Conditioning Ride 11-13-2010

I've managed to misplace my data for this ride. I do know it was at Hollenbeck Canyon, so we went about 9 miles or so. I know his recovery was good; I'd have remembered if it wasn't. So there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about this ride, except it was a week after Wind Wolves, and Hoss hadn't been out of the pasture in that time.

This was the first time I took foster-dog Jazz along for a trail ride. I had ridden Phoenix the day before, to see if she'd picked up enough to follow along on a trail ride at home. She went along quite well, taking her lead from my boys, and I declared her ready to come along. So when I hooked up the trailer, I invited her into the truck to come along with the boys.

Jazz is a very sweet dog. She's a cross between a border collie and probably Labrador. About 60 pounds of fuzzy dog who wants nothing more than to lick all the skin off of you. She belongs to a deployed soldier and will be with us for about eight months. She's integrated with our pack pretty well, and we've gotten her trained not to leave the property without us. My biggest concern when she moved here was the lack of a fence, but she learned quickly. Didn't hurt that my dogs won't leave, either. That was the biggest thing that got her taught not to leave.

So after saddling up Hoss – all the while watching carefully to be sure Jazz didn't take off – we headed off down the trails. Hoss was in high spirits. I wasn't using any bit. I haven't replaced the lost part on his hackamore, and I felt that the Kimberwicke was more than I really needed. So I just hooked his reins to the sides of his halter and off we went.

Our first obstacle was four sandbags that have been placed in a row about two feet before the cowboy gate. It's clear that the recent rains had washed the area in front of the gate out, and a repair was made to render it safe to pass. Hoss was very suspicious of those sand bags! He clearly wanted to go through the gate and get on with our ride, but boy! He did not want to step over those sandbags. I let him investigate them for a few moments, but decided he was probably going to use it as an excuse to be stupid and just pulled his head up and kicked him over. Problem solved.

I decided to go "backwards" on this ride. This way we hit the easier trails first, the harder ones farther along. I had planned on a relatively slow ride. It was Jazz's first time out, and I knew I was taking her farther than she'd ever gone. Her soldier mom runs six miles every day, but we were going nine, and following a horse who, if he chose, could outrun her mom any time. In addition, she was not on a leash, allowing her to do the typical dog thing. I'm pretty sure that most dogs end up going two to three times farther than the horse, they rove about so much.

Well, Hoss wasn't having the slow thing. He needed to run! This was one of those moments when I really wish I had a large arena to turn out in. As it was, I managed to get him around the ninety degree turn in the trail before I let him take off. And did he ever take off! If I'd managed a look at the GPS, I'm sure we were going 20mph or more. This was an all out race horse run, pure unbridled joy at being out and on the trail.

We got the ya-yas out reasonably quickly. Hoss is starting to pick up on the slow-is-not-bad thing. Slow is kinda nice, considering how much pressure there can be at an endurance ride. Still, when we got 'round to the flat on the far side of the recreation area, he wanted to run some more. I let him go and got more of that goofiness out of him. Boy, did we have fun doing that!

When we turned left off the wide road to single track trail, Jazz continued on up the road for a ways. Concerned that we'd lose her, I started calling. Some dogs seem to know that they can turn back on a trail and pick up where the leader turned off, or head out cross country. Others can't. Jazz is one of those who can't. She has spent much of her life getting her exercise at the end of a leash. Some of these discoveries about the properties of the world she simply hasn't had the opportunity to make. She stood up on the ridge of the road, at about eye level with me, and waved her tail in confusion for a moment before taking the plunge and coming to me cross-country. It may take some time, but I'm sure she'll catch on. She sure had a good time. She did start to look like she was getting too tired, but she bucked up and made it the whole way.

During that early part of our ride, I realized, as we ran full tilt along the trail, reins loose in my hand, easy in the saddle and a smile on my face, that we have truly become partners. To that limit that horsemen can, I truly trust this horse. He will not deliberately do anything to hurt me, and will do his level best to keep us both safe. And he trusts me, too. He knows that I won't ask him to do something I don't know he can do, and that I will do my best to direct him to the safest crossing, the best path, the ideal footing. I can't imagine a horse running with such wild abandon without trusting the person on his back.

2010 Ride Season Recap

The 2010 AERC ride season is coming to a close. Wind Wolves was the last ride I will get to before the 2011 season starts. For whatever reason (I may have known sometime in the past, but I've forgotten if I ever did), AERC starts its ride season on December 1. This is a good time to review my season goals and accomplishments for the 2010 season.

Of course, I did not start this blog until more than half way through the season, so I didn't post the original goals for 2010. When I set out for 2010, my goal was to get Hoss through four 50 mile endurance rides. We have accomplished that and then some!

In 2010, Hoss and I completed five endurance rides, for a total of 255 miles. We completed the following rides and distances:

Warner Springs Endurance Ride 50 in January

Git-R-Done 55 in April

Descanso Endurance Ride 50 in June

Manzanita Endurance Ride 50 in October

Wind Wolves Endurance Ride 50 in November

I am very pleased with our results. I feel that I had a simple and attainable set of goals. Well, I suppose it was a goal, specifically the number of miles I wanted to get.

There were many lessons along the way. At Warner Springs, Hoss kept tripping. Tripping doesn't seem to bother him at all. He just keeps right on chugging along. So I thought during the ride that he was being lazy. Of course, hind sight being 20/20, I should have realized that that much tripping was likely more than just laziness. A few days after the ride, I found the truly huge girth gall he had developed behind his right elbow.

Git-R-Done presented another set of challenges. The terrain was nice, deep sand in most places. Hoss mostly encounters hard, rocky surfaces at home. He found the sand a challenge. Again, he tripped a lot. If I let him look around even a little, down he'd go. Luckily he never hurt himself, but it was a clue that I needed to look for another shoeing solution to keep his feet more on top of deep footing. In pursuit of this, I found a wider shoe of the same brand I have been using with him. So far, so good. He has not tripped in deep footing since.

Descanso was pretty easy, but Hoss pulled a front shoe on the second loop. There was no farrier, and my daughter and her friend brought my daughter's Jeep up. My truck and tools were at base camp. So, I continued in the hopes that we'd be okay. It didn't take long for his foot to be dangerously short. I was fortunate in that some other riders had an Easyboot that fit quite nicely, and we completed with that. I have since purchased my own Easyboot to use as a spare tire.

Manzanita was a challenge. I always knew that the odds were I'd be confronted with electrolyte issues. My previous horse, Phoenix, never had a problem. Just give him a dose of electrolytes in food the night before, and he was fine. Hoss, however, presented a learning experience. I brought with me his regular food with electrolytes mixed in, which I gave him the previous night, plus another bag of bran with another dose of electrolytes. That was all I had taken with me. Manzanita presented us with hot, muggy weather. I knew at the first vet check that we were doing the ride on the ragged edge of disaster. I was very careful with him, and got him through, but I sure won't be leaving home without electrolytes ever again!

Wind Wolves was effectively perfect weather for a ride. I had read an article in Endurance News about an electrolyte study that suggested the most effective method was the give electrolytes the night before and morning of an endurance ride. This is what I did at Wind Wolves. The result was that he drank well and his recoveries were quite nice. At the end of the ride, his heart rate was 52, despite rain and cold, and without a rest period before seeing the vet. I also confirmed that he's just a tough guy. Despite having to remove his saddle in cold wind, and put the saddle pad back on cold and wet, he never showed the least discomfort.

The new ride season starts in a few days, and we will head out next month for our very first multi-day. The 2011 ride season should be interesting!

Wind Wolves Endurance Ride Part 2: Saturday

I left Roxy tied to one of the tent stakes with the tent open. She laid on my bed and settled in to wait. At this point in her life, she has no interest in following me down the trail.

The ride started at 6:30am. This being before the time change, it was still pitch dark outside when I mounted up on Hoss and headed to the trail. I don't see very well in the dark. While I'm not night-blind, I'm just this side of it. So it was very nice that the trails in the Wind Wolves Preserve are really more like single-vehicle roads. And that the trail we started on was pretty idiot-proof. There really wasn't anywhere to get off trail, in spite of a shortage of glo-sticks. The biggest problem I encountered was being able to identify that yes, that is a horse up ahead, before Hoss ran up its butt.

Hoss was, in typical fashion, very excited about the ride. He gets really amped up by the whole ride thing. The funniest part is, he'll be fine right up until somebody says "go," and then he just sort of loses his mind. If I get to the start line after the ride has started, he's just an idiot the whole time rather than waiting until after the "go" word is spoken. There's a certain level of competitiveness that he's started to show. He not only wants to catch up, he wants to pass. Unfortunately, he still wants to be able to see other horses close by. If he doesn't think there are any more horses to catch, he'll slow down and let the horses he's already passed catch up, then take up their pace.

This ride has a lot of elevation change, so I was much more careful than usual to pace Hoss. Usually I don't have to worry too much about him using himself up. This ride, we were warned, there is a very steep uphill on the second half of the ride, a section dubbed "Tevis Trail." It is aptly named, but more on that, later.

Shortly in to the first loop, we passed what's called Dorothy's House. This is an old "shack" (if that house, in its heyday, is a shack, then what am I living in, a hovel?) that was used in the filming of a sequel to the Wizard of Oz. After Dorothy's House, the terrain becomes more rolling and we started heading up into the foothills. On the first loop, thirteen miles, you climb up about 2500 feet, but do it in relatively short order.

The whole area is absolutely spectacular. I don't think I can do justice to describing it. The landscape is lush and was very green for the time of year. I didn't get to see any interesting wild life, but I am assured it is there. Having seen some of the prints, I am confident of it.

The dawn was beautiful over the mountains as I fought Hoss to stay at a rate I knew he could handle. I like him to walk up many of the hills at this point in his career. Hill are tough for him, and I want to get him very well conditioned to it before we go flying up the hills like Phoenix used to do. I figure that will come. He's just not there yet.

Just prior to the first vet check, the photographers had set up. The area is sort of a little dip, and they'd set up at the far crest from where the riders come into it. Well, the wind had picked back up, and wow, did it get bad here! I'm sure my pictures look very interesting, with squeezed-shut eyes, arm thrown up, etc. At one point, a wind gust came through that was so hard, for a moment it felt like Hoss and I were held suspended by it.

We came in to vet check one feeling good. Hoss was hot headed and not ready for there to be a vet check yet, dammit. It took a few minutes for him to meet criteria, which was set at 60bpm all day. He did not take as long to come down as he did at Manzanita, though, which I was quite happy to see. It really does seem that my strategy adjustment has already paid off.

The biggest obstacle we had to overcome was the shortage of vets at this ride. With only three vets and three vet checks, there was but one vet at each check. We were told this at the ride meeting, but that didn't make it go any faster. By the time I got Hoss to the vet, our hold time was over. I got him checked over and off we went.

I switched out the bit for the hackamore at vet check one. He was being very good, all things considered. Also, he still has a heck of a time creating a seal around the bit when he drinks. It sounds like he's drinking through a broken straw. Concerned that might be part of why he wasn't drinking much, I decided it would be just as well to continue in the hack.

We didn't get very far down the trail when I realized I should have availed myself of the available facilities at the vet check. Now, this area is beautiful, but it suffers from a lack of brush. It's pretty much all grasslands as far as the eye can see. There are, however, plenty of large water holding tanks. So, I took Hoss off the trail behind one of these tanks and took care of business.

There is a lot of water available on these trails. There are stock tanks every few miles through much of the ride. Hoss drank pretty well, not taking huge drinks but drinking frequently. The temperature was comfortable without being overly hot and the wind was strong but not cold.

At some point not many miles out from vet check one, I noticed that the chin chain on the hack was swinging merrily in the breeze. I stopped Hoss to figure out what was going on. One of the quick links was missing. And I had made sure they were tight before I put it on him! Well, nothing to be done about that at this point. I undid the remaining quick link and removed the chain. Wasn't going to help me, anyway.

About seven miles into the second loop, I realized I needed facilities yet again (what, my kidneys work overtime now? Really?). Fortunately, we passed right by vet check 2 on our way, so I cruised in. Oh, you should have heard the uproar! Coming in this way, I caught up with the leaders. Well, I explained that I was just there for a quick stop, not claiming I had finished the loop. I don't think I've heard so many people so outraged. Well, I took care of that, hopped back on, and we went on our way to finish the loop. Not cheating. Really.

Vet check two was an hour old. The vet in charge of this check insisted on saddles off. Oy. Not really what I wanted to deal with. With the wind, taking the saddle off allows the horse's back to chill. And, I realized when I was resaddling, the saddle pad, rather than being warm and wet, is now cold and wet. Not to mention that saddles had to be placed on the ground! Fortunately Hoss has a rather thick winter coat, and while I had trace clipped him, I hadn't clipped his back. So, despite not having a cooler to hand, Hoss did just fine. By the time the air got down to his skin, his coat was dry and he wasn't chilled. Of course, I still had to put the cold wet saddle pad back on him! Not that he seemed to suffer any ill effects, it just seemed a little unfair.

It didn't take long at all for Hoss's heart rate to come down at this stop. I think it was on the order of four minutes. The weird thing was, if I stopped him eating, his heart rate would spike. Normally, if a horse is eating or drinking, that will cause a spike in the horse's heart rate. Stopping them from eating will cause the heart rate to drop. Well, his heart rate didn't go down until I allowed him to drop his head and eat. Of course, as quickly as he came down, it's hard to say if my observations have any validity!

At this point I decided to go to riding with the reins hooked into the sides of Hoss's halter. The hackamore had no chin chain, and I was worried that it was worse than useless. If it rode up on his face, I'd have even less control. Besides, by this point he was actually listening to me. So riding this way didn't seem like much of a risk.

After a nice little rest, off we went for loop three. This is the part of the ride where they had used Tevis Hill. And wow, is it a doozy. I don't think we've ever surmounted a hill quite that steep and long. It's not really appropriate for tailing, unless your horse is very good at it. Hoss has not had a lot of practice, so he ended up carrying me up the entire hill. At the top, Hoss felt pretty good. He wasn't real thrilled about having done the hill, but he got it done.

Going back down, Hoss picked up the pace from time to time. He likes to trot downhill. I've been working on him doing this in a collected manner, and he's doing far better. I'm not getting the "Nazi trot" anymore. But, as we went down the hill, he started dropping his head like he had an itch. After a moment or two of this, he stopped. It wasn't an itch. He wanted grass! He cropped up a mouthful of grass and continued on our way, munching away on the grass. A little bit later, he repeated this routine. He must have been really hungry!

When we got close to vet check three, I hopped off and loosened the girth. Hoss felt he was surrounded by far too much yummy grass not to be getting some of it. He would stop, crop up a mouthful, and then walk on down the trail. I think it took us nearly three times as long to cover the remaining distance to the vet check than if he'd just walked along with me. But, I figured it was okay. Gave him more time for his heart rate to come down. I finally got him in to the check, and over to the water. But he just wanted to eat grass! This time, if I let him eat, his heart rate would not come down. So I walked him to an area without food, and stood with him. I listened to his heart rate until I was getting 60bpm, then called the PandR person over. He got 56. Cool.

The vet line was long, and there was no hay left at the vet check anyway, so I got in line to get him vetted. He cropped grass the whole time. By the time we got to the vet and checked, we had two minutes until time to leave.

This is where things got interesting. An ugly front of huge black clouds was moving in. There were reports of rain. Now, we were still in the sun, but I could see, I was in trouble! I hadn't brought a jacket. I just had my t-shirt. Fortunately for me, a very kind lady offered me the use of her jacket. She was switching to a rain coat, and just didn't want to see me suffer. I was very grateful.

After vet check three, there's just eight miles to go. We had enough time, so we headed on out, and ended up hooking up with the lady who had loaned me the jacket and her friend. They were quite pleasant trail companions. They were funny, too. I imagine they thought of me as somewhat dull, but I was distracted. I was watching those clouds. I was thinking of my dog and my tent and my clothes. My tent was open. My tent had no rain fly. My tent – and everything in it – was going to get wet.

Well, we got about four miles, and the rain hit us. This was no gentle rain. No, it was more like a downpour. Fortunately it wasn't a particularly cold downpour. I still got utterly soaked. Poor Hoss was completely soaked. There was thunder and lightning, and I worried about Roxy all by herself in the tent with no place to go to get out of the rain.

Rain makes those last few miles feel like forever. The trail was slick and slightly downhill, so it was strictly walking. Hoss is heavy enough that areas that don't give under the lighter horses were giving under him. I felt his feet break the surface and create holes in more than one place as we walked along. We finally – finally! – crossed in to base camp at 5:45pm, 45 minutes to spare.

Coming in, we had to pass by our camp on the way to the vets. Roxy was out of the tent and under my truck. She looked very wet. She wanted to come with me, but she seemed to get it when I told her to wait. I rode the rest of the way down and got Hoss checked before heading back to camp. When the vet checked Hoss, he commented that Hoss's heart rate was 52bpm! That was awesome.

The lady I borrowed the jacket from made a move to reclaim her jacket before heading back to her tent. Her friend, utterly shocked and scandalized, said, "You're not going to make her give it back NOW?!?" She didn't. I was so sure I would find her later that I didn't worry about it.

When I got back to camp, I discovered my worst fears realized. My tent and all my clothes were wet. My sleeping bag and memory foam were soaked. Even my book was wet. I was very fortunate in that the young man camped next to us did his best to protect my belongings. He moved the little bits of electronics I had so they wouldn't be in puddles, and helped Roxy find her way under the truck. I am very grateful to him for doing what he did for my dog and me.

Fortunately, I had left my sweatshirt and windbreaker in the truck. This meant that I at least had something dry to put over my wet clothes. So I removed the wet jacket I was wearing and put on my sweatshirt and windbreaker. Since everything was wet, it was evident I would not be able to stay another night. I was going to have to make the drive home after that ride. Not exactly something I was looking forward to, but I couldn't stay in the truck with nothing dry. I got Hoss untacked and under a cooler and fed, then broke down camp.

I went down to get something to eat and to return the jacket. Dinner was barbecue chicken. It was quite good. I don't even like chicken. I hadn't had much to eat on the trail. While I had been prepared to bring my own lunch, I decided not to make a sandwich as I didn't think it would hold up well in my saddle bags. So all I'd eaten was a couple of granola bars.

I wandered around at the dinner area carrying the soggy jacket for a while before I decided I had missed its owner while packing. So instead I wandered around camp looking for her. It was once again quite dark. I couldn't see a thing. After a couple of circuits, I gave it up as a bad job. I wasn't going to be able to find my butt with both hands in these conditions. So I brought the jacket home, washed it, and I've emailed its owner in hopes of returning it to her.

Overall, a very nice ride. I certainly won't miss it if they put it on again. And I sure hope they do put it on again.

Wind Wolves Endurance Ride Part I: Friday

*I'm splitting this in to two posts. There's just too much to say for one post!

It seems like the minor disasters that have been striking all week just couldn't find a way to knock it off. I got most of my packing done Thursday night, so all I needed to do was get together the hay and feed, and load everything up. I was already planning to take my elderly dog, Roxy, with me. She can be a little difficult, and needs to be pilled twice a day. I didn't feel it would be right to leave her with my roommate to deal with. Besides, presented with the choice, Roxy would spend all day in the truck just to be with me rather than stay at home.



So I got up reasonably early on Friday morning and started on morning chores. Despite having recently ruptured the cruciate ligament in her right hind leg, Roxy still wants to come on the morning walk. She does okay. But I knew this couldn't last. She would eventually do the same thing in the other leg. Roxy is 11 years old. She has permanent kidney damage, chronic bronchitis, ulcers, and arthritis. It's very unlikely that she's a surgical candidate. Not only is she older, her health issues create much greater risk of her dying on the table. Not only that, with the extensive arthritis, it's very likely she would have extreme difficulty recovering from surgery. Anyway, all of that leads up to this: during our walk Friday morning, Roxy ruptured the left cruciate ligament. At least, that's what it appears happened. It's hard to say for sure without x-rays and diagnostics, but that's sure what it looks like. She was unable to walk home. Since I can't carry her that far – although I'd've tried if I had to – I called my roommate and asked her to drive out to pick Roxy up. So my morning walk went long, and my dog was now unable to rise well on her own.



Once we got back I started up packing again. Poor Roxy was becoming upset because she knew I was preparing to leave. She got up and tried to hobble outside to make sure she didn't get left behind. My roommate was able to intercept her just outside the door and keep her calm until I could come back to the house and reassure her. I went ahead and just put her in the truck. That way, she would feel secure and wouldn't continue to try to follow me around.



I had everything together, the truck hooked up and the horse loaded and was on the road not much after 10am. That much was pretty much as planned. I stopped and got gas and what groceries I still needed, and headed up the road.



The drive was brutal. This ride is north of LA and I made the critical error of attempting to take the 5 straight up. I'd forgotten how stupid an idea that is. It's been a really long time since I've needed to drive through LA. Most of the time, I'm further inland. In many places through LA, the 5 is downright scary, especially with a trailer. I felt like I was going to make contact with vehicles in the other lane more than once. By the time all was said and done, what Google maps predicted to be about a five hour drive was more like seven.



I arrived at ride camp just before 6pm. I got Roxy out of the truck and resting comfortably in the grass. I then went to unload Hoss. I don't tie Hoss in the trailer, and I pin the back-most divider open so he has the back two sections of the trailer to move about in. So I opened the door and called him on out. Well, he got his front feet out, realized he was standing up to his fetlocks in fresh grass, and started grazing! He didn't even bother to get his hind feet out of the trailer. I had a good chuckle over this, then encouraged him to finish unloading so I could close the trailer door. I got him set up with his alfalfa hay, beet pulp mush, and a bucket of water.



I set up the tent and got out my twin size air mattress. I brought out the air pump, which I had charged overnight at home, hooked it up and started it. It petered out after about three minutes! The new charger I spent all that time at Radio Shack to buy Thursday? Didn't work. So instead I was reduced to folding my memory foam in half and using that as a bed. I've done this in the past, and while it's not as comfy as the air mattress, it's livable. I put my sleeping bag, pillows, clothes, and an extra sleeping bag for Roxy in the tent. Then I put Roxy in the truck and took Hoss to vet in.



Hoss's heart rate was a little higher than I'm accustomed to seeing when he comes in to a ride. He was at 44 bpm. I suspect this has to do with the stress of the trailer ride. It was long, arduous, and loud! I'm sure the sound of all those tractor/trailers could not have been reassuring. I also was unable to find an appropriate place to unload him on the way and let him rest, so he spent the entire time, pretty close to eight hours, in the trailer.



After vetting, I took Hoss back to the trailer to finish his food, fed Roxy and heated up a can of beef stew for myself. The wind started to pick up just a little bit, but it was nice and warm. By this time, it was time for the ride meeting.



I headed for the ride meeting. At the ride meeting, it was mentioned that the weather report predicted cooler, or as warm, or the possibility of rain. Basically, who the heck knows? The weather report I looked at said cooler but no rain, so I decided to go with that, depending on the morning.



By the time the ride meeting was over, the wind had really started to pick up. I walked back to my campsite, where I found I needed to break down my camp stove before it blew over. I secured everything that could possibly blow away. I got Roxy out of the truck and into the tent, gave Hoss more hay, and crawled in to go to bed.



It was still quite warm in spite of the wind. I read my book for a while, then decided I needed to get some sleep for the upcoming ride.



Not long after I turned out the lights and lay down, the wind really picked up. I had the windows open on my tent, and despite this, the tent was being whipped about by the wind gusts. I had left the rain fly off, which was probably a good thing, since I really did not have any intention of visiting Oz. I got absolutely no sleep while that wind blew. It did not get better fast. Indeed, it got to the point where dirt was blowing in through the mesh of the window. I tried closing the window, only to discover that this caused the wind to push the tent down essentially right on top of me. I was very glad that I had used every tent stake option I had. So I had to leave the window open, and keep my sleeping bag tugged over my face to prevent myself from being sand-blasted.



I got up a few times to check on Hoss. He was handling things okay, if not with his usual aplomb. I did notice that he wasn't eating. Upon looking, I realized he was out of hay. This seemed unusual. He usually doesn't eat that fast. On closer inspection, however, I discovered that his hay had blown away! I collected it back up and he was happy to have it back.



About 2:00am or so, the wind finally died down and I was able to get some sleep. I woke up at 4:00 am, about half an hour earlier than I had planned, and went ahead and fed Hoss. I went back into the tent and caught another hour or so of sleep. Once I got up for good, I dressed and made sure I had everything I needed on my saddle. The weather looked good. It was still pitch dark, but I could see there were no clouds. And it was warm. My little miniature weather station said 67 degrees. So I simply wore my riding tights and t-shirt.



I got Hoss groomed and saddled, and we were ready for the start!

It’s Just Been One of Those Years This Week

I have a ride this weekend. This is normally a stressful thing for me. For the entire week before a ride, I'm freaking out. I have no real reason to freak out. It really doesn't take much to pick up and leave for a ride. After all, the trailer is my tack room and all my camping gear is stored in my truck. All I have to do is fill the water tank, load up hay and bran and beet pulp, and get my clothes and food together. Easy, really. Couldn't hardly be simpler. And yet, the week before a ride, I am as stressed as I can be.



And now, there's this week. Because of all the rain and wind last week, I got behind on work. The real kicker was the horrible sinus headache I developed on the one day I could have worked last week. I expect that, had I tried to get under a horse to shoe it, I would have puked on the foot instead. Normally I take the week before an endurance ride off. This helps reduce the stress level. Unfortunately, I got way behind due to the weather. So, instead, I've been working. And I'll be working tomorrow (Thursday), too. Hoss and I need to leave as early as possible on Friday morning. The compromise is that I'm only working a half day. However, considering my luck so far this week, it'll probably turn in to an all day sort of thing.



This has been a week of not much going my way. My plan to get ready for the ride has been to get things done in the evenings. So far, this plan has not worked. I'm beginning to feel like the universe is conspiring against me.



Monday I scheduled a passel of trims to get done on my own. This would lighten my load for the rest of the week. But, it turned out I needed to work in getting the Jeep to my daughter at my mom's house. So, my husband drove the Jeep down while I made my way in that direction via one trim in a rather unlikely location. I made it to my mom's house about 1pm. I spent some time talking to my mom, then my husband and I left so I could take him home and head off to the rest of my trims for the day. We stopped at a local favorite taco shop for some lunch. In a cruel twist of fate, I ordered something that they evidently had to go out back and kill to prepare for me. It took nearly half an hour to get our food! We finally ate, and left as quickly as we could. The result of this was that, by the time we got back home, I realized I was out of time. I need to leave from our house by 5pm in order to make it to bell choir rehearsal. So, rather than get the trims out of the way, I fed and cleaned and took care of all the animals before leaving. By the time I get home from bells, it's time to shower and go to bed. Ugh. One day lost.



Tuesday I had work scheduled. I had a full day planned, we'd just get under everything until we had to quit from exhaustion. Well, it turned out my assistant had to take his daughter to a doctor's appointment that morning. Normally her mother does these things, but she wound up taking an extra shift at work, and it fell to her father. It wasn't supposed to take long, just in and out. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan, and we didn't get started on work until 10:30am. To complicate matters further, the wind was brutal! Under most circumstances I would've called it a day. But, I was behind, and I needed to get caught up before we got any further behind. So we got to work. We got four horses shod and a few trims done.



After finally arriving home, I started feeding and cleaning the pasture. We had been kitten-sitting some friends' kitty, and they had arrived home and would like their kitten back. So I needed to drive down to take their kitty back to them. It's very difficult to drive up to our house, especially if you have to do it after dark. There are few street signs and no lights and dirt roads. So I was happy to driving down and meet them. Unfortunately, this took up the rest of my evening. No ride prep occurring this night, either.



Wednesday was yet more work. The wind was worse up in the mountains, so I had scheduled horses living at lower elevations so we wouldn't blow away. We also had a reconstruction to do on a horse with part of its hoof missing. Reconstructions can take a long time. There's a great deal of prep work that goes into it, and you have to stand around and wait for the stuff to cure before you can finish the job. Fortunately the reconstruction went well, the horse was immediately happier, but it took us longer than I'd've liked. At the next stop, there is no shade. This gets us moving pretty quickly, but it was inordinately bad this day. It was really, really hot. Beyond normal summer hot. We went through a lot of Gatorade! The last stop has shade, for which we were eternally grateful.



Between the reconstruction and the next stop, we had stopped for lunch. When we got to lunch, I realized I'd left my phone in the back of the truck. I wasn't too worried about it. Some days I'd like to leave it in a water trough anyway. So it wasn't until we got to the next stop that I got the messages. One of my dogs, Mac, had gotten into something and was in severe distress. He vomited blood and was hacking and coughing and choking. This alarmed my husband and our roommate quite a bit. They tossed him in a car and rushed him to the vet. I got the message when we got to our stop and unloaded the truck. Now, by this time, my phone was just about out of battery. I had forgotten to grab my charger on the way out of the house. Still, I had to call the vet and find out what was going on. I called them, and let my husband and roommate know that I'd spoken to the vet.



By the time all was said and done, I had to drive down and pick the dog up from the vet before going home. It turned out he'd managed somehow to lacerate the roof of his mouth pretty badly. I suspect he'd done it with a stick. He's one of those dogs that likes to throw sticks up in the air and catch them on their way back down. I imagine he tossed one up, and it came down in such a way as to jab the roof of his mouth. This particular dog is a bit of a wuss. The least little thing causes him to cry and whimper like a big baby! Sixty pounds of pure muscle and he screeches like you're killing him if you even look at him in displeasure. Not that the injury isn't significant. It was badly swollen and bled like crazy, which prompted the vomiting. He's now on pretty heavy drugs to control the pain and swelling. Long story short, though, another evening, down the tubes.



And now we come to today, Thursday. Having not gotten nearly enough done on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was once more out to get some horses done. I tried to schedule more of a half day than a full one, so that I'd have time to get stuff together. Ha. Keep dreaming! We didn't get done until 3pm. Later than I'd hoped, but not too late.



After dropping off my assistant, I headed on out to get some grocery shopping done for the ride. I also needed to replace the charger for the rechargeable air pump. Since I like to sleep off the ground, this was really important to me. I needed to go to Radio Shack to accomplish this task. There are no Radio Shacks particularly close by. The nearest one is something to the tune of 25 miles or more from home. But still, I headed out and took my air pump in to get the new charger. When I walked in, a couple was in the process was purchasing a new cell phone. Fabulous. That's one of those transactions that take forever. I wandered around the store, air pump in hand, checking out what else they had. I ended up picking up a miniature pocket weather station (it's so cute) and a book light (now that I'm home, I see the old one, right in plain sight, that I thought I'd lost). I was still wandering around the store a good twenty minutes later when another employee came out from the back and helped me find the right charger. Then I was stuck still waiting for the cell phone purchase to be finished! Finally, after I was in the store for close to forty-five minutes, the second employee sort of pushed the other fellow out of the way, rang me up, and sent me on my way.



I got home near dark. I got the horses fed, but the pasture didn't get cleaned. I haven't cleaned it since Tuesday. This means I will have to clean it tomorrow morning before I leave. But, I did get some stuff done in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I got my bag packed. I got the truck cleaned out, which was interesting. I suppose someday I may need ten ratchet tie downs all at once. All I need to do in the morning is get Hoss's food together, hook up the trailer, and get the heck out of here. We'll have to stop for a few more groceries for me and gas for the truck, but with any luck at all, we'll be out by 10am. And now, my bitchfest is over!

Phoenix does a Ride and Tie!

Last weekend, my retired endurance horse, Phoenix, got his chance to shine in a new sport. He got to do a ride and tie!



For those who don't know what ride and tie is, it's two people and one horse. One person sets out on foot (typically running/jogging) while the other sets out on the horse. At some point, the person on the horse gets off, ties the horse, and takes off on foot. The person who initially started out on foot catches up to the horse, unties it and gets on. The horse and its new rider pass the first rider, and at some time the second rider gets off and ties and the process is repeated. There's typically a vet check in the middle, often more than one.



The series of events that led up to this opportunity were somewhat interesting. A young lady I know from church, Wendy, had decided she wanted to try the sport. She had found a partner, Michael, who had done ride and tie before but hadn't it a good decade. They found a horse to borrow. They tried it out. Then, the day before they were leaving for the event, the owner decided not to let them use the horse.



On Thursday night, therefore, Wendy called and asked if Phoenix was still available. I had told her the day she was to try out the other horse that I had one I'd be willing to let them use if the one they were looking at didn't work out. I said, of course, you can use him. Just let me know where and when to bring the horse. I even said I'd crew for them.



I spoke with Michael and we got the particulars straightened out. Phoenix needed to be at Los Vaqueros camp in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park on Friday afternoon.



So, Friday morning, I loaded Hoss for a quick buzz around Hollenbeck Canyon. I knew I needed to get Phoenix up to the ride, so we went pretty quick and I didn't do anything interesting. I also knew that I was low on gas, so I planned to stop at the Perkins Market on the way up to get a few gallons.



After riding, I got back home, unloaded and bathed Hoss, and started getting everything together for Phoenix. Got him some food, hay, blanket, made sure all his tack was there. Then I got Phoenix and loaded him up. He sure seemed to know something was up. When I got his halter, he was watching me intently, and came walking up to get loaded. Most days, he plays games with me when it's his turn to get out.



On the way up, I forgot to stop at Perkins. Oops. Oh, well. I figured I'd stop on the way back down. So I proceeded on up to Oakzanita Ranch, where I stopped to lunge Phoenix, having decided that Wendy and Michael didn't need to ride him quite that fresh. After lunging, I reloaded and we headed on up the hill.



But we didn't get far. We couldn't have driven more than a mile or so when the truck just quit. None of that sputtering or anything. It just was done. I got no warning whatsoever. Fortunately, it quit just as we topped the rise before the West Mesa parking area, meaning I was able to coast it over to the side of the road and park it safely.



Well. This was not a fun development! I tried my cell phone, only to find I had no service. It was getting on toward 4pm at this point. I realized we were close to the access road that goes by Oakzanita Ranch. So I took Phoenix back out of the trailer and threw his saddle and bridle on, and rode him at a pretty good clip back to Oakzanita.



Once at Oakzanita, I called my husband. My husband promptly left from the house with a gas can to bring me a couple of gallons. I called Michael and let him know what was going on. Our plan had been for him to ride Phoenix a little bit when I got him up there, but this was getting farther and farther from being a possibility.

After about an hour, my husband made it up to the truck and we put two gallons in the truck. We continued on up the road and delivered Phoenix safely into Michael's care. On the way back down, I definitely did not forget to get gas!



On Saturday morning, I headed back up to crew for Wendy and Michael. I also needed to be there to tack Phoenix up. They wouldn't have had much luck with the little creep, I'm afraid. He was all excited about this new adventure! But they did brush him out and pick out his feet. Once he was saddled, Wendy and Michael took a turn at riding Phoenix. Having never ridden him before, they needed a little instruction in his peculiarities. Wendy was instantly impressed with how responsive and quiet he is. Not that he couldn't have behaved better. I was actually a little embarrassed by how he was behaving. Still, he was pretty obedient and responsive to cues.



Most ride and ties allow a "hand tie" in the first mile of the ride. This simply means that a crew person meets the horse on the trail and holds it while waiting for the runner. I was supposed to go out and perform this function for Wendy and Michael. Trouble is, I got led astray and walked nearly a mile in the wrong direction before I (and the person who led me astray) realized I had gone the wrong way! Well. By that point, there's not a chance in the world I'm beating them to the hand tie point. So I found Michael's wife and daughters and we headed down to the vet check point.



It was a cold, rainy, windy morning. It was cold enough I was a little worried that Phoenix wouldn't be warm enough on the trail. Fortunately I needn't have worried. Wendy came trotting in to the vet check on Phoenix, who looked like he hadn't gone a mile, much less seven! He pulsed in to the vet check at 48 bpm! For ride and tie, criteria is set at 72.



Michael came in on foot a few minutes later. Since it was Phoenix's first ride and tie, they didn't want to tie him and leave him where one of them couldn't see him, just in case he got loose. Michael asked me if I thought they were overriding Phoenix. I assured him that, no, they weren't overriding him. Indeed, he looked a little under ridden!



Once through the vet check, Wendy set out on foot, and Michael rode off on Phoenix. Michael's family and I headed back to the camp to wait for the finish. I sat in my truck and read my book. There's very little more boring than crewing for somebody who's out on the trail!



The team came in some time later, Michael aboard Phoenix, and Wendy afoot. The girls and I applauded them in. They finished in third place!



Both Wendy and Michael were very grateful to get to use Phoenix. By the fourth tie, Phoenix had figured out what was going on, and it was pretty clear by the time they got done that he enjoyed himself thoroughly. Phoenix was good throughout the ride, although it sounds like he could use a little more patience with being mounted on the trail.



I must once again give Beth Smith, my trainer, her proper due.  Phoenix has spent the better part of the last nine months doing a whole lot of nothin'.  And yet, he went out and did fifteen miles with a pair of perfect strangers in a completely new sport on a day of crappy weather and didn't look like he'd done a damn thing.  He can do this, and do this well, because of the training and conditioning that Beth put on him lo those many years ago.  The training has served Phoenix well over the years, allowing him to participate in many activities.  And the conditioning has served him better.  Nothing else can explain doing pretty much nothing for nine months, then going out and zipping out 15 miles and looking like he's done nothing.
Phoenix is officially a ride and tie horse!