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.

Trot, trot, trot

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.

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!

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 :)

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?