Headed for the mountains!

Heather has been itching to head for the hills. Real hills, not the little ones we usually ride on the roads. She thought that with all the miles I have put on Sinwaan, and with how far his fitness level has come the past couple of months, we were ready to tackle Cache Hollow with her.

When I first got Sinwaan he lived on the farm at the foot of Lincton Mountain. Cache Hollow road is a seasonal road with allowed use from April - November. Typically used by farmers, there is not much traffic. Most of it is rock or gravel and it is very primitive for cars, with little to no signage. This makes it great for riding on horseback. I remember starting his conditioning by riding 2 miles up and 2 miles back down that road every week. I thought we were really doing something. Even though 4 miles a week is really not much, the fact that we were going up and down a mountainside put a decent base on him and allowed us to place mid-pack that year in limited distance rides. 

This year I am more serious, more driven, and know a little more about what I need to do. Heather and I planned out a ride that would take us up THE HILL on Cache Hollow, around on Kinnear and back down Lincton Mtn road, for a total of an 11 mile loop.

We started out at about 1300' and climbed up to 2200' at the top of THE HILL.  This shot proves only that I shouldn't try to take photos while we're trotting. 

Sinwaan thought I must be kidding to not only expect him to carry me up THE HILL, but also to do most of it at a TROT. WHAT?! Ok, so he got a break half way, and did walk about half of the really steep section. Bunny went happily trotting all the way up to the top, took a short break, and then came back down to meet us and went trotting back up again! She is an animal!

Once at the top of this monster hill, there is a beautiful view of the city in the valley. I am not entirely sure how much of it is Milton-Freewater and how much of it is Walla Walla, but it is a nice reward for all that hard work.  This photo is looking back in the direction that we climbed up.

Sinwaan was pretty bushed after that climb and cocked his hind leg as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Frequently there are people shooting targets up there. Today was no exception. The lady was nice and asked if she was bothering the horses. I think due to the wind her gun didn't seem too loud. We didn't hang around there long anyway. We took a couple photos and moved on.

A short distance and the road splits. Head to the right and you will meet up with Coe Rd (Co 609) and if you stay on Kinnear it would end into Couse Creek Rd. I have not ever gone that direction but perhaps will be able to later in the season. We went left on Kinnear and this lovely third of the loop has exceptional views and decent footing. Bunny is a machine and she got a bit ahead of us there for a little bit. Heather and I had talked about it earlier and I did not discourage her from getting in all the work she could while we were up there. So she would fade into the distance, and then come back to us, a couple of times. Bunny IS a 50-mile horse. Sinwaan is in training.

Sinwaan kept trying to pull over onto the grass. At first I thought he just wanted to eat. Then I thought maybe he was just tired. Then I thought maybe he needed to pee. FINALLY he did relieve himself and after that he was able to keep up his steady pace a lot better. In the above photo I had looked over and saw something move. At first I thought perhaps it was a fox but after watching it for a bit it seemed more like a coyote (dead center in the photo). It didn't see us for awhile but then once it did, it ran off down the hillside. Looking back behind us on this same hillside was a small herd of cattle.

Trot, trot, trot, and enjoy the view!

The weather was in the 80s and we had a strong breeze, it was a lovely day to be riding. At the highest point in our ride, we were at approx. 2900'. That is 1600' of climbing at about seven miles into the ride.

When we figured we had gone about half-way, we dismounted and gave the horses a break. They grazed a little on the sparse grasses, and we electrolyted them with some plain yogurt in a syringe. Sinwaan licked and chomped and seemed interested in that. He took it really well. This is something we have to start doing more often because on the longer, harder rides they need more e-lytes given to them to make up for all they are losing.

When we got to a point where I thought for sure we would have to cruise around another curve of the mountain before finding Lincton Mtn, there it was. You know you are there when you see the loading chute and holding pen for the cattle (7.5 miles in). I can't imagine driving a semi-truck up these roads to pick up cattle, but they do. We made the sharp left and headed up a short hill before it leveled out and then started going downhill (for the next four miles). That section of road is very deceiving because it looks smooth, with small rocks here and there, but when you start looking closer you realize there is a lot of rock embedded in the dirt. Somehow we managed to trot most of it and kept up with Bunny -for the most part- and I was very proud of my horse. He is not the best at downhills but he found his gear and just motored along. Maybe next time I could get a photo of the road surface. This time it was all I could do to stay balanced and trotting.

There were a lot of flowers blooming along Lincton Mtn road and the view was nice on the ride down.

 There is one homestead about 1 1/2 miles from the paved road, and from that point on the road is a nicely maintained gravel surface.  We only encountered two vehicles today, they both came up behind us on our way down Lincton Mtn. They were both polite and slowed way down to pass.

Once back down to the main paved road, it was .3 miles back to the trailer. Our total riding time (including the break half-way) was 1 hr 55 minutes. We were pleased with that since we had figured it would probably take about 2 hours. Heather had packed all kinds of goodies for both us and the horses. First we offered them water. Bunny drank some of hers down like a good athlete. Sinwaan kind of licked at his and looked around.

Then we offered them their mashes. Sinwaan thought that sounded pretty good and he licked the pan clean. After that we loaded up and took them home. Heather had made some peanut butter and honey sandwiches and sliced apples for us and it tasted so good!

I found a pretty good sized rock wedged into Sinwaan's left fore, so am hoping that doesn't result in a stone bruise or worse. He got a nice bath once home, with the royal treatment.

Even though he still looks pretty fat, his saddle is starting to fit better, and I see some new muscle definition on his chest behind his front legs. I have to work full time all next week so he will have some time off to recover from today.

First long ride - 15.3 mi

Today Heather and I decided to ride together on a longer venture than usual, building up the miles and distance as well as adding in some hill work. We started out by meeting at the intersection of Stovall (where Sinwaan lives) and Last Chance. It is 2 miles for me to get there and about 2.3 miles for her to reach this point. 

Sinwaan had taken a short break at the alfalfa field half a mile earlier and still had some plant on his face.

Bunny heading towards us over the bridge. From there we continued down Last Chance and made a right onto Frog Hollow. Frog Hollow has a fair amount of hills and I was thinking it would be good to do that portion first, before Sinwaan started getting tired later on in the ride. Well, I didn't realize there was also a lot of climbing later on since we rode a portion I had never been on before.

As we were trotting along, there was some traffic so we had slowed to a walk through the small bits of shade and I looked back to see a truck coming towards us. It was not a normal kind of truck. It was a towering, shifty, hay truck of some kind. I googled later to try and find a similar example but all I could come up with was this video capture, and while the back half of the machinery is similar, the front was nothing like this one. The one that passed us had a small cab very close to the bed of the truck, and it looked ancient. I guess if I see it again I'll have to take a photo. At any rate, the driver was very courteous, he went past us very slowly. I had stopped Sinwaan and turned him around so it would not surprise him, and he handled it like he saw them every day.

When we turned left onto Rainville (one of my favorite roads) we heard a high pitched whinny and a little horse came trotting over to us. Bunny was not really sure about that and she startled a little but Heather soon had her moving on again.

Sinwaan lives with (next to) little horses so he wasn't bothered by them at all, just a little curious to know what they had to say.

This little horse had a pasture-mate who was just as friendly (and fat) as he was. Shortly after this property we had a great blue heron take off in flight right next to us and that spooked the horses a little, but they had a quick recovery and we were able to look over and enjoy the sight of such a large bird so close to our heads.

Headed downhill at a trot at one point on Rainville, Sinwaan moved a little funny, like he was crossing legs or getting tied up a little bit, kind of off,  but he would recover and then do it again, recover, etc. Wasn't sure what that was about but within a quarter mile he was back to normal. I only mention it because after our ride I noticed he was missing a shoe, and was thinking maybe that is when it happened.

We had been going along really well and stopped here on Stateline to give the horses a short break and a chance to eat some fresh alfalfa. I found it amusing that there was a portable toilet there out in the middle of nowhere. This was a nice section of road and had very little traffic, although the strange hay truck did come upon us again and passed us. It was also on this road that we went past a big water sprinkler gun at roadside and with Heather in the lead, just as Sinwaan and I passed it, I heard the sound of water chasing up the pipe and sure enough KKKKKSSSSPPPPPHHHHHHH it started spraying the crop. Wowie-wow that gave Sinwaan a fright and he leapt forward a couple of bounds.

Half-way down Stateline on our route it started getting busy with traffic, and we had a motorcycle come up behind us. Sinwaan was trotting along and then dodged to the right, towards the motorcycle. Dumb horse. I got him back over to the shoulder quickly but it probably gave the rider a dose of sense about what a horse could do to his future as he slowed down quite a bit when he passed by Heather. I don't like Stateline for that reason, from Locher road on there is always a lot of cars going 40+. A lot of drivers are nice and slow down or change lanes, but not all and you have to be ready for anything.

Finally reaching our turn at Valley Chapel, Sinwaan took the lead for a little bit. The big Mastiff dogs that always spook us were nowhere in sight (thankfully) and there was a little shade as we kept up our trot towards home. Heather had commented how far Sinwaan had come since she started riding with us earlier this year. Before, he never could have kept up a trot for 2 miles, and now he cruises along like it's no big deal for extended periods. It is really nice to be able to ride with her again and not feel like I am holding her back. It is also great to know his fitness has been building with all these training rides.

Once back on Last Chance, Sinwaan started dragging a bit. I knew we were only about 2 miles from home at that point, so 13.5 miles was farther than he'd gone all year and I was proud of him for his effort so far. Heather thought maybe he would find a second wind when we turned for home back on Stovall. I kept him going at a slow trot most of the time, but we did walk infrequently.

At the barn I checked our time and we were in at 2 hours 25 min. A bit longer than I'd hoped, but still a respectable time for the distance and weather. It was a hot summer day to be sure. I hosed Sinwaan down and checked him all over. He had a slight rub on his chest from his breast-collar. I had started putting his saddle back just a bit farther than last year and had not adjusted the collar. So I took the time to do that today. As I picked out his hooves, I noticed he had lost his front right shoe. Hmmm. Maybe that is why he didn't want to stay in on the shoulder in the gravel, and preferred to instead move along on the asphalt. His one rear shoe was very tight but slightly offset as well. He moves kind of lazy and is wearing that shoe flat along the toe also. With all the miles I have put on him recently, this set of shoes wouldn't make it another round anyway.

I put him out with his flymask on and he enjoyed a good roll in the dust while I texted my farrier.
Turns out the farrier is working harvest and can only come out Sunday morning. I was hoping to be riding in the hills 2 hours before that, but now the plans will be adjusted.

Short ride

Got in a short 6 mile ride with hills this morning, time 55 min. Had a bunny cross our path, and later on, a deer. That was neat to see. Was thinking I would work harder at making our time shorter, but riding the beast before breakfast is hard - when he sees food I think "ok, one bite, make it quick" and it turns into about five. So maybe our riding time is faster because he is spending more time eating? At any rate, it seems like every time we do 6 miles it takes us 50-55 minutes. Which is ok. Good but not great.  It reminds me of riding with Ernie Schrader one time, his horse could trot and grab food off the side of the trail without slowing down. I wonder how to teach him that?

Ride - 12.5 miles

This week I had to ride on Saturday, which meant I was riding alone. Usually it only works out for me to ride with Heather on Sundays. I miss the company, but decided to plan out a ride that went the opposite direction in order to see some new roads that I might not otherwise see.

So, I headed west on Stovall, instead of the usual eastern route, going up Forest and then turning right onto Frog  Hollow to see what we could find. It was a lovely evening to be riding. I then turned onto Rainville and found it to be a most delightful short road, with many horses on either side, a great blue heron and small hills.

From there we ventured west onto Stateline and enjoyed the sights. Sinwaan decided he was feeling good and we had a nice gallop along the roadside for a bit. When we pulled over to grab a bite of alfalfa I turned back and saw a large semi-truck, loaded to the hilt with hay on both trailers, turning onto Rainville. Talk about good timing. There was a Jeep bouncing across the fields, going to meet up with some farm equipment in the distance.

Sinwaan seemed happy to turn off of Stateline because this felt like the direction towards home, heading north again towards Frog Hollow, up Fredrickson Rd. This was a nice curvey road with crops on either side and the occasional horse pasture. There is a rickety wooden bridge over an irrigation canal at the crest that Sinwaan was not too sure about. It took about three tries and then he finally went over it.  At the T in the road, he thought we should go right back home, but I had other ideas. Wanting to put in more miles today than usual, I turned him left, having mapped out the route ahead of time, and we had a little disagreement about it but soon he was back into his trot, heading west on Frog Hollow.

McDonald Rd was a welcome site, finally we both agreed on the direction we were headed. More hills than I remembered. Some cattle on either side, lots of things for Sinwaan to look at, and we did some walking down the hill. Turning onto Detour road we were finally headed home. Sinwaan got to do some walking as I got a phone call and had trouble steering him and talking at the same time. He is not neck reined! We stopped for a couple of minutes at a new development, there were some boulders and I put the camera up on one with a timer set for 10 seconds, but just could not get a decent photo, so I gave up, hopped back on board and we set off for home.

Once back home, I used a fence post to get this nice shot of us all decked out for the ride. The ankle cuffs are highly reflective and a safety precaution I got for my early morning and late evening rides on the roadside. I was disappointed that the "breathable"  material seemed to catch all the small gravel pieces and it took a little time to clean them out when I removed them. So the next ride I put them higher on his legs - the front ones are long enough to go above the knee, and had better results.

12.5 miles ridden today in two hours, five minutes, and he had "gas left in the tank" when we got home. I was tempted to ride him up to my friend's house and back for another two miles but it was getting late in the day and he had given me a good ride, so instead I hosed him down and cleaned my tack and called it a night.