Once again I hauled my butt outta bed and started getting ready for another ride day. I had forgotten to soak beet pulp for Hoss, so I ended up giving him his electrolytes and vitamins etc. in a bran mash. He loves bran mash anyway, so it was probably best. I set up beet pulp to soak for him to have with dinner and got all our preparations done.
We met up with Merina and Chance and hit the trail. Merina had used a snaffle bit the day before, but felt she still didn't have the control she wanted, so I loaned her Hoss's Kimberwicke. It turned out to be the perfect choice. Merina had much more control over Chance's silly behaviors and had better luck preventing her from doing her sideways spooks or bucking
Day Two went to the "Rim of the World," an apt name for that section of trail. It wasn't a particularly steep ride, but it had its moments. Several times other riders got off and led up or down, while Merina and I rode.
Much of the ride was on jeep roads. Not Hoss's favorite, but it'll do. He did just fine, especially with a trail partner.
Passing through a farm/ranch, we saw icicles had formed where water was running overnight on the hay fields. I truly did not think it had gotten remotely that cold, but several people mentioned ice forming on water buckets.
Somewhere before the vet check, Hoss managed to lose a shoe. I didn't even feel him do it. I did notice he slowed down a touch, but I attributed it to going down a slight hill. It wasn't until we were in the vet check, pulsed down, and I had fed him that I realized the shoe was gone. Luckily I had been smart enough to put a boot in my pack. Unluckily, I had used my multitool to open the bales of hay in the trailer and neglected to put it back on my saddle. A screwdriver was located with little effort, and I was able to apply the boot.
We vetted through and got ourselves back out on trail. Hoss felt a little weird at first due to the boot, but he adapts to that sort of thing quickly enough and it wasn't long before we were hotting along and he felt like his usual self.
We finished strong and in good time. Once again both horses vetted and were ready for the next day.
During the vet check I had mentioned I was getting sick and needed to find some medicine. It turned out Ann Nicholson had exactly what I needed. When I got back to camp, she had left it on my table for me. I still unhitched the truck to get myself some more water and ice for the cooler, but it sure was nice to have the medicine I needed without having to hunt for it.
*Link for our YouTube video. Blogger still can't find my videos.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1pSDUtbaYY&feature=youtu.be
No comments:
Post a Comment