A July Cool Front = Time to Ride!

This week has been gloriously cool and breezing, giving us all a respite from the unrelenting heat & flies.  The horses seem so relaxed, and of course it has been lovely riding weather.  On Tuesday, Rhio and I headed out for our first solo conditioning ride in a very long time (almost 6 weeks!).  It was only in the upper 60s and mostly sunny with a light breeze, so I thought we'd be pretty safe from flies for the most part and off we went.

Heading out the driveway

The neighbor's are cutting hay, which is now in our indoor arena awaiting unloading.

Rhio argued, and then moped, about going out alone, but pretty soon was merrily trotting along with his ears pricked as usual.  We were trying out the attempt boot repair on the Renegades, and a few miles in to the ride he suddenly seemed "off."  His right front boot had turned on his hoof, so I hopped off to fix it.  At this point, I realized the adhesive I'd tried to repair the boots with was clearly not up to the job and the cracks were already bigger & badder than they'd been to start.  Quickly revising my route, we opted to do an out-and-back just on gravel roads rather than the "big loop."

After that one boot adjustment, and many, many glances down over his shoulders to check boot status, we had no additional difficulties and completed our 9 mile route easily.  The boots are definitely in worse shape after those miles, though, and I am debating whether to attempt another repair with some other kind of adhesive, or just give up on them.

Poor boot

It turns out I was partially correct in my assumptions about the fly situation.  Along the open road, the flies were minimal and neither one of us was bothered.  As soon as we hit a stretch of road with trees along the sides, however, it was a deer fly frenzy.  Poor Rhio did not have the fly mask on (my fault) and was being driven progressively more insane by the flies.  I was doing my best to slap the ones I could reach, but they have a nasty habit of landing somewhere where I can neither see nor reach them, and my only clue to their presence is Rhio's frantic head tossing.  Slowing even to a slow trot was miserable, the flies were swarming & biting us both, so I broke a bit of leafy branch off as we passed by a likely looking small tree and proceeded to "beat" my horse upside the head with it.  At first he thought I was offering him something to eat, and kept turning & trying to grab the leaves to munch on.  He quickly realized the utility of the branch, however, and seemed to welcome my waving it around & bonking his face with it.  The rest of our ride was much more peaceful, fly-wise, and I discarded that branch only when we got home to the barn.

Rhio's opinion of being gooped, daubed, and slathered with various ointments before being turned back out (SWAT for his bitten sheath, sunscreen for his sensitive pink nose, and desitin for his scratches-prone pasterns)

Pants on Fire?

Red was channelling his inner racehorse today, apparently.  I walked out to get him this afternoon, and every other horse in the herd walked up to me; Red, however, took one look and galloped off.  Oh, boy.  It's one of those days, is it?  He conveniently galloped himself into the adjoining, and currently unoccupied, pasture, so I closed the gate on him and watched him gallop & whinny & snort & fart his way around me in huge loops until I could see his sides heaving & his nostrils flared as big as they go.  At that point, he slowed to an extended trot and continued for another while.  He sure was pretty running around like his pants were on fire, and I did kind of enjoy watching him.  I wasn't in a hurry and didn't have an agenda, so I just waited until he'd had enough.  Finally, he quit putting on a show, and walked calmly into the barn with me for saddling.  What a weirdo.  He wasn't worked up, or hyper at all.  It was almost like I was just an excuse to run around & show off or something.

Red looking as cool & calm as a cucumber despite his earlier period of insanity

We set off on a nice short road ride, and stopped by to pick up a few extra companions on the way home.  The first official Meadowbrook trail ride of the season was a hit!  Leah rode Rhio (who was a perfect gentleman), Christine rode Tomas, Kristi rode Winston, and Red lead the way.  It was a gorgeous evening with enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes mostly at bay, and we had a grand time.

Kelso supervising while Leah & Rhio got to know each other.

Looks like this pair is a hit! 

Setting off

A grand mini-adventure

My Pony & Me

All suited up for a summertime ride (though yesterday still felt like spring, & early spring at that!)

Despite the oppressive humidity, Rhio & I geared up for a nice, long, sweaty, and, it turned out, buggy ride.  I had difficulty convincing him that we really did want to leave the lush green grass he'd been grazing for the previous couple of hours (lucky boy got a pre-ride treat today, and was happily stuffing himself full of the green grass in the round pen when I so rudely decided it was time to work), but once we'd passed the 2 1/2 mile mark, he was eager to move on down the road & trail.

Our route was nothing fancy - the same loop we've done a few times already this year, although the last time we did it there was still snow on the ground!  You never know what you'll encounter, however, and this day that included a bulldozer in full dirt-moving mode.  Rhio barely batted an eyelash at the thunderous, stinky bulldozer and, although I had him walk until we were past it (we were moving much faster than it was), there was really no need to do so.  Crossing the busy road, we made our way through the closed gravel pit (I had an alternate route all planned, as I'd expected the pit to be open & working on a Friday) and Rhio was able to pick out our cut-through trail, which I was completely unable to locate through the new foliage - he knew where we were going, and I just let him go.  We did surprise a few deer, does with fawns would be my guess as the trail we pop out onto is very infrequently used and the area is pretty secluded, shady, and seems like a perfect fawn nursery to me.

The bright green of spring has finally arrived here in northern MN.

We pass the halfway point of our loop somewhere on the snowmobile trail; I like to think of the 1+ mile of gorgeous trail with excellent footing, steeply rolling hills, and big mature trees as the whole point of the entire loop - the best 10% of the ride by far.  Sadly leaving the trail behind, we have two less-than-stellar dog encounters but with no harm done to any party.  A collie burst out of the woods at us and proceeded to attempt to chase us, and at first Rhio was thinking full-flight mode was a good idea (could be a big scary! must run!), but I got him turned to see it was a dog and he immediately agreed with me that we should chase it instead of run away from it.  I used my best growling "Get outta here" and the collie chose the safety of barking from the woods.  A mile later, one of the bulldogs on the corner raced out the driveway with what appeared to be full intent to bite Rhio's leg.  I'd stopped and turned to face it, as I am familiar with the two bulldogs that live here - one is horse friendly and wants to say hi, the other just wants to bite legs - and an associated human yelled at her and got her to leave us be.  I know Rhio didn't see her as a threat at all, and I actually think she is more likely to be a problem than the collie that chased us, who was clearly afraid of, or at least leery of, the horse.  The bulldog is not at all afraid.

We had to pause for traffic before crossing back to "our side" of the busy road, and there was a guy on a bike waiting to come our way.  He was extremely polite and waited to see that we were mostly across the road before crossing himself - again bikes are not an issue for Rhio, but it was really nice of him to be so considerate (and it seems somewhat horse-savvy).  At this point, we were faced with the long trot down 2 miles of straight-as-an-arrow shoulder with a somewhat busy road.  This is the spot where Rhio was acting up on our previous rides of "the loop" this spring, wanting to race home and not listen.  Today, he was perfect - giving me a huge but perfectly steady trot, not faltering once even with big trucks, trucks pulling boats, and multiple cars whizzing by.

We continued the rest of the way home along our familiar quiet gravel roads, and came on home with an overall average speed of 5.6 mph, distance 10.8 miles, and ride time 1:56.  It was a great solo ride, despite the bugs (mosquitoes the size of 747s, plus deer flies & horse flies ALREADY!) and the incessant clicking of the loose buckles on his front boots (I had to use Red's Epics instead of Rhio's Renegades as the Renegades are in need of a little repair - see future post!).  Rhio got a much-needed thorough hosing when we got home, his first of the year, and he *was* shiny & clean when I put him back in the pasture (you all know how long that lasted!).

Look! Wash your horse's legs and what do you find?  White stockings!

And if you look closely you'll see he has a blaze hiding in there somewhere, too.  It's actually in the shape of a ?. 

The boys having some free grazing while I chatted with my barn buddies

Clean boots, ready for our next adventure!

Multitasking

The boys having a chat about how crazy I am.

Yesterday I couldn't decide which horse to ride (they both needed to get out) or if I should go jogging before or after riding, or at all.  I didn't have enough time to ride them both AND go jogging.  So I hatched this plan...

I saddled Rhio up & headed over to Red's barn via the back woods trails, with Kelso in attendance.  We popped out of woods and I had to dismount to open the gate, as the cows & calves are in new pasture along the fenceline of where I ride through.  Conveniently, Rhio chose *after* I'd dismounted and we'd gotten through the gate (2 hot wires) to freak out about the baby calves running about.  He's pretty ok with the cows, but those cute little buggers tearing around with their tails straight up were just a little bit of Arab overload.  He snorted and stared, and I could see his heart pounding in his chest.  But luckily he didn't try to bolt or to trample me, and we were able to hand walk along the fence to the barn.  The calves were much more of a concern than Dave & the rattly tractor/disc that were plowing up the area alongside, which is funny because of course the machinery is much more likely to cause us harm than the calves are!

Once in the barn, I put Rhio in Red's stall, stop to admire the days' old new kittens in the shavings cart, and head out to fetch Red.  I get him booted up for hoof protection on the road (Rhio was sporting his, too) and we head out cowboy-style for a little experiment.

I have ponied Red off Rhio before, just as a means to get him from his barn to mine, for example, and it has gone well in the past.  I've never tried to pony for an outing before, though.  Five o'clock in the evening probably wasn't the best time to choose, as the traffic was a bit more prevalent than I would have liked.  Both boys behaved beautifully, however, even with a truck pulling a huge boat with flapping bits passing us none too slowly.  We walked the entire shoulder of the paved road, then turned and walked along my road until we were past the house with the semi-aggressive dog who often tries to pester Kelso.  She did, and I did my best low, growly "Get outta here!" - I surely didn't need the dog going after Kelso while I was trying to stay in control of two horses - and luckily she listened (she doesn't always).  Past this house, we tried to trot and it went quite well.  I did discover that I had way too much rope on Red - when we were trotting he'd stay right up next to Rhio and I couldn't figure out what to do with all the extra lead I had (looping across my lap?  hanging down a bit on Rhio's side?  coiled up in my hand?).  Rhio tried to turn in at our driveway, but I was able to redirect him and keep going up the road.

With a few other distractions, we made it trotting about a half mile and then crossed the road onto the far part of our road.  I wasn't sure how far we'd get, but I figured it was going well and so I'd keep going.  We were walking up the first hill, as I'd discovered Red's enthusiasm for the endeavor was growing while Rhio's seemed to be waning; this led to Red being slightly in the lead, and then trying to cross over in front of Rhio, and that just seemed like a wreck waiting to happen.  At the walk, Red would stay back just behind Rhio.  Suddenly Red started tossing his head and acting strange, so I turn and see a bicycle coming up behind us.  Really?!?  Why this night would we see a bicycle?  And coming up behind us? Well, both boys earned gold stars for bicycle bravery, standing still and watching the guy pedal past.

That seemed like a good turning-around point, so we head for home.  Uh oh.  Both boys decide they would really like to go home, FAST!  I decide that we are most definitely NOT going home fast, and have my hands full containing two prancing ponies on the return journey.  We did make it home, intact and sane, and I've decided a few things about ponying: 1) the road is probably not the best place to pony 2) I need a shorter rope and 3) unless I grow a third hand, there's no point in bringing my camera!

To finish off the night, I decide to drop Rhio off at home and jog Red back to his barn, thus accomplishing everything on my to-do list in one fell swoop (kind of).  Red's actually quite good in-hand, and jogging with him certainly requires me to pick up my pace a little!  I jogged home all by myself, Kelso having chosen to stay home when I left Rhio, and got home just in time to put on muck boots and feed the horses.  Whew!  I'm exhausted all over again just thinking about it.

Our running shoes

How We Lost & Then Found Ourselves Again

Last week Gesa & I planned another long training/conditioning ride and set off to do our 11 mile loop once again.  Both Rhio and Paco were particularly lazy heading out from the farm, and this continued for a while.  It's actually pretty typical for Rhio to be unmotivated when we head out, and then we reach some unseen threshold and he is suddenly ready to GO!  I suspect it may be a certain distance from the farm - prior to hitting that magic place (I know right where the switch happens; it's pretty consistently in the same area), I can barely get anything more than a tiny jog-trot and he's dragging his feet (literally).  Once we cross that line, however, I have my forward-trotting, offering-to-canter-every-chance-he-gets Rhio, and grab mane for the ride home, because once we turn around, it's a race!  This is actually an annoying habit, and one I can't seem to conquer.  It doesn't happen at all if we trailer out somewhere else to ride, but almost always happens on rides from home.

Posing in the gravel pit.

We decided to cut through the big gravel pit to see what the footing was like in there, and for variety.  Doing something a little different always seems to perk the ponies up a little.  First, we had a nice long drink at the first icy puddle we came to, then a little canter up a hill until a big spook at the top because of the boulders lined up there.  They are the very same boulders that have always been there, and Rhio has been through this pit numerous times.  Ah, spring!  We head down into the "belly" of the pit to do a little hill work climbing back out again, and enjoy the views from the top.

Gesa & Paco at the top.

Ready to go on with our loop, we try to find the little path through the back of the pit to the trail in the woods that leads to the snowmobile trail.  This is just a trickle of beaten down ground through the aspen saplings which has been made by repeatedly cutting through, and although I had trouble getting my eye on just the right spot, Rhio remembered where he was and led us through the brush.  Once we hit the trail, we were surprised and disappointed by just how much snow was still on the ground in the woods.  It was grainy, soft, and slid around easily, making for very slippery going for the horses.  Rhio especially seemed to have trouble with his hoof boots; I have found them to be incredibly slick on snow.  We carefully picked our way along, sliding down the hills, and both horses did a good job of keeping their footing and moving cautiously.  The snowmobile trail was in slightly better shape as it had been packed & groomed all winter, but was still walking-only.  After all that walking due to the footing, our average speed for the ride was pretty slow, around 4.3 mph.  We picked up a trot down the gravel road starting the "top side" of our loop, and soon found ourselves waiting to cross the busy road.

Paco picking his way carefully down a little hill in the slippery snow.

Once across the road, we have about a 1 1/2 mile stretch along the shoulder of a fairly busy road.  The shoulder is wide & flat, but when the ground is dry we can actually ride way off the road in the ditch.  We had to stick to the shoulder now, but I am pretty comfortable riding here.  It is a long straightaway, however, and we are heading home.  Rhio & I started to argue at this point - he voted for an all-out gallop down the road towards home.  I voted for a nice controlled trot.  We were not able to compromise, and both became increasingly frustrated.  Every time a car would pass, Rhio would start to canter, sometimes in place if he was halfway listening to me and sometimes feeling like he was going to buck.  I was growling at him, yelling at him, trying to make him work (leg yields, circles) - but every time I put any leg on him at all, he took off.  Anytime I released pressure at all, he took off.  It was a very unpleasant ride, and once we got off the straightaway, we continued to argue pretty much the entire 5 miles back to the farm.

It was not a good end to our ride, though we had done the 11.6 miles with an average pace of 5.2 mph and he had done some things really well, like being careful on the bad footing.  It felt like we were really at odds with one another and not functioning like a team at all.  Part of the trouble could be the fact that I was very sleep-deprived and exhausted, and he is already starting to get bored with doing the "same" ride all the time. Also, I know that we have some saddle fit issues, and soreness will definitely make a horse out-of-sorts.  At any rate, I turned him out for the night and went to bed early!

The next day we went out for a solo ride to get our heads together again.  His back was a bit sore from the long ride (surprisingly, the saddle is not starting to fit any better on its own!) and he had little rubs from the gaiters on his hind Gloves.  So, I left him barefoot, tossed the bareback pad on, and we set off for a little wander with no purpose other than to enjoy ourselves.  A zero-pressure ride was just what the doctor ordered.

We picked our way through the trails out back, where the footing is pretty bad with alternating areas of mud and ice/snow.  The little stream which usually runs through a culvert on the trail was flooded and rushing over the trail, but a little lookie-loo at that for a bit and he walked right on through it (good boy!). We sank through snow & hit water beneath several times, which surprised him but he again stayed calm.    One section of mud was particularly deep & sucking, and that was no trouble either.  In fact, I would say the whole ride he was a model citizen and seemed happy, relaxed, and very willing.  I was happy & relaxed, too.  There was the little incident of the grouse, and then a little later the ducks - but besides a quick shudder in place at those frights, he just kept right on moving without any balking about being out alone or rushing to go faster.  We made a loop out of it, passing through the farmyard at Red's barn and home along the road.  He was so good we even cantered along the shoulder of the road, all nice & relaxed.  He didn't even break stride when we came even with the hayfield at the corner and saw a man dressed in a green sweatshirt lying prone in the grass.  Both Rhio & I did a double take at that, and I shouted "Hi!" and got a response of "Hi!" back, so at least I knew the guy wasn't dead or something.  But it was a very odd thing to see - why would you lie down in the middle of what was probably a cold, wet, muddy field?

So now you know how two rides can be so very different in tone & emotion; one was not fun at all, really, and the other was bliss.

The Whole Neighborhood Was Out!

I took Rhio out for a solo ride today, which is something I need to make sure we do on a regular basis.  He MUCH prefers to go with another horse, and although we manage alone, he does make it abundantly clear that he is not happy.

I had a few things to try out today, so tacking up took longer than normal.  I gave up on trying to get my horse clean, though, and just made sure the areas under tack were relatively dirt-free.  After de-tangling his wind knots, I braided his mane in a single running braid.  For some reason, Rhio absolutely hates having his mane braided in the narrow vertical braids that I normally do for cooling purposes at an endurance ride. He constantly shakes his head while I put them in, and seems aggravated by having them in place.  As a rule, I remove his braids as soon as we are done with our ride.  The running braid worked great today and he didn't seem annoyed by my placing the braid and I got zero head shaking during or after.  Hmmm!  I may have to work on my technique a little, but this might be his new style for endurance rides :)

Pretty boy! (This is the cleanest spot on him because it's normally protected by his mane.)

So why did I braid Rhio's mane today?  There are two main reasons, the first being that it was very windy and it seemed like a good way to help retrain his twisted mane out of its wind knots.  The second reason is to keep all that hair out of the way of the reins, as I was planning a little experiment riding with 2 bridles, and therefore 2 sets of reins.  And, of course, I think he looks pretty braided!

I have been having some issues with him listening to me and respecting the hackamore in situations where he's very amped up and wanting to go forward faster than I want him to.  He has not actually done anything that qualifies as certified bad horsey behavior, but he has not been the relaxed, easily rated horse I'm used to.  Once again, I'm contemplating using a bit with him (I've gone through the bit vs. hackamore debate with him at least once a year and so far keep coming back to the hack) and thought I'd see if I could ride him in a version of a double bridle so I had both options.  My version of a double bridle consisted of Cricket's headstall with it's low-port, solid mouthpiece, short shanked curb (a "grazing" bit) which has a leather curb strap with Rhio's regular hackamore over it.  Rhio's hack is adjusted a bit higher on the nose than the bit, so the curb strap on the bridle and the curb chain on the hack did not interfere.  The shanks also seemed clear of each other, so I decided to ride with this set up.  Thankfully, all my reins have snaps at the ends and I was able to put blue reins on the bit and my normal black reins for the hack, so it was easy for me to distinguish the two.

Green is the headstall for the hackamore. Black & tan is the headstall for the bit. It didn't seem too annoying to him to wear them both.

They don't actually interfere!

The other two things I tried today were rub-related.  Rhio is getting rubs on his sides from the very worn sheepskin stirrup leather covers I have; the back part of the sheepskin is worn away completely into a sharp edge of stiff leather which is between my calf and his side.  I really need to replace them.  But I also need to replace the stirrups "leathers" that I use (which are biothane)... so it's easier to just keep using the same old getup I've been riding in for years.  So, I removed the sheepskin covers to see if, with my half chaps, I could ride without the covers. [The answer, by the way, is "not in the current configuration - ouch!" I need to reverse the direction of the leathers and see if I can get my buckle on the outside of my ankle instead of rubbing against the front of my ankle as it did today.]   The other rubs are on his hind pasterns from the gaiters on the easy boot gloves.  He got these last year as well, and I was using vet wrap beneath the gaiters with good success.  Today I tried nylons, but left the toe intact and slipped them over his hooves.  They simply slid down to the bottom of his pastern and didn't stay under the gaiter to protect his pasterns at all!  I think I need to remove the toe and just have a tube that will sit on his pastern, so I will try that on our next ride.

Rhio, who is not girly in any way, sporting nude nylons under his hind boots. I hope the other horses just thought it was dirt (not hard to imagine with this boy!) and won't make fun of him in the pasture!

The light area with a dark rim where the hairs are actually broken off shorter than the rest of his coat from the bare trailing edge of my sheepskin leather covers. Also note the big buckle on my leathers, which was eating my ankle for dinner! Yikes! I can't have the buckles up under the saddle flap either, which is where they would be on an English saddle, because in that position I have a big nasty lump under my thigh.

So, finally we're ready to ride!  It's so warm (upper 60's!) that I don't even bring a jacket with me, and therefore forget completely about having treats along.  Too bad, as today would have been a perfect time to utilize Rhio's treat-centered motivation for some behavior modification.  We set off out the end of the driveway and he balks slightly, which is usual for him.  We walk (slowly & with many attempts to veer off to the right or left in the hopes that I wouldn't notice him turning around) down the road to the first paved road crossing, about 3/4 mile.  We practiced our circles as Abby taught us, and his unwillingness to go away from the barn was about normal for him.  Once we cross this road, he usually stops arguing to go home and will move forward willingly (though still not at the pace that he would volunteer when headed home).  Today we crossed the road to encounter a pair of girls on chestnut horses coming toward us.  Lo! Now, this is exciting!  Rhio pricked his little ears as stiff as they would go and moved out to meet them like long lost friends.  I said a quick hello but didn't let him stop (we don't actually know these girls or their horses), and as soon as he realized they were "leaving" him, he basically threw a fit.  He refused to turn away from home, and would only go in reverse, and tossed his head, swished his tail, etc. Neither piece of headgear had any effect, and I jumped off to lead him away in hand.  Getting out of sight around a bend, I was able to remount and we continued forward without fuss.  He was happy to trot, but not quickly, and threw in a big mournful whinny for his long-lost, barely-met "companions."

As we got further from home, his behavior & pace improved.  We met another pair of riders, again unknown to us, at our turn-around at the second paved road and we were able to walk along and chat with them briefly.  With their permission, Rhio & I left them at a trot and he was soon rocking along just as easy as can be in his little canter...until he realized they weren't coming with us.  Luckily we were still headed home, so it didn't take much convincing at all to get him to continue away from his second set of long-lost companions.  About another mile down the road, we meet yet another rider, this time known to me but the horses didn't know each other.  We stopped to chat, and meanwhile the first pair of riders came back and turned away from us and the second pair of riders crested the hill behind us.  This was great because now there were various sets of horses moving in different directions, and he had to continue on by himself (again, we were going home so he didn't fuss too much).  What a great and totally unplanned training day!  We rarely run into other riders, and those we do are known to us.  The whole neighborhood seemed to be out riding today.

I used the bit a few times, and he seemed a bit more responsive to it than to the hack. He did not get all tense & worried as he has in the past when I've ridden him with a bit.  I was pleased that the two reins & such didn't seem to interfere with each other and I was able to manage them fine.  I did have to hold the black reins of the hack in my left hand while using the bit, as those reins are very long and seemed to want to ride with a big loop hanging off one side of his neck, which seemed like a safety hazard (he might have been able to somehow get a front leg through that long loop).

We made it back to the barn without incident, and then I did the unthinkable - I asked him to continue on past the driveway!  NO WAY he practically shouted, and once again he was throwing a fit.  I did not have to get off this time, and with some circling and instant release of pressure when he was facing away down the road, it seemed that he caved to my will more quickly this time.  We carried on at a nice trot, then stopped to chat with the neighbor.  Again when I asked him to leave her driveway, he balked.  It only took about 2 corrections this time to get him headed away from home again.  We hustled over to Red's barn to visit (by the way, the beaver are enjoying the 6 feet of open water at the edge of the pond and gave us a big tail THWACK going & THWACK - THWACK coming... not a very horse-friendly animal, the beaver!) and Rhio got to "graze" the green shoots poking up in the lawn.  (Mmmm, fresh munched grass makes the best horsey breath!)

Our return ride home (minus the beavers) was relaxed, happy, and easy, including a little canter.  There was no rushing, no franticness, no head way up in the air - it was a fantastic end to what turned out to be a very good ride.  It was a mentally challenging ride for Rhio, and I think he did really well.  I used my GPS as usual to record our time, distance, and speed, which I will dutifully record in his log book, but the physical wasn't the point of this ride at all.

32 Miles

Got treats?

It's begun!  The roads are clear enough to do some serious conditioning, and my endurance season has officially begun.  Our first ride is MnDRA I on May 7 & 8, a mere 5 weeks away.  I always plan on riding Limited Distance (25 miles) at that ride, because our spring weather is so fickle here in the Northland.  It's hard to predict how much conditioning I'll actually be able to do in preparation for this first ride.  So, I plan for the first ride to be 25 miles of conditioning, and a really fun time catching up with everyone I haven't seen since Point Chaser in October.

We've had a great week of rides.  Rhio and I did a total of 32 miles this past week, in rides of 9 miles, 9 miles, and 14 miles.  Our first 9 miler was Tuesday, 3/29.  We have had lovely afternoons for riding, with temps in the 40s and sunshine.  We set off with Kelso, heading toward our closest significant training hill with the intention of doing a little hill work and heading home.  Just as we turned to head up the hill, here comes Jodi & Rana down the hill toward us.  Well met, pretty mare & fine friend!  The horses were both in full spring mode, spooking and trying to race, and we rode up & back along the clear portion of road (hemmed in by shady/icy sections and paved roads without good clear shoulders) enjoying each other's company and lamenting together about the fact of riding spring-fresh horses.  Rhio had been pretty unmotivated riding out alone, but of course as soon as we met up with a buddy, he was overwrought with energy & the inability to disperse it efficiently into useful forward motion.  As a result, I was riding a stiff board of a horse with a rock-solid neck jutting up in front of me, head-tossing & neck-snaking his way along at a stilted canter, hooves slapping the ground and jarring my internal organs in a most unpleasant fashion.  I have to say, the experience really wasn't all that enjoyable.  But, it was fairly reminiscent of the start of an endurance ride, so in its way it was a useful training situation.  He did not buck, rear, bolt, or lose his mind.  In past years, it would not have been unthinkable for him to do all those and then some in a situation like this.

Still a little fancy footwork required to negotiate the remaining icy patches on the road, but it's totally doable!

Our second 9 miler was two days later, and Gesa & Paco joined us for more road riding.  This was our first time booted for the year, and also we attempted to use the heart rate monitors.  I never got a good signal on Rhio's monitor, but Paco's worked pretty well.  I presume that the still-present winter fuzz was preventing good contact with the electrodes.  I usually just wet my electrodes with water upon application, and rely on my sweaty pony to keep them sensing well.  With all the extra coat, I should have used some electrode gel (which solved the problem perfectly on ride #3).  The Gloves are still working nicely on his hinds, and I used fetlock boots as well to prevent any interference wounds.  The Renegades on his fronts actually seemed a little tight, and I'll have to figure out how to loosen the cables before I use them again, I think.  I did not notice as much forging as he usually does in boots (well, he does it all the time, but the boots seem to make it worse, though it may just be more noticeable).  We had a nice ride, mostly covering the same ground as I had with Jodi on Tuesday, though we also ventured through the softening snow pack on the closed portion of the road.   The boys did wonderfully together, as they always do; we did not have to contend with race-brained, spring-crazy horses and allowed them to set the pace as they chose.  Rhio led 99% of the time, as he prefers, and Paco followed, as he prefers.  The horses clearly have some lines of communication which are a mystery to us, as they nearly always put themselves in the same positions and are completely at ease with one another.  Rhio can be really reactive to other horses (especially mares) when we are riding in groups, and we tend to do a bit of skittering around as he tries to keep a "safe" distance from the other horses' bubbles of personal space (whether they are projecting obvious "get away" body language or not).  With Paco, there is none of that.  Our average pace per my GPS was 5 mph for this ride - not too shabby considering we had to walk the whole snowy section, and found ourselves walking & chatting a bit more than we sometimes do (although we do it, it's not as easy to carry on a shouted conversation at the trot).

Muddy legs, muddy boots, and muddy Kelso in the background 

Just mounted up for ride #3 and they're both smiling :) 

Our third and longest ride of the week was Saturday April 2.  Gesa & Paco again joined us, and we planned to attempt the big loop ride, which is mostly road with about 2 miles of snowmobile trail.  I had Plan B worked out in case we couldn't negotiate the half-melted, slushy/icy snowmobile trail and had to turn back, but luckily we were able to complete the whole loop.  Our plan was to increase distance to at least 12 miles (we did 14), but maintain approximately the same pace as our Thursday ride.  Um, apparently the horses didn't get that memo!  Rhio was fired up and ready to go, setting a nice forward pace and moving along on a loose rein right from the start.  That boy was all business, moving along eating up the miles, and occasionally stopping for a refreshing sip from an icy puddle.  Ahhhhh!  Now this is the kind of ride I've been longing for since the snow first fell 6+ months ago.  We had an absolutely fantastic ride for the first 9.5 miles.  Then I landed abruptly on my backside in the snowbank.  Uh, what?!  Ok, turns out poor Rhio had a fright and just disappeared from beneath me (a.k.a. Arab teleporting) - Jodi and Rana popped up over the crest of a ridge in the gravel pit to our left, which was slightly screened by some trees, and Jodi shouted a greeting.  None of us knew they were there, but I expect they heard our hoofbeats on the road.  Anyway, it wasn't a big deal and it was the softest landing I've had, ever.  The worst of it was hopping around on one foot emptying the snow out of my boots before my socks got too wet.  Successfully remounted, Jodi & Rana joined us for a few miles of road work, and again the horses got racy, competitive, and hard to handle (well, mine did at least - Paco had the sense to stay back out of the fray and I don't think Gesa had as much trouble with him as I did with Rhio).  It's like the energy level just shoots up and Rhio can't emotionally cope with it.  I again had the stiff, fighting, crazy horse beneath me.  Not fun.  Again, he didn't do any of the explosive behaviors that I know he is capable of, and we even started to make a little progress backing off the pace and staying behind and he began to be able to listen to me a little bit.  Hopefully Rhio is learning to listen to me even when he gets emotionally overwrought (for that's what it seems to be to me).  We split off from Jodi and headed home, ultimately finishing our ride with an average pace of 5.6 mph.  Yep, we committed the cardinal sin of conditioning, increasing both pace & distance at the same time, but both horses did extremely well and handled the work load easily.  Rhio's heart rate monitor showed completely normal working heart rates for him, and both horses were still full of zip when we turned in the driveway.  The horses drank 4 or 5 times during the ride, which is something Gesa has been working at with Paco, and we ended the day with cold beer & steak on the grill (thanks to Gesa's husband Mike).

Posing on the still-snowy snowmobile trail

I am amazed (and a little jealous) at how quickly Rhio gets back into shape.  Obviously, he wasn't "off" all winter, but the kind of riding we can do in the winter is very different from endurance and our early rides showed me his reduced condition, especially in the hill work we did on the snowmobile trail.  Already he is feeling nearly as fit as he was at the end of the season last year, and ride #3 last week was his best by far for energy, enthusiasm, and drive.  (It's just not fair!  It's taking me WAY longer to get back into my jogging program.)

Argh!  See that white area up by his shoulder/withers?  It's not sweaty because there's too much pressure there from the saddle, not allowing the sweat glands to activate.  This is NOT GOOD! 

The major issue I see cropping up is saddle fit (yet again).  After all three rides, he had dry spots behind his withers on both sides, with the left side being slightly larger & more obvious than the right.  His back is not sore, he is not moving differently, and he is not exhibiting his averse-to-tacking-up behavior (which has been the major indicator of saddle issues in the past), but I am not happy with the less-than-perfect sweat pattern!  More investigation to come on this matter....

Can You Count the Flaws in My Plan?

Wednesday was Red's day to go out.  Kelso ran the 8 miles I did on Rhio on Tuesday and was a little sore, so although he needed some exercise for the day, I didn't think another long run would be the best thing for him.  I haven't been jogging in a couple of weeks because my cold had settled in my chest and I've been toting around a nasty cough for a while now.  I devised a plan, the wisdom of which I will leave up to you to judge, which would allow me to jog, exercise Kelso, and ride Red in a seemingly efficient manner.  Although it is light until after 7:30 these days, with temps only in the low 40s during the warmest part of the day, it starts getting mighty chilly as sunset approaches.  My plan was to take maximum advantage of the warmest, sunniest hours of the afternoon, and multitask.

The Plan, Step #1

I dressed in riding attire plus running shoes, grabbed my iPod, corralled the excess canines who would not be accompanying me on the 1 mile trip to Red's barn, and set off on my jog.  The first bump in the road was Bowser.  Bowser the hound who would not stay at home on the farm with Becca, but kept following me & Kelso down the road.  After attempting to return him to the farm three times, I finally just texted Becca that he was with me & she could pick him up at Red's barn on her way home and kept on going.  He was well behaved and we made it to Red's barn without incident.

The Plan, Step #2

Shortly after arriving at Red's barn, Becca stopped in and picked up the wayward hound.  I grabbed Red's halter and went to the gate, then realized that running shoes are nearly the worst possible footwear for catching a horse in a paddock that consists of a gooey mixture of mud, manure, and hay coating an icy base.  No matter, I thought - Red is easy to catch and frequently will meet me at the gate.  Well, no such luck! This time he decided to play hard to get, and after a few minutes of tip-toeing through the muck trying to keep my feet somewhat dry while still putting the pressure on him so that he would give up the foolish & doomed fight, I gave up the pretext of white running shoes and just slogged away.  [side note here: even after a thorough shower, my toenails are still rimmed in grime!  I'm going to have to soak  my feet to get them clean...and don't even ask about the state of my running shoes.]  All the other horses in the group were "helping," and finally Dave offered some assistance.  About the same instant, Red quit his shenanigans and allowed me to walk right up to him.  Needless to say, he did NOT get a bite of the oats Dave brought out to entice the rest of the herd to abandon the fun game we were playing.

The Plan, Step #3

Red, Kelso, and I set off for home at a jog, and Red took no encouragement at all to trot along at my shoulder.  Good boy!  I could tell by the sound of his hoofbeats, however, that his hocks were bothering him.  He has degenerative joint disease (arthritis) in his hocks, and gets them injected in the spring.  This will be the third year I've had to inject him, and so far a single injection in the spring lasts the entire riding season.  Usually, his lameness is mild enough that he willingly goes out for moderate rides and I know the exercise is good for him.  So, yes, I know I was going to be riding a lame horse, but he is no more lame after a ride than before, and I have the medications ordered to do his hock injections.

The Plan, Step #4

At the barn, I tack Red up, switch to my boots for riding, and grab my helmet.  We're off, leaving Kelso at home, and head down the road.  Red is somewhat reluctant to go, but willing to trot.  The trot is way off, however, and feels terrible to ride.  The day is so nice, and he needs to get out, so we continue with our planned 4 mile route, doing most of it at a walk and enjoying ourselves.  Red is spooking at all the little things, par for the course with him, and when we return I have Kristi trot him for me so I can do flexion tests and confirm that it is both of his hocks that are bothering him.  I get him started on his spring course of Adequan, give him a snack with a little Bute powder hidden in senior feed, and quickly get the other horses fed their grain.  Now, since I don't have a car at Red's barn to get home, my original plan was to ride him all the way there, then walk home.  However, since he was pretty significantly lame, it was later than I intended when we got back, and I had to feed all the horses here by myself.

The Plan, Step #5

In order to get Red home before dark, but get myself back here before dark to do hay as well, I enlisted Kristi's help once again.  This time, we ponied Red home via car.  Yep, if you saw what seemed to be a car driving slowly down the road with a horse trotting along on the shoulder, that is exactly what it was.  Red was a good boy, and obviously anxious to get home, since he set a 13 mph - 15 mph pace.  All went smoothly... until about 100 yards from his driveway, when he spooked and bolted across the road (at nothing, I'm quite sure).  Thank goodness we have such a quiet road!  All was well, no catastrophes, and Kristi handwalked him the last little bit to his barn.  He was quite happy to get in his stall to his oats, and we made it home in time to finish feeding before full dark.

So, if you've been keeping count of the flaws in my plan, I came up with about 4, but your definition of a flaw and mine may not be the same.  Regardless, life with horses is never boring!

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)

Patchwork

Looking ahead at the icy hill, just before we decided to turn around

We had the opportunity to practice a lot of walk-trot and trot-walk transitions, as well as plenty of leg yields, while we made our way down the road yesterday.  The melt is progressing with agonizing slowness this year, complete with multiple serious setbacks, and today was the first time I was able to ride the whole mile stretch of gravel road in front of the farm.  Much of the south side of the road is lined by thick evergreens, and therefore remains very shady.  The compacted snow & ice do not melt in the shady areas, even at almost 40 degrees.  The north side of the road was a patchwork of slushy snow and muddy gravel, and as long as we stayed along that edge, we had no difficulty.  Unfortunately, Red prefers to travel right down the middle of the road, and I therefore had to use a lot of reminders to keep him in the safest footing.

We still have SO MUCH snow, but at least there's some open water in the creek! 

We did cross the paved road and continue along the gravel road just to assess how soon we might be able to do a longer ride - the answer is not yet!  Red behaved really well, except for a few ridiculous instances of shying away from snow boulders or snow patches on a dark background or a light-colored dry spot on the gravel, but this is so typical for him that I hardly pay any attention anymore. The school bus passed us twice, and Red didn't even flick an ear.  I was pretty pleased, as he often acts goofy about traffic in the spring when we haven't been doing any roadwork for months.

I checked my riding logs from last year, and by March 8th I was doing 7 - 8 mile rides at trot/canter pace down the road.  It's a good thing our first endurance ride is a week later than normal, due to Easter being late this year, and we have an extra week to condition - we're gonna need it!

Calculated Risk

Normally, I lay pretty low during the firearm deer season (it's only two weeks out of the whole year after all!) and only ride in the arena or yard.  This year, however, the weather has been so gorgeous in early November, that I just can't force myself to stay home.  I still won't ride out on a weekend during deer season, but I figured midday on a Tuesday was pretty safe.  Bedazzled in blaze orange and staying completely out of the woods & fields in favor of a road ride, I figured we were as safe as we could be!  I worry a little more with Red, as he's close to the same color as the deer (albino deer are pretty rare so I feel slightly safer on Rhio, though it's probably a false sense of security considering hunters can't seem to tell the difference between a bipedal human in blaze orange and a deer sometimes!).  

One of these guys will be on my family's Thanksgiving table!  And to be honest, I find the whole flock following me in the pasture, gobbling and strutting, to be a little creepy. 

Red was napping in the sun when I arrived, so after guiltily waking him up, we waded back through the flock of turkeys to the barn to tack up.  My "spooky" Arab is so used to the turkeys that he completely ignores them, even as they "graze" right along with the horses - whether this would translate into calmness during a wild turkey encounter on trail has not yet been tested!  We don't actually have wild turkeys this far north, but we do encounter grouse frequently - which make me jump when they "whir" up more than they startle Red.  

Booted all around and with his blaze orange rump rug in place, we set off on our usual route down the road.  We were passed by several of the boarders at the barn, and they all reported that we were very visible and didn't look anything like deer!  We did have an encounter with a particularly rude motorist - which is actually fairly uncommon in our neighborhood.  We were halted waiting to cross a paved road; I had one hand on the reins and one hand signaling Kelso to "Whoa!"   A pickup truck flew past us, laying on his horn.  Nice one, dude.  Appreciate that.  What point were you trying to make, exactly?  Neither horse nor dog moved a muscle - what good boys!!!

Lots of freshly cut ends of trees line the road from our wind storm several weeks ago; Red noticed every single one and gave each a WIDE berth in case they were carnivorous with a special fondness for horse.

The stream which frequently harbors exploding ducks (not today though!)

Red and I apparently had differing expectations of what our afternoon's outing would entail.  I thought a nice medium trot to work up a light sweat and get us in the zone was in order.  Red thought we should zoom along as fast as we could go, skittering sideways at the slightest irregularity in the road surface or in the vegetation along the edge.   Hmmm, maybe today would have been a good day to put that running martingale on!  

Only having an hour, we did about 5 miles and returned to the barn in time to meet the farrier.  Every nice day, and every ride, in November is a stolen one.  Ahh - heaven is the wind that blows between my horse's ears! (to paraphrase an Arabian proverb) 

Fall Color Tour #2

Fall is such a brief season, at least here, and it is the best time to ride.  The cool, crisp air makes the horses fresh and eager.  The annoying insects of summer are gone, leaving us to ride in peace.  The vibrant colors of the leaves contrasting with the still-green grass and blue skies are a feast for the eyes.

Christine & I took our boys out for a short ride down the road just to enjoy the day and the weather, savoring another beautiful ride and storing it in our memories against the bitter cold, early dark, and deep snows which we know are coming.

Many Levels of Frustration

Getting ready for a solo ride today, I discovered that both of the Renegade boots I used on Rhio's fronts are beginning to split at the outer edge where the sole meets the sides - and his left front, uninjured, hoof is quite a lot larger now than it apparently used to be.  It has been a very wet summer, and I wonder if this has contributed to hoof softness, and therefore flaring.  I can see some flaring, but I would think with religious every-three-weeks trimming, this should be totally under control!  I did a little rasping but had to use Red's Epic on the left front.  I will be happy to put Rhio back into shoes next summer - the boots aren't working all that great for us :(  

Rhio was extremely reluctant to leave, and all the extra time working on feet & boots, meant we weren't headed down the road until close to noon - hot sun blazing down, humidity at 74% (stifling), and an unhappy horse didn't bode well for our ride.  Rhio was dragging his feet, literally and figuratively, and my frustration level crept up with each stride.  

View of hayfields along the southern portion of Church Rd.

Church Road's namesake church.

At a snail's pace, we made it to Church Road.  Hoping to encourage him by varying our normal route, we turned left instead of right.  This route takes us along an avenue of fruit trees, currently laden with ripe apples, crab apples, and some type of cherry (I think).  We enjoyed the view, turned around at the church, and stopped for a freshly-picked apple treat (Rhio says yum!).  Of course, going home made the reluctant Rhio raring to go and instead of toe-dragging and urging, I had cantering forwardness.  Ah, Rhio!   

Yummy apples.

Post-ride boot cleaning.