An Adventuresome Weekend

Gesa & I found ourselves with a coinciding schedule for this past weekend, so we tossed a bunch of stuff (but not all the right stuff, though we got by with what we had) into the truck & trailer and loaded horses for a weekend of horse camping.  Kelso & Berlin came along, too, and we had a full load with horse gear, dog gear, and human gear (we pack nearly as much for a weekend trip as we would for a week long trip - just less hay).

Our original plan was to camp & ride at Wild River State Park, which neither of us has ever visited before, but along our way we stopped for gas (and Benadryl for poor Berlin who was a bit carsick) and decided to change plans at the last minute and head to Tamarack horse camp in the St. Croix State Forest.  I had been there once before as a day trip (it's about a 2 hour haul for us), but never camped there.  Pulling in to the horse camp (you have to know where it is to find it - we ended up in the "regular" campground on our first attempt), we drove around the loops to discover that we were the only people there.  Hmm.... this might have been our first clue, but instead we took our time choosing just the perfect campsite (a double so we had lots of space) and as we were backing in, another rig pulled in.  They picked a site on an entirely different loop, so we did pretty much have the place to ourselves.

We set up camp in a flurry, putting up our fake electric pen for the boys around the base of the permanent high lines and pitching a tent for me & the dogs.  Gesa brought her camp cot and was excited to try out sleeping in the trailer (cleaned out, of course, and with a tarp down over the shavings) - luckily the trailer has screens on the windows so she could have ventilation with minimal mosquito invaders.  Rhio & Paco are pretty respectful of a non-electrified pen (Rhio was very wary after getting his big shock from Donna's pen back in May at MnDRA1), but we didn't leave them unattended in it and we tied them to the high lines at night.

Rhio & Paco settle in Friday night

With my little propane grill, I cooked us up some marinated chicken breasts  & zucchini and we ate dinner by headlamp, tired from packing, loading, traveling, unloading, setting up camp, pumping & hauling water (pumped by a poorly-functioning hand pump which stuck at the top of every full stroke, and hauled by wheel-barrow back to our campsite - let me tell you, that water was precious!), dousing ourselves in copious amounts of bug repellant (oh the clouds of mosquitos!), and all the various other tasks that come with setting up camp for 2 people, 2 horses, and 2 dogs. Why is it that we willingly work so hard to have fun? 

I slept great (except for 3 or 4 times I came awake with a start, feeling crawly and pulling ticks off out-of-the-way body parts), snug in my sleeping bag with the snoozing dogs snuggled up in their beds next to me.  Very early in the morning, just as it was getting light, I heard wild turkeys gobbling off in the woods somewhere,  but the horses were still quiet and content on the high line (so different from ride camp, where as soon as the first horse is fed in the wee hours, all the horses in camp are clamoring for their breakfasts), and I happily rolled over and went back to sleep.  We all got up around 7, and Gesa & I thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely morning with our respective mugs of coffee and tea.  We took the horses for an amble down to the day parking area, to check out the trail map and plan our ride for the day.  We were very pleased that the hordes of mosquitos of the evening before were gloriously absent, but still applied bug spray to ourselves & the boys and tacked them up with their riding fly masks. 

Around 11, after settling the dogs in the trailer, we mounted up and headed off on our adventure.  The first marked horse trail we took directly out of camp was twisty, heavily overgrown, and difficult to follow in spots.  Interesting.  This one must not get used much, we thought.  We popped out on the gravel road that leads to the campground and decided to follow it for a bit, as we couldn't quite make out where the horse trail was supposed to go and I'd noted on the map quite a few ATV/snowmobile trails, which I knew would be wide and easy to follow, if nothing else.  We hit a parking area for motorized users, and stopped to consult the map again, determining that with a mixture of ATV & horse trails, we could make a long loop (loops are my favorite!).  While we were map reading, a small group of ATV riders, followed shortly by two rangers also on ATVs, passed us & continued along the trail in the direction we were headed.  We also met a couple of geocachers with their beautiful collie, who was staring wide-eyed at the "big dogs" we were riding.  Off we went, with some idea of where we were going and plenty of get-up-and-go from the horses.  

The ATV trails proved to be a sandy dirt base with plenty of mid-sized rocks both embedded in the surface and strewn about, and a healthy population of mud holes to either balk at, drink from, or trot right through (which ones fell into which category was a mystery to me, but the horses clearly knew which type was which!).  Just going based on what I'd memorized from the map and my sense of direction, with periodic map-checks when we came across them, we made a few wrong turns and trotted a few sections of gravel road in leu of trails I wasn't quite certain were going in the right direction.  It was a nice mix of moderate trotting & technical work on the ATV trails, with some nice long canters and long trotting on the gravel roads.  The horseflies & deerflies were definitely making themselves a nuisance at grazing stops, but while we kept moving they were pretty tolerable. 

Eventually, we found our goal - the Gandy Dancer State Trail, a former railroad grade that is now a gravel-surfaced ATV and snowmobile superhighway.  The horses really enjoyed moving out & we handily covered a few miles at a good clip before reaching the St. Croix River bridge (hello, Wisconsin!).  This is one impressive bridge!  It's a wooden former railroad trestle, resurfaced with tightly abutting wooden planks and a central rubber matting and with tall, secure railings.  But this thing was high, and quite long - I've never ridden across such an imposing bridge.  It was prominently signed "Bridge Closed to Vehicles over 1000 lbs," and we debated whether we counted as "vehicles," since horse+rider+tack was a bit over 1000 lbs each.  Deciding to play it safe, and not wanting to get caught on the bridge with an ATV crossing at the same time (it was too narrow for any passing), we only ventured about a quarter of the way out onto the bridge, to take in the view of the St. Croix River way down there below us.  I was perfectly happy out there snapping pictures while leading Rhio, but decided to mount up for a photo and immediately felt the insecurity of realizing I was taller than the railings.  It was a little unnerving sitting up there on top of my not-very-tall horse on this bridge, and I decided right then that I was going to make myself ride off the bridge (back the way we came, not across it) and that I probably don't ever want to cross No-Hands Bridge at Tevis (as if I thought I'd ever be riding Tevis anyway!).  I'm not exactly afraid of heights, but I was definitely not feeling super comfortable up there, and breathed a sigh of relief when Rhio stepped hoof back on solid land.  

We were both very happy to have our hoof boots for this ride, as the rocks & gravel would have been tough to cover at speed if the horses had been barefoot.  I was using Red's Epics on Rhio's fronts, and his own Gloves on his hinds.  Paco sported a pair of Epics on his fronts, and was bare behind. I was very pleased with the traction provided by both styles of boot, as some of the muddy spots were slippery and we crossed some wooden bridges and a hill made of cross-wise cement "timbers" later in our ride, with both horses being completely surefooted all day.  

The few ATVers we met along the way were all very considerate, slowing down to pass us and even a few giving us a jaunty wave.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying the beautiful Saturday afternoon.  

Gesa spotted the horse trail branching off the Gandy Dancer trail, and we set off into the woods to complete our loop.  We'd done about 12 miles at this point, in 2 hours.  Little did we know we had 6 miles and 2 more hours of riding ahead of us before we'd finally make it back to camp. 

The horse trails are in very poor shape currently.  I don't know if it's budget cuts, or just the long and brutal winter & wet spring we've had, but the trail was horribly overgrown so much that it was hard to follow at times.  There were numerous trees down that we had to skirt around, and the insect population was pretty spectacular, combined with our forced walking speed, and I would say it was a fairly unpleasant situation.  At first the horses thought the single-track trail was fun, but they quickly lost their enthusiasm when it became apparent we weren't going to be able to do much more than walk, and walk, and walk.  We crossed rickety bridges, or in places had to clamber down & up small ravines where the bridges had been completely washed out.  Some of the hills had originally had horse-friendly stairs for erosion control, consisting of 5' or 6' square timber "boxes" filled with earth, such that the horses could have all 4 hooves on each "step."  Many of these were washed out completely or had the dirt eroded out of them such that they were obstacles and hindrances rather than helping the horses negotiate the slopes. Our boys were wonderfully brave and willing the entire time, with the exception of Rhio refusing to cross a flat plank bridge with no sides which was elevated about 8" off the trail surface.  Gesa & Paco had to ride out of sight before he would follow me across it, and even then he crossed it in two big leaps, knocking me into a patch of stinging nettles (in case you were wondering, summer riding tights are NOT thick enough to protect from stinging nettles!  Yowzie!).  Rhio did perform an interesting feat of acrobatics, in which he managed to chew on his right hind pastern on a single-track trail with me still mounted (can you say Gumby?), and we only had one tree-encounters-riders-leg incident despite the narrow single track trail winding through plenty of knee-knocker trees, so all in all it was a successful though mentally and physically taxing last third of our ride. 

We returned to camp, released the hounds from their confinement, pulled our camp chairs up to the pen to watch our sweaty, filthy ponies happily munch hay (er, well, actually I guess they were frantically swishing, stamping & biting at the hordes of flies), and reveled in our ice-cold beverages.  Once recovered, we grabbed our sponges and headed down to the Tamarack River to cool the horses and clean them up a bit.  Both boys willingly walked into the river, and as I was sponging the dirt and sweat off Rhio, I realized that many of the "dirt" spots on his legs were really ticks!  Ai - yi - yi!  The horses danced out of the river and up the trail, antsy as all get out as they were being mobbed by horseflies.  I quickly washed up our hoof boots in the river (can't waste any of that precious camp water we sweated & huffed to pump by hand!) and we high-tailed it back to camp to apply tick-killing fly spray and then pick the nasty buggers off our horses' legs.  For once I was grateful to have a gray horse, as the ticks were very easy to spot.  We each got about 30 ticks off our horses, with most of them being the regular dog ticks and just a few being deer ticks.  

We discovered our steaks were still frozen, so we had vegetable medley (carrots, potatoes, asparagus), hard boiled eggs, and bread for dinner, with s'mores roasted over the campstove for dessert!  Completely bushed from the day, we rolled into the sack and one again slept well, though it was pretty chilly this night, possibly getting down to the high 30's.  Berlin woke me up in the middle of the night, so I had a chance to enjoy the brilliant stars on display and listen to the coyotes' song before discovering that he couldn't sleep because he was cold.  Instead of getting out of my warm sleeping bag yet again to fetch a horse blanket, I simply emptied all my clothes on top of him in a heap as extra insulation (he was already wearing a polarfleece doggie jacket) and fell straight back to sleep.  In the morning, he looked amusing, adorable, and slightly ridiculous buried in his mound of clothes, but at least he was warm - and of course I didn't have my camera in the tent!

One of many maps we encountered throughout the day

Gesa & Paco approaching the massive bridge

Gesa enjoying the magnificent view of the St. Croix River

Ok, so it doesn't look very scary in the photo - but I wasn't thrilled.

Berlin, a happy 16 year old, still has the camping mojo!

St. Croix River, Minnesota on the right and Wisconsin on the left

Our little camp

The ATVers obviously love their mud - we saw a group dressed head-to-toe in rain gear, which seems like a good wardrobe choice if you're blasting through mud puddles, I guess. 

I made myself ride my horse off this bridge. Next time I'm there, I just might force myself to ride across the whole thing...... or maybe not!

That's Wisconsin way back there across the bridge!

Probably the best piece of single-track trail we saw all day.

Hand-walking down the steep hill which is stabilized with cement "timbers" like a boat ramp at a public water access.  

A close-up of the cement we were traversing - the boys' hoof boots were excellent on these, and I absolutely would not have taken a horse in steel shoes on this hill - it would have been horribly treacherous.

The Tamarack River

Rhio looking for more goodies, like the wasabi peas both he & Paco developed a taste for.  Yes, you read that right, our horses LOVE wasabi peas! 

We had a quick breakfast on Sunday, tacked up, and headed off to try the ATV trails heading in the opposite direction.  We had about 2 hours to ride, and set off happily enough, only to discover that the trails in this direction were in rough shape with many more rocks & mud holes than Saturday's trails, and an even greater army of horse- and deer-flies on a mission to suck every last drop of blood they could from us and our horses.  We made it about 4 miles, then hit a gravel road which we thought might be better - though it was better footing and allowed us to outrun the bugs at a pretty handy canter, the flies were actually worse out in the sunlight than they had been in the shady woods.  We detoured to a small lake and let the boys have a little grass (the least buggy spot of the day, actually), then turned back for camp.  We started to run into ATVs at this point, and this trail was not a good place to encounter them, as it was so twisty-turny that we could never get to a spot with a good long sightline for them to see us before bursting upon us.  As a result, we surprised nearly all of them, which can be a bad situation for all involved.  We, of course, knew they were coming because we could hear their engines, but they had no idea we were there. The horses didn't care one whit about the ATVs, but *hated* having to walk or, heaven forbid, stop, as the clouds of buzzing flies descended upon us, driving the horses absolutely nuts.  All the fly spray in the world couldn't have helped this situation, because although they would land & fly off again immediately (I was using Endure fly spray - little product endorsement here - and  it really did keep them off Rhio, but of course it doesn't stop them from buzzing around), they were still causing immense mental distress for both horses.  I didn't even try to hold Rhio back, but let him run everywhere I possibly could, as it was the only way to deal with the flies. I can't think of a time I've been so grateful to get off a trail as I was when we finally burst out of the woods and hit the gravel road leading back to camp.  I let Rhio run home, a bad habit but an utter relief to us both.  In the end, we'd done about 10 miles in an hour and half of mostly desperate trotting & cantering to escape the bugs.  I have to say, big kudos to Rhio & Paco for keeping their cool, mostly, and not simply dumping us & high tailing it out of there.  

Grace Lake

Amazingly, there was hardly an insect here at the boat landing, and plentiful grass, so we took a welcome break on our Sunday ride.

Paco

We packed up in record time, loaded the horses into a horse-fly infested trailer (Rhio was extremely reluctant to load - perhaps because of the flies?), and climbed into the truck only to hear click-click-click instead of the expect va-room! of the engine.  Oh, no!  Dead battery!  Luckily for us, Gesa was prepared with a jump pack thingee, and we were able to jump start ourselves and be on our way in under 5 minutes.  Since we had the drained truck battery at MnDRA 1 and required a jump, we've known there's a short or something in the trailer or the truck which kills the battery when the truck & trailer sit hooked up.  We'd unhooked the lights for the weekend, and only plugged them in just as we were loading horses.  Somehow in the 10 minutes it sat with the trailer lights attached to the truck, it drained the truck battery - and we'd even started the truck prior to plugging in the trailer to make sure it started!  There is definitely something not right in the electrical systems or connections of either the truck or the trailer or both, but at least we were well prepared for the situation (many thanks to Lynne for showing us such a thing as a jump pack thingee even existed!).  

Thankfully the trip home was utterly uneventful, and I loved every second of my hot shower, complete with a full-body tick check (no ticks!), when I finally got everything unpacked, cleaned up, and put away.  The next day I found one deer tick on Rhio, and he had a couple of minor rubs from the Epics gaiters in the front (I'd forgotten to put vet wrap on his pasterns), but mostly he was just pissed that he hadn't been able to go to the cow pasture to graze when we got home but had to eat boring old hay all night instead.

It was really a great weekend, and overcoming adversity makes it all the more memorable.  But I do think I'll avoid Tamarack horse camp during bug season in the future! 

Pasture Paradise

Rhio in his ugly-but-UV-protective fly mask, coming when he's called despite the acres of lush green grass he's turned out on! 

Next to the horse pastures is a huge field that has been completely untouched this spring.  It is normally the cow pasture, but there are no cows this year.  It is fenced with 5 strands of barbed wire, so it's not ideal for horses.  But, all that beautiful grass is going to waste just sitting there while our horses are still eating hay... so yesterday we began the "Pasture Paradise" program here at Meadowbrook.

My two, Rhio & Cricket, can both use the grass, as well as two other boarders, Levi & Quick.  These four horses get hand-walked over to the cow pasture in the mornings to stuff themselves in the knee-deep green goodness all day long.  This leaves 2 fields with 1 horse each, so those 2 horses get to spend the day together for company.  Then, at the end of the day, everyone is put back into their original fields for the night (with shelter and safe fencing).  These four are now getting a pittance of grain in the mornings, and no feed at night except some hay.

Cricket ready to "go home" at the end of the day

Day one, yesterday, went pretty well, considering.  I had an internal debate regarding my level of comfort with the barbed wire fencing, after walking the fenceline the evening before (in shorts, and without bug spray!  not my most brilliant move, I must admit).  The fence is intact and in reasonable repair, but it is not perfect.  The lushness of the grass and the vastness of the pasture, however, give me some assurance that the boys will have absolutely  no reason to even go near the fence.  I decided my desire for them to be on good grass far outweighed my concern over the fence, and so I was pleased to watch them behave beautifully all day yesterday and to find them without even a scratch in the evening.

Quick (grey) & Levi also enjoyed the day on grass

The other element which could have been an issue was horse dynamics.  Rhio & Cricket are buddies, and Levi & Quick are buddies, but the two pairs do not know each other at all.  Quick can play pretty rough at times, and is a bit of an "enforcer" in his pasture.  I expected that Rhio would protect Cricket, and that is exactly what happened.  Rhio & Cricket were turned out first, took a bit of a run about, then settled to munching.  Levi was next, and walking him past the goat/alpaca pen was a big challenge.  We made it to the gate, and I turned him out, causing quite the stir across the farm.  Winston & Tomas were on alert, watching intently from the furthest pasture, while Quick & Duke were trotting the fenceline and whinnying for their missing companion.  Rhio & Cricket came over to investigate Levi, and they all trotted off together for a bit, then Levi made a beeline for the fenceline nearest his buddies in the other pasture, and Rhio & Cricket resumed eating.  Quick, while also afraid of the goats & alpacas, was very motivated to join his buddy and galloped off as soon as I released him.  Now for the scary part!  How were the two groups going to interact, and was anyone going to get hurt?  (And, why didn't I bring my camera at least, or a video camera, which would have been even better?)

As you might expect, the four horses ran around for a while, with the two greys (Rhio & Quick) herding their two buddies around, and keeping them away from the others.  In very little time, each pair seemed to have a declared "territory" and they all settled down to the knee-high buffet.  Throughout the day, Quick & Levi remained together along the fenceline closest to their regular pasture and in the front corner, which Rhio & Cricket also remained together and wandered about the middle and back of the pasture, evidently enjoying the wooded area as well.  There were zero altercations, and almost no interaction after the initial brief period.  All the other horses on the farm are now in pairs as well; I find the symmetry of the pairs of horses very pleasing, somehow.

In the evening, Rhio & Cricket came running when they were called (good boys!), while Levi & Quick refused to walk along the fence near the goats & alpacas to the gate, so had to be fetched.  I expect in a few days they'll be completely unconcerned about the scary ruminants and will also (hopefully) come when they are called.  Replete with fresh green grass, none of the four minded missing their usual grain supper at all.  They did all drink immediately, however, which means they probably didn't use the nice, clean tank I'd scrubbed & filled for them in Pasture Paradise, despite the fact that I led each one to the tank to show it to them before turning them loose in the morning.  The grass is plenty wet on its own, and I assume they'll start using the tank as they get used to the whole plan.

Operation Pasture Paradise was a resounding success!

And what a beautiful evening! 

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

Oops!

Maybe I shouldn't reveal my most recent air-headedness, but here goes.  Last night I was feeding horses a little later than usual, and let Cricket out into the mostly-enclosed area behind the barn to graze while I was setting up the morning feed.  I got set-up done, closed up the front barn door, and went inside.  Yup.  Left Cricket out - all night!

I didn't even realize I'd done it until I was feeding this morning and went to grab his halter from the rack so I could bring him in for his beet pulp/senior mash.  I stared dumbly at the empty hook for a moment before realizing why his halter wasn't there - because he was still wearing it, and I'd never put him back in the pasture last night!  Oops!!!!!

I hustle out back and glance around - no Cricket to be seen.  He clearly hung around the fence for a bit (2 piles of manure), wandered into the front section of the shelter (hoof prints), enjoyed some hay that was left out (now scattered about), and was now off somewhere.  Annie & Mo were looking toward the back woods, and the only direction he could have gone was to follow the alley between the fencelines that direction.  Sure enough, the wet grass revealed hoof impressions, and just over the rise where his pasture fence turns, there he was merrily munching the lush grass.  He glanced up at me as if to say, "Mmm! Grass!" and was happy to follow me back to the barn for breakfast.

Of all the horses to be left out all night, he was probably the perfect one to "choose."  Luckily we've had tons of rain and the grass was lush & wet, as he didn't have any access to water.  He's been free grazing about an hour a day since the grass really came in, so he's even used to its lushness.  And he's really level-headed and not particularly independent, so freaking out or wandering off weren't likely.  And, he's not too much of a trouble maker, so he clearly didn't find snooping around the barn wreaking havoc to be a tantalizing option (I shudder to think what the barn would have looked like had Rhio been left out to his own devices for 12 hours!).  Whew!  Of course I'm knocking myself upside the head for my absentmindedness, but all is well that end's well, right?

Was that the Loch Ness Monster???

Or perhaps just a really big snapping turtle?

It was SO NICE on Thursday that Red & I had to get out for a ride.  I was planning to do his right hock injection (meant to do it a month ago, but, well, stuff happens...) but we went riding instead (and he got his hock done on Friday).

We wandered over to the gravel pit and had to trot in the woodsy areas because the gnats were swarming every living thing in vast hordes (anyone ever ridden with a head net over their helmet?  I think I'm going to try it).  Poor Red's gait is pretty asymmetrical due to my delay in getting his right hock done, so the trot was not that comfortable to ride - he kept lurching me to the left.  But, he was all go-go-go and would have gladly moved out if I'd let him.  Luckily there was enough breeze to keep the gnats at bay in the open area, and we wandered around enjoying the scenery and scaring up a few deer.

Red watching the white deer butts disappearing into the woods

Headed out of the main gravel pit, I decided to take the scenic route around the backside of the neighboring, private gravel pit.  As we got close to the large pond in this pit, I spotted something which appeared to be a head or just eyes sitting on the water surface.  I just had time to form the thought, "Huh? What is THAT?" when it disappeared with the smooth easing of a confident predator, not the harried & surprised, ripple-making splash of prey.  Hmmm....  this is not Florida, so it couldn't have been a gator... but I just had the sense that whatever it was, it was BIG.  What I saw was just a tiny part of what seemed to be massive beast just under the surface.  Logic tells me it had to be a big snapping turtle (right?), but it did give me pause to wonder just how deep that "pond" really is and what Nessie might be doing inhabiting it.

Looking for Nessie

We finished our ride traversing the shoulder of the road, not making our customary turn at the gravel road, and Red decided that meant "new territory" and therefore required hypervigilance for any possible dangers.  I do appreciate his concern for our (his) safety, but, seriously, a walk down the road is generally not fraught with multiple life-endangering encounters.  The lady gardening, the neighbor's horses (& one funny looking pony mule), and the procreating turtles aren't likely to attack (well, actually, in the mule's case...). Red required lots of reminders to walk on the way home, but I think we both enjoyed our little outing.

The curious horses + mule