Conditioning Ride 8-31-2011

HRR: 56

HR10Min: 40

Distance: 8 miles

Avg Spd: 4.7mph

Time: 2 hours

The past few days have been a bit of a trial. On Saturday, coming home from camping with some friends from church, I struck and killed a mastiff on the road. She was a very large dog out in the pitch black dark. I didn't have a chance to avoid her. By the time I saw her, I hardly had time to get my foot off the accelerator, much less brake. The dog was taking up the entire center of the lane, so there was simply no way I was getting around her. The long and the short of it is, with less than two weeks to my next ride, my truck needs a new front bumper. I can't just leave it. It's really badly crushed in, and it could cause my transmission cooler not to operate properly. So my challenge is to get it fixed before I have to leave next week.

Definitely did not come out of that unscathed

For the dogs, the heat is much harder. All three are varying shades of black. This is where I rant a bit about the shaving of long haired dogs. All three of these dogs have different fur coats. Jazz has a long coat. She needs more care than a short haired dog, but her coat really is quite nice now that it's grown out completely (she arrived shaved down). Ash has a thickish short coat. His coat isn't super short, the hairs being about an inch to an inch and a half long. Mac has a super short coat. His hairs are less than an inch long. When we go out in the heat, you might imagine Mac does the best, but in fact he is the most negatively affected of the three. He spends the most time hiding out in the shade, and he pants hardest and longest. It's mostly for him I have to take long breaks in the shade so he can cool off. Jazz is the least affected. Of the three, she recovers the fastest. The lesson here is, just because a dog has a long coat, doesn't mean it's hot. That hair serves a purpose, specifically to insulate the dog. Leave it alone!

Okay, back to riding. I had originally planned to head out to the steel bridge for this ride, but it turned out my son needed to get down the mountain to go to work, and since our other car is in the shop, he needed my truck. So I had to do a slightly shorter ride. In addition, to ride at the bridge, he really needs hoof protection. I ordered him a pair of hind boots, but they sent the wrong size. Now I'm going to have to nail on shoes for our ride. This close to the ride, I don't want to ride him at the bridge without hoof protection. I didn't have time to shoe him before we left.

Hollenbeck makes a nice place to ride, although I will admit to being a bit bored with it. Predictability has something to be said for it. At least I know for sure how quickly we can get through a ride here!

Before we got to the "real" part of the trail, we passed through the grove of oak trees. Yet another has fallen. These trees burned in 2007 and have been dying ever since. Once again the trail is blocked, but we were able to get by without trouble.

I should mention I've started riding with spurs. At our last lesson, Beth had me start using them. It's important to note they're not torture devices. I'm not talking about those huge roweled spurs with the spikes on them. These are blunt ended spurs, although I did order a pair of slightly less aggressive ones like the ones Beth had me use. The real purpose of spurs is to increase the reach of the rider's heel, and allow the rider to use a lighter touch to deliver a cue. The problem I'd been having was using just the crop was not getting Hoss to move appropriately. The spurs allow me to deliver a correction or cue in a more appropriate place and get more correct movement.

We got out with a good trot and making good time when I heard a coyote bark. I called the dogs to me and kept up a good pace, then Mac shot up the hill after the coyote somewhere. Jazz wasn't far behind him. The last time I needed to go after a dog, I couldn't get Hoss to go off the trail to go after the dogs. This time, with the spurs and improved leg positioning, I was able to turn him up off the trail with little difficulty, and he trotted across the grasslands easily enough. I was able to get the dogs back and off the trail of the coyote. We resumed our ride with the sound of the coyote barking and trying to get the dogs to come back. It gave up after we'd gotten half a mile or so away.

There's a coyote hiding on that hill!

After we ran up the hill, the dogs were really hot, and Mac in particular needed a rest. Mac and Jazz had gotten ahead and were laying in the shade cooling off. I let Hoss stop and we gave the dogs five minutes to cool off. This allowed them to reenergize a bit and we were able to set off again.

Mac and Jazz take the opportunity to rest in the shade

We got to the shady area with some water, and had another five minute rest before pushing one. From this point on was where we made the majority of our speed. I didn't let up on speed any more than absolutely necessary. We got some good cantering in on the flat part, and trotted most of the rest of the way in. We stopped at the old water trough and let the dogs cool off for a few minutes before heading more slowly in.

Mac heading toward the end of the trail

After untacking and taking my statistics, I loaded Hoss up and we drove home. We arrived home just in time to unhook the trailer and let my son head off for work. I gave Hoss a nice bath before putting him away and giving him dinner. It's been far too long since Hoss had a bath with real soap. He sure seemed to enjoy it!


 

A Lesson and a Gymkhana

So far I'm doing pretty well on my resolution to take regular lessons. I've made two weeks in a row! I think that may be some kind of record for me. It works out very well. I hook up the trailer and take Hoss to the ranch where Beth now has her business, he hangs out while I do any farrier work Beth needs done, and we take our lesson. The major benefit of this routine for me is I don't have to make separate trips to this ranch in order to work there. I'm just there nearly every Friday. I chose Friday because it's the most common day of the week that I have consistently off. I've come to make a habit of not scheduling work for Fridays, since I hate to reschedule stuff. Fridays are a bad day, since I have to leave for endurance rides on Fridays. Since it's Beth, though, I know that skipping a week due to leaving for rides won't be a big deal, and since I'll be there most weeks, none of the horses she needs seen by me will go without appropriate care.

This week we built on the work we did last week on my riding position. Now we added in getting my legs to move. My big obstacle is still my feet and ankles. I simply have one heck of a time getting them to move! I tend to hold them stiff and stationary, which isn't conducive to good riding. I need my legs from my knees down to swing freely, and my feet to stay heels down. This means I must flex my ankles. As my leg swings back, I can't let my foot stay in the same position, I must push my heels down and draw my toes up. For me, this is very difficult. I did get my left leg doing it fairly easily, although I suffered a hamstring failure and had to pause to stretch the cramp out of it. Interestingly, I used a visualization from my spin class to get my leg moving correctly. The spin instructor tells us to imagine our feet sweeping the floor on the downstroke. Using this image, I was able to get my foot moving more correctly, at least on the left. My right leg, however, was much, much more difficult. Beth told me it looked like I was a jerky robot when I tried to move my right leg. And wow, did it hurt to do it! I had cramps in places I didn't know I had muscles. I did get one compliment. Beth said I was having trouble communicating with my ankles and feet, which is a huge improvement over the trouble I had communicating with anything from my hips down!

On Sunday, I hauled Hoss out to our local gymkhana. My daughter joined me, and we took turns riding Hoss. We're (thankfully) in different divisions now, as she beat my time on my own horse every time.

It was a really hot day – although cooler at the arena than at home – so I filled Hoss's travel bucket with water and set up his hay bag and we let him rest between events. They started with the 40 and overs this time, then the 13-39 age group, so it went pretty fast and we were able to take Hoss to the trailer and take him back to the arena when the arena crew started changing over to the next event. He drank very well and ate like, well, a horse.

In barrels, we did pretty well, except I got ahead of myself and turned Hoss before we even got to the first barrel. This confused him mightily, and he looked askance at the rest of the barrels. My daughter did much better. Although they trotted around the barrels, they managed to canter up to them, something I didn't manage to do.

The next event was called the Big M. Basically the barrels are set up in an opposite manner to regular barrels, and you run around them to form a big "M." It was interesting because it meant the horses would be headed "toward home" when they were approaching the second barrel, and many of the horses felt sure this meant they were done and tried to run out. Hoss handled this one pretty well all things considered, and when he did it with my daughter, again, they did better.

The third event was speed barrels. This is three barrels set up in a line, and you simply weave through them up and back. Hoss was a bit of a stinker in this event. He tried to run out on me, and my daughter had to keep him to a trot because he was trying to bolt with her.

The last event was speed ball, in which you ride down to a traffic cone on an old egg crate, drop a golf ball into the traffic cone, and ride back out. This is not as easy as it sounds. By this time, the horses are all pretty hopped up – at least, mine was – and you need the horse to stop long enough to let you put that ball in the cone. The horse is pretty sure the cone is hiding something and doesn't want to get close to it. Of course, the rider is concentrating on the cone, which convinces the horse he's right about its nefarious intentions. I got Hoss to stop long enough for me to get the ball in – a first for us in this event. My daughter's description of how she got Hoss to stop long enough to drop her ball in. As they approached the cone, she started asking him, "What's that, Hoss?" This caused Hoss to say, "What? You don't know what it is? I don't know what it is. How come you don't know what it is?" This resulted in Hoss stopping and sniffing the cone – he had, after all, already seen it once and nothing had happened other than me being happy I got the stupid ball in the stupid cone – which gave my daughter the time she needed to drop her ball in and ride him back.

The gymkhana was over by noon. I hauled Hoss home and gave him a good rinsing off before returning him to his pasture. I got rather a lot of napping done that Sunday afternoon. It had been a long week, and I needed the sleep.

That Whole Get Fit/Lose Weight Thing

This week, before my group cycling class, I hopped on the scale at the YMCA. I haven't lost any weight. None. In fact, the weight I gained while I was recovering from surgery has failed to come off, something I was assured would happen in no time. To add insult to injury, in the five weeks or so since I have been back to exercising regularly, I've had to loosen my belt a notch.

There is really no obvious reason for this. I'm eating right. I've eliminated processed foods. I'm eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Unless the calorie calculations are seriously off, I'm consuming far fewer calories than I'm burning. I'm exercising enough for two people. In fact, this week, between the horseshoes I had to build and all the exercises, I ended up having a "crash day," during which I camped out on my recliner, watched TV, and napped a whole lot.

My exercise routine goes as follows;

Mondays: 3 mile mountain bike, ½ hour work out video, 20 minutes yoga

Tuesdays: Spin class at the Y, 20 minutes yoga

Wednesdays: 3 mile mountain bike, ½ hour work out video, 20 minutes yoga

Thursdays: ½ hour work out video, 20 minutes yoga

Fridays: 3 mile mountain bike, 1 hour TurboKick at the Y, 1 hour horse riding lesson, 20 minutes yoga

Saturdays: ½ hour work out video, 20 minutes yoga

Sundays: ½ hour work out video, 20 minutes yoga

This is beyond my regular work schedule and riding Hoss two or three times a week. So, yeah, I'm burning a lot of calories. Sure I occasionally skip a day here and there. Mostly that happens when I've had a very long ride or done a lot of work. The day I bucked 20 bales of hay out of my trailer I skipped the working out on the theory that stacking that much hay counted. Theoretically, based on my calorie counting program, I should be losing a minimum of a pound a week. That's at minimum. And yet, nothing has changed, except in rather the wrong direction.

Of course I'm frustrated. It's enough to make me want to throw up my hands and give up. What keeps me going is I am noticing an improvement in my overall fitness. Besides, the dogs have gotten attached to those mountain bike rides and they won't let me give it up. I'm finding the dogs make great motivators. It's very difficult to convince them to wait another day because I'm too tired. Their enthusiasm is infectious, too, getting me off my butt to be with them and share in their energy.

It seems like every time I turn around, there's some new weight loss "miracle" out there. Whether it's a supplement or a diet plan or an exercise video, it comes with some promise to help you lose an "average" of so much weight. Of course, they always show the people who've had huge transformation, with fine print saying "results not typical." All of which tells me there's no miracle.

For most people simply eating less and moving more will result in weight loss. Some people can just change their diet – cutting out fried foods, for instance, or eliminating sugar – and the pounds slide off. Others just add exercise with the same results. Not so me. No amount of perpetual motion or starvation or combination thereof seems to make the least bit of difference.

There must be more going on here than the simple algebra of calories in/calories out. I have an appointment with my doctor next month, and I plan to bring this up in the hopes of pursuing an answer.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Conditioning Ride 8-20-2011

Miles: Approx. 19

Avg spd: 4mph

Time: Approx. 4 hours, 50 min

HRR: 72

HR10Min: 56

I took Hoss back up to Cuyamaca for this ride, and we accomplished the ride I'd set out to do last week. Hoss was more willing this week than he was the last time we tried this.

There were quite a few other riders parked at Sweetwater parking when we got there. While we saddled up, several left ahead of us, and several more arrived back from their rides. We got there about 11am, and hit the trail right around 11:30.

I've taken up wearing tank tops for working out and riding. Years ago I stopped wearing them when I discovered they don't work very well while shoeing horses. Specifically, there's nothing between my shoulder and the side of the horse, resulting in getting horse hair clinging to my sweat, and there's nothing to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. So I went back to wearing t-shirts and over time stopped wearing tanks except as sleep shirts. The result of this is, I'm being very careful to use sunscreen. My shoulders and back haven't seen sunlight in a lot of years.

We headed out up Harvey Moore trail and turned off on East Side trail. I tried throughout the ride to use the techniques I had learned in the previous day's lesson. This was a little harder than I expected. The seat of my endurance saddle, while very well suited to my body shape, is different from the dressage saddle I'd taken the lesson in. I'm probably going to have to take a few lessons in the endurance saddle, too, so that I can transfer the techniques from saddle to saddle more easily.

I got Hoss trotting pretty easily. The improvement in my seat position has made it easier for him to move out appropriately. We headed on up the Lower Descanso trail and trotted every possible step. We hit the East Mesa Fire road at a good clip and kept trotting pretty happily along.

We did slow down for the rocky sections, but for the most part Hoss was happy to keep up a good trot. This is a section of trail he's not terribly thrilled about. If he had his 'druthers, I think he'd never have to go up it. On this ride, however, he gave me much less "lip" about keeping up his pace.

We hit the connector to the Harvey Moore trail and started on our way back down. I kept Hoss going at a trot everywhere it was practical. He was happy enough to slow down, though, when the trail became to treacherous for trotting.

When we got to Dyar Springs trail, I indicated to Hoss we were turning. He ignored me. I had to drag his head around and boot him down the trail. He knows perfectly well Harvey Moore goes straight back to the Sweetwater Parking where the trailer was. If he had his way, he'd go that way and skip Dyar Springs. I wanted to get in the miles, and I knew we needed to approach and deal with the water crossings he'd given me a problem about last week.

Once we were on Dyar Springs, Hoss gave in to the inevitable and took up a trot. I suppose he's figured out if he trots, we get done sooner. This time when we got to the water, he didn't plant is feet. He did stop and think about refusing, but I waved my whip at him and he crossed. He didn't cross right where he was supposed to, opting for a wider section – go figure – that it appears others have used before him.

The second water crossing proved even less of an issue. After a moment's hesitation, Hoss stepped through it and got his deserved praise.

This time, when we reached the connector to Juaquapin trail, we took that. Last time we'd continued on Dyar Springs, and I wasn't happy with the condition of that trail approached from that direction. Juaquapin is a better trail, and I'm glad we went that way instead, even if it is a bit shorter. After Juaquapin, we came back to the East Side trail, and rode on back to Sweetwater Parking.

Much to Hoss's disappointment, we didn't go back to the trailer and call it a day. Instead, we rode down under the bridge, where he got a good drink while I admired some small fish living in that part of the stream. Now I know what the man and his son I saw at the parking area were gonna do with the fishing rods they had. I expect they were fishing for these small fish as bait.

After Hoss got a good drink, we crossed the river and continued on our way to the West Side trail. I let Hoss walk some time to let the bellyful of water he'd just taken on settle before we started trotting again. Once I felt he'd had enough time, we picked up the trot and continued on our way.

The West Side trail has a couple of interesting spots. There is a rock formation that is almost stair-like Hoss must negotiate. He's getting better at it, although I still have to correct him from time to time. He is convinced the flatter side will be easier, not realizing the rock face next to it will scrape me off at best, and scrape his side off at worst. A bit farther from that, he has to take a pretty high step up and immediately make a nearly 180 degree turn. It's a nice challenge to keep his brain working.

I can't remember the name of the wide trail (possibly a fire road) we took next. We trotted up much of it, and then I realized I'd meant to reapply sunscreen when we'd hit the river. Hoss was more than happy to stop and let me apply it. He was somewhat disappointed when I was done and told him to get going again!

We hit the steeper South Boundary Fire road and continued on our way. I let him walk on this section. We were going over pretty rocky territory, and he was doing the entire thing barefoot. I hadn't even brought his boots along. This section of fire road is steep and rocky, so walking is a reasonable choice.

We had to cross the river again, and it was pretty deep here. Hoss took another good drink then proceeded to cross. I'm not sure what exactly cause him to feel suddenly threatened, it certainly didn't feel to me like he'd suddenly hit a deep hole, but Hoss jerked himself sideways, splashing water everywhere and soaking me pretty well. I got him calmed back down and urged him back through the river. He was more hesitant, and for the life of me I can't figure out what he was staring at, but I managed to guide him through without further incident.

We took the Sweetwater Trail, and Hoss picked up a nice trot on most of this trail. It clearly occurred to him this was familiar territory. I think he was hoping the trailer had magically moved itself to the Merigan Parking area. When we got to Merigan Fire Road, though, I turned him the "wrong" way, and the wind sort of left his sails.

It was tougher to keep Hoss going on Merigan Fire Road. Much of it is rocky anyway, but even in the good parts, he seemed to have decided he was done and was sulking. Every time I shifted position in the saddle, he would stop or try to stop, deciding I must mean to get off or something. It took a while, but we made it to the Blue Ribbon trail, where there was another stream crossing at which he took a drink, and perked up a bit afterwards. I think he realized we were on our way back to the trailer.

A good portion of Blue Ribbon is reasonable to trot over, so we made pretty good time back to South Boundary Fire road. South Boundary, though, is rather rocky. I allowed Hoss to walk over this.

About this time I was really beginning to feel my legs. At some point during the ride, I realized not only was I using my new riding position consistently, I couldn't figure out how to get my old, wrong, and more comfortable position back! The outsides of my hips and my inner thighs were beginning to scream at me. The outside of my right calf was starting to feel crampy. A spot in my left low back was really locked up. Lovely. I think this is also why Hoss was feeling this ride more than usual. My improved position, held fairly consistently for so many miles, was forcing him to work in a more correct manner than he's used to. He was getting muscle sore, too!

We crossed the highway back to East Side trail and cut back toward Sweetwater Parking, Finally! The last I'd looked at the GPS, we'd gone about 15 miles. Now we were almost done, with just about three miles to go. We again trotted as much as we could, and walked in the last mile or so.

When I went to get off at the trailer, I found I had begun to suffer leg death. I wound up worming my right foot up along Hoss's side, over his rump, and levering myself out of the saddle. I'm very glad no other equestrians were around to witness this bit of dismounting hilarity.

I suspect Hoss's high heart rate when we returned was due to needing to pee. I don't know why, but he simply refused to urinate until he got in the trailer (gee, thanks). His heart rate still came down pretty nicely, certainly not so slowly he would have been disqualified at a ride, so I'm not worried about it. The refusal to pee, though, I'm not so happy about! I expect if I'd kept him out of the trailer long enough he would have given in and peed, but I really wanted to get the heck home at that point.

Later in the evening, I discovered I had somehow managed to apply my sunscreen unevenly. I am sporting a sunburn on a small patch of skin on the back of my right shoulder. I guess I need to work on my spray-on sunscreen technique!

Conditioning Ride 8-19-2011

Miles: 7.8

Avg Spd: 4.5mph

Time: 1 hour, 54 min

HRR: 56

HR10Min: 40

Despite the heat (upper 90s/low 100s), I decided to take Hoss and Team Fluffy out to Hollenbeck Canyon for a good bit of exercise. Hoss and I had a lesson scheduled for the afternoon, so I wanted to get him out and let him get some energy out. The dogs, too, were in need of some energy-draining. I haven't been keeping up nearly so well on their exercise this week as I really need to.

Hoss was in a good mood and wanting to get moving right away. I contained him for the obligatory half mile warm up before we turned into the main trails and I let him start trotting. We set a pretty good clip until we got to the single track. Since it's pretty torn up from the rains, it's not safe to trot on for much of its length.

When we reached the turn off, with a choice to go the short way or go around for the longer distance, Hoss was perfectly happy to go the long way. The long way means a good run! We started trotting up the lower end of the hill. Hoss went at it with a will, no need for me to push him. We turned the corner to the upper half of the hill, and we were off in a good canter. I was able to keep him going in a full canter all the way to the top.

At the top, I slowed Hoss to a walk and looked back for the dogs. They were pretty far back, but coming on gamely enough. I had taken them out for a quick two mile run with the mountain bike before the trail ride, just to take the edge off. It worked. Not nearly so much trouble with dogs bounding off!

We walked much of the top section, letting the dogs catch their breath and cool off a bit. It would be a mile or two more before we reached water. Hoss wanted to go faster, but I really didn't feel the need to go faster, and since it was hot, I didn't want him overdoing it.

We made our way back down the back side. There is a beautiful spot under some trees with a nice little stream running through it. It makes a great place to spell the dogs. We stopped there for about five minutes to let the dogs drink and cool off. Hoss took a few bites of the grass, but he wasn't very interested. He really wanted to keep moving.

Once the dogs had cooled off and slaked their thirst, they were quite ready to get moving again. We got back on the trail. Shortly after this stopping place, the trail flattens out enough to trot, so we picked up a very nice clip.

At the next water crossing, Hoss wasn't real thrilled with the current condition of the ground. I wasn't impressed by it, either. I could see he would have to step down into deep, squishy mud, and he doesn't like that. Still, I knew it wasn't horribly deep, so I got out my crop and told him he would be fine, it wasn't that bad. He slowly stuck one foot down into it. I told him good boy, and he crossed without further objection. How much of his willingness was due to the whip in my hand I can't be sure. He's very rarely given me a problem at this crossing.

When we got to the long flat trail, Hoss was pulling to get going. I kept him to a trot until we got to firmer footing, then quite deliberately asked him for the left lead. I managed to get him to take it on the first try!

We got to a short hill, and slowed to a walk, letting the dogs catch up and Hoss catch his breath a little. Then I asked him for the right lead. Again, he gave it smoothly. I'm very pleased with the fact that I was able to get him to do that!

After our lovely canter, we trotted and walked most of the rest of the way in. There is a water trough about 3/4s of a mile from the trailer parking the dogs like to get a drink in. I stopped and let them get a good drink and cool down. Mac had run ahead, and when we caught up to him, he was in the trough! When he got out, Jazz got in. After a few minutes, with Hoss pulling at me (c'mon, Mom, let's go!) we started walking again. After we'd made fifty yards, I looked back and realized Jazz hadn't gotten out of the trough yet! She didn't let us get too far ahead before she hopped out, shook herself off, and caught up to us.

Hoss was pulling to go faster, and after a few strides I said what the heck and let him get in some more cantering. He was surely a happy guy on this ride!

After our ride, I took the dogs home and let Hoss out into the pasture for a good drink before we headed out for our lesson

There's nothing to really say about our lesson, except we have a lot to work on, and I feel like we made some really good progress. Now I just have to practice what we learned between now and next week's lesson!

Conditioning Ride 8-14-2011

HRR: 68

HR10Min: 44

Miles: 11

Avg Spd: 3.9 mph

Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

I took Hoss up to Cuyamaca for this ride. My intention had been to ride the trails used on the Descanso 25 mile ride, but it was getting late and I knew we'd have to go pretty quick to get it done. I had done some shopping on my way home from church, so even though I'd gone to first service, I got home later than I would've liked.

When I got in the truck, I noticed a rancid odor. The previous day, I had noticed there was a nasty smell starting, but didn't think much of it, figuring it must've been something I'd left in the truck. This time, the odor was way worse. I couldn't think of anything I'd eaten in the truck – I eat in my truck only rarely; it smells bad enough in there without me leaving trash in it, too – but, boy, it smelled like something died in there. And it didn't get any better as I drove along, either.

After I unloaded Hoss at the Sweetwater parking area, I went back to the truck for something. Opening the front passenger door caused a waft of deadly odor to come out of the truck. I started looking around, and quickly discovered the pound of ground beef that had slipped up under the front seat a few days earlier. A client had given me several pounds of organic ground beef as payment (I love the barter system) and I'd missed one when I pulled them out. I took the package out of the truck and disposed of it. Definitely didn't want it in there any longer making my truck smell so bad!

Once I got Hoss saddled up and ready, we headed on up Harvey Moore trail. Hoss was pretty cheerful, wanting to step out quickly. We turned down West Side trail, and he wanted to take up the trot. I kept him walking for a time longer, wanting a good warm up, but finally let him trot.

We took West Side trail around to Lower Descanso Creek trail, and trotted everywhere we good. There are rocky areas that aren't good for trotting over, but much of it is trotable. I know the next ride we're planning to do – the Big Bear 55 – has a lot of areas that are trotable for very short distances, so the horse has to trot every chance he gets, even if it's only 20 strides. So every time we came to a trotable section, even if it was short, I moved Hoss into a trot.

We got to West Mesa Fire road, and headed on up it. Hoss moved out at a nice trot for a time, but then the road started going uphill. As I've noted before, Hoss hates trotting uphill. This is something he's going to have to get over. Of course, at rides, he'll trot at a pretty good clip over anything, egged on by the high energy atmosphere I can't duplicate at home.

Hoss was trotting just about as slowly as he possibly could. Most riders agree conditioning rides should be done at the speed one expects to go at the ride. No amount of pushing, kicking, or beating will get Hoss going at the same speed he'll go at rides.

I let Hoss slow down to a walk after a while, but made him trot some more later. This road is rocky in some places, so walking is necessary in those places. I let him walk on the rocky parts and the parts that are steeper, but I pushed him to keep trotting otherwise. He wasn't going fast; much of the time his speed hardly justified being called trotting.

Once we hit the top of West Mesa Fire road, we turned down the connector to Harvey Moore. Hoss picked it up a bit here, recognizing we were on the way back toward the trailer. I kept him trotting everywhere it was safe enough to do so. We saw several deer off to the side of the trail, which Hoss always finds fascinating. He can't figure out why they're not on the trail, too.

We turned down Dyar Springs trail, which Hoss was very annoyed by. He knows Harvey Moore goes straight back to where we parked the trailer, and Dyar Springs does not. I kept him moving mostly by dint of kicking him. He kept trying to figure out how to make me let him turn around.

We came to a very small water crossing, and Hoss thought he'd found a way to make me let him turn around. He planted his feet and refused to cross the water.

The water crossing here is surrounded by plant life, the sort of plant life Hoss thinks very tasty. When crossing water, Hoss has developed the habit of putting his nose down before he'll cross. Since I let him do this, it means he can get his head down for a good snack when we cross.

I pretty quickly realized he was sand-bagging me, and yanked his head up and kicked him. Nothing. He was giving me "I don't want to," or "make me," he was giving me "you can't make me." After five minutes of having him just ignore me, I hopped off, wacked him a few times with the reins to get his attention, led him across the water a few times, got back on and we continued on our merry way.

A mile or so later, we came to another crossing. This one went downhill slightly before the crossing and had plenty of grass around it as well. Once I got him to the bottom of the hill, and well before he would be expected to cross, Hoss stopped and refused to go forward.

This time I spent ten minutes trying to get him to go forward from the saddle. I was able to fool him a couple of times by pretending we were going to go a different way or turn around to get him to move a foot and get him forward a little bit. I finally got off, wacked him with the reins yet again, and led him across the water. Then I led him back across the water and got back on. He refused to cross again. I got off, wacked him with the reins, got him a little closer to the water, and got back on. This time he seemed to decide he didn't want to keep playing the game, and that continuing on would be in his better interest, and crossed the damn water! Only took twenty minutes.

We reached the junction at the connector to Juaqapin, and I made him continue on Dyar Springs. He was not happy about it, but didn't plant his feet and play "make me." We made our way without further incident back to West Side trail, where Hoss picked up a nice trot pace most of the rest of the way back to the trailer.

If there had been time, I would have gotten my whip out of the trailer and we would have ridden back around to the spots he'd refused to cross. My past experience with him has been that he'll do what I want if I have a good "weapon" with me! I guess I'll just have to make sure I have my whip from now on. Indeed, I put it on my saddle so next time I won't have to think about it.

 

Oh, Thank Goodness it’s Over!

After six long, boring weeks, Hoss's recovery period is over! I was beginning to wonder if either of us would survive the experience. The last couple weeks he was becoming so pent up he was bucking and attacking the dogs in his pen. He moved around so much it became impossible to clean his corral, since his poop was no longer discernable.

A few days before Hoss's confinement was officially over, I moved him back into the pasture. Perhaps I was taking pity on him, or perhaps it was an act of self-preservation. He was very happy. Within twenty four hours, he'd put a foot print in every square foot of the pasture.

Two days later, I got Hoss out and we went for a short, three mile ride on the local roads. He was wound pretty tight. I've sold my round pen – it wasn't level, anyway – so I couldn't turn him out and run some of the ya-ya's off him. Not that I wanted to run him. Since he'd been injured, I really didn't want to tempt fate by running him in circles. So I rode him tight as a spring, and he behaved himself pretty well. He really would've liked to have run away with me, but kept himself under control and just walked, as I was asking.

Since my first ride was so short, I'm not going to create a second post for our first real ride. So, here is our official ride post from our first ride back!

Conditioning Ride 8-13-11

HRR: 56

HR10Min: 40

Distance: 5.76 miles

Avg Spd: 5.1mph

Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

I hooked up the trailer amid highly excited dogs. It's been forever since Team Fluffy got to go on a trail ride, with the exception of getting out with the mountain bike. By the time I got the trailer hooked up, I looked over and found Hoss standing at the entrance to his pasture, practically quivering in excitement. I went and got him, and we were off for a quick ride at Hollenbeck Canyon.

Hoss really, really wanted to go fast. There wasn't a whole lot of walk in him. I pretty much let him trot, just kept him from taking off too fast. A couple of times he thought about throwing in a quick buck, but was able to contain himself.

I was paying particular attention to Hoss's way of going and how even he was. He was very sound. He even wanted to trot over the heavy rocks and didn't take a sore step.

Just before we reached the single track section, I spied a coyote standing on a rock just past our turn. This meant we'd have to walk toward it in order to continue on our way. What a pain! I decided to get off Hoss, since I have observed in the past that coyotes don't recognize a mounted person as a human, but once off, they'll run off. Well, not this coyote! It just watched me hop off my horse and stood there. I slowly started walking toward it, leading Hoss and keeping the dogs behind him. That coyote moved a short distance, and starting barking and yipping, trying to get my dogs to go after it!

The dogs saw the coyote, but I was able to keep them from running after it. I wasn't feeling real good about keeping them under control if we had to pass it, though. Once we passed it, the dogs would be between it and the horse, rather than the horse being between it and them, so I would have lower odds of keeping them from chasing it. Probably they would've been okay if they had chased it, but I don't like taking chances.

I took Hoss's reins off, hooked one end to one dog, passed it through a second dog's collar, and hooked it to the last dog's collar. Now I had all three on one "leash." It meant I didn't have anything on Hoss, but I figured he'd be reasonably easy to control. We started walking while that damned coyote continued to bark and yip. How I wish I could carry a pistol! I'd have no problem shooting one of those critters. After a bit, the coyote gave up and moved on. I disentangled the dogs, put the reins back on Hoss, and we were back on our way. I did keep them dogs close to me, though! Fortunately, the added mountain bike runs have kept them tired enough to stay close.

I spent the rest of the ride on high alert for further coyote incursions, but neither saw nor heard any others. We continued on our merry way, happily going at a pretty good clip. I had to hold Hoss back pretty hard when we reached the downhill, where he wanted to charge down as fast as he could go.

By the time we reached the flat section, Hoss wanted so badly to run I had a hard time keeping him checked until we got far enough along to safely take a canter. I barely let up on the reins and he was off. I kept him to a slow canter, rather than letting him take up a full gallop. He's been in a 24 x 24 corral for six weeks. Probably not the best time to work at quite that level. I doubt he's lost a great deal of his cardio fitness, but I'd rather not push it.

I mostly allowed Hoss to decide when he needed to slow down and when he wanted to speed up. At Hollenbeck he knows we usually go pretty fast, so I don't feel like I need to do a lot of pushing him. He would slow down for a few hundred yards, then start up trotting again. A couple of times, he even launched into a brief canter.

After we crossed back toward the trailer, we saw two horses coming down the trail. I knew I needed to be careful. A few weeks ago, Jazz was kicked by a neighbor's horse while we were on our morning walk. She'd never been kicked and the horse gave no indication it was going to kick. Poor Jazz is rather traumatized. Since then, I took the dogs out with the mountain bike by the steel bridge, and Jazz was so freaked out by a pair of horses we encountered I had to chase her down half a mile the wrong direction to get her back. Seeing these horses, I knew Jazz would be frightened of them. I waited on the lower trail and let the horses pass. Once they had, I saw Jazz running down the trail in terror. At least she was going the right way! I pushed Hoss to catch up with her, and she settled down much quicker than she had the last time. At least she's not afraid of Hoss, too!

We got back to the trailer, and Hoss saw two more horses he desperately wanted to go over and meet. This is where he shows off his ability to ignore me and be stubborn. It took some doing, but I got him to go to his own trailer.

I think I should have named him "Bucephalus." That's the name of Alexander the Great's horse, and it means, literally, "cow head." I could definitely describe Hoss as bull-headed, so it would certainly fit!