What can we get into now?

Otherwise known as Three Blind Mice.

Thanks Doug for the photo and the captions!

Sinwaan, Ali and Andy at the watering hole.

Bennington Lake

Ruth, Heather and myself had a great ride at Bennington Lake today. Weather was great, horses did wonderful and it is exciting to see how thrilled Heather is with her new Standie! We did lots of trotting today and even had a canter up a hill.

Thursday ride

Matt had been talking about going to the model train meeting tonight and the kids got all excited about going with him. He usually takes Levi but this would be a first for Ellie. So that meant I had the evening free to go riding! I asked Ruth if she was also game to go out on a ride and she was, so she hauled Sinwaan and we went out to Madam Dorian.

We had a great ride with a lot of trotting but the sand was quite deep and Sinwaan tired out by the time we turned around to head back on the gravel road. Blue is a little trailer-sour (or sweet?) and took off in this awesome floating speedy trot. Man that mustang can move! Sinwaan would trot along at his own pace, then canter a bit to try and catch up and tire out and need a break. He is still overweight and a bit out of shape, but we're working on that. Hopefuly with being worked/ridden twice a week he will get back in shape by the end of next month for Bare Bones, should I be able to do that ride.

In one section the mosquitos were really bad and I was shooing them and killing them and knew I could be in trouble since I have bad reactions to their bites. I usually get a welt that lasts about a week. I had some itching on my back thighs but tried not to scratch it too much.

The sun was setting as we rode back toward the trailer and I ran over a snake. I am certain it was dead, about a foot+ long but it could have been a baby rattler by the markings. Then Ruth spotted two bucks - we had seen a couple deer here and there but these bucks had some racks - maybe 3 points or so, and it was neat to see them. They vanished as quickly as they appeared and we later saw them about 1/2 mi down the road ahead of us again, bounding and bouncing and jumping fences into the orchard next door.

Weather was perfect today for riding, not too hot. Probably mid 80s in the middle of the day, cooler by the time we were finishing up.

Bennington Lake - 7 miles

Today I met up with Ruth, Heather, Laurie and Annie for a ride at Bennington Lake, thanks to the graciousness of the Fleischers who let me use their older Dodge to haul my trailer. My truck is out of commission at the moment.

I parked at the bottom and saw Ruth drive by to park at the top. I tried calling her but my phone had a problem. So I tacked up and hoped I would take the right trail to meet her. I decided to go along the water that borders Rook's Park since last time I saw Laurie I thought she had mentioned that she rides over the bridge there to get to Bennington.

I didn't see Laurie but when I reached the spillway I did catch a glimpse of two riders approaching. I waved and they waved back. I couldn't tell yet if it was "my people." As they got closer I could tell it was Heather astride Bunny and Ruth riding Blue. I had seen a couple photos but never met their new horses so it was nice to see them in the flesh. We talked for a moment about what to do and decided to head back towards the bridge to meet Laurie and Annie. We saw Laurie on Otto first, proudly donning her life vest. She has a protective riding vest en route in the mail but until it arrives this one works well to keep her safe should Otto launch her. It was only a moment longer until Ruth saw Annie galloping towards us down a distant hill.

All together now we headed out on the trails around the lake. We mostly walked, given this was Bunny's first time out and Blue is recovering from a fetlock injury that had him in a cast the past month! I had remembered my GPS today and watched as the miles ticked by. Eventually it was time for Heather to get back home so Ruth and Heather dismounted in the upper parking lot, we all chatted for a bit and then I continued on with Annie and Laurie. We picked up the pace and trotted and cantered down the path back to the spillway. It felt good to let Sinwaan out as he enjoys a brief gallop.

All told we did about 7 miles in two hours today. It was so nice to ride with all the ladies and I look forward to doing this again soon.

Thursday

I had Cassandra ride Sinwaan today. Because I didn't report on it the day it happened I can't remember what she reported back to me.

Bennington Lake ride

I hauled Sinwaan out to the Lake today for a real 'trail' ride and we had a great time. Although most of the ride we did solo, we did come across Laurie Lodgsdon and her friend Julia at the top of the dam. We rode together and chatted for about a mile or two. It was so nice to be out on a dirt path instead of the road.

Thursday work

I had Cassandra ride Sinwaan again today since I knew I wouldn't be out until this weekend and he's already had a good three weeks off recovering from his fall. He is sound now and recovered nicely.

She said she used her own bit on him today and said he was responding well to dropping his head down, but was dropping it too far and was still heavy on the forehand. He was tripping a bit. It sounds like she has more things to teach both of us to make riding out on the trail more pleasurable. We talked about farrier dates and different types of shoes to look into to increase our safety on the roadside (grip). He is way too fat still but hopefully with some more work in the near future he will start losing some weight.

Camas Creek Canter

Ok, so I didn't have a horse with me, but Matt and I did make the drive over to Potomac and hiked the "blue trail" - which was 9 miles of the LD distance. I took a ton of photos so I will have a story and report on the 'ride' soon. :) I MUST return with a horse for this ride in the near future!

Decision Time

Well today was the last day to observe Sinwaan before deciding if we would be making the trek to the Camas Creek Canter in Potomac, Montana.

I have been religiously going out twice a day to soak and hose down his legs and reapply the oiuntment to both help him heal and to keep the flies off his banged-up knees.

Thankfully, Cassandra Berube was out to the barn to work with some other horses there and Cindy offered to trot Sinwaan out for her to get another opinion. Cassandra has completed Tevis and understood what I was up against in making this decision.

I got the phone call at work and saw Cassandra on the caller ID. I held my breath, but knew deep down what she would say. She hesitated and told me she had some sad news.

Trotting straight, she said he looked sound but as soon as Cindy turned him to the left she saw a misstep. So she asked for the same thing again. Sound going forward, and another misstep to the left. She then took the lead and lounged him in a tight circle to the left and it was obvious to both of them that he was lame.

I had felt some heat in his left fore that morning when I was out to soak his legs, so I was already thinking I wouldn't be taking him, but I hadn't trotted him out.

Cassandra related to me that Cindy had told her "you be the one to call her, I'm not delivering the bad news!" Ha ha. I had to laugh over that, and assured both of them that it was really not the end of the world for me, I wasn't surprised at their conclusion.

I am appreciative to everyone who has come by and looked at him for me and offered advice and support. Thank you all, I love you ladies! :)

Oh, and I quit the team. Call me superstitious but this is the third ride this year that hasn't worked out since I joined a team. There are still a handful of rides I could try for. Here's hoping...

Bummed out

This morning I went out the barn for a last conditioning ride this week before we head to Montana on Thursday. I had planned to work in the round pen for about 10 minutes before the ride but because it took me so long to get my saddlebags back on and the HR monitor on, etc, well - time got away from me and we just headed out for our usual 6 mi ride on the roadside. I wanted to be back before it got too hot.

I started working with him right off the bat as we headed down the drive, asking him to bend and soften and I did feel a little progress already, he was very willing and wanting to please me today. It was easy to ride out on a loose rein.

I had brought out my GPS and was wearing it so I know that not even a mile in, 0.89 mi to be exact, Sinwaan tripped, slipped, scrambled and completely fell down, in a section that I would consider easy. I don't know what happened but it was not good. I was trying to decide if I needed to bail off or stay on, well I ended up staying on him and he got back up to his feet quickly but then he was holding his left fore off the ground and not wanting to put weight on it. I dismounted immediately to look him over and he still was just hanging his foot out in front of him. I was pretty worried about him now. We were close enough to home to walk back, but would he do it?

I waited for a car to pass and then turned him back and started off on foot, leading him. He came along willingly and started putting weight on his leg. I was relieved by that. After a couple steps he seemed pretty sound at the walk. His knees were banged up pretty bad, and he had a spot on his fetlock (on the hurt leg) that was bleeding - I suspected he clipped it with a hind when he fell down and that is what was causing him the pain.

On the walk home I realized my heel was hurting pretty bad, I guess after 4 years it's time to replace my ride shoes!

When I got him back to the barn I hosed off his legs and he looked ok. I trotted him out and he was favoring the left fore still. Cindy came out and I showed her his wounds and she had a better ointment then I did for them so we doctored him up and she promised to keep me updated. She noticed some swelling on his knee.

At this point I am so discouraged. He could be sound by Wednesday, but then will the long trailer ride to Montana make him lame again? It is a lot of money to spend on gas to haul him there only to have there be a question of if I get to ride. I was so looking forward to this ride!

The day started off so well. His HR was 37 when I tacked him up. I have been working on getting everything together. I had Matt help me with his electric fence charger last night and got that working again. I replaced the worn out shoelace on my boots and washed out my buckets. So much prep and so little time.

Now we wait and see...

Preparations...

Predicted weather for the Camas Creek Canter, looks pretty good!

Today I printed out the PNER entry form and AHA form, filled them both out, wrote out my check to the RM, printed the directions and information for the ride and started thinking about what to unload from my horse trailer to make room for the things I will have to have.

Cassandra and AVMC

Today I met Cassandra out at the barn to see her work with Sinwaan. She showed me some techniques to help him bend and flex and soften up on the bit. She was glad to see he had retained what she taught him on Monday and said he was doing much better today. Everything she showed and taught me was very helpful and I plan to apply it as soon as possible to see what kind of difference it makes for us both on the trail.

After the lesson, I hauled Sinwaan in to AVMC for his traveling papers. Dr Sarah Campbell met us for the appointment. She took his temp and drew blood for a coggins and her assistant worked on a health certificate and I was happy that it was under $100! My mom's Explorer did a good job hauling my trailer and I am really getting excited now about the Montana ride since it is looking like it will happen!! Still more details to work out but the major part is looking positive.

Trainer

Today Cassandra rode Sinwaan for the first time. I think she has some things to show me!

Early ride

It's been hot here this past week but high winds yesterday cooled everything off. All was still and calm this morning at 5 am so I headed out to the barn for a ride before work. It was chilly enough for me to wear a jacket on the ride. Sinwaan was slightly mischievous the first mile (as expected) but soon settled in and set a good pace. We did our 6 miles in 1 hr 10 min and had no trouble. Not a lot of traffic that early in the morning, which was really nice. The sun was coming up and it was a real treat to see it from horseback.

After I got back to the barn and un-tacked a breeze kicked up. Quite the timing!

I am currently trying to work out all the details to get Sinwaan to Potomac, MT for a ride the end of this month.

4th of July

Fourth of July ride! Cindy thought I was nuts for riding on this holiday but since I went out in the morning on back country roads I wasn't too worried about fireworks.

I got out to the barn later than I had planned in the morning and it was already getting quite warm.

We did encounter a large semi-truck coming at us on the first hill climb. The shoulder in that section is very soft and a drop-off so I didn't waste any time dismounting. The driver of the truck was very polite and crept towards/past us at about 5 mph. After that I got back on and we continued. At the end of Forest Rd Sinwaan spied two deer in the pea field and we watched them bound away.

We had another big truck barrel towards us at the end of Froghollow but we had ample room to get off the road so it wasn't a problem there.

We had a nice ride but I got a sunburn on my shoulders since I wore a tank top today. I hosed Sinwaan off and let him graze until he dried.

6 miles

Rode the 6 mile loop this morning and enjoyed the cooler weather. Sinwaan did great.

We had a Raccoon sighting as one ran towards us in the road a couple hundred feet but soon noticed us and scampered off into the bushes.

He is getting fat on all the growth in his paddock. Starting to develop a dimple above his tail. So my goal is to ride 2x a week up until our planned endurance ride on July 23. At the moment we have some questions about transport so I hope it all works out! Even if it doesn't, I guess the exercise will be good for him to work off some of that weight.

Thursday Morning Adventure

So this morning I decided that if I am going to get any riding done this week it would have to be before work.

I got out to the barn about 6:30 am and saddled up and decided to do the 6 mi loop on the road over there. We headed over to Forest and up to Froghollow and everything was going well despite the wind and occasional sprinklers to avoid. Shortly after we passed Locher we encountered an onion field with field workers slaving away. Sinwaan was not too sure about all that. He was not really wanting to go at all (just standing and watching), so I dismounted and led him for awhile. All was going quite well until I got too close to the edge of the very soft shoulder and I slipped down the embankment about 4 feet, I saw Sinwaan’s head go up and I lost the rein and then had to focus on my own feet. I scrambled up the slope and got up in time to see Sinwaan galloping away. Groan.

I started running and soon he was out of sight he was moving that fast. I got hopeful when I saw he had taken off through a dirt field to the left before the corner of Froghollow and Last Chance. He must have discovered a fence because he had turned around and was heading back towards Froghollow. I was still too far away but started hollering at him, well that didn’t work. He went down through the new driveway there to the house they have been working on and I hoped it was fenced so I could catch him. No dice. He popped out on Last Chance and kept going. By now there is some traffic, people headed to work and I was just terrified he would get hit by a truck, he was swerving all over the road in his floaty trot.

When it was obvious I wasn’t going to catch him I called Doug because I knew he would head straight for home (and breakfast) and I didn’t want them to be scared if he showed up without me.

After that a very nice guy stopped and asked if the runaway horse was mine (he had passed him coming the opposite direction) No buddy, I just run with a helmet on for fun :) He offered me a ride to catch up with Sinwaan and we got close, I jumped out and he took off again. Agh! So the guy gave me another ride and after Sinwaan turned down Stovall (at least he knows where to go) we were able to get around him and then Sinwaan just stopped behind his pickup and I caught him without any more ado.

I noticed his one fastener to the reins had broken, so I just clipped the other side of the rein under his chin and led him all the way home from there (2 mi) walking/jogging as I could. Shortly after I had control of him and was jogging home Doug showed up to make sure we were ok. He offered to go home to get the horse trailer and I decided no, we were out here for the exercise, I would just be getting more than I bargained for LOL He ended up following us home (at a distance).

WOW what a morning, my adrenaline was so high I was thinking I should go out and do this every day!! I felt great LOL Now I am thinking maybe not, my shins are starting to hurt pretty bad. Heheh

Road ride

Heather and I rode 14.2 miles today. Great ride. Met her at Mission and rode south to Stateline, over to Beet and back around. Nice weather.

No ride

Didn't ride today. Picked up manure for a couple of hours and then decided I was too tired and it was too windy to ride alone. Wimped out.

Solo ride

Two weeks ago I was out of town. Last weekend I was sick and the weather was sooo windy I decided not to ride. Today I had no excuse. Mid-50s weather and sunny, it just doesn't get any nicer! I had my hesitations about riding by myself on the road when Sinwaan had a bit of time off. I thought about going to Bennington Lake but that is a long way to haul when you only average 6 mpg. So I took Sinwaan over to Heather's and rode behind the water treatment center. It was beautiful.

In the beginning we had a really good spook at a Mallard, but after that Sinwaan would just stop and look and then the craetures would appear - we first saw a small herd of three white tailed deer bounding away. Then three wild turkeys. Then three more deer. Then a herd of 8 deer. Then a raptor flew overhead. Sinwaan was really feeling good and once we had warmed up and gone about a mile he wanted to canter. Forget trotting, that was too slow for him. As long as he behaved himself I let him go. It was really glorious.

We rode for about an hour and 15 minutes, enough for him to work up a good sweat with all that racing around. We finished our ride with a steady trot all around the trees, it only took 15 minutes so it was probably not more than a mile or two. On our walk to cool out a red-winged blackbird flew right across in front of us and I got a good look at him. So pretty.

15 mile ride

Today we did a road ride. Heather and Ruth rode down and I rode out to meet them. We connected on Mission and turned around. Sinwaan had been very good to that point. Now that had turned and were heading back towards "home" he wanted to GO. I did not let him go and instead put in in the rear of the group of horses and he had a fit. We worked through our disagreements and settled into a nice pace for the remainder of the ride. It was really nice weather although we did ride through one rain shower over on Beet road. I calculated my milage at the end and as it turns out we did a whopping 15 mile ride today! The other ladies are headed to Home On The Range next weekend and I am flying to Tennessee for my dad's wedding.

Ride on the dirt trail

Today the weather was about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday. The bank said 49 at noon but it didn't feel quite that warm!

After lunch I went out and hooked up my trailer. It was really windy out at the barn so I was glad not to be riding on the road today! Loaded up Sinwaan and trailered over to Heather's.

Ruth, Heather and I did the loop(s) around near the water treatment plant and young trees. There is a short loop that we did about six times, 3 each direction. The horses were slightly better behaved today. Sinwaan seemed really happy overall, although there were a couple times that I had to fight him for his head, he just wanted to run!

The interesting thing I have noticed about him this winter is that he is no longer content to just follow along. He used to be the sort of horse that I could envision in a string of pack horses, just follow the one ahead of you. Lately he wants the lead, he will fight for it and even cop a slight attitude about it. I don't know if he would be this way in other company, but that is the position he intends to hold with these two geldings. His movement is even more extended, really covering ground. I made him follow a couple of times to force him to slow down and try to collect and he hated every minute of it. But we dealt with it and I think it's good for him to listen and slow down when need be.

We tackled the BIG HILL again today. Last week I got off and led Sinwaan down it. It looked pretty steep, not to mention narrow. This time I rode him down behind Otto. He did really well, until the end. It widens out and Otto had stopped to relieve himself. I rode Sinwaan around him since there was plenty of room. At the very end of the hill there was a steep bank. I told Sinwaan "easy," and gave him his head to see what he would do. I was hoping he would sit back on his haunches and ease down it. Nope. He jumped off of it. I had put a hand back behind me to hold the cantle and keep my balance. We hit the bottom and Sinwaan had a buck or two. I am not sure if that was because he was trying to regain his balance or because my position in the saddle bothered him. It was awkward and I am glad I stayed on.

We rode around the grid of trees multiple times, really enjoying the trail, weather and company. It was a really nice ride.

I checked the time when we got back to the trailer: 4:30. We had aimed to tack up at 2:30 but I think I was a couple minutes late. Even with a time allowance we still had a solid 90+ minute ride. Hard to know what the milage is (forgot my GPS again) but I would guess 7-8 miles today.

New trails

There was some concern last night about Sinwaan not eating his hay at feeding time, but I was relieved to hear he dove right into it this morning. When I drove out to the barn he was laying down taking a nap in the sun but when he heard the truck he got up and shook himself off and watched me hook up the trailer. I grabbed his halter and headed to the gate. "Sinwaaaan! Hey buddy, want to go someplace today?" He came galloping up to me. He was eager and ready for a change of scenery!

We trailered over to Heather's and met she and Ruth for our weekend ride. This time they showed me the trails that they frequent out back by the water treatment plant. They are double-track dirt roads that wind around through a grid of trees. It is really neat back there! Footing was great and it was probably mid to high 40s today. It was so glorious in the sun that I only wore my t-shirt and breeches, although at times I wished for my jacket.

The horses were really feeling good today and Sinwaan was testing me quite a bit. On one hill I let him go into a collected canter and heard a shout behind me, Otto was bucking and Ruth gave it a valiant effort but did eventually come off. After that we did more walking and trotting all around and trying to get the horses in a better frame of mind. One loop we did three times and then reversed and did it another three times going the other direction. There was a bit of a hill so it helped to work the horses.

The trails looked so inviting that Sinwaan was pulling me really hard. A couple times I wanted to just let him run but with the earlier misbehaving figured that wouldn't be very polite. :) So we worked on slowing down instead. My arms got a work out today for sure!

Beautiful ride, beautiful trails, and by the end of a solid hour the horses were all doing much better so we ended on a good note and walked them home.

Road ride

Road ride today, new loop from the barn, lots more rock/gravel and harder on the horses without shoes. Thankfully Sinwaan has a new set so he wasn't affected but the other horses were getting tender by the end of the ride. 9.5 miles today. Great weather.

Sunday ride with a blizzard

Today Ruth picked me up and we went out to Heather's to fetch the trailer. We hauled Otto and Quincy out to Sinwaan's crib and tacked up and left from there. Ruth had a plan for a new route today that would take us down some new roads and be a longer distance. It was pretty cold out so we weren't sure we would make it.

We headed up Forest first, since Otto had some time off, we thought doing a little hill work would be good for everyone. There wasn't snow when we started out but soon into the ride the snow started falling, quickly. There were flakes coming in at us sideways, much like a blizzard. Sinwaan turned his head into it since going along on the edge of the road had the snow hitting him in the right eye. We had planned to turn right onto Froghollow but we didn't really feel like tackling all that snow head-on so we turned left instead and had it at our backs.

From there we went up Locher Rd, which I had never ridden on. We turned onto Stateline Rd and at that corner is the Grape Vine training facility. One of the horses in the paddock got so excited to see us ride by that he galloped along and slid and fell down, not once but twice. We were worried about him and we were just walking by. As we passed the large field adjacent to the indoor arena we saw a lot of horse trailers. We saw a large group of people doing what appeared to be a trail clinic complete with lots of obstacles! Later I learned it was the Mark Bolender clinic.

We turned north on Valley Chapel, then left back onto Froghollow and right on Last Chance and another left on Stovall to head home. Sinwaan led most of the way home, a nice big trot. His hooves have been holding up really well but I am concerned that they are wearing down quickly with all this road riding barefoot.

All told we did 10.1 miles today! I mapped out the other route we would have taken had it not been a blizzard and that would have only been 9.5 miles.

Road ride

Trailered over to Heather's and we did a bit longer ride today. It ended up being about 9 miles! Horses did great, and we had a nice time catching up and learning more about each other. The weather was amazing for late January!

I only took one photo today. We saw a beautiful large owl take flight and I marveled at the intricacy in the gold and black pattern in his feathers. We also saw a large Blue Heron. Came across two other horseback riders on Valley Chapel as well.

Road ride, the conditioning continues

Unfortunately last night Ruth came down with a fever, so today it was just Heather and I planning to ride. It poured rain all night, and was still raining fairly good when I let the dogs out around 8 am. I made breakfast for the family and wished for the best. 10 am - no rain! I called Heather and she was excited to ride, so I drove out to get Sinwaan about 10:30. On the drive over it started raining again! Boo! Not to be deterred, I hitched up the trailer and as I got Sinwaan the wind picked up. Great! Rain AND wind today!? Oh well, I am an endurance rider and this would be my only chance to ride all week. I got to Heathers and groomed and tacked up in the rain. Mounted up and what do you know? The rain stopped! Happy day!

We had a great ride, taking Mojonnier to Bussell to the Old Milton Hwy, then down Springdale to Beet which put us on Frog Hollow back to Mojonnier. This was a six mile loop. We could have gone a bit farther today but I had to be back by 1:00. We chatted the whole way and it was really enjoyable to have some "girl time" this weekend!

Road ride

Today Ruth and Heather trailered out to where Sinwaan lives so we could all start out together for a road ride. We were anticipating very cold temperatures so I was dressed in an undershirt, t-shirt, two sweatshirts and my winter coat. Also a snug hat that fit under my helmet. As it turns out I was overdressed and started sweating not long into the ride, although my feet were still cold.

Sinwaan was really feeling good today (seems to be related to the colder temperatures) and ended up in the lead, or close to it, most of the 6 mile loop. He was supercharged and eager and set a nice fast pace for everyone. Ruth and Otto took turns playing leapfrog and riding in all different positions in the pack.

About a half mile from our destination, Ruth dismounted when we saw a herd of deer. There were at least 8 does and a buck not far from the road. Otto handled it well and Ruth decided to walk him the rest of the way as we cooled out all the horses.

We got lucky on our return, Doug was home and willing to take our photo. I just love how great we all look in this shot! All the ears are up! :)