As I rode around the “neighborhood” I couldn’t help but sing along in my head…
you can’t always get what you want…. oh you can’t always get what you want…. you can’t always get what you want…
but if you try sometimes… you just might find…
That’s what riding Friday felt like. We had planned our weekly trio girl ride and the plans fell apart. First one of the group had a family need come up that took her out of town, then Friday morning woke up to rain showers. Not surprising, it rained all week.
We decided to “punt” and see how the day went, but it didn’t look promising for loading up on trailers and making a production of it. How disappointing. I got a ride in midweek on Faygo, but between the rain, thunderstorms and other responsibilities, I hadn’t ridden Khaleesi since last week. Some endurance prospect team we were.
I took care of some business at home and some errands in town and decided I had to get on that horse today. Even if it was raining. She just needed to be ridden. Endurance training isn’t for sissies right! Get out there.
I went to the farm in light drizzle and saddled up. Just a short ride was all we needed, just to get out there and keep in shape. This would be her second “alone” ride.
Not long after we saddled up the rain stopped again and as we rode there was even a little sun. We did a short ride and she was just lovely. I was able to open gates from her, and even close one or two from on her. I was able to focus on her completely and it felt like being out with a friend. There were a few times she refused to go on, but I grabbed a little branch and switched her but once or twice and she always went forward eventually. We will get past that I’m sure with some time and experience.
I had gotten her back boots “customized” this week when my farrier visited, and a shorter ride to try them out was really smart.
[Aside: That was a fun experiment! My farrier was a good sport considering he’d never done anything like it before. Khaleesi did great with lots of pick up her back feet, try the boot… put them down again… grind some of the glue out… pick them up… put them down… He also used a power buffer to clean up her feet and she just stood quietly for that. There are some things where she’s much better behaved than even Faygo now.
We added some hoof glue inside the boot (it hardens into a polyurethane ‘shim’ to make the boot fit tighter around the sides of her feet) this SHOULD help the boot not to twist or come off on rides due to being slightly loose on the sides.
The next question is… on our short ride, did it work. Kind of.
The boots fit better, but her one back foot.. the white one… it is the problem foot. We rode through muck and rocks and the boots all stayed on- but very close to home, on a rocky uphill that she tried to canter up we lost the white foot boot. I was paying attention, and we walked back to get it. I thought I’d find it in the muck puddle we walked through- but nope, it was sitting on the trail where the footing was a bit washed out and rocky, and I remember her trying to take some canter steps to get up it (I discouraged that, but remembered it).
The previous boot loss was in a very similar spot, slightly uphill, she was impatient and she started to canter, slightly rocky ground. This is the pattern, at least I know that.
So… I can try it a little tighter next time, and I might try a smaller boot for that foot and see if that helps. And if we never sort it out and it’s just not worth the trouble, we’ll consider putting metal shoes on her. That’s not the end of the world, I just want to try barefoot first.]
Working on the hoof boots on a rainy evening
Back to Friday: it’s also not good for her to only take her out on long rides. I once heard in an interview “Don’t ask your horse for 110% every time, they’ll get tired of it and not love their job.” We needed a 2 hour ride at a wandering pace to just enjoy being out together- not keeping up with anyone, not training group trail manners, just spending time together in familiar territory.
At one point we were walking through the very place that it began to snow on our January pony ride that I wrote about in my first blog post. It was a very sweet moment when I thought about riding through there dreaming of riding the horse I was ponying along, wondering what that journey would be like. Now we had “snow in June” (which is what our riding circle calls the mountain laurel in bloom) and I was riding solo the horse I hope will be my 100 mile partner. I took a little video:
Even when the rain threatened and the dark clouds gathered, the woods were beautiful and calm. The ferns are growing in and the canopy is thickening. It was like riding through the secret garden, or a fantasy land from your favorite youth fiction. In the end I thought, sometimes… you just might find… you get the ride you need.
Khaleesi went on her third “long ride” with the girl gang on Friday. We did a one-way, 12 mile ride, dropped off by a horse husband (not mine 🙂 ) and ending back at their barn. I went to pick her up in our field and she loaded within a couple minutes. Then when we all piled into the three horse trailer for the drop off she was the last one on and she walked right up like she was ready for adventure.
It was a beautiful ride and we saw flame azaleas, mountain laurel, and rhododendron all blooming on the same day (I’ve never seen that before). We were all ready to work on Khaleesi’s kicking habit. We didn’t. There wasn’t one kick attempt. We rode three across on the larger roads, she rode front, middle and behind. Not one kick out. I’m not ready to say she’s “cured” of that yet, but it was good that she seems to be getting the idea that it’s not allowed.
Video of the laurel:
One issue we did have a few times was in the front of the group about 2/3 of the way through she would stop and refuse to go forward. She would back off the trail (in open areas) almost like she wanted another horse to take the lead. I had to pull a switch from a tree branch and pop her butt to make her move out again about three different times. I don’t know what caused it, she didn’t pitch a serious fit or rear up, but she definitely tried me to get her way.
I made her get up there in front after she refused but after a while we would let another horse lead and she seemed to have plenty of energy left- so I don’t think she was tired. (We’d also stopped twice for a decent grass and snack break).
The easy detour sawing and cutting some branches.
There were two instances we had to crash through woods to detour around large trees that were down (too large to hand saw). The first one I did some clipping, sawing and clearing of smaller debris and walked her with me as I went- she was easy. The second was rougher- the down was too big to jump because it was on a steep downhill and the landing side was significantly lower than the “up” side. Unfortunately the area around the down was thick, branchy, and steep in both directions. Khaleesi and I were in front and we decided to pick our way above (the limbs on the below side looked too sketchy to me) but our other two friends opted for the lower route. I navigated on foot over rocks and through rhododendron/laurel and over small downs up the side of the mountain and Khaleesi just followed behind occasionally grabbing a leaf from a tree as we slowly made our way. (Eating tells me she’s not very concerned or nervous) She had been great before following me through the roughs, but this time her friends went out of sight the other direction and were not coming along. I wondered if she would get panicked. She couldn’t have cared less. My solid, steady older mare Faygo would never have been so good on that detour. Even through she is experienced, she hates bushwhacking through rough territory and gets frustrated and I have to watch she doesn’t step on me- or get free and leave me there!
When we finally made it back to the trail she could hear the other horses and told me she’d like to re-join them, but we were completely under control. I think this says that she trusts me, and she sees me as her #1 herd mate. That is really rewarding to know!
Last issue we had at the tail end of the ride was our boots twisting! I had to hop off to readjust them and one of the rear boots actually cut into her coronet band right above the hoof. I remove that boot completely and reset the others for the rest of the ride. By the time we were walking into the barn we noticed she had no back boots on, meaning one was left somewhere on trail. No time to go back searching right then.
Boot found on the trail two days later
Thankfully the boots are dragon fire red, and on Sunday, Nancy and I went to find the boot and for a quick ride I went with her on her big TN Walking horse, Ace. It was a fun ride and we found the boot easily on trail. It’s recovered and I hope to customize the back boots as suggested on the renegade website. My farrier is coming this week and we’ll do it together- this should help them fit more securely without twisting on the back feet (her feet are more narrow on the back).
This week looks like a ton of rain and it’s my last full week of teaching before summer- so we might have less riding opportunities, but we’re on track for a great summer and lots of miles on my 100-mile-horse!
Work is slowing down a bit and I took a couple of mornings to spend some time with the girls one-on-one. First Faygo then Khaleesi.
Faygo and I rode about 8 miles on my “power line” trail- we left the barn around 9am and though it was still the “cool of the morning” and I had on lightweight long sleeves, it was humid and she struggled breathing while climbing the mountain. It was a nice ride without much agenda and I remember how much I love riding Faygo- and how much I love her new saddle. She is such a fantastic horse- I hate that warm/humid weather is so hard on her. I got off and walked a good part of the road next to her.
Khaleesi’s first solo ride last week was very short. We trailered up the road and then rode the couple miles back to the barn where Faygo was waiting. This ride we saddled up and rode out away from the barn to do a short loop (about 5 miles) and work on some briar removal/trail maintenance.
I was prepared for some argument. I was mentally ready to force her to go with me leaving the herd behind and I even made sure I had an extra lead rope in case I needed to work her from the ground to get an attitude adjustment. I intended to take a little crop just in case I needed to get her attention… Either fortune favors the prepared or my tiny incremental steps are so small that she doesn’t even notice anymore when we do something new… But she walked right out of the with me like it was something we do all the time.
Not only did she walk out with me willing and happy, but we opened the first gate together (it’s awkward and heavy so I got off to close this one), and when we went off-trail to climb to the lookout and catch my short trail, she went exactly where I wanted like her power steering is starting to kick in. Here’s a little video footage of us climbing up the side of the mountain off trail:
And I had to post this little gem as well- I couldn’t believe how beautiful the laurel blooms are right now up here. I don’t remember seeing them like this in years past in this spot. It was a gorgeous view today!
I was able to ride her one-handed and clip back trees and bushes often holding onto her neck and reaching off-balanced for some pretty low briars with no trouble, and she had no problem standing patiently while I cut a downed limb as well. I was able to get up and down and more times than not she is standing still for me to mount. There were a couple times that she wasn’t convinced I knew where we should go and she stopped and even backed up a bit, but calmly keeping her head pointed the way we needed to go and insistently kicking her on after a brief pause for her to think it over- she went right on.
I’ve always enjoyed riding Faygo alone- just the two of us. It gives you both the ability to focus on the relationship and truly pay attention to each other. I am glad to have started that with Khaleesi and on the right hoof too. It was downright boring in terms of new ground to cover in our training and for the blog- but the ride was uneventful and pretty. I have two great mares- and also a great horse support group. I have to say thanks to Judy, Kate & Madge who gave me lots of opportunities to ride the girls together so she had a good trail riding base before we went out alone! Also I appreciate all the ideas, examples, help and mentoring from my horse women- Nancy, Carrington & Karin especially!
Khaleesi has been showing good potential to be my AERC partner – hopefully for many miles and years to come!
Green to 100 is on the road now. Memorial Day we loaded up and rode to meet our riding family Nancy and Carrington for a 12 mile loop that is a nice “easy” 12 as it’s shaded, lots of water, and not much altitude- small hills but no real mountain climbs.
There are lots of things Khaleesi is doing great with:
She will go just about anywhere I point her (sometimes after a few kicks to communicate that indeed, I mean we ARE going THERE). She walks over big logs, through branchy messes, over bridges, across streams etc… She seems to trust me, and doesn’t have much fear.
She doesn’t ‘tailgate” the other horses on the trail- we can usually keep a nice distance without much fighting. She doesn’t mind being in front of the group or behind- sometimes riding the middle of three is a challenge to keep her attention on me, but overall she will lead or follow.
She is versatile with speed. We do walk slower than our gaited friends, but she’ll trot out slow or fast depending on what we’re doing and though it’s taking a little time for us to get used to each other- she getting used to moving under someone’s weight and me getting used to staying balanced and finding the sweet spot as we move, overall we can walk, trot, and canter pretty well.
She is loading really well onto my little trailer- it does take a couple minutes, but we get a little better each time.
And there are a few things that Khaleesi needs to work on: Trail manners, trail manners and Trail Manners! After a few rides with friends, I’ve found that she is a kicker. So in the positive category, she doesn’t have much fear and is a confident horse, but that also translates to bossy mare who doesn’t want anyone around her personal space (and that space bubble is pretty wide!) and doesn’t want another horse to pass her. The initial part of this process is the scarlet letter – or a red ribbon in her tail warning people that she might kick (at least it’ll match her colors :-). However, changing the behavior is critical because I don’t want to be riding a horse I have to make excuses for. Kicking is at best rude, and worst dangerous.
For the moment when she kicks out (it happened about 3 or 4 times in our 4 hour ride), I turn her in tight circles making her work in place as the other horse moves away from us. I make her back up and move around until her whole focus is on me. The last kick out on the latest ride happened toward the end of the ride. We were in front and I sensed she was not focused on me, she was “squirrely” in her back end and thinking of the horse behind us, she wasn’t moving forward nicely either as I was asking. I think she was getting tired and cranky, and I asked my friend to pass us when we got to a wider spot. When she went to pass Khaleesi got two hind legs up to kick out and at that point I jumped off and did my best to “kick her butt” so to speak unclipping a rein and immediately working her in circles around me, backing her up and getting her focus back on me. Then I backed her into the woods to let the two other horses pass and we went in the back of the pack.
This is just a symptom of a larger issue we will start to work on now.
#1 – She is in a pre-teen kind of phase. I know we have a bond now, but I need to continue to instill respect and I will have to watch that in all our interactions as even her stepping into me or not backing up when I ask her leading her into the barn can translate into her thinking she can kick another horse when I’m riding her on the trail later.
#2 – We need to take more mid-length rides of 2-3 hours where I can build up her mental stamina. We did a fair amount of 60-90 minute rides in the winter, and with my work schedule currently we’ve been finding long days to take a 4 hour ride with not enough shorter days to build up that middle ground distance and time. Because of this I think that as the ride goes on she gets tired and instead of just falling in line and behaving because she’s tired- she gets cranky and stops paying attention to me. (She also kicked out early in the ride, but more experience and mental stamina will still help overall)
#3 – We will begin riding alone. This will help us develop our bond rider & horse without any distractions- hopefully giving us better communication and help me have more control when we are riding with friends (and especially strangers!)
#4 – Trail rides (until this issue is curbed) will be partly focused on training out the kick behavior by setting her up and watching for early signs of ears pinning or focus change and making her work harder whenever she begins to show signs that she is more interested in the other horse than what I’m asking her.
I remember working in the arena with her I would occasionally find bad habits or attitude behaviors that concerned me, and we have been able to train through each of them. I am willing to put a red ribbon in her tail for now- but we are going to get past this- hopefully sooner than later!
As for the other trail issue I learned about yesterday… She walked into a pretty big mud puddle, stopped and laid right down! I jumped off her, and have to admit it was pretty hilarious. I walked in front of her and wish I’d had the presence of mind to get a picture- but all I could think of was YOU HAVE TO GET UP BEFORE YOU ROLL MY SADDLE AND PACK INTO THE MUD. And I pulled her forward to get up! So… she could be a trail mud & water roller too. This I can handle, but it’s good to know!
A few posts ago I talked about doing epic things with very non-epic steps on a very regular basis. Today marks just about 10 months since I brought Khaleesi home and in less than a year we’ve gone from barely halter broke to a real riding horse on her way to being an endurance athlete.
In a way it is a full-circle kind of day. End of July 2014 we loaded her (kicking and rearing) onto my little trailer and brought her to the farm to begin a journey. Now, end of May 2015 I loaded her by myself (for the first time!) willingly onto that same little trailer and brought her home again from a few weeks on vacation in Big Valley after trail riding her alone for the first time.
In between those very different trailer rides I’ve gone from a green horse-crazy girl with many doubts about my ability to lead this journey to a more confident, and hopefully more experienced horse-crazy girl who is coming out of my first year of EQUUS university a better horse person and a better person person too.
During those 10 months there were a million tiny steps. We tried to have one new, even if incremental and tiny, step every session. In early mornings in the late summer, when I’d take my coffee and portable chair out to sit in the pen with her and completely ignore her in hopes eventually she would just come near me- I couldn’t imagine that in less than a year I would ride her alone. I wasn’t sure I would ever ride her period at that point. Thankfully she’s been a great sport and a good teacher and she was a good first horse for me to work with.
So now we continue onward to get better communication on the trail, more fine tuning, and solid conditioning. Not only does she need cardio strength (that is going well), but her muscles and tendons will take more time to set. Steady, reasonable, work (without over-doing it) will be our goal so that she is not prone to injury as we push on in her future.
During the time of graduations and end of school year activities, I feel that Khaleesi and I can celebrate that our first “school year” is coming to an end, and we have a graduation of sorts as well. We are moving on to the next chapter (grad school) She has the basics and I hope she might enter her first AERC (Limited Distance) ride in the Fall. We are far from finished with our studies, but we made it through our undergrad and are ready to continue! We’ll keep you posted as we keep moving toward the 100!
We are in maintenance mode right now. As a musician and teacher, the end of May is when everything culminates in a glorious bustle of concerts, juries, final performances and of course weddings. This means I’m pretty much booked for 8-12 hours 4-5 days a week with performances or weddings on the weekends leaving me few windows to ride and most of them a little shortened.
Thankfully Faygo is in great shape because we conditioned for the OD No Frills ride and my goal is to keep her in shape as much as possible.
Khaleesi is now in conditioning mode, but for the time being we can only do what we can do, so she gets out for a ride whenever I’m able to make it work (for now I need a companion to trail ride her) and we’ve been pretty lucky with about a once a week schedule. Thanks to wonderful rider friends (Kate & Judy) I’ve been able to tag team the girls and get them both out at least once a week for a nice ride.
So for this blog, I thought I’d just do some highlights and pictures. After next week, work slows down and I look forward to spending more time getting Khaleesi in shape, strong, and mentally ready for trailering, camping, and being a “real” horse.
We’ve working on being tied up quietly while the humans work on trail maintenance.
We’ve gotten on the trailer to go ride with Nancy and Mireyah. It was basically successful though not without some adventure. We didn’t get the “back” off thing down so well as you can see. She’s supposed to be faced this way:
We had some drama at the farm and the girls took a little voluntary vacation to stay at a friends’ place for a few weeks until it gets sorted out. It’s a beautiful spot and has nice riding. We’ll probably move back home again in a week or so- that’s a whole other story, but it seems to be working itself out. It gave us a chance to practice loading and riding in a stock trailer!
Life is always full of adventures!
… and speaking of adventure we’ve been turning Khaleesi into quite the trail horse by taking on some rough terrain, scrambling over rocks and cliffs and crossing bridges.
Thankfully my friends are all good sports- Nancy and Carrington lead the way most of the time, Judy and Kate occasionally look questioning but always are game for the detour or helping us get over, under, around and through safely.
We’ve blown the last easyboot and now barefoot Khaleesi is a true renegade. We’ve got 4 dragonfire red… hey… that’s perfect really… dragonfire red for the mother of dragons (Game of Thrones reference) hoof boots for her and I love them. I love how easy they are to put on and take off, I love that they are so easy to clean, I love that they seem to stay on pretty well once you figure out how to adjust them, I love that the material SEEMS to be pretty durable for the rough riding we do here, and I love that they are red so hopefully if we DO lose one they are easier to spot than traditional black.
And best of all- even in maintenance mode, we’ve done some great riding, in beautiful places, stunning scenery, amazing views, with good friends and good dogs. May is so sweet in the mountains of Virginina, the rain brings lush greens and mild (warm) temperatures, gentle breezes and new life. Time on the trails… it helps protect my sanity through the busy times.
When the rest of the world is spinning just about out of control, and I feel overwhelmed with my to-do list, I spend as much time as I can at my computer- get things checked off my list, and I make some time to get out to the barn, I call the girls in for some breakfast (or lunch, or dinner!) and rub them and check for ticks, and look at their feet and brush them off and there is no “stressed” at the barn. They don’t do stressed. So you can’t either. Gotta leave it at the barn door. As long as there’s grass, everything is right in the pasture.
Rainshowers bring spring flowers. Great. Also mud, and lightning. I don’t have any particular reason yet to go out in down pouring thunderstorms. I may be a little crazy, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet. So no ride today. We’ve postponed our ride to Saturday because it appears to have little chance of rain and be beautiful.
I did however take the day to get things checked off my list so that I CAN ride guilt-free over the weekend and I got into the gym (schedule has been difficult for gym time recently). Even though this post has no direct horse training stories, I was inspired by a TED radio hour podcast to write today.
I hope that green to 100 is about more than training a horse. I hope it’s also about dreaming big and stretching your limits past what you could do right now. Also, it’s pouring down rain right now so I can’t go outside and work on my yard. The TED show was called “Champions” and it hit a chord with me.
For now, I’m going to highlight my favorite quotes from some of the speakers they interviewed. (You can click the link below to listen)
The first story is an interview with Dianne Nyad who swam the channel from Cuba to Florida- an epic journey. She attempted the swim 5 times and failed more than she succeeded. She swam for over 50 hours without a break -without touching the support boat. When asked about her motivation to keep going she said:
“I think that my motivation in feeling that tremendous pressure, that our time here is so precious and so limited- that’s what drives me. That’s what drives me to dream big and not give into fears”
I feel like that almost every day I wake up. Today is the day. Every day. Make the most of it.
Next story I enjoyed was with Pam Reed- an ultra marathoner. David Epstein interviewed her for his book The Sports Gene. He said about her “Pam has an incessant drive to be active. The day I interviewed her, she’d just finished the national champion, ironman triathlon in New York the day before (she got second place). Her flight out of LaGuardia was delayed and she’d stashed her bags and was running laps around the parking structure while being interviewed.”
She says, “It’s so boring just sitting there.” [I can relate to this!]
After interviewing and researching for his book David learned this about people driven to do “epic” things- he said this about their goals:
“It’s not like ‘I’m going to win the Olympic Marathon’ it’s more like ‘Today in my workout from mile 3 -4 I’m going to push hard’ … They are actionable goals. They have a Dianna Nyad sized feat off in the distance, but they are really good at setting these sort of more proximate goals that tell you what to do today.”
Working on ground driving for some steering before trying to ride, Summer 2014
I love that! I get so excited when each day I go out we get one small step closer to our big goal with something as simple as riding without Faygo, or getting on the trailer (even though we didn’t GO anywhere). I love the idea of one small step every chance you get. These add up over time to huge things anyone can accomplish. I am about the most average person in the universe. I believe ANYONE can do epic things if they want to. But you have to start with very “un-epic” steps on a very regular basis.
This brings me to the other point David found that I learned in Bikram Yoga and marathon training:
“Normally your brain is designed to limit what you can do with your body. At a certain point when you’re pushing beyond your limits your brain tells your body to shut down so you don’t die. Part of pushing yourself farther is convincing yourself either ‘you are not going to die’ or ‘this is really important‘”
This is such a fascinating thing to me- I think it’s one reason why people often work with a trainer because your brain tells you “You are going to die” but your trainer will likely telly you “No way- you have one more minute, or two more reps… in you- I know it” or whatever you need to push the limit.
Something Bikram Yoga taught me was that your brain will often panic and tell you “you’re going to pass out… you’re going to throw up…” I learned in Bikram was that your mind lies to you. I have never died, never thrown up, and never passed out- but I’ve often thought I would.
Bikram practice helped me in my marathon to understand what the difference between my muscles feeling like they were working hard and feeling like I was injured. It also helped me through a hard time in my life when I felt like I might die and that would be easier than getting up in the morning. But even though it didn’t feel possible- I told myself that I would not die and eventually things would get better. And then you have to just decide that you WILL keep going. If you’re not injured, if you don’t actually throw up, you just keep going. Yes I’m tired. Yes it is uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be that way. It’s the only way to come out on the other side- and that is the reward.
First time in the saddle, Fall 2014
I hope I’ll be able to reach into that mental toughness when I’m cold… or hot… and tired… and it’s dark and unfamiliar… or raining… or whatever challenges I’ll eventually face after 12, 15, 18 hours on a horse trying to do something I think would be an epic feat. A 100 mile horse race.
The last guest was Sarah Lewis, author of The Rise, who talked about Success VS Mastery. I connected to the idea that fame and winning wasn’t necessarily the goal when people wanted to do epic things. The goal is more often to be better than you were before- to improve yourself each time.
I am not the best horse trainer, not the best rider, in fact- I’m pretty green myself if you compare me to all the people who have spent most of their lives with horses. The thing that gives me such encouragement and excitement is that I believe each week I am better than I was. I may never even finish a race in the top 10- but I know I am capable of doing a little better and learning a little more about myself and my horse.
“Masters are not experts because they take their subjects to a conceptual end, they are masters because they realize there isn’t one. We build out of the unfinished idea- even if that idea is our former self. This is the dynamic of mastery: coming close to what you thought you wanted can help you attain more than you ever dreamed you could…. completion is a goal, but we hope it is never the end” Sarah Lewis.
And I also hope I have a horse who will be with me every step. Not everyone wants to run a marathon. Not everyone wants to push their limits. — And that’s ok. I think horses are pre-disposed in many cases to do amazing things. I don’t know yet if Khaleesi is a 100 mile horse, but I believe that anyone can do epic things with small steps each day- and hopefully that means so can any horse.
Everyone is capable of epic things- I hope you take a small step toward your epic goal this weekend. It just takes some time, truth and heart….
Riding in my first LD event was a big step for team green to 100. With more reflection I am glad we participated in the ride instead of only volunteering because I learned a lot about what my horses need in their conditioning and home riding to be prepared for future AERC events and I don’t think I would have gained that by only volunteering. I am very excited to be volunteering with good friends at the ‘big’ Old Dominion in June. Now that I have some basic understanding of how to ride my horse, it will be good to see the other end, and how people make it through a 100 mile ride which is a big step up in every level.
Now that Faygo is in pretty prime shape and has taken me safely through the 30, it’s time to get back to Khaleesi (ms. green) and start focusing on what she needs to be ready to do an LD ride in the Fall. My good friend Kate, who is a really nice rider, came yesterday to help! She rode Faygo (who needs to stay in great shape!) while I rode Khaleesi on a nice 8 mile trek on a beautiful (if not a bit warm for the horses) day.
Khaleesi is a bit of a mess in the first 20 minutes. She wants to eat, wants to turn around, doesn’t stand still to mount, doesn’t have great steering, walks S-L-O-W… but after some insistence on my part she pulls herself together and by the second half of the ride seems like a “real” horse. Faygo of course was walking out nicely and though she was a good mover before- now she is used to keeping up good speeds and she and Kate were often a ways ahead. That is ok with me, Khaleesi needs to learn to walk out and keep up, or be left behind a bit. She doesn’t panic when she isn’t close to Faygo which I like about her, and on the way home she seemed to be able to walk faster with no trouble- so I don’t feel bad for her just “not being able to” keep up. I know better.
By the middle of the ride Khaleesi would go in front, of course Faygo doesn’t like that, but she and Kate were good sports- and I made her keep moving (none of this going in front and then slowing down the pace!). Once we were warmed up and on good footing we did a lot of gaiting and trotting in intervals, then slowing to a walk for recovery. We have a lovely gradual hill that I told Kate to GO GO GO as it’s a great spot for Faygo’s fast canter and that is like a week of therapy in about 20 seconds. Khaleesi and I followed and it’s the only spot of the ride I let her canter. It was great fun!
Once we returned to the barn we cleaned up and Kate headed to work. I tied up Faygo in the shade, grabbed a magazine and bottle of water and took Khaleesi over to the trailer. Today we were getting on- no excuses- and we weren’t leaving until all 4 feet got on that trailer. I was prepared for hours of standing around in there if need be. I never got frustrated or angry (my expectations were pretty low- that helped me stay relaxed), and I let her stand outside on the ground as long as she wanted and almost never held pressure on the line. We were parked on dirt (not grass) so there was no chance of eating, and she had to at least keep her head in the trailer.
She would put a foot on, stomp on the floor, sometimes two feet…
Two feet on… that means I can take a break… right… isn’t that how we do this?
No. It WAS how we did it last fall when you were 4 and didn’t trust me. Now you are 5, and I think I’ve earned your trust. Get up here.
She stuck her head in… through the side window… smelled the floor… tried to chew on the metal… she licked her lips…
I just stayed inside, kept my body language welcoming (did not stand square on to her, did not look her in the eyes), and encouraged her to come in and join me. I sometimes read my magazine… 15 minutes… 30 minutes… 45 minutes… 50minutes… Maybe I can’t do this… Maybe I need to ask someone for help… No… it’s YOUR horse- you have to do this. You can’t expect anyone else to save you.
I sometimes pressured her more, I sometimes ignored her.
Then I grabbed a little bit of leftover hay from the weekend that was up front and she got interested. I held it where she’d have to at least get two feet on, but she could see/smell it. She stepped up two feet again and I gave her the couple strands of hay. She was paying attention now. We repeated. I could get two feet up for a few strands of hay.
I’m STARVING… I haven’t eating in over 45 minutes… You’re trying to kill me…
Ok, so look at this little hay pile.. it’s yours if you come up here and get it!
Oh…. death by trailer or death by starvation?
She stepped back up two feet on and REACHED her neck to eat some more of the hay all the way in. (This is a start!)
They I’d push the hay just a little farther… She’d REACH in so her back feet were just off the back step. (I need something more tempting than hay! I tie her so she has to keep her head inside (all four feet outside) and get a few handfuls of grain.
I make a show of dropping half the grain at the front where the hay was and she can’t help herself. She gets three feet on in order to reach the grain better and then steps off.
That was good- and I didn’t get eaten by the trailer. Maybe I won’t die.
I dump some more grain and she climbs right on- all four feet to eat some. Then backs off. PERFECT!
I dump some more grain, now this is a fun game. All four feet on… eat some grain… back off. We do this a few times in a row. She is willingly stepping right up for her grain, and doing a great job of stepping back off as well.
SUCCESS!
I didn’t close the door, and I didn’t take her anywhere. But soon… now “bad horsey” is mobile! We can’t do an AERC ride if we can’t get in the trailer! So this is another big step. I’ll have to keep working on it to be sure she loads well, but it’s exciting to know I can start taking her places to ride with friends now!
4:45am: I am not freezing. In fact I’m snugly warm in my cocoon. The first time I woke up was 1:20am. I think there was a loose horse stampeding around outside. I have always heard you don’t get much sleep before your ride. That seems like it would make it even more challenging for 50 and 100 rides.
Early morning in campI was comfortable and dozed on and off. I could hear Faygo munching, drinking (yeah! Maybe the electrolytes are helping) and she peed at least twice.
Now at almost 5am people are beginning to move around. Flashes of headlamp beams break the dark on occasion and horses are starting to nicker. I guess it’s breakfast time (for them).
My ride time is not until 8:30am but I’ll probably get up soon too. I am awake!
I wrote that from my hammock, and once I got up at around 5:15 I didn’t stop moving until I got home that evening. The rest of this is written as a history of the day for me… looking back from the next morning.
Written on Sunday, April 26, 2015
The first announcements through camp came about 5:30am.
Coffee in the dark before sunrise.GOOOD MORNING Star Tannery. Official race clock is 5:32am. Coffee is available in the farm house. Check in for the 55 begins at 6am at the start. 55 start time is 7am, 30 start time is 8:30.
I decided to make my own cup of coffee and start kicking around even though I had “plenty” of time. Somehow that’s when things go wrong for me- when I feel like I have “plenty of time”. That’s when I usually run out of time. So it couldn’t hurt to get everything sorted out sooner.
Faygo was happy. I started out with breakfast for her as it’s not great to have a big meal and then ride hard. She got electrolytes, cough free, Springtime, applesauce and a small amount of water. She doesn’t love the soupy mash I’d been trying to get her to eat all week to increase her water intake. She’s started leaving some of it behind at the end. Since she drank almost her whole bucket of water through the night I went easy on the water. She left some supplement granules behind so I’d add a few more handfuls of grain until she’d licked the bowl clean.
I knew the rain was coming at some point today- so I tried to organize and break down camp as much as possible while it was still dry, and help me pull out that evening if we were healthy enough.
Walked up to the farmhouse to see what they had for breakfast- just some granola bars and the coffee was ok. The farmhouse itself was a falling down old house that had been turned into the shop/storage/greaseroom and though farmhouse sounded to me like a bed and breakfast scene, it was nothing that nice (this is the no frills you know!).
I thought “No Frills” was just a ride name, but actually, it’s a kind of ride.
A “No Frills” ride is one with a focus on the fundamentals – well-marked and accurately measured trail, good vetting, enough horse water to be safe, and that is about it! All you really have to have for base camp is a large area for people to safely park. (I’d add “flat” to that sentence, but having camped in many, many less than flat fields over the years, I can attest that that is not a necessity.) Even water is negotiable. We all agree that you have to have a minimum amount of horse water available to make a ride safe and successful, but many riders haul their own [This ride we did have to haul water].
Technically offering coffee at all is a “frill” but as some folks said at the ride meeting: “this is the frilliest no frills ride in the region.”
I headed back to start grooming Faygo and chat with my neighbor who was tacking up for the 55 mile start time. I took my time grooming, braided her mane (to keep her neck cool- she has thick hair). And yes- by the time I was tacking up all that time was sifting away and though I didn’t need to rush, I was not tacked up 30 minutes prior to start time! That’s ok with me though because of a few things unique to us that day: #1 we were NOT here to be competitive, as our first ride on a horse with mild heaves we needed to go EASY. #2 that means we don’t need to run out at exactly the start time. While others are charging out the gate we needed to be walking around camp a few times ignoring the fact that a horse herd was leaving getting Faygo’s adrenaline up. #3 all that also meant to me that our “warm up” would be ON the trail. We didn’t need to add 30 minutes of riding around to warm up so we could safely start up the road at a fast gait.
Time is 8:13. 30 mile start at 8:30. Needing to check in: number 7, number 15, number 10, number 22.
OK OK… we’re coming… we still have at least 10 minutes!
All tacked up and ready to go. Packs had only necessities. Water full and ready… heart rate monitor watch on…. wait. I put the wristwatch on early to watch the time and to remind myself to put the heart rate monitor ON the horse. It didn’t work.
Time is 8:19. numbers 7 and 10 don’t forget to check in before you leave camp.
tacked up – ready to goWell, we’re riding without the monitor. We’ve used it in training. I know what to look for, and Martha and Stephanie helped me with checking for pulse by hand for the vet stations. We’re not putting it on now. Time to go!
I checked in at the desk and we turned back to camp and walked around between the campers a bit as the announcement came: Course open for 30 mile. Ride Safe! Have fun!
We stalled a minute or two and walked out the last ones out of camp. VERY EXCITED to be doing this!
The first loop is what they call the ride before the first vet check (it is not actually a loop, it is a climb to a ridge trail to an “away” vet check). They told us it was about 12 miles, but my GPS said we got there around 9 miles. I caught up quickly to the “two Marys” from Ohio. They had been doing this a long time and one of the Marys had completed some 100s, but today was training a 6 year old new horse in the 30. They said they planned to take it “ultra conservative” and I said I’d love to ride with them a while. We walked the first long hill out of camp which was also paved, and then did some light intervals, gaiting (them trotting) a bit then walking a bit, then gaiting a bit, then walking a bit. Once we hit some nice ground and were warmed up we basically stayed at a gait as much as possible. I rode behind them and got to know them a bit. They were jealous of anyone who lived in terrain like this (which is about the same as where I live) because it’s so good for training in. Lots of hills/mountains, rocks, forrest, streams… There were lots of places where the footing was very rocky and rough- often rocks hardened into the trail that stuck up making it hard to pick through. We always walked these parts.
A few early lessons I learned: I decided last minute to leave my vest at camp. I was cold the whole first loop (not freezing, but I would not have taken it off had I had it with me). I hate having too much bulk, and was warm while at camp. I thought “it’s only going to get warmer- it’s a thick vest for tying on my saddle…. I’ll leave it. My rain jacket had gone ahead in my crew bag the night before as the rain wasn’t supposed to come in until later in the afternoon. Even though I had peed RIGHT before mounting up and walking out- early on I was cold and had to pee. Then it started hail/sleeting on us. THANKFULLY it wasn’t cold rain because though you could hear the sleet, and it was chilly out, it didn’t make my outer layer wet. That would have been bad. I thought weather report be damned ALWAYS have your rain jacket on you. I worried I’d made a pretty big mistake and would either get sick the next day from the chill, or that I wouldn’t be able to warm up and would be miserable all day. I tried to keep my mind off it by thinking about what a beautiful Looking back a day later… it really wasn’t that bad. I never got wet, and I did warm up.
More views from the first loop ridge trailAbout half a mile before the vet check was a nice stream. We had been doing downhill switchbacks with decent footing and the Marys on the Arabians from flat Ohio were being extra careful. Faygo is a fast downhill horse even in tricky terrain and I wanted to let her move so I asked them if it was ok for us to move ahead of them and they said of course. We hit the bottom of the hill right were the group ahead of us were finishing a drink so I decided to walk her in to see if she might get water and she took a great long drink (thank God for electolytes- I am certain she drank more than usual on this ride and figure it’s probably because of them). While we were drinking the Marys caught up and I waited for them while they tried to get their horses to drink. We could see trucks parked and knew the vet check was close, so we walked in from there together.
Pulled into vet check after about 2 hours on the trail at mile 9We pulled into the vet check last but still in good time, and the vets were very helpful. As soon as we walked through and said our “time-in” numbers:
Do you want to pulse now?
I don’t know… I’m new to this.. [I understand if you ask for a vet and your pulse isn’t down you waste everyone’s time and they ‘penalize’ you by making you wait for another check]
Well let me check her for you, [puts stethoscope to Faygo’s chest] ok… she’s at about 64 [we had to pulse down to 60 to pass, and you have 30 minutes to do so if you need it] … take a deep slow breath… that’s it… ok… [to the vet assistant] NUMBER 10, PULSE IN AT 60- GIVE OUT TIME 45 FROM NOW. [to me] ok- head over there where they’ll do the exam and watch for lameness.
The vet we got was the same really nice one who vetted us in and he asked how our first ride was going, said Faygo looked great and happy. We jogged out and back, they checked her over and she got all As again as we passed the “gate” into our “hold”.
The vet checks/holds are there for the horse to get a mandatory break. Otherwise endurance riding would be rewarding people who finish first because they didn’t rest their horse, so there is an agreed upon “hold” that changes depending on the race. Our (30 miler) hold was on 45 minutes (the 50 miler had 3 of these I believe) and then at the final 1/3 one “gate and go” which was 10 minutes.
crew bags at the vet station with a water bucket, a flake of hay, and your choice of wet beet pulp or senior feed.The “gate” is pulsing down to 60bpm then passing your vet check. At that point they write your time on your vet card and you can’t leave for 45 minutes. Thus, if you come running into the vet check and it takes your horse 10 minutes to pulse down to 60, you will have had to stop for 55 minutes instead of 45 like people who walked in. So when you know your horse well and do this enough- you have a good feel for how long in what weather your horse takes to pulse down, and if it makes sense for you to push moving into the vet checks or if you really will be better walking in and being pulsed down upon arrival.
We headed to the crew bag area and there were volunteers to help hold your horse while you used the porta potty, and bring you and your horse a snack. PB&Js, granola bars, people and horse water, senior feed, wet beet pulp, flakes of hay, everyone had a bucket of water. The feed was all donated by the local Southern States (you guys are AWESOME). Again- the frilliest no frills ride in the region.
At the vet check I thought “45 minutes… that’s a long time… i could take a nap…” I took off Faygo’s saddle, made sure she had snack- tried to keep her from eating all her neighbor’s snacks (to a mare, everything within smelling distance is “mine”), went pee and put on my rain jacket, ate a granola bar, prepared an electrolyte for Faygo, drank a vitamin water… and WHOA, seriously, 5 minutes to go… I still need to re-tack! The Marys (with the same exit time as me) were walking to mount and asked if I’d like them to wait for me. HOW NICE PEOPLE ARE!
I said no way- we just weren’t quite ready but Faygo would be fine, and they should go on- we will catch up I’m sure.
They said “With that horse, no doubt you will!” and headed out.
In the end my 45 minute hold was closer to 55 minutes, but it’s ok. It’s a learning experience not a “race” for us today.
As we left the “out-timer” and called our number the guy (more lighthearted than mean) said “we know- you were ‘out’ ten minutes ago” We were the last in- we had to be the last out… but that’s ok!
Leaving vet check Faygo was fresh and a little peeved at me for letting us be LAST and LEFT BEHIND. It was a beautiful wide grass road mostly flat with small inclines- we gaited along about 10mph smiling ear to ear. THIS IS THE MOST FUN WE’VE EVER HAD!
After a few minutes riding alone we caught up to some the Marys again and Faygo called out to their horses like a wild woman “We’re COMING hold up… I can smell you” she seemed to yell as we got closer. We said hi and passed them as they were trotting easy and we had a good faster pace going and caught up to some younger riders who were moving faster. They asked if we’d like to pass and I said no-thank you, and we stayed a bit behind them for a while. Once the trail left the ‘road’ and went back up the mountain, the footing got rough again and everyone slowed down. The younger girls were a ways ahead, the marys caught up; I asked if they wanted to pass and they said no- they wouldn’t go any faster than we were through this footing, and they were assured that if any horse was going to hold them up it wasn’t going to be Faygo.
Coming up from the valleyThis was what April told me later was the most “demoralizing” part of the no frills. Actually I thought it was fun, but we had to slow down and the ground got rougher and rockier. Faygo is a champ at what they call “technical” riding, it’s her strong suit. She is surefooted and can navigate pretty hard terrain and her walk is really fast. So we led the middle pack through the worst of it… and then it got worse yet! We headed down into the bottom where this creek ran and much of the trail was along (in) the creek. I would look for the next white ribbons and think “Seriously? IS that trail?” considering over 50 riders had already come through here it seems like it would be more obvious. This part was some of the roughest riding I’ve done with the exception of places I’ve wandered exploring with my GPS and prayed to God my horse made it out ok. I did not fish out my camera for pictures here- but we were on large rock stairs in the creek beds with sections where there was no where for a hoof to go. This is the “middle loop” and it was something!
Quick shout out to Brandon my amazing farrier! We had no problem with our shoes on this really rough ride, and my horses feet were in good shape. I know some people did not complete this ride due to shoes and hoof issues. Not surprising- in fact it’s almost surprising more people didn’t have issues!
A look at some of the trail… not the worst of it by far!When we finally came out of that bottom (by the way it WAS beautiful down there!) we started going back up with the embedded rough rocks, so mostly still walking. By the time we popped back out onto a decent road my horse was still fresh (that was slow going) and cheered for some easy terrain and trot/gaited for a few more miles into the “gate and go” around mile 18.
Back at vet check station (same one) you call your number as you approach and you get your out time (10 minutes later) automatically. There is no pulse down here. You have to jog by the vets to leave to be sure you don’t have any leg lameness. I stopped at my bag, electrolyted Faygo one more time, she ate some hay, I had a cheese sandwich (thanks No Frills) and took a quick pee. I walked her to the water trough and she took a big long drink (yeah again!) At 10 minutes exactly we were gaiting past the vets and had a “good to go #10” as we headed out for the “final loop”.
along the trail!This was the infamous hard packed road. It goes on about 7 miles and is mostly flat. We trotted along with the Marys but they wanted to do some walking and as another pair of riders, April & Griffin, asked to pass I said “I think I’m going to join them” so we parted ways to move out a bit faster. We had a good speed and after a couple miles dropped into the creek for another drink (YES! she drank again!) we walked once in a while just to break it up, but mostly we moved out. Once we were within a couple miles of the finish I felt like I couldn’t believe we had gone almost 30 miles. April said she had been watching us on and off through the day and was so impressed with Faygo. First of all she said “I’m jealous- you don’t even MOVE when you guys go” (the beauty of a gaited horse!) and second she said, “She doesn’t look like she just did 20 miles, she looks like you guys just left the barn!” I was SO proud of my horse. She was doing fantastic.
Final screenshot of the dayWe went through the finish line together at almost 29 miles. I think the finish line is more for the 50 mile folks because though there was a tent set up and streamers- no one was there for us!! With an LD (limited distance) ride you don’t actually get a finish time until your pulse down to 60. The vets were about a mile away at camp, so after the finish line we all dropped back to walk and I “timed in” at 2:58pm. The vet asked if I wanted to pulse and I said I didn’t know for sure… she said “I can check you, we’re not too busy”. we were staying at 64bpm. She said go take off your saddle and give her a minute and come back.
So we untacked in the grass and moved slow-she took a long drink, she looked great. We pulsed in at 3:06pm and headed for final vet. They check for saddle sore spots, heat in legs, dehydration, gut sounds, and CRI which is a recovery index. Basically they take heart rate (60bpm now) and send you to jog out and back, watching that you are sound on all 4 legs, then in a certain number of seconds they test for heart rate again and you have to have recovered back to 60 or lower heart rate to pass). We got all A+ on our rider card. We COMPLETED! I was ecstatic, she was happy and healthy!
Faygo enjoying a post race meal of grain and applesauceWe headed back to camp for a post-race meal of applesauce, grain and hay stretcher and a butte (can’t hurt!). I gave her a rub and put a towel over her to keep from chill. What a great day! I never took off my raincoat. It never warmed up- but the weather was perfect for her.
I packed up camp slowly (she needed a break before we hit the road- trailering is work for a horse as they have to balance on twisty roads). Between breaking down camp I hand walked her around for more water and grass. I put on her light blanket and we hit the road as it began to really rain about 5:30 and it rained the whole drive home.
The drive took almost exactly 3 hours and we got in after dark to Khaleesi who was SO glad to see us. I walked in the door to Ed frying up some yummy bear nuggets and satueeing veggies in case I was hungry (what a guy!). A cold dreary rain outside I took a hot shower and took out my contact lenses (my eyes were dry, my hands were dry and scratchy) and then we talked about our days. I looked at myself in the mirror before bed and thought “You are a sight” red eyes, my hair a half-braided mess.. I was exhausted and fell into bed. Happy.
Postlude
Reflecting back, a few things I came away with…
I loved this and I can’t wait to do more! The people are fantastic and the horses are amazing.
Faygo the Fantastic… The Iron Lady… The queen!Faygo did really really really really well. I could not have asked for better weather for her, and she never had breathing issues at all. She didn’t breathe any harder than any horse we rode with, and we did not stop except for the vet checks. No “rest” breaks, only occasional walks to give short rest from a hill or long jog. Her ears were forward and her step was light- she had fun. She was game. We were a great team! I believe she could do a 50 if the circumstances were good, but I’m not sure if I care to do that with her or not. We’ll see. It’s not the extended time or distances that I worry about with her, it’s only the speed and hills in heat. As Judy says “That girl is one tough mountain goat!”
The most obvious difference between endurance riding and trail riding with friends for me broke down into what is assumed. In trail riding walking is assumed unless someone “asks” if it’s ok to go faster. When you are with a group in endurance a trot/gait speed is assumed unless you have to slow down for footing. We “never” canter (ok… on that one pretty grassy trail where we were alone… yes… I’ll admit it, we cantered for a short time.. we couldn’t help it!). Also- that doesn’t mean no one canters- I didn’t ride with any top 10 finishers. Who knows what they do… they came in at least 2 hours before I did!
Post ride… Fantastic Faygo!The trails are not perfect. We rode some gnarly sections today. Endurance horses and people are definitely not sissies running fast through manicured roads. That ride was pretty hard core in the middle loop. Also- much of it was absolutely beautiful, ridge views and the worst of the rocky valley was a little paradise if you could look up from the death trap you were walking through.
Limited Distance rides really are attainable by anyone and any horse with some preparation. We had tons of support and though I’ve ridden 30 miles in the past and been exhausted- there’s something in the air of an AERC event that we finished feeling like we could have done another 25! But the trick really is moving with some speed. It would have killed me to walk 30 miles.
Ride and Tie. I am GOING to do this. One horse, two riders, one tough race. I didn’t understand what this was until I met someone there who’d entered that event. This could be an AERC future for Faygo in hotter months… You have two people at the start, one person running (on foot!) and one riding. At an agreed upon distance the rider ties up the horse and the runner when she gets to the horse hops on and rides… to the next agreed upon distance where the same thing happens. YOU RUN AND RIDE. Yeah. I’m going to have to try that- and Faygo is so good at being tied. Supposedly it’s really good for a horse not quite in shape because it gets lots of rest breaks while the people run. Who thought of this!? Brilliant!
My “next step” goal is to see how Khaleesi does this summer with training. I would love to try a late fall LD ride and get someone to come ride Faygo while I ride Khaleesi and see how she does. This would mean I have to get her camping this summer, and continue her trail work. She’s a great age, and going along with Faygo would be a great training entry to the AERC world. Madison……… you would love this 🙂
Today… unpacking… relaxing… reflecting…
Official ride photo (screenshot) by Becky Pearman (at the vet in on Friday night)
I’m writing (offline) from my cocoon at 9:30pm snuggled in with at least two layers of clothing and a hat and scarf (my gloves are in here but not on yet) in my sleeping bag suspended about 18 inches from the rubber mat floor of my horse trailer. I am not sure what the temp is currently but the low tonight is predicted to be 34 so I figured it’s best to be prepared. Except for one winter camping trip in high school where we had to dig our tent site out of the snow, I have never camped in these cold of temps. In fact I don’t think it really sunk in when I was preparing for it. But I am thankful because freeze warnings and cold fronts mean cooler days as well and that gives my horse a better chance at doing well tomorrow.
We arrived at camp around 1:30. I found an open spot next to a friendly woman and her gray Arabian Majik. The corral was easy to put up rather quickly and I checked in with ride management and got my rider number: we are 10.
I spent some time grazing Faygo and walking her around – worrying slightly about the stiffness in her back leg after a 3 hour trailer ride we hand walked and jogged a little then headed to the vet check. My concerns were unfounded, she got A+ on every score and a ‘perfect’ body condition score of 5. (1 being dangerously thin and 10 being dangerously obese… For endurance riding and for most general health a 5 is just right!)
Then I decided to tack up and take a short ride before dinner and the ride meeting. I wanted to be sure I hadn’t forgotten anything and let her move her legs a little. We rode about 3 miles and saw the first part of tomorrow’s trail up to the ridge- it looks like it will be a pretty ride.
Back in camp I have electrolyted and fed a few smaller grain meals and tossed hay. Thankfully she finally drank about half her water by the end of the ride meeting. My neighbor has been really helpful- she had a crayon to mark our number on faygo’s butt (that was not on my prep list!), and told me to get my crew bag on the trailer tonight (not tomorrow morning as I’d thought) and that it has to go inside the black trash bag with my rider number on it that I was given at check in. (I actually thought that was for trash!)
Dinner and meeting was good- I’ve met at least 3 people I’d either been told to look for or have ‘met’ on Facebook and everyone is very helpful and friendly. There are about 40 riders doing the 55mile and 25 riders doing the 30 tomorrow so it’s a good crowd.
I’m snuggled in with Faygo right outside the ‘window’ and I love hearing her munching on hay and especially love hearing her drinking water. She is calm and relaxed.
I am also feeling relaxed. If I don’t freeze tonight… We should finish tomorrow… As my ‘roommate’ next door says “as long as you don’t get lost!”
She didn’t finish her first ride because she wandered around lost more than once and went over time.
That’s what riding Friday felt like. We had planned our weekly trio girl ride and the plans fell apart. First one of the group had a family need come up that took her out of town, then Friday morning woke up to rain showers. Not surprising, it rained all week.
I went to the farm in light drizzle and saddled up. Just a short ride was all we needed, just to get out there and keep in shape. This would be her second “alone” ride.
I had gotten her back boots “customized” this week when my farrier visited, and a shorter ride to try them out was really smart.
We added some hoof glue inside the boot (it hardens into a polyurethane ‘shim’ to make the boot fit tighter around the sides of her feet) this SHOULD help the boot not to twist or come off on rides due to being slightly loose on the sides.
The boots fit better, but her one back foot.. the white one… it is the problem foot. We rode through muck and rocks and the boots all stayed on- but very close to home, on a rocky uphill that she tried to canter up we lost the white foot boot. I was paying attention, and we walked back to get it. I thought I’d find it in the muck puddle we walked through- but nope, it was sitting on the trail where the footing was a bit washed out and rocky, and I remember her trying to take some canter steps to get up it (I discouraged that, but remembered it).
green to 100 