up, cool down, and briefly when the road conditions called for it, but otherwise a trot. I think three times I let him stop for a bite of alfalfa since he was doing so well for me. A steady 8 miles and we pulled into home 80 minutes after we left. That is a 10-minute mile, which the math for me is incredibly harder than it should be, but I believe that works out to 6 mph. Someone please correct me if I am wrong!
Progress, which is good to see. He may get a week off now due to both the heat (100 temps) and me caring for a couple of additional critters for the next week.
I'll update again when there is something to report.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Another 8 miles
Well this evening I was able to go out and put another 8 miles on Sinwaan. It started out horribly muggy - we usually don't have humidity in this area but tonight was an exception. I was having to push quite a bit to get Sinwaan to keep a steady trot, and even then my arms felt like they were oozing sweat.
Then a storm moved in and cooled things down significantly, it was wonderful. I saw it moving in overhead and was not sure if we would get dumped on, but decided that if we did, I certainly wouldn't mind. It ended up moving south and only gave us a nice wind to ride home in, we did a little cantering and felt like we were all alone in the wild with his mane whipping about.
We rode past a little skunk this evening, it was just a juvenile, must have been about 10-12 weeks old and having never seen a baby skunk, it was a real treat. Even better that it didn't spray us!
As I was un-tacking the rain drops started pelting down. What timing!
* * *
Heather and I met and talked strategy on Monday evening, and the next plan of action is for me to really work hard at keeping Sinwaan trotting. We do a lot of walking and he needs to start being able to recover at a slow trot. After we can get that down then we start interval training and then adding more miles. So we have a lot of things to work on, and I am anxious to get going.
We have had a lot of rain which has prevented me from riding, mostly because I am not real excited about tacking up a wet horse. The rain itself isn't so much of a problem, but the footing could be and I want to avoid injury as well.
Next ride is planned for Thursday. Likely another 8 miles, but this time with more rating his speed and keeping it steady. Tough for us!
Then a storm moved in and cooled things down significantly, it was wonderful. I saw it moving in overhead and was not sure if we would get dumped on, but decided that if we did, I certainly wouldn't mind. It ended up moving south and only gave us a nice wind to ride home in, we did a little cantering and felt like we were all alone in the wild with his mane whipping about.
We rode past a little skunk this evening, it was just a juvenile, must have been about 10-12 weeks old and having never seen a baby skunk, it was a real treat. Even better that it didn't spray us!
As I was un-tacking the rain drops started pelting down. What timing!
* * *
Heather and I met and talked strategy on Monday evening, and the next plan of action is for me to really work hard at keeping Sinwaan trotting. We do a lot of walking and he needs to start being able to recover at a slow trot. After we can get that down then we start interval training and then adding more miles. So we have a lot of things to work on, and I am anxious to get going.
We have had a lot of rain which has prevented me from riding, mostly because I am not real excited about tacking up a wet horse. The rain itself isn't so much of a problem, but the footing could be and I want to avoid injury as well.
Next ride is planned for Thursday. Likely another 8 miles, but this time with more rating his speed and keeping it steady. Tough for us!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Training for Jubliee
Recently a new ride (Jubilee Ranch) was announced which thrilled me to no end. It is within an hour of my house, thereby affordable to get to. I started talking with my friend Heather and got more and more excited about getting Sinwaan back in shape and ready for the ride, which is in October. Plenty of time to train and for both of us to loose some weight and gain some fitness!
Heather is convinced (after reading Dennis Summer's e-book 4th Gear - Power Up Your Endurance Horse) that I can be ready for my first 50 mile ride if I train properly. We are going to meet up soon to discuss it in more detail.
For now, here are the rides we have currently logged.
June 9 - 6 miles, mostly roadside, a little hill work
June 12 - 8 miles, roadside, flat, fast
June 16 - 6.1 miles, roadside, some hills
June 20 - unknown mileage, Bennington Lake ride for an hour, many hills and soft dirt footing.
I am doing my best to put two rides on him a week, no matter the distance or speed, to work at getting some weight off of him. So far he has been very forward and eager to go, and I think he is enjoying being in use on a regular basis again.
Wish us luck :)
Heather is convinced (after reading Dennis Summer's e-book 4th Gear - Power Up Your Endurance Horse) that I can be ready for my first 50 mile ride if I train properly. We are going to meet up soon to discuss it in more detail.
For now, here are the rides we have currently logged.
June 9 - 6 miles, mostly roadside, a little hill work
June 12 - 8 miles, roadside, flat, fast
June 16 - 6.1 miles, roadside, some hills
June 20 - unknown mileage, Bennington Lake ride for an hour, many hills and soft dirt footing.
I am doing my best to put two rides on him a week, no matter the distance or speed, to work at getting some weight off of him. So far he has been very forward and eager to go, and I think he is enjoying being in use on a regular basis again.
Wish us luck :)
The Old Trailer
This is my horse trailer. It was purchased from it's original owner in 2010. It had everything I was looking for at the time: escape doors on both sides, tack area, bumper pull, 7' ceiling. I didn't mind that it had a ramp, and I like that the upper back doors are removable for those hotter summer months to allow for more air flow. It also didn't bother me that it looked like an Appaloosa with it's wild spotted paint job. A solid little trailer for the price, and I even got "the PNER discount" since I bought it from a fellow member. It has served me well these past couple of years.
The first thing we did when we bought it was to replace the floorboards, which came with it's own set of challenges (thank you to Matt, Gary, & Eric). Through the years it has started to wear out in places, namely the ramp and the driver's side manger/door is showing serious rust. There is other surface rust all over it but that is not really a major concern. A little sandblasting could take care of a lot of it.
Right now we are trying to figure out how best to replace the ramp wood, as it has taken a beating and is deteriorating. This is a photo of the wood, once the rubber mat (which is usually over it) was removed.
The tricky part is that the wood is completely surrounded by metal, which is welded in over the wood. It would be impossible to take out this wood and put a new piece in without cutting the metal on one side, sliding out the wood, sliding in a new piece and re-welding that side. That may be our only option, but we're going to talk to some other people about it first. You can really see the rust we are dealing with along the top of the above photo. Every time I use the trailer more little pieces of metal and wood come loose and fall out.
I was tempted to try and cut out just the top section that is deteriorating, but there is another section in the opposite corner falling apart so might as well just replace the whole thing, if we can figure out how!
Any advice?
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