green to 100

The little things

Monday, September 21, 2015

Khaleesi has had a well deserved break, and Faygo and I have taken a few rides- a little alone time together, and some trail clearing and riding fun with Nancy and Mireyah. It’s been forever since we’ve ridden with them and that was a great ride. We got off and clipped out a new trail connector, then rode a really beautiful 11 mile ride on some of my favorite “backyard” roads.

I’ve also done some more work on my riding with Khaleesi. Riding bareback has been a fantastic way to better understand her feet and how my body connects with hers. I love riding her in a halter bareback – and this week the connection finally clicked of what it feels like when her back feet pick up. We got our first really good cross over and it was amazing to do that together. It doesn’t look exciting, but the timing for that little movement to be correct has taken me months! (Sometimes I feel like such a slow learner!)

We also worked on it under saddle and I was able to feel the movement then as well!

My trotting has been going through lots of phases, and saddle changes over the past couple months, but I believe it’s come down now to settling into my feet and keeping them more still. This will work better if I am more relaxed and not letting my legs “grip” her sides. We went through lots of off-kilter moments…

I’m still pretty far from a graceful easy rider, but each time we get better. I know that improving my riding will improve our endurance prospects. If I am better in the seat- if I can relax more and get out of her way, she can move most effectively and faster, longer strides when we need them and we can do the miles without pain (for both of us!). Here is how we ended it this week- a little more centered, less grip from my legs, and my feet a bit more still:

Besides my riding, we’ve been working on some great ground exercises with Pam. These have become as fun to me as riding because I love to see her “get it” and step up to such great manners/behavior. I have always thought the time on the ground matters- and spent a lot of time there before riding Khaleesi last year and really built our relationship – literally- from the ground up. I have come upon a new love of working from the ground again.

Between our scheduled rides, I’ve been focusing on what I call the “Little things” that foundationally shape the “Big things” (our trail rides and events).

Some of our little things have included:

Standing Still: Don’t eat right now. Don’t move a foot unless I as ask you to. If you do move- I can ask with energy and a lead rope cue for you to put that foot back in place. Stay in place for me to adjust your saddle, hose you off, spray you with fly spray (that was a huge breakthrough this week!), and in extension- while the pulse taker gets your heart rate, while the vet checks you over, and while the farrier is working.

Back Up: she has a decent back up but I have to ask loudly for it. (of course that’s my fault not hers- she is perfectly capable of hearing me ask more quietly). We are working on gently wiggling the lead rope and focusing on which foot I’m asking her to move- also being able to ask her from a foot or more away and not having to enter her space to get her to move back.

Come to me: clucking for us means to come closer. So after getting her to back away from me a few feet and stand there, clucking to her to ask her to come closer is a great tool to have (it is also useful in the mounting block, or mounting rock, log on the trail.. etc)

Leading perfectly: her head at my shoulder. Don’t lag/drag when I move, stop when I stop, back up with my feet, trot out when I jog, slow down or speed up at will and don’t eat when we’re working.

Mounting: Coming to me at the mounting block, then standing quietly as long as I want- and not moving one foot once I get on until I ask her to.

Load up: she is great about walking right on the trailer if I lead the way. Eventually I’d like her to load up and step on while I stand behind her. She’s done it a couple times, but we’re not quite there regularly yet.

Some of these things are basics that we just do, like leading. Every time I get her out of the field and bring her into the barn we practice this. It doesn’t take much time and occasionally I’ll challenge her with some speed changes and stops or back ups together just to be sure she’s “tuned up”.

Unfortunately I get into the habit that her basic manners are fine and we don’t need to do much groundwork now- we did that already right?

Could there be more layers of learning available there that we are leaving on the table? Could it be this is more than “work” or making sure a horse is safe with good manners? I think what is really developed from the ground is communication and connection. It’s not work actually- it’s learning to have a conversation, and it’s spending time listening to your horse on their level. Literally.

I am reminded again that ground communication is a much deeper relationship builder than riding work. I was ‘forced’ into substantial ground communication with Khaleesi when I first brought her home because that was all we had and it is the base of the great relationship we have today. I am convinced it couldn’t have happened otherwise, I love Faygo and she and I have a really good relationship, but our relationship is built more from riding than ground communication over the years and it is definitely a different relationship. I’d like to work on that as well with her.

…….. In fact Faygo seems to hate being in an arena/ring. She doesn’t like repetitive tasks. She is impatient. I’d like to find out this winter if that is indeed true, or if she just hasn’t felt like anyone is truly having a conversation with her and she’s sick of having someone talk “at” her instead of work with her? She is incredibly smart. She seems to have learned how to function in the human world, but maybe she would open up to a conversation on her level. At her age it might take a little time for her to believe me, but this winter that’s a project for me to try….

Some of these things can be incredibly time consuming and don’t fit into a riding agenda day. Who wants to wait 5 or more minutes while we hang around the mounting block before hitting the trail? Who wants to watch us work on standing still for fly spray application… as of last week that could have taken 20 minutes of patiently just putting her feet back in place, getting one spray in, then putting her feet back in place….

No one – nor should they!

This is the foundation we work on when no one is waiting for us to hit the trail! In the busy pace of life, and riding goals appear larger than the time available, it’s easy for me to forgo this time and figure we’ll get our ‘training on the trail’.

Note: Of course we are training on the trail. We are training every time we interact with our horse- we are training good habits and positive relationships, or bad habits and negative relationships. Training on the trail isn’t bad, just maybe not sufficient for the relationship I hope for with my horse.

It has been a new challenge for me to combine “stand still” with “fly spray” because of how terrible Khaleesi used to be with the spray. She used to dance around me in circles as if being lunged on too short a rope occasionally rearing up and trying to bite the bottle.

I wasn’t sure the best way to deal with this except that maybe she’d eventually “desensitize”, realize she wasn’t hurt by the fly spray, and get tired of working herself up with it. Armed with the stand still work we set out to fly spray calmly. At first she would move around- much much better than the crazy fly spray dance, but not standing still as I’d asked.

With absolutely no time-line, I would spray her, put her feet back in place (sometimes having to put the spray down and two handed work the lead rope as she said “NO WAY am I standing around for you to do that to me!” I’d get her back in place as calmly and matter of factly as possible then pick up the bottle and spray again. Each time she’d move, but eventually just a step instead of completely trying to run me over to get out of the ‘zone’. Finally, about 2 weeks later, I took this video of her standing still while I sprayed her. She isn’t perfect yet, but she is doing great and each time we do it, the moving, stepping, and dancing is less.

Then there’s the mounting block.

Yesterday, bareback with only a halter it must have taken me 15 minutes to move her around the block again when she’d move a foot as I tried to get on her. Once she was SO CLOSE, she positioned herself perfectly, I rubbed her while she stood quietly, then leaned over and almost was on her when she walked off!

I was on, but that was not good enough. I dropped down, walked her calmly back to the block and we tried again. And again, and again, and again as each time she’d get in place perfectly… but at some point would move a foot or step off as I started to get on her. Thankfully Pam is gracious and we didn’t have a time-limit. She encouraged me to do it as many times as it took for her to hear me ask for what I wanted, and then learn to respond correctly.

Eventually there was a time she stood there with her ears back- I think she knew what we were trying to do and just was getting annoyed with the process. We stood there, her in place for what seemed like a LOOOOOOONG time. We waited. And at some point she softened and shook her head and licked her lips and there was a change in her. She was more willing to have the conversation. After that it clicked and she did not walk off as I leaned over and climbed on her bareback.

That moment came from me doing NOTHING. Just waiting and reading her energy. (And Pam helping me realize that it was an opportunity. I am not naturally good at waiting and doing nothing in order to get results)

What I love the most about these things is that we are learning to talk to each other- or I am learning to communicate better with her while she realizes I truly am willing to speak her language. This process is pretty time consuming, but the rewards have been overwhelming. Also, once we gain understanding it is always improved going forward. The ground we gain has solid footing (as long as I don’t ‘untrain’ it in the future!) We have a conversation going that is much more balanced and our relationship which was good before is deepening as is our connection.

Also, this is different than true “non-agenda” time. I used to think that was bonding time- when we’d just go in the barn, and I’d groom my horse and give her attention and love and not ask for anything. While this is nice to do, I have begun to realize that though (depending on your horse who may not really like all the hands on attention) this might be a nice treat for them, it does not work on our relationship. My horse doesn’t need me to fawn over her and treat her like a princess to realize I love her. My horse needs me to learn her language. We don’t grow together into a deeper relationship because I adore her and brush her. We grow together when we interact.

Too often I believe we don’t know how to speak to our horses so they understand us- that creates a wall between us. I’ve seen a night and day difference in Khaleesi in a poor communication from me vs. a clear one.

One of the first times I was aware of this was trying to adjust her saddle at Pam’s in July and she kept eating grass which made the process harder on me. I would jerk her head up with the lead rope and ask her “stop and stand still” and her head would pull up as I jerked, then she would go right back. Pam watched a moment and said:

She doesn’t understand ‘pulling’ on her head. That’s not how horses communicate. They don’t ‘pull’. Would you like to teach her to stand quietly while you do that?

I thought OF COURSE I would like her to do that……… is that possible?

Pam took the lead rope and every time she went to get a bite of grass she popped the rope so it popped her in the head/neck (didn’t hurt her, just surprised her). She jerked her head up on her own and looked at Pam with a clear recognition.

“That human just spoke to me” is what her face said- completely different from the inaudible chatter that my pulling her head up was to her.

She looked at Pam, and put her head down to eat again.

Pop with the lead rope- head comes up.

Looked at Pam. Obvious thought and processing going on.

Put her head partway down, did not reach for grass… testing the water.

No pop.

Ok. I am allowed to move my head.

Head slowly to the ground, sniffs, (no rope correction)…… takes a bite.

POP.

Head up. Looking at Pam, thinking it over.

Within 2 minutes she stood quietly and did not eat or mover her feet.

She heard someone speak to her clearly in her language and I saw it in her face. Some might say she “knew” what I wanted when I pulled her head up with the lead rope. She was just being willful. I take this example to be proof that is not true. It did not take weeks to change this behavior, it took minutes. There had been a wall between us in that instance, this shattered the wall. Choosing the correct method of communication was the only difference. I wanted to be part of that conversation.

I don’t want to just be a good rider. I want to be a horseman, a great one someday. One that listens to my horses and wins their respect and their friendship because I hear them and can communicate more clearly. We can’t grow together with bad or no communication.

I thought I was on a journey to a 100 mile ride. Turns out it’s bigger than that. It’s a labor of love.

The Big South Fork

Monday, September 14, 2015

I was on the fence about this ride.

I worried about the long drive. I worried that we would drive all that way for a miserable ride in the pouring rain and lightning. I worried that I have too much to do to give three full days to this self-indulgent hobby turned obsession that is endurance riding for me.

The drive was long. It took just under 10 hours to get there. The day was warm and I have to keep it slower as it threatens to overheat on the mountainous Virginia highways. I worried about dehydration and unloaded Khaleesi twice (every 3 hours or so) to eat some grass and apples, move her legs and get a drink. I loved seeing how good she was at the grassy areas at the truck stops. She didn’t mind the activity or sounds a bit. She was a good traveler.

We got in later than I’d expected but still got set up and were able to vet-in before dinner and the ride meeting. I used a small pop-up tent this trip in case we were tacking up in the rain, at least I could start semi-dry and ride out in my new raincoat. Also, the pop-up covered most of her enclosure, so I’d hoped she might stay at least somewhat dry.

The way I had to park (spots were at a premium with largest turnout they’d had for this ride in years) I could only tie to one side of my trailer. I planned to attach the corral to that side as well. We would be doing everything in there, under the tent. I set up the pop-up alone (it took a few extra minutes but I did it!) and put it in place and walked her under it thinking after the fact “Gee, I’m glad she didn’t freak out about being underneath that huge ‘tarp-thing’! It was just about at her head height!” We hadn’t practiced that at home. I tied her to the trailer and built the corral around her while she ate hay.

With not much time to hit the vets, she wasn’t even brushed, but we got all As and a pink L110 on her hind and we were good to go. It stormed during the ride meeting, medium rain, lightning and thunder. It passed over us and back at the trailer, things began to quiet down so of course (my loud-mouth girl) Khaleesi began calling out to see who was around… horses from afar would start calling back and then after a few would quiet down again. Then she’d start it up… I must have the loudest horse in the AERC.

Finally she stopped and and as I tucked myself into my hammock (in the trailer) the rain came and went gently on the roof and I slept on and off listening to her munching, drinking QUIETLY. At least until about 4am when she thought it was a good time to see if everyone made it through the night. I am pretty sure it was she who broke the silence and started talking again. I laid there and finally got up around 5am to get ahead of the game. It always seems like so much time in the morning, and then I’m barely tacked up for the start time. Today I wanted her to be ready early. We weren’t going out dead last today. Goal was to get into mid-pack and see how we do.

Thankfully she was dry, and it wasn’t raining. it was cool- good for the horses. The only thing I forgot this weekend (which was unfortunate but not disastrous) was my mini-press pot for coffee. I had the camping percolator but I hate dealing with that thing, it’s terrible for just one or two cups and at 5am it takes way too long. The first time I thought it was done the water was still clear at the bottom, then I turned up the heat and somehow boiled it dry. I added water again and finally got some weak excuse for coffee- that was at least something. I decided the next morning to just get out of dodge and hit a coffee shop en route.

I tied on my big raincoat knowing the last weather I checked promised 60% chance of rain ALL morning. I’d never tied this raincoat on before… I didn’t have the best ties for it, I used some good boot shoestrings and left it in the twine I’d wrapped it up in. We were ready to go in time to check in 20 minutes before start (I still did so on foot, no sense getting her all worked up yet)- though I realized my GPS had been left in my crew bag, and I’d sent that on ahead to the vet-check already. Today I was the anti-gizmo. No heart rate monitor, no GPS, my phone on airplane mode to conserve battery (no service in camp… as usual).

We took a walk around camp under saddle just to get moving and hit the trail just after they called the start time. We walked past the timers, gave our number and I let her start trotting slowly out. We hit the trail and she was good to go! Which would have been fantastic – except pretty quickly my raincoat was coming undone. I tried to salvage it under saddle… I didn’t care how it stayed on, but it’s one of my most valuable articles and there was no way I would risk losing it on the trail. We screwed around with it for a few minutes walking/trotting… trying to get her to stand in place a minute reins in my teeth, and in the end end I knew it was futile. We HAD to stop and fix it. Darn.. loosing valuable time to equipment kinks, and she was not going to like this one bit.

I hopped off and she was not happy. A slower rider camp up behind and graciously stopped to wait for us. She was not in a hurry and told me that I might want to take a breath- maybe my horse was reading my agitation. (oh… yeah… right! thanks) of course it only marginally helped. She wanted to GO… there were other horses out there! I did what I could to re-tie the coat while she did not stand so quietly, then I got back on with a little difficulty (standing still!) and off we went again. It took about 5 minutes of trotting for the raincoat to begin to slide out again. This time I did stay on and began pulling parts of it through the loop top of my cantle bag. It was all over the place, but it seemed secure enough, and it didn’t bother her a bit. I could feel part of it behind my left leg, so I knew it was there (hopefully would notice if i lost it) and we kept going forward.

the “snack” bridge… with grass growing on it

Thankfully we had a good pace going and we did pass a few other riders which meant we were not last. We eventually caught up to two riders who seemed to be going a perfect pace. We had to move to keep up, but they weren’t leaving us behind. Khaleesi and I settled in to shadow them and see what happened. Turns out we rode the entire rest of the ride together, at least Sabina and I did. Her partner ended up pulling at the vet check for a slightly lame front hoof (possibly a bruise?).

Our first ride together two weeks ago we led a new horse the entire ride, this time we followed Sabina and Leon, an experienced rider who goes back and forth between 30s and 50s depending on her training schedule. For this ride the other horse (who pulled) had been on a 2-year break and this was his first ride back. So the 30 mile LD worked best for them.

Turns out it did not rain that morning. At all. Good thing I fought with that raincoat- I’m sure if I hadn’t had it the rain would have poured!

Example of rock formations we rode past- blurry because we were moving!

The ride was stunning- huge rock formations big as buildings along the way, pretty woods, lots of streams, and crossing Big South Fork was really a treat. With rain that week the river was up- actually it was about as high as it can get before they detour and do not cross. The picture at the top of the blog is (by Becky Pearman) of the river crossing. We were focused on staying in between the boulders (park rules) that you could barely see due to the water level. She didn’t mind the depth at all and depending where you stepped it got even deeper, the guy riding with us on the 16H Thouroughbred was in over his feet where he crossed.

A few miles from vet check 1 at a brief water stop that she wasn’t drinking at, I was trying to feed her an apple (I carried a few with me to encourage her to snack on the go and also provide some moisture) and as I lured her head with the apple she sniffed it and refused and I thought I saw something… I asked her again (gently) to turn toward me and she had pinkish/reddish saliva around her lips. Blood.

Except refusing the apple, she wasn’t acting odd or uncomfortable, though I think she had shaken or jerked her head once or twice in a way that was unusual for her recently… in the past… uh… little while? Not continuously though… and I couldn’t think of anything that would have done that like stepping on her reins, or an accidental hard jerk on her mouth… I had been trying to encourage her to eat an occasional apple- had she bitten her tongue? Maybe back as far as when I got off her to fix the raincoat and she was fighting with me refusing to stand still. Also Pam and I had lowered her bit a few days previously. We checked and it did not interfere with her teeth, and had less potential for pinching her mouth this way. That could have something to do with it, but didn’t seem like a good reason.

She didn’t appear to have blood pouring out her mouth- so I decided to continue riding as we were into the vet check and get a better look there.

We rode into the vet check (almost 14 miles) at 2.5 hours giving us a decent first loop pace. It took me a few minutes to find my bag (this vet check did not have many volunteers, and was a little hard for me to sort out what was going on at first). Not very efficient, I eventually just dumped my saddle in some random area and took out her bit- checking her mouth though not too invasively and saw no more sign of any blood and decided she must have had a quick small injury that was not an issue. Brought her to pulse in after about 6 minutes because I couldn’t waste any more time looking around for my bag/spot before getting our out time. Due to all the time we pulsed in at 48 (fantastic!) and flew through the vetting.

I did remember my chair, but only sat in it briefly. The area was crowded with all the crew gear and it was all I could do to keep Khaleesi from eating everyone else’s food (in bowls unattended, which is annoying to me). Apparently she didn’t have a serious mouth injury that affected her eating! I tried to move away a few things to create enough space to tie her so she could only reach her own food, hay and apples and sat to eat my roll up for a whole 3 minutes before it was time to start tacking up again (hate to wait too long and be rushed!).

Sabina and I decided to ride the home loop together and as we headed out I told her we were looking to push ourselves, and her pace had been great for us. I asked her to lead the way at whatever pace she wanted and we would just do our best to stay with her. If I felt it wasn’t going to work I would tell her and we could either modify or separate. Don’t wait for us if we lag, and if we come up a little quick, we are not trying to pass. I did not feel she needed to “be in the front” this ride. I know she can do that. I wanted to learn from a team who had been riding AERC rides for 10 years and often had been top 5 if she was riding alone.

loved all the neat rock formations along the trail

She told me the first loop was a little slower than she would have gone for the other horse- he was now waiting back at vet check for a ride home, so we took off and kicked it up a notch on the longer loop back. Leon has a great fast extended trot- Khaleesi and I often switched between trotting and slow cantering to keep up with him. I don’t mind that, it gave us both a break from the relentless trotting to canter here and there. I enjoyed Sabina and we shared some nice conversation (and just rode in agreeable silence too).

My favorite part of this ride was coming out of the woods to this stretch. The sky was rich blue, clouds puffy white, temps were mild… it was September in all it’s glory.

We only walked where the footing was too rocky or too deep, and one relentless steep hill. Sabina let Leon trot then canter up and as we’d turn a corner it would get steeper… Khaleesi followed behind but tired quicker and up the trail I saw Leon stop and Sabina hop off. I wondered if she was adjusting something and thought “good- we’ll catch up to them” and she immediately just started hoofing it herself up the trail. We did catch them and I did the same. She said “This was as far as he was able to canter, so it’s the point I get off and give him a break as we walk up the rest of the way. If he’s walking,I might as well be walking too”. We were only maybe half way.

At the top, we got on and let them walk a little more to catch their breath (I was breathing harder than Khaleesi was!) and with an “Are we all good now?” away we went again.

at one of the water troughs- she drank a lot on the second loop

On our first loop Khaleesi took no water and no grass. I gave her electrolytes in powerade & applesauce at the VC, she drank half a tank of water before we headed out, and she drank at every stream and every water tank on the second half. It was warmer, dryer, and she’d been out longer as well. She sweat a bit, but often was dry and didn’t seem to find the workload too hard. It was only the last 4 or so miles on a boring, but easy flat dirt road she began to lag and I had to ask her for more, we had to trot trot trot, then canter (more often than previously) to keep up with Leon. I hadn’t needed to ask her to keep up wit Leon before now. I realized she was getting tired, but I didn’t think she was going to hurt herself- this is where we had to push on and break through. She did.

After I got home I read a reprinted article about training and over-riding horses in the Endurance News and the author suggested the ideal workload is when you tire your horse around the last 20% of the ride. Not to exhaustion but to where you sense they are getting tired but can still carry on the same basic pace if you ask them. If they reach this point too early in the ride you have over-ridden the horse and will cause harm to continue in the same pace. If they don’t get tired then you should push a little more. I believe we hit this mark just about perfectly!

Just as we began to think the finish was a couple miles off we saw camp through the trees. The trail wound around the outside of base camp, so we knew we were very close. We jumped off and walked the rest of the way in and crossed the finish line together. Saddles off, we took just a minute before heading to the pulse box. We both pulsed in within a minute of each other to be 10th and 11th place. With 25 riders started that day that put us easily in the mid-pack goal I had set out with. Thanks to Sabina letting us ride along and learn from her we were almost in the top 10! Our moving pace on the second loop was 6.1mph according to my GPS which was not bad at all!

We went through the vet and had no trouble. Attitude and impulsion were good! she is doing much better trotting out with me now that we’ve been practicing She had no soreness or tack issues, gut sounds were all +s, cardiac recovery went from 60 down to 56 after the trot out. She was alert and happy, was barely sweaty (I’d left my sponge and scraper in the crew bag, but ended up not feeling the need to rinse her off anyway) drank a ton more water and ate her hay and grain back at the trailer.

I grabbed a refreshing drink and hand walked her around and out of camp to find some greens to munch and stretch her legs for a while and rubbed her and told her how amazing she was. She walks through camp like she owns it- calling around her to the other horses just to chat as she goes. She’s calm- it’s not stress calling like when she was looking for Faygo- it’s like she just has the need to announce herself and talk to the other horses.

We had these horse neighbors in camp that always stood right next to each other like little twins watching us. I never saw their people, but they were always side-by-side and too cute not to get a picture of.

Also, on our walk around camp to graze and stretch our legs we saw this horse who apparently found the bag of carrots and was working on pulling them out one at a time… cracked me up…

I couldn’t close the top 1/4 door by the corral because of the way I’d set up the pop up tent, so that was always left open at night and at some point Khaleesi realized I was in there and sometimes she’d pop her head up through the corral or over top of it. As it got dark she’d put her nose all the way around as if to ask “Are you still in there? What are you doing?” I’d go over and say hi and rub her nose and chat for a minute and she’d go back to eating. She did this a bunch of times Saturday night. What a character.

The trailer corner of the corral... she learned to poke her head around and check me out that evening — The trailer corner of the corral… she learned to poke her head around and check me out that evening

I love to head home after a 30 mile ride and let her in a big field, and me hit the hot tub, and relax and catch up with Ed, but with the long drive we had to stay the second night. Once we start doing 50s we will likely also have to stay the second night. One perk was a glorious nap in the afternoon instead of packing up to go. Dinner was BBQ and it was nice to stay for awards and see how everyone else did. I spent some time packing up as much as possible that night so all I had to do was load my corral and horse and get on the road before the 100 milers went out on Sunday at 7am.

The next morning I was up at 4am… Khaleesi smacked her hay bag loudly with a thump on the side of the trailer, I think she was trying to get me up. After being jarred awake and wondering panicked “oh no- did she just push the fence over?” (of course not, but I was half asleep and strange things come to mind before you’re fully awake). I rolled out of the hammock to look and she was standing there chewing on hay.

Might as well get up and roll out! It took me a while in the dark, trying to stay at least somewhat quiet to finish packing up and take down the panels. She loaded on a little after 5am and we got out of camp and on the road close to 5:30. After about 2 hours, close to Knoxville we stopped at a starbucks where I ordered and then hit the restroom glad for a mirror where I also brushed my hair and did a good hand wash. After the coffee appeared I felt almost human again!

We hit the road again, moving faster today in the cold morning (the truck runs better in the cold) and had an uneventful drive home. It felt so good to pull in and unload her. The horses came running to welcome her back, and once I took off her halter in the big field I thought she’d run off kicking her heels and doing pirouettes (I’ve seen this before) in joy from being home again, but she stood next to me for a minute while I rubbed on her and took a few bites of grass… then she walked a few steps for some better grass and didn’t seem to be in any hurry. After she got a few feet away Faygo came in to say hello and I gave her some scratching and love time. Khaleesi took a big roll and sauntered over to the water tank. I headed home and hit the hot tub (after some unloading).

Looking back, we did improve! And learned some new things too.

Get an extra press pot that lives in the camping box. Never be without good coffee again!

Buy the lightweight saddle pack that goes with the raincoat and clip it on next time.

We picked up the pace. Yes, I would have loved to pick it up even more and creep into that top ten, but I think we found the appropriate balance. She got tired, but still seemed happy and she was sound and healthy at the end.

Look up, and ride better… those were my riding goals from the past ride. Thinking about this early on the ride I had a motto: Trust our feet. Hers and mine.

Trust her to set her feet, don’t look down. I definitely improved this and it helped us with keeping up our speed too- I was always looking up the trail a little ways and I found she almost never tripped or slipped. I can’t remember one time actually. True, the footing was basically good, but there were rocky sections and mud and plenty of chances to trip up.

I needed to trust that if I kept my heels down/toes up I would not fly out of the stirrups and the saddle. I have been riding in fear of losing a stirrup (like that is the end of the world) and tried to find a good spot on the ball of my foot where I could stay balanced. It helped.

I did ride better. I wasn’t perfect, and I still felt a little jarred around sometimes, especially watching Sabina in front of me who seemed to be exactly in balance and never wavered from her seat no matter what. I think I was a little more leaned forward for this ride than I’d like, but at least I wasn’t siting behind my feet. We mostly posted, but a very occasional 2-point and on uphills I found I could actually do a few sitting steps too balancing better on my heels and almost hovering. A few times we really hit a sweet spot and it was easy. I almost never had to grab the saddle to stabilize.

Our trot outs and standing still for the vet were also better. She occasionally tried to step away from the stethoscope, but basically stood nicely and stayed with me on the trots.

Aside from the need to continue to improve my riding skills overall, and continued fine tuning of her standing nicely when asked, we really hit the mark on this ride and I was very proud of her and pleased with my own improvement. Two days later I’m a little ‘sore’ or tight in a few spots- thighs mostly, but not jarred around sore like the last ride. We are efficient in the vet-stations, have the crew bag needs down, and have picked up speed.

I think having a ride only 2 weeks from our first ride was really helpful for us because the things I wanted to improve were fresh in my mind. It was absolutely worthwhile for us to stretch our comfort zone to get to the Big South Fork ride. We now have just under a month until our last ride of the season: the open LD (25) at the national championships in Old Dominion territory over in Oarkney Springs.

I am looking forward to this ride because it should be exciting (lots of people from all around) and it’s right in our backyard. Also, my future crew, Sarah and Madison are coming and Madison is going to ride Faygo as a junior rider along with Khaleesi and I.

I’ll be spending the next couple weeks focusing on getting Faygo ready for this ride, and it should be cool enough that she will do well. We will plan to stay in the back of the pack, be kind to Faygo and Madison, and not be pushing our limits. I’ve heard the OD courses are tough- this is good for us because when people say that, they are speaking of the things Faygo excels at: rocky terrain and mountains. I wanted Madison to have the experience of riding an AERC ride since she’s going to be helping me, and I enjoy her company and she does fantastic with Faygo.

With my teaching schedule in full gear this week, team green signs off for a little break for Khaleesi, she’s earned it!

All my bags are packed…

I’m ready to go…

Friday, September 11, 2015

I’m a little nervous…. how will the long drive be? The weather promises to rain, but how much? Is she ready for this weekend? Am I ready? How will the truck do on this longer haul… (though we’re much less loaded down with only one horse)?

We had a great session with Pam this week. I rode Khaleesi bareback for the first time and in a halter (I would never had tried that on my own!) it was great fun and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

We also found some better balance going from a 2-point position back into posting and that seemed to help. We finally did a couple of decent trotting circles, and I’m getting quieter in my movements too.

The forecast looks a little frightening still, but I was reading myself to sleep last night (Endurance News) and read about a woman whose first ride was through pouring rain and muddy trails, and she said it is still one of her best memories. That made me feel a little better…

I also read about hydration and an 8 hour car ride can dehydrate a horse significantly (I figured as much) and ideas to re-hydrate once arriving at a ride and how important that can be. Offering a gallon or two of slightly salty water (1 tbs per gallon) can encourage the horse to drink significantly more water following that salty first water. Also loose feed hay encourages a lot of drinking as well- and that’s what’s on her menu for tonight. A larger bucket so the horse doesn’t have to dip their eye-level so far down makes a difference, and water that isn’t too cold. I believe it was around 60% of horses tested at Tevis were slightly dehydrated before the ride even began.

So… wish us luck and we’ll keep you posted!

Which Way Challenge

This is a fun blog challenge a little out of the scope of green to 100’s usual fare.

I was inspired by a great blog I’ve been following (Little Pieces of Me) who did a which way post. The object of Cee’s Which Way Challenge is to capture “the roads, walks, trails, rails, we move from one place to another on. You can walk on them, climb them, drive them, ride them, as long as the way is visible. Keeping an eye out for different Which Ways, I find it gives me a new way of looking at how we move around and what wonderful ways we have found ways to travel as well as beautify our world.”

I find myself often seeing paths, trails, bridges etc as great pictures and though I’m just a snapshot individual (not a photographer) sometimes I get lucky with some pictures that become my own favorites. I looked back to find these in the past 18 months that seemed to fit the bill.

What a good distraction from getting ready for my first long day back to teaching, or packing for our TN trip! We drive off hopefully by 7am tomorrow to what looks like a rainy weekend, it’ll either be a lot of fun or a miserable time, but either way an adventure!

Enjoy the photos and I’ll keep you posted-

Favorite swinging bridge over the Jackson River at Hidden Valley, Bath Co. VA

Beautiful roads in Big Valley; Bolar, VA

Richardson’s Trail in early Fall, Lower Bolar, VA

Cattle Road at Mill Run Farm, Bath Co. VA

Log Bridge in the Evening, Camp Creek State Park, WV

Cross Training

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

I have been lucky enough to have a buddy around who has been able to ride with me a few times recently and I’ve been getting the girls out together which they enjoy. A few days ago I went to ride Khaleesi and ended up getting both girls out for a quick ride on a gorgeous day. We took an easy loop and moved out as much as possible to get them in shape to MOVE.

September has beautiful clear blue skies and puffy white clouds. Beautiful!

Today I’d thought I would spend a day alone with Faygo, but instead ended up with a great exploratory ride on Khaleesi with Faygo along too. Not a lot to post about except that I realized as we crashed through the open woods looking to create a new trail to bypass a hunt camp we usually pass through for upcoming hunting season, I don’t think I’ve ever truly bushwawcked through no man’s land with Khaleesi. Ever.

Pictures can be deceiving, but there is no trail here... — Pictures can be deceiving, but there is no trail here… we and dogs taking a break after climbing a big hill.

This was the opposite of our normal training and was slow moving through places no one has been in a very very very long time, with no trails, and though we tried to stick to open woods, we picked through creek/wash beds and rock settlements and lots of downs and deep leaves, up and down some steep slopes when necessary. What a great thing for us to do between speed and endurance training. It is great for the mind, great for our communication and great for slowing down and also working on hill/building muscles and lungs.

This was a “recon” mission. I didn’t believe we would find the right path today, and we didn’t. We did get some good information and I stored it on my GPS to work with from other angles. We also didn’t do anything crazy or dangerous- just inconvenient when compared to trail riding. An entire universe away from work in a ring!

I am really happy that we are working on so many angles together, truly we are cross training!

A few things that happened today:

1- Early in the ride, while we were still on trail and the girls were feeling good, we cantered a bit and I observed that INDEED my hands widen out in the canter… just like in my photos from the Iron Mountain Ride. Why I cannot say, but I will be aware and stop this habit immediately as possible.

Pretty shot of the Jackson from Sunday... couldn't help adding it in! — Pretty shot of the Jackson from Sunday… couldn’t help adding it in!

2- Similarly to above, when I am a bit off-kilter and we are having steering issues (which is more likely to happen while navigating open woods than on trail) I end up with my hands all over the place. When I fix them and return them to her spine where they belong LIKE MAGIC she seems to understand what I’m asking more clearly.

Had to get off to cut some briars on an overgrown section of our usual trail. She was helping put patient as we cut.

3- She was aces in the wild. She went where I asked her, we worked together as a team, and picked through her footing safely. She even crossed a hard to describe log that was more like a vertical beam taller than I was comfortable with and branches on the other side… I stood over it for a moment (no great way around, it was a BIG downed tree) and as I thought it over, she took a step, found her footing, and followed her feet over safely. No big deal mom. It’s just a tree. Lets get on with this.

4- I found my trotting seat for a fleeting moment. On the way home, back on familiar trails, we trotted and for a brief moment I posted in my heels, balanced over my feet and floated just where I felt like I could do it forever….. and then it was gone and I was up and down on the balls of my feet off and on and feeling not as secure. If we could do it just a little… we can do it more!

5- We have been working on “stand” and she is getting better. I have been applying fly spray to her in this “stand still” position and though she isn’t perfect (she does try to walk off) it is A MASSIVE improvement over the fly spray dance we used to do when I just thought “well, she’s not good with fly spray”. Seriously, I had so little expectations of her I just assumed she couldn’t be like any normal horse who gets sprayed with fly spray? She is awesome Khaleesi, I need to give her a little more credit.

I can hardly believe we are just days away from our second 30 mile ride. Today the weather appears to be 50% chance of storms on Saturday. Thankfully I have a serious muddy-creek rain coat. One of these days we’re going to have to event in the rain. If I’m lucky it won’t be this weekend, but we’re ready.

Endurance riding is not for sissies!

Always so worth the trip when you get views like these... — Always so worth the trip when you get views like these…

Needs improvement.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Our official grade at the end of the Iron Mountain ride was an “A-“. I am so pleased that Khaleesi and I completed the ride, finished in time, healthy, and in good spirits even if we were close to the back of the pack. I took a few days to just bask in the accomplishment of a solid first run with my young equine partner. The fact that we are learning together and she’s the first horse I’ve trained from zero makes it all the more special.

Cue happy music… butterflies… slow motion shots of Khaleesi and I cantering through the open rangelands…

Ok enough of that. Now we move on.

The “A-” was generous.

If I were getting a grade on more than taking care of my horse’s hydration and soundness it would have been lower. I don’t want to guess at letter; for simplicity we’ll use the old elementary school mark of “N” or Needs Improvement.

I love the starting point of the LD rides to be able to make mistakes without doing too much damage. I want to use these rides as a learning opportunity. When we move to 50 milers (and longer) small mistakes can cost a lot more.

Today is for reflecting back at what I learned, what I didn’t do so well, and what we can do better. We can do better.

Away vet-check/hold basics: I have a fantastic huge waterproof crew bag. I did ok at packing necessities I’d need in it especially for my horse, next time I will also include a camp chair for me. I will appreciate being able to sit down a moment even more when our ride is double the length and I have two holds to wait out.

On the trail: Stop looking down. Just don’t do it anymore. From now on and forever.

I noticed myself way too often watching the footing right in front of us. I don’t do this when I work in the arena (sand footing). Some part of me is certain I need to guide my horse through crevices and rocky areas. Who am I kidding? She is responsible for her feet and completely capable. My energy focusing down is only creating a front-hand heavy horse and stopping her forward energy.

When I reflect on my favorite part of the ride… following a group of quick 50 mile riders, I was watching them up ahead of me, not the ground.

Snacks?: I’m not thrilled with her low gut sounds at the final vet-check. For a 30 mile ride with no other metabolic issues it was not a serious issue. Moving forward she needs to keep something going into her system more often. Besides stopping for a bite of grass once in a while, I am considering carrying some alfalfa cubes or small apples… something to encourage her to eat while we move through the ride. Betsy, who I rode with, slowed up and gave her mare a snack on occasion. Worth a try.

Ride faster: Seems simple and obvious, but we are going to need to pick up the pace. I believe she will do so willingly, and I need to let her. This is connected to…

Ride better: Also obvious, but not nearly as simple. If I continue to improve my riding skills she will have an easier time moving faster. This is one of the improvements I can use outside help. So today we paid another visit to Pam.

I have been learning- contrary to what I would have thought- that once conditioned, a horse in endurance needs more rest than we think to stay healthy. One of my biggest concerns is that she love endurance riding and I don’t burn her out with too heavy a workload, yet she needs to be in enough shape to complete.

My plan with her this fall is to aim for a long ride (10-15miles) and a fast ride (less than 10 miles) per week, with a “lesson” session in addition, or even instead of one of those if we can fit one in. This should also help me work on a little more conditioning with Faygo.

Khaleesi has been on a break since we returned home Saturday night. I visited only to check on her, feed and give apples and give her a little positive attention and turn her back out to be a horse again. She had four full days of rest and today we loaded up to play a bit (learn together). This would be more mental work than physical.

I had a feeling now was when it was going to get harder for me. The good news is that I have significantly improved my balance and posture at a walk and we are getting on the same page with our energy and transitions. We have also improved our trot a lot, but still have a long way to go.

Today was to get serious about improving our trot. As usual, we struggled to stay on the rail at a trot and once we started moving Khaleesi was wandering all around the arena. If I wanted to stay balanced I had no control over her, if I used my legs or hands to move her back to the rail I was flying all over the place. Thankfully our rides are on trails and not wandering around arenas!

We went back to leg signals and asked her to move OVER with my leg. I am getting more clear with this, but she was still not sure what I was asking of her. She was totally guessing… faster?… turn?… go the opposite way?

We went back to a walk and asked her as loud and clear as possible MOVE OVER NOW… NOW… NOW… NOW… and after a few tries

YES! We did it!

Then we did it again… and celebrated!

Once we got it, it was there. It was exciting… like “that button works now”.

Then we did the other side. Took a few times, but again WE GOT IT!

More celebrating, licking & chewing (for her) and deep thinking, a little break for her to mull it over.

Now at the trot.

Improvement. Let’s just get a steady trot, stay along the rails, and be in control. Simple, right?

After a few times around, after stopping once or twice to be more clear MOVE OVER TO THE RAIL! We got it.

Steady trot, decent balance from me, basically on the rails (because I asked her to move over and SHE DID).

It felt amazing- we were getting this. HUGE.

We ended the arena work on that great note. Just celebrating her (and us) standing next to the rail we used to push away from. It was hot so we walked up to rinse off. This leads me to another improvement we worked on both before and after riding today.

Impulsion: We got a “B” on impulsion on the final vet check. I am certain she was not tired (not enough to create her to drag) and she did not have a bad attitude, but she sometimes DOES have low impulsion if I go to lead her quickly (trot out). This is something we can improve.

We talked about pushing instead of pulling her, and expecting her to stand when I ask her to, and move when and how I ask her to. She was dragging for Pam early on and we worked on being more clear with my energy and direction- and added a pop with the end of the lead to drive her from behind if she wasn’t moving with enough impulsion with me.

It took her a few times to understand why that lady was swinging the rope behind her, but again- once she got it, she got better. Fast. We went from her lagging behind me to jogging exactly beside me, at exactly my speed and stopping on a dime with me.

How FUN is that!?

Then we worked on standing. I needed to tighten her girth and she would fidget, take a step, try to eat. We put her right back clearly where I’d asked her to stand and in just a few minutes I could walk around her on either side and adjust and tighten and she wouldn’t move a foot.

** a little life lesson reminder for me here. I tend to want to stay in front of her actions and keep her from making the mistake, but you have to let a horse do the wrong thing and immediately correct the choice. You can’t correct something before it happens, and it would do me some good to remember that in life too. Horses don’t live in the past, and they don’t live in the future. They live in the NOW.

I am ok with not living in the past, but I do sometimes find myself living in the future- anticipating things instead of watching them actually play out. Anticipating can be helpful, but sometimes it is a bit like assuming. It is a good reminder to stay more in the present and not always be thinking too far ahead of what is actually going on. With my horse, and in life.

I thought “Wow, I could have such a well trained and mannered horse.”

And then I realized “Wow, I DO have a well trained and mannered horse, it’s that I don’t ask it of her.” It only takes her 3 times to learn anything we teach her, just a few minutes to “get it”.

When we walked her up to rinse her off she began to fidget. She’s not afraid of the water. She’s just fidgeting.

Pam took over and in less than one minute Khaleesi stood still in place (and relaxed, ears forward, not stressed at all) while Pam rinsed her off from every angle. Then she slowly did her upper neck and head to see if she would be ok with washing her face. She was pretty fine with that too.

Next time, together, we are going to tackle the fly spray!

We had gotten to the point I could “ground tie” her and drop the line to go pick up my bridle/saddle and she would wait patiently until I asked her to walk with me.

My mind was turning around (human licking and chewing…) and I thought back to how much ground work we had done early on. She was better then, but she was pretty good right now. I had been ok with pretty good. It wouldn’t be very difficult to go from pretty good to amazing with this horse. I had lowered my expectations for expediency.

She had been ‘pretty good’ for the farrier for her first shoeing, but he told me often it’s the second time that is worse because it’s not a new experience anymore. At our vet checks she stood ‘pretty good’ to get looked at, but she fidgeted a bit…

It would be so much better if she knew I expected her to stand still and in place without moving a leg until I asked her to for all of those professionals that look at her. Yet I can’t expect this on one day and not do it a little bit every other day.

You are either training or untraining a pattern in every interaction with your horse…..

Khaleesi stands in place with the lead rope on the ground.

Then we loaded her on the trailer by sending her on instead of me leading her in. It took a minute for her to understand what we were asking- I’ve always “pulled” her slightly onto the trailer. She is a great loader, but until recently I’ve always walked her in. This time we “drove” her instead (gently and easily) and when the light bulb clicked she walked right on in front of us like she’d done it all her life.

What I appreciate most about our visits with Pam is that she is generous with her time to allow Khaleesi to learn at her pace. We take a lot of time when she gets something right to allow her to lick and chew and think and we just rub her and chat and wait.

I would be inclined to say “Ok we got that! What’s next?”

Pam says “Hold on, she’s thinking about what you just did- never interrupt that.”

I feel good about where we’ve been and where we’re going. So we are planning to enter the Big South Fork ride next weekend in TN. It will be another 30 mile ride and we’re going alone to focus on our game. Small steps- small improvements… incremental learning…. another shot.

Right where we’re supposed to be.

From Saturday, August 29, 2015

…Iron Mountain weekend continued from “8 feet on the ground”

One of the things I love about this community of endurance riders is how people who’ve never met before help each other out. I put out an ask on the FB community for any riders going to the Iron Mountain ride who might have a horse staying in camp on Friday that we could camp next to so Khaleesi could have a buddy to see while Faygo was out on the course. I got a pretty quick response from a husband and wife who were hoping to find someone to keep their young mare company as well on Friday and we planned to camp together.

When I was just about an hour out I got a message that someone had pulled in the spot they were trying to save, but we would work something out once I arrived. I was worried, but shouldn’t have been. Everything seems to work out how it’s supposed to.

When will I learn that?

Turns out they were the last two sites on the first road before it turned and I would be just after the turn- basically facing them up the road. Still an easy view for Khaleesi and their mare. But what was better about this spot for us that I had no way of knowing at the time was four-fold:

1- My site had a good fence that I was encouraged by one of the fire-fighters who were hosting us (it’s their campground) to use as part of my corral. It made my panel space even larger and gave the girls more room to walk around.

2- We were now line-of-sight through our ‘backyard” to Cindy and Alison who we didn’t know yet, but would become new friends, and also would help me finish the 30 mile ride. That line of sight came in handy on Saturday.

3- My Thursday/Friday neighbor left on Saturday morning- EARLY. This made it so I could pull my rig over into her camp area for the day and when I re-penned Faygo into a smaller area next to my trailer, at least there was fresh grass there for her.

4- Turns out my other neighbor (Betsy) who came Friday afternoon was a first time rider and we buddied up and became friends.

Sometimes my lesson is that when there are things I can’t control- it may be for a reason!

Friday night, as I was working around camp and trying not to feel defeated (explained in the previous post “8 feet on the ground”), Betsy walked past my camp and I thought she might be headed to dinner. There was some confusion about when dinner and the ride meetings were and I knew the course and had some food so wasn’t too concerned if I missed either, but I would go up if I had the time right. I asked Betsy (who I didn’t know yet) if she knew when dinner was.

I expected just a shout out of the dinner time, but she stopped walking, came over to me and we started a conversation that included the fact the the dinner time was a bit confusing, she was going over the check, and it was her first ride weekend though she had volunteered once and decided to try the sport for herself, and right then we decided to leave at the back of the pack the next morning and at least start out together.

On my second ride, I was already (being only a half inch ahead) helping a new person with their first weekend. (Not that she needed much help!).

A bit earlier I had taken Khaleesi to her first vet-in. She was distracted but not out of control walking through camp with all the noise, occasionally stopping to call out to Faygo (did I mention SHE IS A LOUDMOUTH!?). She got a lot of attention. I wish I would have gotten video of her calling around camp as she walked through. This girl does nothing quietly (I don’t want to think too hard right now about the whole horses reflecting their owner thing…).

People would look at her, look at me, say that she was quite a pretty horse and ask…

What IS she?

Well… a quarter Arab, quarter Walking Horse, quarter Saddlebred, quarter Racking Horse…

Huh. [pause to think] That sounds like a pretty nice mixture of breeds…. Where did you find her!?

That same conversation happened about 8 times through the weekend. It’s kind of fun to be at an event with 90% Arabians, then have a horse no one can figure out. One person had guessed TN walker… one person said they could see the saddlebred… and a few people were sure she was mostly thoroughbred.

She was pretty good at the vet-in. I was kicking myself for not doing more practice on poking her gums. When I volunteered in June I noticed lots of horses don’t like their gums being poked and I thought that’s something I should do with her like every day. And I just don’t think of it. She eventually let the vet pull up her lips and poke, but she could have been better! She sometimes wanted to move away from the stethoscope, and occasionally called out to Faygo (LOUDLY) but she did a great trot out and back and got all A’s and ready to roll on her scorecard. We were # 201.

The next morning I woke around 5am to get started. My Thursday/Friday neighbor was packing up in the dark to get out before the starts. She wished me good luck and I wished her safe travels. I took my crew bag to the trailer (Ed got me this really awesome big waterproof bag for my birthday! I can fit anything in it and if it rains we’re still good!! I love it) and started getting myself together.

Thankfully as I started taking apart the corral (it’s not heavy and do-able for one person) Betsy’s husband came over and asked if I could use a hand. It made the take down and reset for Faygo’s small day pen much quicker, and that was one thing I didn’t need to be dragging around for too long on race morning- a new pen set up. Meanwhile Betsy went in to the start and checked me in 15 minutes to go. I didn’t want to have Khaleesi with the other 50 riders amped up at the start line, and I didn’t really have the time to spare to walk myself down there and back to check in so both of them really helped me out that morning.

I banded her mane to keep her cooler, and I tied my green and red ribbons in her tail to be sure that folks knew she was green, and has kicked before. I believed she was ready for this ride, and if I thought she was a habitual kicker or would be unpredictable I would not have brought her. Still, you can prepare, but you can’t know until you go. I wanted to cover our butt so to speak.

One thing I started doing with Pam is getting Khaleesi to stand at the mounting block- today a step stool- for me. I love this little trick where I cluck to her and she walks around to line herself up with me and stand still while I get on. This horse is so funny though she has started this new thing where she lines herself up- then stops a second and then continues on and lines herself up with my but. After doing this a few times the other night with Kate I eventually turned around and go on her. (Yes, I realize she is training me). On ride morning, I didn’t want to be “rushed” but at the same time… time is limited. I like the mounting block exercise because it pulls our focus together before I jump on her. It’s a moment for us to do a routine and start calmly and on the same page. So with Betsy mounted up and us all tacked I stepped up and she did just that same routine. She walks right where she’s supposed to be, I rub her and get ready to step on and she walks around me and lines herself up with my but. After 2 more times of this, I gave in again as we really did need to get going. It does make me laugh because it is pretty simple for me to just turn around and she stands great while I get on her. But it’s apparently HER way, not mine in this case. Ok. We compromise today, work on it tomorrow.

We walked through camp to the start line. Khaleesi and Faygo occasionally yelling to each other as we went. The ride & tie groups were ready to go and asked if they could just start right then. That was perfect for us because we really didn’t want a group of galloping horses passing us 5 minutes from now. So they went out while we got a few pictures and then casually walked past the out timers calling our numbers as we went. [Clarification as some have asked me: Faygo, Kate and I did the ride & tie on Friday, Khaleesi and I did the 30 mile LD/AERC ride on Saturday. I did not ride & tie with Khaleesi, I rode her the whole way]

We got an easy start and then began to trot a bit. Betsy’s horse (Zephyr) seemed to lag behind a bit and I wanted to at least start together, but I also knew that this was a good area to trot out and soon it would be uphill, switchbacks and also some of it rocky. We passed a couple 30 milers quickly who asked us to go by because she was struggling a bit with her horse. Onward we went, Khaleesi knew that horses had gone through here before us and had a great forward trot and Zephyr started to kick into gear a bit. It turns out that Betsy & Zephyr were a great match for Khaleesi & I and we kept pace well together.

I was proud of Khaleesi because she led our pair the entire 30 miles. I asked Betsy if she wanted to have Zephyr lead more than once and she said each time that she was happy with our pace and having Khaleesi lead for the day. She trusted me to know the trail (since I’d been out the day before on most of it). Khaleesi took her job to heart and never once did I need the popper to get her to keep going forward as we have had on trail rides in months past. Also, we rode with Zephyr behind us, and had other horses pass us, and not once did she threaten a kick!

We had kept a pace of about 4.5 mph through a long uphill climb and some downhill but the most fun was these beautiful open fields where Betsy asked “Do you canter?” I said – “Sure!” and off we went. We still had some miles to go, and had not worked the horses too hard, so we ran through the roads in the rangelands as fast as the girls wanted to go and who doesn’t love a good canter through an open field!?

In order that we knew we were still on track there were orange laminated pieces of card stock stapled to stakes. We would canter toward the next orange paper and on each approach Khaleesi would dance away from the scary marker and we’d slow down, look at it, and head to the next one. She didn’t really trust those things… ever that day.

But the photographer was also waiting in the rangelands, and as we rode up the hill toward her smiling and ready for our photo Khaleesi jumped off the trail into the grass certain that big camera lens was going to eat us. Luckily I had my heels down! I did not fly off, but as you can see from the picture (that I begged her to print for me even though not our finest moment) we were a bit off kilter! I think my hands were where we had been a second ago!

Determined that we would learn that ride photographers were not so bad, we stopped and walked over to Becky Pearman (who has been at all the rides I’ve done in the past year including ACTHA rides and she is great) she talked to us, and Khaleesi sniffed her camera.

Ok… we are going to try again… (thankfully being in last place also means no one is waiting to move past camera lady). So we walked down the hill and tried again… she did another jerk-jump to the side. So we walked back down and asked Zephyr (who was waiting patiently!) to lead the way and we let her brave the camera monster and on the third attempt cantering up after her, we at least got this one (she still moved away, but much less so):

Our 4.5mph pace wasn’t going to be enough to finish the ride on time, especially as it appears the out stretch is just a bit shorter than the home stretch and we got into the vet check later than I’d have liked. We had left camp around 8:15, took a few minutes at the start to go slow and collect ourselves… and we arrived into vet 1 at 11:06. We still had a 50 minute hold that wouldn’t start until we’d pulsed down to 64. The vet check is up on a hill, so that doesn’t help pulse rate, and as we approached the tent-city with horses scattered all around (surprise!?) loudmouth Khaleesi started calling for Faygo in her loudest voice. This was something I had not anticipated.

I didn’t know how her recovery would be today, but again, being last has it’s perks. Not many people were trying to get through vet and there were extra pulse timers to give us a courtesy check. When I could get her to stand still a moment the pulse taker said to just wait, it was coming down- wait… wait… ok we were at 65… almost there and NEEEIIIIGGGHHHHHHHHH would come a huge bellow from her and her pulse would shoot up to 80. We walked away to take off her tack, and let her see that this was not home, no Faygo, and just relax a minute so we can get a hold time!

I found my crew bag, dropped her saddle and bridle and let her get a big drink. Meanwhile Betsy had found her husband and untracked as well. We walked back to the pulse box together and Khaleesi was happy to at least have Zephyr with her. She pulsed down to 64 at 11:17 (ten minutes after we arrived) and we got our out time at 12:07. The vet check went great. She did her calling on and off still, but her body was in great shape, no sore spots, gut sounds were fine and she had good impulsion on the trot out (she was still raring to go!). When she was distracted from looking for Faygo her heart rate had gone more down to 60, and her CRI (cardiac recover index- where they check pulse before and after trotting out to see if she’s recovering quickly) went all the way down to 54 (which is great!).

I went to my crew bag to take care of her and me, and Betsy went to find her husband and we agreed to leave together at 12:07. There were some friendly volunteers (thanks Laurel!) who held my horse while I used the rest room and took off my long sleeve shirt (it was a cool morning turned warm afternoon). People asked if you were eating & drinking enough… do you need sunscreen…

Khaleesi relaxing by my crew bag on our hold.

I got to see Alison, Cindy & Miles run up to the finish line for their second day 15 mile ride & tie, and they came up and borrowed my sponge & sweat scraper for Miles and then helped me tack back up and even took my crew bag home for me so I didn’t have to wait on the trailer later that evening.

crew bags for the no crew folks! — crew bags for the no crew folks- Laurel (volunteer) holding Khaleesi who is munching on Hay and grass.

One thing I learned at the No Frills (my first ride) is that you think the hold is a LONG time and then all of a sudden you’re like wait… it’s over! So I watched my time carefully and began tacking up at 11:50. Alison and Cindy helped me out which was great since I didn’t have crew or anywhere to tie by my bag. I was mounted and ready at 12:02 looking around for Betsy and the exit (wasn’t sure where the official “out” gate was). With no sign of Betsy, and waiting at the out timer at 12:07, I asked if she had left… nope… he gave me my out time and I passed the gate, but held up. We needed to make up time getting back if we were going to finish, I hated to waste time waiting at the check, but I also hated to leave without Betsy and Zephyr. What to do?

I wandered around right outside of the check calling to her (hm… I guess I was doing a Khaleesi!) and she appeared a few minutes later apologizing that time had gotten away from her (I completely understood!). Relieved we headed down the hill past the photographer who had restationed herself to catch shots coming down the hill and though Khaleesi still was surprised by her, and I was a little off balance we got a pretty nice shot here:

We absolutely had to cover the ground faster on the way home if we were going to finish by 3:15, so we immediately picked up the pace. I asked Betsy to tell me if we were going too fast and she said she wanted to finish too- and she didn’t think Zephry would have trouble keeping up. Indeed.

After the experience we had pulsing down at the check, I told Betsy my plan upon arrival at base camp was to ride in fast, go through the in timer and then head directly to my trailer and get Faygo, dump my tack, then take both horses back to the pulse box to complete. I knew my best chance for getting Khaleesi to pulse down was to have Faygo with her, not have them screaming around camp for each other. Thankfully Cindy & Alison were within sight of my trailer and had volunteered to watch for me and to bring Faygo up with extra hands to help! (remember #2 from the beginning of this post). I wanted Betsy to know my plan early on so I didn’t have to explain why I was bee-lining back to my trailer and hold her up from getting her finish pulse.

We had a great ride back. We pushed up our trot speed as much as possible and slowed down only for rocky footing or obstacles. We used the technical areas to let the girls catch their breath- see how they were handling the work (they were game to go and doing well), get a drink of water ourselves. Most of the Iron Mountain trails were on the Virginia Highlands Horse trails and had great dirt footing, the trail was overall much easier than the No Frills and what I’ve hear of the OD trails. Here is a picture of some of the rougher patches (a little blurry… we were moving along still)-

By far my favorite moment that made the entire weekend worthwhile was on our way home, in the last 9 mile leg, we began to have a few of the front-running 50 mile riders come past us.

The 50 mile riders started an hour before the 30s. But they do an extra 20 mile loop, and still they were passing by us to finish their 50 mile ride before we would complete our 30. Of course these are the top riders, many of them on 100 mile horses. I am still get a little excited remembering how it felt to get to watch these riders in action.

The first rider was in a big hurry. She quickly asked us to pass (we were on a single trek path) and we pulled aside for her. Just as most of the ride in was uphill, most of the ride home was downhill. She was flying down that hill. Memory is not always 100% accurate, and I’m not certain if it was her or another rider that came through with this, but I believe we were only passed by 3 groups total heading toward camp, and I believe it was this rider- she had a longer line and was occasionally driving her horse on with the motion from behind. I remember noticing that she was pushing the horse (not cruelly at all- just a driving motion with the line) as she went by. I can’t say for sure it was this first rider, but that visual stuck with me.

We picked up our pace a bit naturally as Khaleesi was like “Oh… is that what we’re supposed to be doing? I want to stay with that horse” I took the opportunity for us both to learn a bit and we followed her- but only for a very short time. That section was particularly rocky and it just wasn’t worth trying to keep up with them at that breakneck trot and not pay attention to our footing.

The next group to come through maybe 20 minutes later was a much quieter feeling group of 4 riders led by Claire Godwin. I don’t know her at all, but her name has stuck with me since it was on my volunteer paperwork from the OD ride. She finished 5th at the OD 100 that I volunteered at. I also noticed she not only completed Tevis this year, but came in 15th out of 90 finishers and over 200 entrants. If I were a teenager I would have a ride photo of Claire and her horse PL Mercury above my bed and dream of riding the OD and Tevis with the grace that she moves through the trails.

Behind Claire I noticed another rider whose name I am not sure, but I thought he was one of the 100 mile cavalry riders I saw at the OD in June (those guys are hard core, 100 miles with limited provisions and no help or crew of any kind). There were a couple more in the group, but what I noticed from them was how effortlessly they all moved together. They did laugh or chat on occasion, but as fast as they flew, not one of them was pushing their horse forward, and they all seemed light on their hooves- maybe it was because it was Claire’s horse PL Mercury who led the way. The winged feet one.

“Flying along with the 50s” – blurry as we were moving at a good clip, but I had to get at least a picture of the moment.

As we let the riders by we also picked up and followed in line with them and it was the most amazing feeling to be part of that group for a short while. I’m not sure how long we stayed with them, but I let Khaleesi drop in step behind as I watched them and how they rode and moved and hoped Khaleesi was learning too. I was beside myself with a deep joy to be riding along this trail with people I look up to and amazing horses who’ve completed 100 mile rides near and far. We stuck with them a few miles and it was not effortless for me! Khaleesi was doing great but a lot of it was downhill and occasionally some fancy footing (nothing dangerous) and sometimes we were in sync floating along, and sometimes that fast trot was just bouncing me around, and sometimes we hovered in a bit of a 2-point while I let Khalessi pick her way down a hill. After a while we just let them go and settled back into our own quick but not quite Mercury fleet speed and enjoyed our own pace toward home.

After we saw how those horses and riders moved through trail we got a little braver and moved on a little quicker ourselves. Still not one time did I have to do anything more than ask Khaleesi for speed, never a kick, and never did I remove our leather popper strap from the back of the saddle where it was connected for emergency use (never know if I’d have to force her to do something for our own safety, or if she would just refuse to go forward as she had done occasionally in early rides).

When we were within about 3 mies we hear more riders coming up on us and tried to pick up our pace a little again but eventually they overtook us. This group of two was led by Lynne Gilbert who my farrier had told me about when I first told him I thought I wanted to be one of those “crazy endurance people”. I had hoped to meet Lynne, but it took me a while to find her, and usually it was in the middle of a busy time when I didn’t want to bother her. I didn’t know it was her for sure until they passed us and we kept pace with them and chatted a few minutes and I asked her name. I was glad to meet her and told her so- and how our mutual farrier had said she was an amazing rider with an amazing horse.

We gladly stayed with these two 50 mile riders all the way into camp. They had a great quick pace going and gave our two horses encouragement to keep it up. We finished just behind Lynne and her riding buddy and got an “in” time of 2:43pm. If you consider our true start time of about 8:15, and lose one hour at the vet check (10 minutes to pulse and a 50 minute hold) in reality our horses covered the 30 miles in 5 hours 27 minutes which if my math is correct gave us a moving pace of about 5.5mph overall. Endurance riders call that a turtle ride. But slow and steady finished the race and we were very pleased to have 30 minutes to spare!

As planned I immediately trotted back to camp and called over to Alison and Cindy who had heard Faygo start yelling a few minutes before and figured I was on my way. They grabbed Faygo and I let Khaleesi have a big drink and grab a few bites of grass as I pulled her tack then we walked calmly but quickly to the pulse timer. In a Limited Distance ride (under 50 miles) you don’t get a finish time until you pulse down to 60, so just because i passed the finish line did not mean I had finished.

We walked straight to the pulse box with both horses, asked for a pulse on Khaleesi and she immediately pulsed in at 58 for a finish time of 2:56 in 37th place (I believe there were 51 riders originally registered, but I do not believe that even 50 actually rode) and had a CRI (cardiac recovery after trotting out) down to 56 which is also great! She passed the final vet check with an A- (her hydration was good, gut sounds were low, which would be likely resolved with some food), no soreness or tack galls/wounds. She got a B on impulsion (eagerness to trot out with me) and a B for mucous membranes (hydration) though her skin tenting (also hydration) was an A. We had the same vet for each check and he said she looked healthy to him and that we were doing all the right things.

I was elated and even happier to hear from Betsy’s husband that Faygo had calmed down basically once we were out of earshot and from Alison and Cindy that when they returned to camp Faygo was just chillin’ out eating hay and didn’t seem stressed at all. My biggest self-doubt that I had made a mistake in bringing both horses to the event turned out to be ok. My instincts and faith in my girls were on-track and I was so proud of both of them and told them so over and over and over.

I tied Faygo where there was better grass and let Khaleesi ground tie around our large 2-camp area and as I figured she was glad to be close to Faygo, and tired enough to walk around and eat grass, hay, apples, and a grain electrolyte mush I made for her. Faygo was contented that we were all back together and I started to break down camp as I really wanted to get on the road that evening and get back to my home-base and family.

Breaking down camp, taking a shower, taking care of the girls, packing up all takes a few hours which is great because it’s nice to give Khaleesi a little time to relax before hitting the trailer for a 4 hour drive home. I found my spools of red and green ribbon and thought what nice christmas packages it will make this year as I won’t be tying them in her tail anymore after today.

By 5:30 both girls had stopped eating & drinking, were tied by some tall grass and just standing with their back legs cocked in a relaxed half-asleep position. We hit the road just after 6pm. Once it was time to load up, I always put Khaleesi on first as she’s the better trailer loader now- I was able for the first time to truly send the girls on from behind (which makes the process of securing the but bar much easier) and they loaded as if they knew they were really going home now!

A pretty easy evening drive under a full moon put us back in just before 10pm and the girls were so happy to be back in a big field of grass under misty moonlight. I was happy to pull up my driveway to the excited welcome of two dogs and a husband who traded the few things I was carrying up for the night (unloading could come tomorrow) for a glass of sparkly rose and the news that he’d made some dinner if I was hungry and had the hot tub running and ready for us.

Team Green to 100 hit a milestone, Khaleesi’s first event. 30 miles is still a long way from 100 in every possible way, but it’s a step! We finished at the back of the group, but with a good attitude and a healthy horse. It seemed like the pieces fit into place exactly as they were meant to for us. The best part- we finished. And we all know the phrase that pays: To finish is to win!

8 feet on the ground

From Friday, August 28, 2015

With everything loaded in we hit the road on Thursday and though my poor truck was loaded down, we made it to Ivanhoe mid-afternoon to set up camp on the New River. It was the first big weekend for my new trailer which is so nice to have! My truck heaved and hoed a little bit on the hills of I-81, but it got us there pulling two horses and all our gear (including aluminum racks piled on top!).

It was really nice to have Kate in camp to help set up the corral and help wrangle the horses- and just to have a buddy… company… is also nice. The camp was along the New River and run by the local fire department. There was a ton of grass and big water troughs nearby with tons of scattered ports-potties as well as (HUGE bonus!) SHOWERS.

It was a pretty big ride with roughly one hundred horses participating each day (a few less on Friday, a few over on Saturday). Base camp is a busy place like a little town with a tack shop, vet stations, registration, ‘mess tent’, even an ice cream stand and people and horses are milling about. Lots of trucks, trailers, dogs barking, horses calling out, kids running around… until 10pm (quiet time) it’s a noisy bustling place.

We got set up and went together to vet-in Faygo who got all A’s on her scorecard. I like having a vet look at my horse more than the once a year or so I have my vaccines and teeth done. They checked her back and the vet asked if I have trouble with her saddle rolling (yes, sometimes)- she said she’s almost “mutton withers” shaped, so kind of flat backed. Her back is healthy, no soreness (YEAH for the Imus saddle!) and she even gave her a body condition of 5 (which is ideal) though I still think she’s closer to a 6 compared to how she looked in peak shape this spring.

We hit the dinner & ride meeting and learned that the trail is marked with very clear signs, arrows, flags and red plates with Xs if you should NOT go that way; you’d pretty much have to be an idiot (I think that was almost verbatim) to mess up this trail. In recent memory they haven’t had anyone get lost.

We had a mellow early night though I never sleep that great when my horses are with me as I wake up at 2am… 3am… 4am…

What was that noise? Did Khaleesi get her hoof stuck in that fence? Oh no, she’s going to pull a shoe before the ride tomorrow… Are they out of water? Did they eat all the hay?

There were no issues however, and all was well in the morning.

Kate and I headed toward the start after 8am (the 30 mile riders went out at 8, the ride & tie start was 8:15). Faygo was a handful – way out of the ordinary- and I was glad I suggested I’d ride first (the opening of the course was flatter and since I’d kind of roped Kate into this, I thought it would be nice to give her the easier run to start… I would do the infamous switchbacks everyone was talking about).

Faygo and Khaleesi were calling to each other and Faygo was determined to go back and get her:

Faygo: She can run along with us, she doesn’t NEED a rider you know! Actually- you guys ride her and let me just come along!

Me: No Way. We are not even discussing this, turn back around we’re going that way in just a minute.

Faygo: She’s gonna be mad. I’m going to tell her it’s your fault. You don’t have to be in that little pen with her all night!

Me: Ok, I know. Aren’t you glad to get a little space from her!? PAY ATTENTION you almost ran that lady over backing up like that!

There were only 6 or 7 teams running the ride & tie. So we all assembled at the starting line, riders and horses milling about waiting for the “go” when back toward us from the course came a galloping riderless horse at full speed. As we watched in horror frozen in place not knowing what that horse would do and which way to go, the front handful of riders at the start began to have their horses start a stampede. In that instant I wondered which way should we go (though also glad not to be on foot if there really was a stampede coming)- Faygo was already a bit wound up and this was NOT GOOD- when a woman jumped out in front stretched out her arms wide and said WHOA! And as that horse barreled right at her she grabbed his reins and he stopped.

Crisis averted… for us at least. The horse had red and green ribbons in his tail (green means “green”, like inexperienced; red means watch out, I could kick you) and I thought (oh- just like Khaleesi tomorrow!).

Thus we began the race – all just a tad more amped up than usual, and the other horses ran out at a canter. I heard myself talking to Kate the night before when we had our ‘strategerie’ meeting.

Kate: Ok, so what’s the plan, we know she likes to go- but keep her to gaiting? And how long should we go between ties? Maybe we should do time instead of mileage?

Me: That’s not a bad idea- just keep her from cantering and she should do ok. She’ll have to walk the big hills, just make her stick to her gaits and she’ll do better. Just don’t let her canter.

Race Day Reality: Right from the start line I was cantering along behind the other R&T horses trying to slow her without fighting and wasting all her energy.

Me (to myself): In an endurance ride I know better than to go with the first group- what was I thinking… just because there are only like 7 horses here- we should have held back and gone our own pace.

Thankfully a short distance in, the rider in front of me asked to pass another rider who seemed to want to hold back a bit. As I then approached her I asked:

Are you trying to slow up a bit?

Yes, actually- you can go by if you want

Nope- I’d love to slow down and get a little control, want to ride together a bit?

That would be great.

That started a new friendship with Faygo & Miles, Kate & Cindy (who had a similar experience with the running crew), and Alison & me. We ended up riding the entire 15 miles buddied up and enjoyed the day!

The trail was beautiful, but basically we ran from the New River up to Iron Mountain, so it was mostly uphill. The grade varied, and there were some beautiful ridge trails that were mostly flat- occasionally a downhill into the vet check (which was our finish line), but poor Faygo did a hard 15 that day.

Sometimes we all walked together up the hills (we’ll say it was for Faygo, but I was grateful not to have to try to keep up running those things! Alison is a good uphill runner!) Sometimes we did get some distance and tie off, but we were never very far from each other. I’m still amazed after trying this sport out that horses and people are not so far off from basic speeds.

Somewhere around mile 11 or 12 we got the idea that we might have taken a wrong turn. The course was like a lollypop shape. The first 9 miles in and out of camp is one trail, then there’s a right turn that takes you into the vet check through the “rangelands” gorgeous cow fields, once you leave the vet check you go up the mountain trail to then meet up with the 9 mile in and out. We knew that the distance was about the same either way, so decided to continue on and deal with it later. When we saw the ride & tie ride manager coming toward us a couple miles out of base camp – she was headed back to camp on the 30 mile trail- we knew we were backward.

She was worried about us but we assured her we’d had a great run, and ended up sticking together- and that we’d all missed the turn. Considering at the ride meeting we were told only a complete idiot could have missed it, we did feel bad. But in our case no true harm was done because we’d still do 15 miles, and still end up at the vet-check finish line. She agreed that it was fine and we went on.

Once at the finish the AERC ride manager was more concerned because they’d been looking for us (there are radio spotters, and we’d of course never gotten to the one between the turn off and the vet check). So they were glad we were fine, but she asked us exasperatedly “Did you not see all the signs by the water trough to turn? How could you miss that?”

We told her we were sorry, and that we can’t say the signs weren’t there, but that indeed we did miss them. Thinking back- not far from that spot was a guy on a little bob-cat tractor pushing dirt around near the trail. Our horses were annoyed but not that bothered (they are used to tractors), but the runners said they tried to let the man know that horses were coming through and he was a bit rude to them and seemed to get more in the way of the trail. We have no way of knowing if these things are connected, but we did find out later that some of the signs HAD been intentionally removed, and that a rumor (that has no specific proof) is that there is a political argument going on internally with a local back country horseman chapter and some of those disgruntled members were the suspect of the ride sabotage.

Thankfully we are not complete idiots, and that turn was leaving the Alleghany Highlands trail down a dirt road that we would never have seen without signs. The following day they had volunteers at the important turns to be sure the signs were not taken down again.

Faygo took about 5 minutes to pulse down at the finish which isn’t terrible for jogging in the last couple of flatter miles, and then the vet-check is up on a hill, so we had to walk up to pulse in. We pulled off her tack and let her get a good drink. She hadn’t eaten much on the trail, and though she was hydrated her gut sounds were minimal. The vet said that isn’t abnormal and that he wasn’t concerned- just make sure she eats and let them know if she doesn’t seem to want to graze (that was not a problem at all). Her back wasn’t sore, but it was a little tight as was her hind. Again- not cause for concern, but just something to note. It was a tough uphill course and it had been a challenge for her. She was tired but not overworked. The 15 was a good distance for her- especially for the elevation we covered.

It was a great thing to do with her, and as I have been focused on making sure Khaleesi was ready for her first 30, Faygo just didn’t get the hard training she’d had in the spring. Now that the weather is cooling down and Khaleesi is in good shape, I will probably put more time into getting her ready to do the LD at the national championship ride. It’s only 25, and we will plan to “turtle” the ride and just finish. I am sure she is capable of that as she did a solid 30 in the spring at the No Frills.

After relaxing a few minutes up at the vet-check, we hitched a ride home in the “ambulance” trailer (it’s there in case horses are pulled and need a ride home). Faygo was looking good and got to ride with her new friend (Miles, Alison’s horse, who is a Rocky Mountain- so they were both gaited and made a great pair).

A few things I learned: 1) “Leaves of three, find another tree!” (don’t tie your horse to a tree covered in poison ivy.. I didn’t do this, but will try to remember the saying in the future, it’s good advice). 2) When/where to tie? Don’t stress too hard about this. It will become obvious at the time. You can practice (I’m glad we did), but in the end you will know the right distances on race day.

Unfortunately Kate had to leave that afternoon. I missed having her there, but don’t mind alone time either. I had plenty to do getting Khaleesi ready for the next day, checked in and vetted as well.

A walk to the New River after the ride with both horses

I was slightly concerned about Khaleesi as I hadn’t ridden her since Tuesday night and we were in a strange bustling place with lots of distractions. I wasn’t sure how she would be race day morning, and considering how hot-headed my solid mare had been I wanted to at least ride Khaleesi around camp a few times and be sure I had some control. Also, it couldn’t hurt to make sure my tack was all in place and working before I had to ride out in the morning.

I tacked her up, hopped on and took a walk around camp. The ENTIRE time Khaleesi and Faygo called to each other. By the way, Khaleesi is a SUPER LOUD MOUTH. She will likely be remembered by people as that really loud horse. Not kidding.

As we made one loop around Faygo was pacing and pawing in the corral. I decided to take one more loop- see if they could figure out that they weren’t going to die. It got worse. Khaleesi was ok, a little distracted, but not dangerous, but Faygo was a hot mess. I felt bad for her.

My neighbor said to me “Boy, she hasn’t been happy since you left.” It was Khaleesi I was worried about leaving in camp. But to all accounts, once we left that morning, she just settled in and ate her hay all day. I had visions of Faygo running the corral, pawing and pacing and screaming all day. Then my neighbor continued “Once a very experienced ride told me you should really never consider bringing two horses to a ride. Unless the world is coming to an end.”

That seemed a bit extreme, but I was concerned and felt a little off the rest of the afternoon. I put Khaleesi back- her tack was fine, she was safe to ride, and it wasn’t worth the stress to just ride her around a few loops. I decided to get an ice cream cone and take a walk. This was the self-doubt walk.

What are you doing here? Do you know how much work this takes to get a horse ready to do this? Your life is busy enough- you hardly have time to think straight lately with your actual work, keeping your family responsibilities together around the house, and then devoting all this time to your riding- to keep two horses fit to participate. And now you tried to juggle it all, and the horse you want to be able to include- because she’s your first love, is stressed out and going to have a breakdown tomorrow when you leave her with your new horse that you are having so much fun with. Do you think that’s fair to her? How selfish are you? And here you are alone- overwhelmed with two horses in camp who need attention and your big day is tomorrow and you just feeling like packing up the trailer and going home…

I didn’t pack up the trailer to go home. Completely out of cell service and not able to call mom or even my husband for a pep-talk or just to talk to someone, I walked along the highlands trail above camp a bit and tried to ask myself why I felt so defeated. We’d had a good day. Faygo was sound and had a good ride, we’d made new friends… I still don’t know really why I had such a crash there, but I put my mind to working around camp. First I took a shower (that helped a lot), then organizing my ride/crew stuff for the next day, and made a plan for Faygo. She was going to have to be ok. I also said a little prayer for her- that she wouldn’t be so stressed out. After all, God loves her as one of his creatures- I suggested maybe he could give her a little comfort while we were gone.

I decided that I would take down the corral the next morning and give her a smaller enclosure connected to the trailer (for added security) with hay and water so at least she couldn’t get too much pacing, running, or hopefully trying to jump out/escape. If I knew her, she might fret a bit, but after we were out of earshot, I knew deep down she was settle down.

Exhausted, I called it an early night. My new digs are a nice improvement over my first event weekend in the old rusty trailer. My hammock is comfortable and knowing the horses made it through the previous night with no drama, I slept a little better. I also set my alarm earlier because I always seem to run short on time, and the next morning I also had to take down and re-set my corral… alone… before riding out.

The moon was beautiful. The horses were content. It was going to be ok.

to be continued……..

Shoes

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Quick update for ride week!

Yesterday we put shoes on Khaleesi. My farrier asked if we should sedate her to ensure she had a good first experience (and for his safety should she jerk her foot away with nails in it). I said we could, but let’s see how she does at first.

She was awesome! She stood quietly and still and did better than a lot of the experienced horses he shoes.

Of course every time he put her foot down and walked by me back to the truck (I was holding her lead rope) he’d say “Breathe Jaime… breathe!”

Needless to say I did not get pictures.

But she has four beautiful cold-formed shoes and she doesn’t seem to mind one bit.

Kate and I took a beautiful evening ride that turned into coming in after dark in a big moon. It was a great ride, the shoes if anything only improved her trot and we had a nice quick pace.

It was my first time on Khaleesi in dusk/dark and Kate’s first night ride. We all enjoyed the special magical feel of the woods as the light changed and there is something to riding a horse when you can’t see as well that makes you more aware of your partnership and trust.

Now on to the stressful part of getting ready for this weekend alongside lots of work for my “school year” to begin very soon after being on an almost 2-week vacation away from home!

It will all work out… stay tuned for updates from Iron Mountain Jubilee! Wish us luck!

Off balance

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Back in the saddle again!

Felt good to be back on a horse and to see the girls are doing well after their vacation. My first thought was that Khaleesi had gained 50 pounds, but after a nice ride she looks pretty good!

Tim came over and rode Faygo and Laurie came along on one of her guys Sunday evening and we had a great ride in the woods. I felt a bit of a mess and didn’t ride very intentionally but got basically dragged around by the group and my horse on the first ride back. Not that the group did anything wrong, I just felt like I wasn’t focused and my horse ended up making decisions because I was behind the curve.

Monday I took Khaleesi back to Pam’s to have another lesson.

We are getting into the territory of “the more you know….” and I feel more discombobulated than ever. But in a good way.

Pam is very patient, and so is my horse. Before we went into the arena she asked me:

What is your biggest challenge with your riding you are concerned about.

I had no quick answer to that… I am not especially concerned about any one thing in particular.

By the end of our time one thing had risen to the top:

Balance.

I am using our “new” saddle which fits her much better and is pretty comfortable for me too. It helps get my feet more underneath my body which is a start. At the walk we are in pretty good shape now! At the trot, however, I still end up with my legs going forward, my feet going through the stirrups, and getting tossed all around the place above her with my legs jumbled around banging into her and my hands not very quiet.

She suggested I hold onto the saddle with one hand for balance and that really helped me get a better feel for what I’m supposed to be doing. The support also kept me from getting tossed so high up into the air.

Pam: Don’t go up so high when you post, let her toss you up- you aren’t supposed to be pushing yourself up…

Me: Um, ok, I get that, but I don’t feel like I am doing that.

We also talked about 2-pointing and hovering above her trot as something to feel and possibly a tool I might use on a long ride once in a while. It also helped me to work on my balance in a different way- without being tossed around so much.

I asked Pam at the end of our lesson if she would ride Khaleesi a bit so I can see what it looks like when things are working right. I am glad she agreed- it was really good to watch my horse who is almost as much of a mess as I am.

Pam: She has a lot of questions!

Truly, we are learning together here!

What I learned is that she has “fancy” movements, would probably make a nice dressage horse, and it’s not surprising that I’d be bouncing all around up there. She has a big trot and is a challenge for me to learn to post on that, but also she is learning how to carry herself and doesn’t always settle into a nice rhythm and a good body position yet either.

At a few moments Khaleesi settled into a great trot rhythm with her body moving well and her head set nicely. She even very briefly dropped her head a bit more and raised up her back which Pam said is a very good thing to encourage.

In some ways this big trot is a challenge I’m concerned about – I need to get better at this, and it’s probably only saddle time that will do it for me. On one hand I wonder “How am I going to survive 30 miles on this big trot… how is she going to survive 30 miles with a bad rider bouncing all around on her!?” and on the other hand I figure “Well, in 30 miles we’ll have a lot of opportunity to improve!”

One thing I do know is that in the arena we are always turning; always looking to where we’re going and only have so long to just ride straight. On the trail one thing that helps me is that we don’t have to deal as much with steering or turning. One less issue to sort out while working on staying balanced. It helps her and it helps me.

Another odd thing that came of this lesson is that she isn’t really listening to my leg. At one point, at the walk, we worked on getting her to cross over her back end. It wasn’t working, so we stopped completely and I gave her pressure with my right leg to step to the right. Nothing. I pressed harder. Then, she stepped LEFT!?

We worked on moving over and eventually we got it right, but there was some short-circuit in our communication there.

When Pam rode her she also tried the stepping over- and once again she moved into instead of away from that leg pressure. So strange. After a little work Pam also got her moving the right way and got some nice cross overs at the walk as well.

We decided to start doing more lateral work to separate her hind end and strengthen it so that she will have a big motor to carry us long distances.

Today, this big news is she gets shoes. Wish us luck with that!