A Three-Dog Ride

As I sit here listening to the winds howl, with the hatches securely battened down and supplies laid in, (we are under a blizzard warning, as winter storm "Jakob" is about to dump up to 18" of heavy, wet snow on us with sustained 40mph - 50mph winds), I think back fondly to Saturday, just three days ago, when the sun was shining, the wind was calm, and the temperature was in the 40s, and I (with Red) spent a lovely couple of hours riding down the road with Becca (Kaos) & Karen (Duke).  And with Bowser, Roxi, and Kelso.

The main event of the day was trying to shepherd the dogs in a safe & calm manner down the road with the horses.  Kelso, the eldest at 7, and by far the most experienced at running with the horses, also is the dog who can't be bothered to care about what the other two were doing and made it clear to Roxi that he didn't want her near him.  So much for leading by example and letting the other dogs learn the ropes by following him!  Bowser has some experience with the horses and being on the road, but he is a hound and is therefore by definition exceedingly easily distracted by his nose.  Becca keeps a shock collar on him for quick reminders, and generally he does very well.  Roxi is the puppy, an exuberant Boxer with an enthusiasm for everything that wears the rest of us out.  She is well known around the barn for swinging from Duke's tail while he trots around the arena (he does not appear to notice her hanging there), but she's never gone on a trail ride down the road before.

I had a nasty cold complete with muzzy head, delayed thought processes, and slow reflexes.  I really probably should have been in bed.  But the weather!  Oh, the weather was so glorious!  Like I've said before, I don't always make the soundest decisions when I have the opportunity to ride :)

We found our first challenge to be getting forward motion out of all the four-legged critters at the same time and in the same direction.  Roxi tried her trick of hanging on Duke's tail, but then would see one of the other dogs running past or sniffing something, and would dash over to investigate.  Kelso growled at her, but Bowser allowed her to body-slam him repeatedly in her attempts to play, just looking forlornly up at Becca with an expression that said "Why me?!?".  He'd swerve, duck, change direction, and circle around behind us in his attempt to dodge her full-contact mode of interaction.  She'd go back to lunging for Duke's tail, or even nipping at his nose.  It didn't take her long to realize there were two other "big dogs" for her to play with, and she started trying to grab Red's and Kaos' tails as well.  She was having such puppy fun that she completely ignored Karen's attempts to direct her into good behavior, but thankfully Red & Kaos did not kick her and didn't even seem particularly bothered by her at their heels.

At the same time, Kaos was quite enjoying Red's company and forcing Becca to work pretty hard to keep her moving down the road instead of sideways into us in her attempts to sidle up to my handsome boy.  Silly mare.  Duke, huge but often afraid of everything, was leading the group with his long stride and appeared fully confident - until we saw the cows.  They are the pair of yearling black calves that have lived in the pasture next to him since summer, but they are now at the neighbor's house down the road because they kept getting out of our fence.  And they were standing in the trees along the fenceline, back from the road.  All three horses turned to stare at them; Red was easily convinced they were nothing to fear, Kaos seriously thought about running over there to chase them, and Duke was trembling in his boots, never mind that he towers over them and outweighs them put together by at least double.

Our second challenge was crossing the paved road.  I did not have my usual string stashed in my saddle bags, which I use for crossing busy roads with Kelso (loop it through his collar like a leash) and Roxi was showing no signs of listening to Karen & waiting for us to give the all clear.  Becca & Karen both dismounted for safety, and the whole group crossed uneventfully.  It's a good thing Karen has long legs, because even with a slight ditch to put him in, it's a LONG way up there to Duke's back!  With everyone situated again, we continued on in the same fashion with the horses behaving very well and the dogs behaving as well as their individual ages, personalities, and states of mind would allow.   We ended up doing about 7 - 8 miles, including the closed portion of the road which is snow-covered, and using the old Thoroughbred breeding farm as a turn-around spot (with much discussion on how sad it was to see such a nice facility sit empty).

Of course, as soon as we turned for home, Red took over the lead and started to prance, jig, snort, pull, twitch his tail, and flip his nose in an attempt to get me to let him move out.  Oh, he's fun when he is all "up" like that!  I'm very bad, because I know I've kind of trained him to do that, by allowing the antics and then allowing the racing home.  It's our normal routine when we ride out alone - I can't help but let him do it because it's so fun and he's not dangerous when he does it.  But it is exceedingly bad form on a group trail ride when the whole group doesn't want to race!  Kaos was also fired up and wanting to run, and of course Duke had to join in the mental craziness, too.  With everyone starting to act up a bit, we had to dial it back a few notches and resume our former order with Duke leading, Kaos in the middle, and Red bringing up the rear.  Red was not happy about this arrangement, and made that pretty clear, but he did exactly what I asked him to do and the other horses settled back into a nice relaxed pace.

Roxi continued her antics, bugging Bowser ("wanna play? wanna play? wanna play?"), grabbing Duke's tail, and occasionally jumping up at the other horses, too.  She was fascinated by the blaze orange ties I have on my stirrups, and jumped up into Kaos' face once, giving her a big surprise (we don't think Roxi actually nipped Kaos, but Kaos did snort & toss her head up in the air).  Finally in the last 1 1/2 miles, she seemed to slow down a bit and quit all the antics - I guess she was finally tired!  Karen didn't even have to dismount to restrain her at the paved road crossing, but was able to hang back while I checked for traffic, then everyone crossed together.

What a fun ride we had, and what a good learning experience for Roxi.  Hopefully we will have more three-dog rides in the future!  (and sorry about no pics on this one - forgot to grab my camera)

Thin Skinned?

Ready to go, Mom! 

It is ridiculously wishful thinking to even contemplate that the current thaw is actually the beginning of spring.  I know better than that.  But I have decided to thoroughly ignore any forecast past Thursday, since between now and then every single day is above freezing!

It will come as no surprise that I spent a lot of time with horses this weekend.  Yesterday Becca & I took Rhio and Kaos out back through the deep snow, and ended up making it into a loop walking gingerly down the edge of the road.  It was definitely doable on the road - yay! The dogs, Kelso & Bowser, accompanied us and got to play with Jack when we met up with Dave doing some firewood gathering in the back woods. We chatted some, then backtracked to the hayfield to allow him to get back down the trail with the tractor & logs.  We did a loop through the deep, deep snow with the ponies huffing and puffing, then came back through the trails only for Becca to notice some blood on the snow.  In Rhio's next step, she realized it was coming from him - his right front to be exact.  When we got to the plowed part of the trail, I hopped off to assess the wound.  It was bleeding freely but wasn't painful, and was a nice clean slice.  I assume he caught the wrong side of an ice chunk.  It was on the inside heel bulb but thankfully above the coronary band.  This boy is so prone to wounds!!!  Especially on his legs.  Grrr!  

The classic mounting block - the tailgate!

Kelso, and Bowser sporting a jacket,  enjoy the hayfield

Becca & Kaos breaking trail and showing just how deep that snow really is

We finished our ride, and the bleeding had stopped by the time we got home.  I decided to close the flap, although it probably didn't really need it.  I numbed it up, then tried to suture it with standard suture material.  Unfortunately, it is Rhio's worst foot for allowing me to hold it up.  Ever since I bought him, he is terrible about holding his right front foot up and will yank it out of my hands repeatedly even when I am just picking his feet.  I have not been able to correct this behavior, so despite the fact that the skin was numb, I just couldn't get a period of stillness enough to place the needle.  As always, I did have a plan B and it was time to utilize it!  My very favorite tool - the surgical stapler.  These things are awesome!  I did have to place 3 staples to get two where I wanted them, as he was still yanking his foot away (at precisely the wrong instant, of course), but it is so quick and easy.

Fresh wound on trail (blood is SO dramatic on a white leg!)

All stapled up!  (I'm holding the hoof and you can see the shaved area & 2 staples in the middle of the photo)

Today it looks great - no swelling and no lameness.  I'm avoiding any more work in the deep snow until it is healed, so I took him and Cricket out for a mile+ hand walk this morning.  Then I went to Jodi's and rode one of her horses this afternoon, and tomorrow will be Red's turn.  We are all desperate for some freedom from this interminable winter.  (actually, I really do love winter...but this one is feeling SO long already!)

It's been MONTHS since we've been able to ride down the road! 

Cookies and Cream

The horses are bundled in their blankets enjoying their hay despite the weather

Winter storm "Buck" (yep, that's right! One of our local TV stations is naming our snowstorms now, apparently) was petering out Sunday afternoon, and we just had to get outside and enjoy that expanse of fresh, clean snow.  The kids wanted a snowball fight and to build a snowman; we wanted to ride!  It's STILL deer season (the longest two weeks of the entire year if you ask me), so we were stuck with making patterns in the pristine snow of the outdoor arena.

His wind-knots always appear in this exact location and pattern - every time.  

Rhio was sporting his favorite dreadlock look, so had to unwillingly submit to having his mane detangled.  Rhio takes great pride in his appearance, keeping his dirt patterns fresh and new with frequent reapplication.  He resents being fussed over, primped, polished, washed, or generally gussied up.  So of course it is his long tresses that get routinely tangled, not Red's or Cricket's, both of whom enjoy a grooming session.

Ah - beautiful! 

Once we had the hair situation under control, we headed outside to meet the new lord of the outdoor arena - a very large, very squat snowman with tantalizing horse treats as eyes & nose.  The horses were mildly curious about him (or her - I'd say its rather gender-indeterminate), mostly in trying to assess the best angle at which to nab those tasty bits.

Giant snowman

Kaos & Rhio trying to figure out how to snatch the apple-eyes and/or carrot-nose

The three of us talked and laughed and joked while asking our horses to carry us around the outdoor arena, churning up the unbroken snow with hoof-sized chunks coated in the sandy dirt footing of the arena.  After a couple passes around, the snow-and-chunk mixture took on the exact appearance of cookies-n-cream ice cream!

Becca & Kaos and Christine & Tomas just enjoying the day

The footing was wonderful, and we all enjoyed cantering our horses through it; I really noticed how soft Rhio's footfalls were in the snow.  We played follow-the-leader a little bit, and just generally goofed off.  It's nice to know that we are all still kids at heart - enjoying a good romp in the fresh snow. Though now our hot cocoa is dressed with flavored liquor instead of marshmallows - yum!

They had to drag me into the saddle...

but we had a very fun ride!  Yesterday it was hot & humid (for Duluth, in May, anyway!!) and I was tired, hot, & out of sorts after spending all morning weeding, planting, & watering in the veggie garden.  I was about as close as I ever come to not wanting to ride.  But Christine & Becca were ready to go with smiles on, and poor Rhio was looking pretty forlorn being the sole horse left in his pasture, so off I went to fetch my pony.  We set off down the road, with a destination of the gravel pits in mind.

What a cute pair!  Becca on Kaos & Christine on Tomas heading down the road

Once my butt hit the saddle, I felt great and was happy to be riding, as usual.  The sun beat down upon us, but we were able to catch a nice breeze and we hardly noticed the heat.  We meandered around the gravel pit, went up & down the hill a few times, enjoyed the scenery, and ended up cooling our heels in the pond.  

Lupine in bloom

All the horses seemed to enjoy the water - even scared-y Tomas! 

Becca & Kaos looking happy & relaxed

Upon our return to the farm, we rinsed the sweat off our threesome of greys (so they could go roll in the dirt and get properly grubby again) and enjoyed some ice cold adult beverages.  Ahhh!  Thanks, guys, for dragging me into the saddle for this ride :)  

Big & Bold

Are we done yet?

Today we were going to ride with Becca & Kaos, and since Rhio had a good workout yesterday, Red was up.  I drove the 1 mile over to his barn because I'm using the same saddle on both horses currently, so have to take it back & forth between barns.  I wonder if I could figure out some way to carry my saddle on my bike, because I feel a little silly driving 1 mile down the road and, heck, I could use the extra exercise.  

I tacked up and decided to head through the woods back to the other barn to meet Becca, as there was a lot of traffic on the road.  Red was afraid of the dump truck parked with its bed raised in dump position, and leery of the something that was hung over the grain auger & flapping a bit in the breeze - all while I was leading him around the barn to the car just to get Kelso & my GPS.  Oh, so it's going to be one of those days!  

 

Heading down the access route to the back trails - Dave is currently prepping this area to plant peas this year, which I think means the cows won't be pastured in here until the end of the season.  This is great, because it also means the gates will be open & it'll be easier to ride through - the gates are electrified wire with handles and a bit difficult to manage with a horse, plus I prefer not to ride through the herd of cows.  You can see Kelso trotting on ahead.

Big Rig and his buddy (I'm not sure if it's a steer or a young bull) - look at how massive he is!  Red was definitely looking askance at these guys as we went past; they're not usually so close to the fence.

We met Becca & Kaos, and came back through the trails to cross over the road & ride around those trails & the gravel pits.  Red was all fired up, which was slightly unfortunate because Becca has been having some trouble with Kaos misbehaving, and was hoping Red would be a positive influence.  I'm not sure he was, but we did have a good ride.  I wished I'd had his running martingale on him today, as he was ready to run.  Kaos seems to lose it when the speed goes up, so I was trying to keep him to a reasonable trot - and wasn't all that successful!  

Becca & Kaos leading the way

Red was big & bold when he was leading, hardly spooking at all today.  He is so much better with a buddy along.  He did want to go too fast pretty much the entire time, so we put Kaos in front so she didn't feel like she had to rush to keep up.  We did the trail - gravel pit loop twice and headed home along the road.  

Red picked up a 4 foot long weed somewhere along the way.  That thing stuck with us a long time!  We could hear it dragging along the ground, but it didn't seem to bother him & was too low in his tail for Becca to reach it from her saddle, so we just left it.  

Overall today we did 9 miles in about 2 hours - not a very fast pace, but a very nice ride.  We saw only a single Canada goose in the gravel pit, much less wildlife than I usually encounter.  Red was very fresh & full of himself but rateable and not too spooky.  And he felt sound, without the "offness" that seemed to be there on our last long ride.  He's had 2 doses of Adequan so far and 1 acupuncture treatment, so he needs another acupuncture in the next day or so and another dose of Adequan next week.