Are You My Mommy?

Rhio & Tomas enjoying the sun before I rudely made them get up to go for a ride.

I've had a horrible case of poison ivy on my thigh since our first endurance ride of the season last weekend, and was finally able to ride on Sunday.  I have a new pair of hoof boots to try - Renegade boots. (http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/ ) They were simple to put on, Rhio didn't object at all, and they looked pretty good. They are rounder than the Easy Boots and seem to fit his hoof better.

My pair of used Renegades from eBay are sparkly green!  

  We headed off for a Mother's Day trail ride with Kathy, Kristi, & Christine.  I left his hinds bare, and didn't feel any issues with the Renegades on the grassy trails out back.  We cantered a little in the hayfield and that seemed fine, too.  Yay!

Enjoying our sunny, beautiful Mother's Day ride.

A mushroom I found on our ride in the woods - and brought home much worse for the wear from being stepped on by the dog & stuffed into my saddle bag.  Oops! 

Although my thigh was killing me, Christine & I headed down the road so I could do a little sustained trotting for more boot assessment.  We headed to the sheep hill and did a couple repetitions up the hill, then headed home.  Both horses were very lazy on the way out, but the lambs caused some undue excitement when one in particular came running to the fence, "Baaaaaaing" desperately all the way.  I think he saw Rhio and thought we might be his mommy :)   He seemed so disappointed when he got close and realized we were not a sheep.  The horses were both standing stock still watching this small & loud creature barreling towards us - contemplating whether or not our lives were in danger.  We had a lively canter/hand-gallop up the hill and then headed home with much perkier horses.

The view across the hay fields at the top of the sheep hill.

I was pleased when we got home to discover no interference marks on Rhio's front limbs, the boots were securely in place, and did not have any debris in them.  He did not have any rubs from the boots, either, but clearly areas of disrupted/ smashed down hair on his heel bulbs.  This will be something I will watch to see if it develops into a rub.  Overall, I was very pleased with the new boots and have hopes they will work better for us than the Easy Boots.  I am still using Easy Boots on the hinds, but also have to use splint boots to prevent interference marks.

My poison ivy wasn't in such good shape by the end of the ride, however, and I was grateful to sit down with an ice pack and some more thickly applied cream.