Sleepover!

I was a bad horsey mom for most of June.  I barely had any time for my boys at all, and Red drew the short stick just by virtue of not living right out my backdoor.  So when this past weekend turned up without any plans, I decided it was time for a pony party!

Saturday morning, before the worst of this horrid humidity we're currently sweltering through hit, I tacked Red up and took him for a spin.  As I had with Rhio, I found that I needed a tree branch fly switch to make the ride at all tolerable, but with that at the ready, we had a lovely ride.  I think his right hock might be bothering him again (already!), though, as he seemed a little off at his slow trot.  Of course, at his big trot he felt fine, as all that momentum "hides" the little hitch in his giddyup.  We lucked out and the skies stayed cloudy for nearly all our 7 1/2 miles, but as soon as that sun came out, it was way too hot!

You can see the foaming sweat coming through the mesh of the fly mask ears. 

Red is not my heat-tolerant horse, and he was extremely sweaty upon our return.  The first of the pampering pony party began, and Red got a full bath with shampoo and I even did his mane and tail.  He quite enjoys baths, at least when it's hot, and was then very happy to go stand in a stall in front of a fan.  I brought the rest of the crew in to escape the heat and flies for the afternoon, and left them all contentedly munching hay while their forelocks blew in the fan-generated breezes.

Red spent his nights grazing down the tall grass in the round pen, and the afternoons in the barn trying to beat the heat.  He got his feet treated for thrush (seems to be all cleared up from spring, but a maintenance treatment seemed like a good plan), his bridle path clipped, his mane braided, and just generally preened, petted, and pampered.  He loved every minute of it!  I worried a bit that the boys back at his farm would ostracize him upon his return, smelling sweet and looking all shiny and clean.  My fears were assuaged, however, when Peepers and Jimmy came running & whinnying to the gate to meet him last night.

It was so hot that the thought of riding him the 1 mile home was completely unappealing until about 8:30 pm last night.  It was still hot & humid, but at least the sun was mostly down and it's slanted rays didn't have the power of midday anymore.  I jumped on Rhio with the bareback pad, still in my bathing suit from my swim in the lake earlier in the evening and with sandals on my feet (kids, don't do this at home!), and ponied Red home.  The flies were terrible, and I was trying to swat them from my bare legs & feet, and both horses' heads, while holding Rhio's reins in one hand and Red's lead rope in the other.  You can guess how well that went!  Out of desperation to get away from the flies, I let the boys trot their big trots and we went flying down the middle of the road.  On our return journey, Rhio & I were trotting home beneath a red sky and it was somehow magical.

Red & Rhio enjoying the fans.

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)

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!

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

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.

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) 

The Loop

Rhio & I set off for our 12 mile loop this afternoon, booted all around for the fresh gravel.  We haven't had many solo rides this season, as I've been lucky enough to have many opportunities to ride with friends.  Last year we surmounted a big hurdle, learning to go out by ourselves, and I need to make sure we keep practicing this skill periodically!  Today he seemed not quite unwilling but not quite thrilled to be heading out by himself. It is always the first several miles down the road that are the most difficult, but once we pass some invisible barrier, he suddenly becomes focused on where we're going instead of where home is.  And it helps to be covering new territory, so today we did the loop "backwards," or at least in the opposite direction that we normally do.  

We have mostly road work on this long training loop - crossing over a busy two-lane road and down a stretch of narrow-shouldered road then we typically cut through the gravel pit to hit the ski & snowmobile trail.  The gravel pits were very busy today, with at least 6 trucks passing us in 1/4 mile, so we continued down the road to the water stop at the public access (Rhio didn't want to drink as we were only about 4 miles in to our ride), then crossed over to hit the snowmobile trail.  Many of our snowmobile trails are swampy or otherwise impassable for horses, but this section is about 2 miles of good footing, rolling hills, and so much fun to ride!

The view at the water stop

Fern-covered ski trail

(Rhio is wearing a fine mesh fly mask for the bugs, hence the dark color of his ears) 

The bugs were pretty ferocious, especially in the woods, but we travelled at a fast enough pace to outrun them most of the time.  We looped around the ski trail and did a portion of the snowmobile trail twice, although when we got to the deer trail that we take as a short cut through the gravel pit, Rhio took a hard left and I was barely able to correct back onto the trail before we had an up-close and personal encounter with a tree.  The trail is hard to spot, and I am not often able to anticipate where we cut through the woods, but Rhio knows *exactly* where it is and takes the turn on his own initiative every time.  Too bad sometimes we're not going that way!   

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to spend this time with such a beautiful, athletic, and willing partner.  These long solo rides are a very Zen-like experience for me; I live completely in the moment for the length of the ride, my mind is totally focused on the now, and we just go.  When we get back to the barn, I feel like I've been on vacation.  I am mentally relaxed and physically tired, and just feel so centered.  It's a definite cup-filler, Qi-booster, rejuvenate-the-soul kind of thing.  And I thank my ponies for the opportunity to experience this with them.