Conditioning Ride 5-30-2011

Miles: 9.75

Moving Average: 3.1mph

Finally! After a ridiculously busy and unreal week, I got back on my horse. We went to the steel bridge on Memorial Day. Seeing as we still don't have hind boots, I didn't bother taking heart rate data. This was destined to be a strictly walking trail ride.

It being Memorial Day, the place was packed. I had to park in an unusual place. Normally I back down along the side of the parking area, but there were too many cars. No way was I getting my trailer in there. I parked just outside the parking area, along the road, and put my passenger side tires as far off the road as I could. I was able to leave enough room for Hoss to stand next to the trailer on the passenger side. I certainly did not want him to stand on the road side of the trailer!

Tacked up and ready to go, we headed on down the trail. Hoss wanted to go fast, but I held him back. The odds were, he was gonna be too sore to do much speed work, and that wasn't the point of the ride anyway.

While we were headed up the switchbacks, we passed a man on foot. This was fine. Except for Jazz. Jazz was convinced he was an evil, eeeeviiil human being. She barked at him and refused to walk by. I asked him to turn his back on her, but he evidently didn't understand what I was asking him to do. He even tried the old bend over and call the dog trick, which never really works in situations like this. I finally turned Hoss around on that narrow trail and rode him back far enough to be between the man and Jazz. I dismounted and called her, and was able to lead her past the guy. The trail was narrow, so getting back on was very difficult. I had to get on the high side of the horse to get back on, which in this case turned out to be the opposite side I usually mount on.

We continued on down the trail. For the most part, Hoss did okay. There were moments when he just stopped and didn't want to try to pick his way over the rocks. After a little cajoling, he would keep going. I let him stay pretty slow, knowing it couldn't possibly be the most comfortable task.

While walking along the long flat road, I noticed something odd. I recognized it. It was our Easyboot! Someone had found it and hung it on the fence. Either they'd recognized it for what it was, or they thought it must be something important. Either way, they put it somewhere it couldn't be missed. I dismounted and fetched it. I was beyond pleased. Hoss could walk as slow as he wanted to now. We got our spare tire back.

When we arrived at the gazebo, there was a bicyclist sitting on the picnic table people and bird watching while drinking one of those really tall beers. I don't know how he got it up there without shaking it up too much to open safely. I dismounted to let Hoss rest and check his feet. His feet looked good, despite him telling me otherwise. While I was off, the guy sitting there started chatting at me. Nice enough fellow, but he did seem slightly creepy. I felt safe enough, though, with Team Fluffy between me and him!

We headed back off on the trail, turning back toward the trailer. Hoss was particularly feeling the rocky conditions. I'm beginning to marvel that he did so well without pads! It does make me wonder about the state of my sanity. I keep reminding myself I have to give this a full year in order to truly give it a chance. When Hoss has boots on, he's fine. They work just as well for addressing his foot soreness as nailing on shoes would. So I really have to give it a true test.

After we crossed the river back to the grey road, Hoss really wanted to pick it up. The grey road, interestingly enough, has few rocks. It's hard, but it doesn't give Hoss the problems the more rock-strewn sections do. I kicked Hoss up, and we had a good little gallop to the top of the hill. He still wanted to move out a bit, so I let him trot uphill and on the flat parts. The downhills are far too steep.

We crossed the bridge without complication, the first time he simply stepped on to the bridge and walked over it. We made our way back to the trailer without further incident. There were plenty of dogs on the trail, and I found myself calling Jazz several times to keep her moving along with me.

The next day, Hoss was showing a little footsore on our morning walk. I am very grateful to have our Easyboot back. I'll be able to use boots on him between now and getting a pair of hind boots. Or nailing on a pair of hind shoes for Descanso in less than three weeks!