Conditioning Ride 4-30-11

Hoss and I and Team Fluffy headed out to the Steel Bridge today for a little change of scenery and more of a challenge. Since this area is rather abrasive and rocky, I trimmed Hoss's feet and put his boots on his fronts. I haven't done anything about getting him boots for his hinds yet, but that is in the works.

Not long ago, a client asked why I don't just shoe Hoss. Well, I think I've figured it out. I'm LAZY! It's been two months since I've done more than pick his feet out, and I don't even do that very often. Today was the first time I trimmed them since Eastern Mojave. Just thinking about setting up the truck to shoe my own horse wears me out. So we'll boot instead. Since he really is pretty comfortable in most situations barefoot, this works out just fine.

I wanted this to be a somewhat faster ride, but I knew it would be more of a challenge with only front boots on. I know from experience Hoss's hind feet are just as sensitive as – if not more than – his front feet.

While brushing Hoss, I found several ticks from our last ride. I went over him carefully, idly wishing I had a flea comb. The little blood-suckers are so tiny right now, I can't see them unless they create a swelling on Hoss's skin. I ran my fingers over every inch of skin, hoping to find them all.

I got Hoss all saddled up and ready to go, started to put my foot in the stirrup, and my phone started to ring. It was my husband. Well, can't ignore that. Unfortunately, he has absolutely impeccable timing. He almost always calls me when I don't have time to talk. He's called me while I'm driving in an area where I'll have to stop in order to talk to him. He'll call me and I'll be in the middle of shoeing some uncooperative, impatient horse I can't just leave waiting while I talk. He's even awakened me out of a dead sleep. So I took a moment to talk to him. Once we got past the important stuff, I told him I was getting ready to head out on Hoss. We said goodbye and I got on the horse.

I settled myself in the saddle, and oh yeah, that last ride? Oh my goodness, the butt calluses are not back yet. I am saddle sore! I'm really feeling it now. It's not horrible. I will get past this.

Hoss was happy to have yet another change of scenery. We crossed the bridge and headed out on the trails. Hoss was feeling good, and was stepping out nicely. Once we crossed the stream, we headed out at a trot, until we reached the banks of the river, where there's more rocks and the ground can be a little uncertain. I have had a horse's foot fall through the top crust of the trail and drop several inches. It is not a good feeling, and not something I want to experience at a speed more than a walk.

Once across the rocky areas, we headed up the switchbacks. Most of this area is untrottable. It's just too rocky, too steep, or too hairball. Hoss knows the area well, so he knows when he can trot and when he can't.

I noticed that Hoss was tripping a lot on his left hind foot. I suspect there's a reason it's more sensitive than the other, either that or his natural "handedness" lends itself to him noticing more on his left hind than his right hind. When I trimmed him, I noticed a suspicious spot on his frog, but it turned out to be nothing. He's also got quite a bit of wall separation in his quarters on that foot. It could be creating a situation where, because the wall is weak and he doesn't have as much to spread the weight around on, the foot is more sensitive than it otherwise would be.

There is a rock face that must be negotiated on this trail. While in shoes, Hoss, learned he'd better stay on the left side of it, where there's more dirt. The time he tried to climb the rock face straight over the middle in shoes, he slipped quite a bit. Knowing he was no longer in shoes, and has better traction, especially with his bare hind feet, I tried to direct him up the middle. He wasn't having it. He knew what happens if he goes up that way! I'm really going to have to work on him going the way I tell him to. This situation did not lend itself to a lesson. I couldn't turn him around and try again. I am not going back down that particular obstacle!

Once we got to the flat area, I pushed Hoss up to a trot. It was rough going. Where there were loose rocks, he needed to slow down, tripping on that left hind foot. I was beginning to think he maybe had more of a problem than I had originally thought.

Most of the rest of the trail is like this, with loose rock on the surface making it difficult to work at any kind of speed. We did what we could, trotting any time it was clear enough to do so, even if it was only three or four strides. I have been to endurance rides where the trail conditions are such that you can trot about 20 paces, then walk about 20 paces, then trot about 20 paces, and so on. The lesson is, you trot or canter absolutely as much as possible, only walking when forced to do so.

Some parts of the trail along the fence line between the trail and the Sweetwater Reservoir are in good enough condition to trot, so when we were in those areas, I'd ask Hoss to trot. He really prefers to trot everywhere he goes, if he can, so I don't usually feel like he's sandbagging me if he doesn't want to trot. Of course, when we were first coming off the layoff, he was certainly less able to get going as well as I'm used to, but it's pretty clear he's gotten most of that lost condition back.

Hoss has a snack at the gazebo

When we reached the gazebo, we all stopped for a rest. At some point on the climb up the hill, Hoss had popped off his left front shoe, and it was hanging by its gaiter on his pastern. I hopped off and reapplied it, checking its mate while I was at it. I let everybody have about five minutes to rest, then got back on and we were on our way. I am happy to say that I can, once again, mount from the ground without difficulty.

View from gazebo, up the trail back

The trail back down doesn't have many good spots to trot through. It's pretty exclusively a walking trail. Usually we run up a short section of hill, and this was the one place I noticed Hoss's loss of condition is still limiting him. This is a hill that has always been a challenge for him. It is not long, but it is steep. This day, I discovered a hive of bees has set up shop right along the trail. That's not my favorite idea, to ride through bees. So I asked Hoss to pick it up, and it really felt like he couldn't. It seemed to be a combination of loss of condition and lack of hind hoof protection. Once we got over the steepest part and the trail started to level out, he was able to pick up the trot for a little while.

We headed back through the flat area, trotting as often as possible. We got back to the river crossing, and headed down to cross.

If ever there was a moment I wanted to be able to not cross the water, this was it. The river was deep! The last time I tried to cross the river like this, my horse unexpectedly lost four inches of height halfway across. It made me very nervous. However, I really felt crossing was safer than trying to negotiate the trails we had come up. Hoping we weren't in for a huge adventure, and trusting the dogs were strong enough to make the swim, we headed into the river.

It turns out that time – or trail work parties; it could be that -- has been kind to this crossing. Rather than trying to negotiate around fallen branches, rocks, and finding a deep rill in the river, we crossed a relatively flat, even area. It got deep enough to nearly dunk my feet, and the dogs were definitely swimming, but it was surely safer than the last time we were through it.

Once we successfully crossed, Hoss started tossing his head in anticipation. He wanted to run! We typically have ourselves a nice gallop on the access road at this point. We got up to the road, and I gave Hoss his head and a light kick. He took off! Boy, was he happy to have a run.

Somewhat short of where we would typically slow down, Hoss started to back off. Thinking he was starting to feel his workout, I pushed him just a little bit, wanting to get him up to the top of the hill. Once we got there, I started to notice the sound of one of his feet wasn't right. I looked down, and sure enough, that left front boot was flapping around on his pastern again. I got off and fixed it again, feeling a little uneasy. He hadn't lost a well-fit boot before, and now he lost the same one twice in a single ride.

Wooden bridge

Crossing the wooden bridge and heading back was uneventful until we got back to the stream crossing. Coming the other direction, we must enter the water, then power up a short, steep bank. There's nothing to be done to improve the embankment; it suffers every year from some erosion, and it's just a matter of negotiating it in the best manner possible. Coming into it from the bridge is easy. Coming back at it, down that steep embankment, is a different story.

Trail back after crossing bridge

Some wise person has placed pallets across the water to create a foot bridge. It's really only suitable for human traffic. If Hoss stepped on it, he'd find himself wearing a lovely pallet anklet, and I doubt he'd be happy about it. Since the wooden bridge went in, Hoss has discovered crossing bridges. It makes things easier! He looked down and said, "Hey, a bridge!" I said, no, that won't work, you have to go under the tree. The tree, however, has dropped enough that it's in my face, ready to swipe me right off my horse's back. Hoss has figured out this whole plants-too-low-for-Mom thing. He knew I wouldn't be able to go under it. Since I wasn't leaning forward to go under, he figured I couldn't go that way, so he wanted to cross the bridge. After several attempts, I realized the only way he was going under that tree was if I hugged his neck.

The embankment is really steep. Hugging my horse's neck under these conditions felt more like I was deliberately trying to do a somersault over his shoulder. Once he felt me wrap my arms around him, though, Hoss headed quietly and appropriately down the embankment and crossed the water. I was very proud of him, and made sure he knew it.

We did just over 9 miles, averaging 3.7 mph.


Once we reached the trailer, I gave him an extra pat before dismounting and unsaddling him. When I pulled his saddle pad, I was horrified to discover that, despite my meticulous grooming, there were yet more ticks I'd missed! The sweat-soaked hair under his saddle pad revealed a good dozen of the little nasties. I brushed him and pulled off all the ticks I could find, then sprayed him wet with fly spray. I'd've dunked him in a tank of fly spray if it were possible. We loaded up and headed for home – after hitting the grocery store and the gas station.

The next day, I gave Hoss a bath. I found even more ticks, fortunately very few that had managed to actually bite. The bath seems to have done the trick. I haven't found any more ticks since.