Lead Follow or Get Out of my Way 75, 2011

We tried to get as early a start as we could getting out of home, but it really wasn't happening. While we were still on the road by about 6am, it was later than I had hoped for. To complicate matters, I was down to the last few doses of my medications to control the pain in my sprained hip. I accept I should not have been going to a ride in my condition, but I'm stubborn, and I just wanted one last chance to get a few more miles on our season.

While packing and preparing to leave for the ride, I had removed and hosed down the girth for Hoss's saddle. As soon as I did this, I discovered large chunks of the wool just coming right off the sheepskin cover. Well, that didn't last long! Fortunately I had already decided to get a new girth and ordered it. It wasn't going to arrive in time for the ride, but at least this would be the last ride for the falling apart, galling POS I was using. What I decided to get was an Easy Girth by Running Bear. Measuring and deciding on a length took some doing, but I finally settled on a 24" girth.

The other problem I'd had, which really didn't seem to be a problem when I first discovered it, was my left stirrup seemed to want to let go. On our last ride, on our way out, I thought, boy, I'm really out of balance. My left leg is really feeling long! Then I gradually noticed it was getting longer. Didn't take me long to realize something was wrong with my stirrup. I got Hoss stopped and fixed the stirrup. It appeared the buckle didn't want to stay in place. Not having a great deal of time to fiddle with it, I had gotten it back together, mounted back up, and continued our ride. It didn't give me any other more trouble, so I thought nothing of it.

To further complicate matters, I had purchased a new pair of riding boots. I bought the exact same brand and style I've used for years. I've always been able to simply put them on and walk away. No break-in period. I put them on for my morning walk the next morning and headed out, fully confident I'd have no problems. Unfortunately I discovered to my dismay and woe, something about the way the boots are constructed has changed. By the time I'd walked a quarter of our daily distance, I was noticing I was developing a blister on my right heel. I stopped several times to make adjustments to little effect. When we'd turned around to come home, the blister was very painful but still tolerable enough to walk on. Barely. I then started to notice a blister forming on my left heel. By the time we turned up the final hill for the last eighth mile or so, I was nearly crippled. I briefly considered hopping on Hoss bareback with nothing but the halter. I didn't do it. I had no helmet, have never ridden Hoss bareback, and he's a different horse to ride than he is to lead. So I hobbled my way home. Once I had Hoss In the pasture and fed, I hobbled into the house to remove my boots. I found a truly huge, bloody blister on my right heel, and the beginnings of one on my left heel. To make matters worse, probably because I'd been walking oddly, I had sores rubbed into the outside of my right foot as well. The only pair of shoes I could wear: a pair of leather moccasins I inherited many years ago from my father.

I had been calling my doctor's office trying to get refills on my drugs to get me through the ride for three days. By the time Friday morning rolled around, I had just enough meds to maybe get me through the ride, but it meant not taking any for the drive. This meant trial by fire for my husband. He had never driven the truck and trailer except to move it about fifty yards, and then he got it stuck enough we had to call in friends with a 4x4 truck to get it out. So you can imagine he was more than a little nervous about driving the rig. But, I couldn't possibly drive the nearly 400 miles myself and get on my horse the next morning. So once we reached the highway, I turned over driving duties to a very nervous husband.

I wasn't able to take my drugs as prescribed, to be sure I'd have enough to get through the next day's ride, so I sat in the passenger seat, unable to find a truly comfortable position. It wasn't long before I decided I'd be more comfortable sprawled out in the back seat, where we had put the memory foam pad and a sleeping bag just for this purpose. It was an improvement, but it certainly did not cause the discomfort to vanish.
Since my hip injury I have found myself sleepy pretty much all the time. I could toddle off to bed by 6pm and be sound asleep until the sun came up. So it was really not surprise when I drifted off to sleep in the back seat of the truck. My husband had the TomTom GPS to go by, so I wasn't really worried about him getting lost!

We were in Scottsdale when my doctor's office finally deigned to call me. They wanted to know where I wanted my prescription called in. Well, by this time, we were a little lost in Scottsdale. The TomTom had not been updated recently enough to get us all the way to the ride site, so we had started to rely on my husband's iPhone and Google Maps. But we had passed a CVS pharmacy. Obviously I couldn't keep the doctor's office on the phone long enough to drive back to the pharmacy so we could get the number, so I had them call the prescription in to my regular pharmacy, then had the CVS we'd passed call and transfer it to them.

It would take some time for the prescriptions to be ready, and it was getting late, so we decided to get Hoss the rest of the way to the ride site. We needed as much daylight as possible to set up camp and get Hoss checked in. We had friends planning to join us at ride camp for dinner, so they agreed to stop and pick up my prescriptions on the way.

I was hobbling around base camp in my moccasins, with little protection from the rocks and other hazards, with no drugs on board, trying to get checked in and my horse vetted. Camp was quite crowed, and it took us a long time to find a spot, and it was rather farther from ride management than I would have preferred.
I got my packet and led Hoss on up to vet in. I didn't put his boots on, because I didn't want to have to take them back off again since I don't like him to wear them overnight unless he has to. When the vet told the scribe his heart rate, she said if there was a prize for the lowest entering heart rate, Hoss would have won it. He was at 32 beats per minute!

I had trotted Hoss out before loading him up, just to be sure that funky left hind swelling wasn't causing him any pain. He trotted clean and sound. So I expected to problems when I trotted him for the vet. Of course, this turned out to be one of those times he's decided trotting out is stupid and he won't do it. It took a little threatening on my part, but he finally started trotting. And of course he took two steps, stepped on a rock with his left front, and was instantly lame!

The vet wanted to check the foot to see what he could see, but of course I know my horse's feet. I picked up the foot and immediately spotted the damage where he'd stepped on the rock. I even found the nasty sharp rock he'd stomped. The vet let me take Hoss back to the trailer and put his boots on. We returned booted up. Hoss trotted out somewhat better, but still grade 2 lame. They decided to give me until morning to have him checked again, but I felt the condescension. They didn't think he'd be sound in the morning. My opinion was, a lame horse doesn't have a 32 heart rate, so it was the rock, and he'd be fine by morning.
Just to be on the safe side, I found one of the vendors (Horses Dacor) and picked up a pair of comfort pads to put in his front boots. They also carry Smarty Pants, underwear meant for high activity. I bought a pair of those, because I already knew from Moab I wouldn't be able to wear any of my usual underwear without serious consequences.

Once back at the trailer, I put the comfort pads in Hoss's size 2 Easyboot Edges and put them on him. I figured if he had the boots and nice cushy pads on overnight it would improve his odds of being sound by morning.

In the morning, I saddled up against the possibility we'd be hitting the trail. Leaving the boots with the pads on paid off. Hoss trotted out sound. I suspect he would've been sound had I left him barefoot all night, but there was no purpose in taking the chance. I mounted up and we left, the last 75 milers to hit the trail.
I was a little nervous about riding alone. Hoss has always done best with "company" on the trail. We did, however, rather quickly catch up with a rider on a pretty red roan Mustang. The horse was putting up quite a fuss. The rider told me her horse doesn't do well alone, and can be quite a handful when ridden alone. Indeed, she half-reared as Hoss and I caught up. The rider asked if they could fall in behind us, and we were on our way.

It was still pretty dark, though the sky was lightening. We had a hard time finding the trail signs, but finally found them and made our way up the trail.

At some point, the other rider noted one of Hoss's hoof boots was crooked. Admittedly I failed to check them well in the morning, so it was truly my fault. I got off and made the best fix of it I could. The other things I had forgotten were my waist pouch with my meds and the tool for adjusting Hoss's hoof boots, and my cell phone. I wasn't terribly worried about being swarmed by bees or coming across someone cooking shrimp, so the lack of my drugs was not high on my worry list. But not having the tool, well, that was a problem.
I straightened out the hoof boot as best I could and tightened the gaiter in an effort to keep the boot on straight. Once I was done with that, we headed back down the trail – and my stirrup started falling off again. So I had to get off and fix that. I really didn't have the time to take a close look, but it was clear something was very wrong with the buckle system on that stirrup.

A few more miles down the trail, and Hoss's boot was twisted again. This happened a few times, and I finally decided to leave it the heck alone. So long as it stayed on, we were good. The other rider I was with fortunately had in her possession a multi-tool, so I was able to tighten the worm clamps on the boots and left it at that.

While riding along, a group of riders ahead of us – two boys and their father – had a problem. One of the boy's horse got into the cholla cactus, and the poor boy had several pieces poking into him. The worst was on the back of one leg. I leapt off Hoss, collected the multi-tool, and went to work getting the cholla out. I had him pull off his halfchap so I could pull the cholla off it, too, and got him on his way.

When I walked back to Hoss, who has stood quietly and patiently on his own, I noticed he had cholla stuck in his pasterns and legs. He didn't even care as I pulled them out. I wouldn't even have known until we got back to camp for the first vet check if I hadn't gotten off.

About halfway through the first loop, at a water stop, I gave Hoss a dose of electrolytes. He seems to be accepting this better. I think he's figured out it makes him feel better. Doesn't really make it taste any better, but it's easier to tolerate if he can see the logic.

The first loop was 26 miles, and I had hoped to get done in less than five hours, but with all the tack problems (the stirrup slipped on me once more on the first loop) and the boots and the kid with the cactus, it took longer than I anticipated. We were in at about five and a half hours, right about 11:30. Not horrible, but it meant we'd have to push harder on the second and third loops.

As I didn't have my phone with me, my crew, husband Mike, friends Dena and Cherilyn, were concerned for Hoss and me safety. They were able to get updates as to when I passed check points, but they had expected to see me sooner.

Alfalfa hay was brought from the trailer to the pulse in area so Hoss got eat. He wants to eat the instant he comes into a vet check, and has been known not to have his heart rate come down until I've let him eat whatever he wants. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that he ate a little, drank quite well, and his heart rate dropped below criteria (60) within three minutes of coming in to the vet check.

Hoss passed the vet check easily, although he got some scores lower than I'd like to see so early in a ride. I think the vet on this ride was a bit stricter than I'm used to seeing, and of course he'd never seen Hoss before other than to know the prior night he'd been lame. The only problem I had with Hoss was getting him to trot out. It's like he runs hot or cold. Some rides he's good about it, others, he just says "screw you!" I don't think the combination of a sprained hip and blisters on my heels helped at all. But I could've strangled this vet. He wanted us to trot away, trot back and by, and trot back to him. Hoss and I are used to vets who'll watch three sound steps and say, okay, you're good.

We got Hoss back to the trailer and gave him bran mash with electrolytes (so I didn't have to use up another tube, and he didn't have to have it shoved down him), water and alfalfa hay. While he was eating, I went to work on his boots. I realized the size 2 Edges are just bit too big, and what had happened was the comfort pads had squished into the excess space at his toe. Since he's toed in to begin with, it resulted in the pads pushing the boots more to the inside. They had stayed on just fine, but they were full of dirt and little rocks. Since the size 1 Edges haven't been repaired since Moab, I decided to put his Gloves on for the rest of the ride. The Renegades on his hinds caused no trouble. They stayed put.

The next thing to work on was the stirrup issue. I pulled the stirrup hobble and got a closer look at the buckle. It turned out the piece that slides down over the part that sticks through the holes had come apart. It was now too loose to hold the stirrup fender. After some brain-storming, Cherilyn came up with the idea to cannibalize a piece of stiff wire from a bungee cord, straighten it out, and use it to hold the buckle together. It wasn't long enough to reach all the way around the buckle, so Cherilyn found some sport tape and taped that sucker on. Worked perfectly. It's held up to this point.

Mike cooked me up some soup and I took a few minutes to sit and eat it once we'd gotten Hoss's tack issues worked out. I sat in my nice comfy zero-gravity chair for perhaps ten minutes before it was time to hit the trail again. This time I remembered my waist pack and my cell phone.

Cherilyn was going to have to leave before we got back for our second vet check, as she'd ridden her motorcycle and would be risking getting quite cold on her way home. So we said our goodbyes before I left. At this point we had already decided we'd have brunch with Dena and Cherilyn before we headed home on Sunday.

On my way to the trail, I saw the rider and horse we'd been with, and she called out, "good luck," to us. Turned out she'd been pulled. Her horse was stiff behind. We were on our own.

We were the last 75s to get out on the trail – on the first loop, we had gotten passed by many of the 50s, who had started half an hour after we had – and it's entirely possible we were the last ones out on the trail. I was very worried about keeping Hoss's pace up without another horse to help motivate him. I was pleasantly surprised to fine, while I had to keep after him more than I would like to, he was maintaining a 6.5 to 7mph trot. All by himself on the trail.

We briefly encountered other horses on the trail, but Hoss showed no interest in joining up with them. He was content with the pace we were setting, and his heart rate looked good, running between 110 and 120. Much of the trail was highly trottable, with the exception of a deep, sandy wash, which we mostly walked.

As we rode along, I noticed the glo-sticks out for the evening. There didn't seem to be many, but there didn't seem to be too few. But, it looked like they had already been activated, meaning by the time the sun set, they'd be useless. That gave me a moment of worry, but the trails are marked well with trail signage, so I figured it would be okay, despite not being able to see well once it got dark.

On our way into a water/check point, another 75 passed us coming out, already on his third loop. Sometimes it just amazes me how fast these horses can go!

At the water/check point, another rider, a fifty, caught up to us. I expected Hoss to want to hook up with that horse when we left, but he wasn't interested. Once he'd had water and a little hay, we left on the trail. The other rider caught and passed us, and Hoss made no effort to keep up with them.

We kept up a steady pace. My only concern was I'd forgotten to pack another tube of electrolytes, and I was worried he'd have a hard time coming down to criteria once we finished this loop, which was 24 miles. I texted Mike to ask him to bring a tube of electrolytes to the vet check area as well as a bag of hay. I also requested my long whip be brought so I could beat him in to a trot. We got in to the vet check, and Hoss was hungry! He buried his face in the hay and I let him eat. I'd rather lose a few minutes to let him eat than try to get a pulse on him right away. As it was, even with his face in the hay bag, his heart rate dropped below criteria within a minute or two. I let him eat until he wasn't going at the hay like he was about to die of starvation, then took him to the vet. Once again he vetted through with satisfactory scores, and trotted better with the assistance of the whip and a great deal of growling and threatening on my part.

We did loop 2 in just over four hours.

Mike and Dena had run into town for food for our dinner. He cooked up a very nice beef stew. I got Hoss fed, another electrolyte bran mash in front of him, and sat down to eat my dinner. Unfortunately, Mike had accidentally added too much pepper, and I wasn't able to eat much. Of course, on an endurance ride, I don't eat a great deal anyway. I had a pudding and a granola bar.

It seemed like I'd only been sitting down for five minutes when it was time to hit the trail again. As it was getting dark, I switched into my jeans riding tights and a long sleeve shirt to help protect my arms and legs in the dark. I got my headlamp and made sure I had a spare set of batteries for it. I was also able to take my own Leatherman multitool along. Cherilyn gave me a pouch for it that had come with hers, which she hated. I hated mine, because I had to take my belt off to take the Leatherman off. It was like the perfect trade.
We made our way down the trail, and it was quite dark. There were few glo-sticks. We were the last ones on the trail, the rest of the 75s having finished ahead of us. There was a pair of 50s finishing their ride, but they were far ahead of us. We were hitting the trail at 5:30pm, and it was getting dark rapidly. The 50s had until 6:30pm to finish, so they were probably two or three hours ahead of us.

Hoss was less confident about his speed in the dark. We were keeping a pace more between 5 and 6 mph. I have a headlamp with three colors of light: white, red, and green. I tried the green, which helped me see the plant life, but I couldn't tell trail from not trail. Hoss, however, showed quite a bit of confidence and was able to stay on the trail.

We crossed the road and continued on familiar trail. Hoss was moving along confidently enough, if a little slower than during the daylight hours. I heard a voice calling to me from up ahead, but could see no one. I finally switched to the white light, and there, slightly off to the side but in plain view, was a rider on a very light grey horse. Wow. I really am night blind. I wouldn't have known they were there until I'd run into them. Of course, I should hope Hoss wouldn't have run into them. The rider had been putting out the glo-sticks. She told me there weren't many, but she felt it should be okay. There was something about having experimented with leaving the glo-sticks out all day, and it hadn't worked. I'm not sure what the real story is there, by that time I was a bit fuzzy in the head.

I discovered Hoss was much more confident when I had the white light on, so I left it on and tried to keep it aimed in front of Hoss's face. He picked out the trail with unerring accuracy. We made it to the check point, much to the delight of those manning it. I was the very last rider on trail, and they were just waiting for me to get there so they could leave.

After leaving the check point, we hit a deep sandy wash, and Hoss rather hit the doldrums. I was quite pleased it took him to this point to get truly tired/disheartened. The wash was a good place to walk, so I allowed him to walk through the entirety of the wash. Walking for a while when he's feeling like that will perk him back up and he'll get moving again.

We came to the right turn out of the wash, and Hoss happily picked up the pace again. There really were very few glo-sticks. We came to a trail sign that was bent. I glanced at it, but was unable to read it in the dark. Hoss turned left confidently enough, and I trusted him. But it wasn't very long until it became clear we had made a wrong turn. Hoss was still confident, but I had lost confidence in him. One mistake, and now I thought he was an idiot.

We wandered about in the desert. I allowed Hoss to continue, in hopes he'd find his way back to the trail, but I was increasingly feeling he only thought he knew where he was going.

And then we came to somebody's back gate. Now I knew we were off trail! Hoss wanted to continue along the fence line, but I forced him to turn around and attempted to find our way back to where we had lost the trail. My GPS was of little use. I couldn't see the little breadcrumb trail, and I couldn't tell the difference between where I should be and the trail we had used earlier. I had to keep stopping Hoss to make sure we didn't walk through any cholla – which he doesn't seem to care about, but I'd rather not have any in me.
We finally made it back to a glo-stick, and I gratefully chose a direction. Hoss made no objection, so off we went. 

And found ourselves back at the wash. We'd gone the wrong way. I turned Hoss about, and encouraged him to pick it up. I really started pushing him, knowing we had already lost close to thirty minutes wandering around in the desert. Now we had to get back quick in order to be back in time.

As we rode along, I realized if I had let Hoss make the decision while we were lost off trail, he would've gotten us back on track. Instead I had made him wander through the desert in the dark. Up to the point he had made the wrong turn, he had given me no reason to mistrust his choices. One mistake and I was ready to think him incompetent and take over. And look how that turned out.

Mike called me as we were going along to ask where we were. I didn't know at that point, but called him back minutes later after passing a trail sign. We were still pretty far out and needed to hot along to have any hope of finishing on time.

We finally made it to the road crossing with about fifteen minutes to go. I felt pretty good about our chances of coming in under the wire, but knew we stood a good chance of being overtime. I thought we'd be able to find the turnoff to the wash in to the back side of camp, but somehow we missed there. There wasn't a single glo-stick in sight.

By this time we were officially over time. I realized we had managed to miss the turn, and tried to turn Hoss back to find it. He absolutely refused to go back the other way. I think he might have just lain down to express his opinion. He knew how to get back the way we were going, and that was that. Since we were already overtime, I decided not to fight him on it.

We came in through the out trail. Everyone was looking for us across the vet check area from there. I called Mike and let him know we were there, and everyone came up.

I was tired and annoyed and, at the time, thought I was angry with Hoss. I realized later I was angry with myself. I should've trusted my horse more. Hoss passed the final vet check, but as we were over time, we did not get credit for the miles.

We now know we can do 75 miles. In fact, we made up half the time we had lost wandering in the desert. It's entirely possible if we hadn't missed that last turn, we would have squeaked in under the cut-off. The way we went was quite a bit longer.

I got Hoss taken care of, wrapping his hind legs with clay to help reduce the swelling he might develop since the incident at Moab. By the time I was done with him, I was so exhausted I was shivering. No amount of blankets and jackets could make me feel warm. So, once Hoss was well cared for with enough hay to see him through to morning, I crawled into my sleeping bag and was immediately asleep.
We got a late start toward home in the morning, trying to give me as long as possible to sleep. We stopped and had brunch with Dena and Cherilyn. Hoss got to hang out in their back yard in a rather suburban section of Phoenix while we went to eat.
Mike started out driving on the way home, as I was just too tired to be safe to drive. When we got to Yuma, we stopped briefly so I could give Hoss water and we could use restrooms. Mike wanted a chance to rest, and I was feeling pretty good, so I let him crawl into the back seat to sleep and took over driving duties for a time.
We pulled out of the mall we'd parked in, and someone pulled up alongside me, honking urgently. She told me the trailer gate was open. I'd forgotten to secure it after giving Hoss water! I came to a stop and leapt out of the truck. Hoss, thinking since I wasn't right there he should get out of the trailer, stepped out right into the middle of the road. He looked about like, "Now, why would she want me to get out here?!" I got hold of him and asked Mike to bring his halter out of the truck. Once I put the rope around his neck, Hoss got back in the trailer and I made sure that gate was secure before we hit the road again!

I only lasted about an hour. I pulled a rest stop to try to catch some sleep in the front seat while Mike slept in the back. Mike woke up, and said he felt he could continue on and let me lay back down in the back seat.
I was completely out until Mike woke me to drive the last little bit. The last 2.5 miles along the dirt road home. I got Hoss settled in the pasture while Mike got the perishables out of the truck. I think we were in bed around 1am.

It was a long ride, and I'm disappointed we didn't get our miles. I have to say our ride season kinda sucked. Hopefully the next one will be an improvement.

*writer's note: I took pics whenever something struck me as pretty. They are arranged more or less according to the time and during the loops they were taken. Because it was dark for Loop 3, obviously I have no pics of that part of the ride.

Conditioning Ride 11-17-2011

So, yes, I'm nuts. I made the decision and sent in my entry for Lead Follow. I spent much of the week between my last conditioning ride and this one figuring out how to get Hoss's HRM set up so it would work and not rub all his hair off. After many exchanges on Ridecamp, I concluded I had two problems. One was clearly Hoss has a nutritional deficiency which is resulting in his hair being brittle and his skin friable. In answer to that, I've started adding ground flax seeds to his diet. It will take months to decide if this is effective, but in the meantime it seems like a good thing to try. The second thing was I did not understand where I was supposed to be placing the side electrode for the HRM. Roger Rittenhouse, who devised the HRM system I am using, was a great deal of help and was able to make it clear to me what I was missing. I found it funny while reading his website I came across a statement he made while obviously somewhat frustrated by the inability of others to understand what he was saying. He responded to some posting on Ridecamp partly with the following: 

remember I have developed this and been doing this longer then any others 'selling' hrms - for horses. but hey HOW difficult is it figure this out?? (sic)

Well, he hadn't met me, had he? No matter how many times I read the directions, it seemed like all I could hear was Charlie Brown's teacher. It took a while, and some serious dumbing down of language on his part, but I got it sorted.

But before we could be making any attempt at 75 miles, Hoss needed to be seen by his favorite equine chiropractor, Dawn Fletcher of Medicine Hat Animal Chiropractic. So on Monday, three days before this ride, Dawn came out to see Hoss. Poor guy was definitely out and very sore. Dawn spent a great deal of time working out some muscle spasms in Hoss's back. Poor guy really hurt, but he did his darnedest to stay with her. I think Dawn really enjoys working on Hoss. He's pretty cooperative and has clearly decided she's good for him. Of course because of how badly out he was, Dawn had to say no riding for twenty-four hours, but of course I gave him more like seventy-two. It wasn't like I was in any condition to be getting on him in twenty-four hours anyway.

Now armed with the proper information to get the HRM working properly, I needed to get out and actually test it. Additionally, leaving the dogs home for the weekend knowing they would not get daily walks, it was really a necessity that the boys get a good bit of exercise. So I loaded Hoss in the trailer and the boys in the truck, and we headed down to Hollenbeck for a good ride.

Hoss's left hind swelling issue has not gotten any worse, but it hasn't gotten any better, either. After our morning walk it was improved, as it always seems to be post-walk.

I got Hoss's boots all on – the Easyboot Edges on the fronts and the Renegades on the hinds and the interference boots on his hind fetlocks – then got the saddle on and started messing with the HRM. The short lead electrode goes under the saddle pad on the left side, underneath the saddle seat where the stirrup hangs from. This one I've always seemed to be able to get in the right place. The long lead electrode with the pigtail is the one that always eluded me. I had been placing it far too high. It needs to go behind his elbow. I decided to put it behind his elbow and pretty close to the center line of his chest (his sternum). Once I'd placed the electrodes and gotten the cinch tightened right (not too tight, which creates its very own set of galling issues), I got the watch out and got it set up. It instantly picked up a signal and within seconds I had a reading. 35 beats per minute. That's not half bad. And I was very thrilled to see the watch getting a very consistent signal, even before I'd gotten Hoss working and sweating.

When we hit the trail, Hoss felt very rough. Much rougher than usual. I made him take a good long warm up before letting him trot again, and worked on getting him collected and extending properly. It felt like he was going up more than forward. It took some time, but he did start to smooth out.

I decided to do some mid-ride recovery checks, so after we ran as fast as we could up the hill to the top at Hollenbeck, I stopped him and watched his heart rate. At one minute, he dropped from 137 to 100. At two minutes he was at 88. That's pretty good recovery, from what I understand.

By the time we got to the flat back part of Hollenbeck and threw in a good breezing, Hoss was feeling quite smooth. He had a few moments of wanting to canter canted oddly, but I was able to support him with legs and reins to straighten him out. We did a few lead changes. I'm not yet able to do flying lead changes, so this was accomplished by dropping to a trot and picking up the other lead. Hoss was more even side to side than he has been in the past, but boy, the left lead was horribly difficult for me with the injured right hip.

Clearly Dawn's visit did a great deal to improve Hoss's overall wellbeing and way of going. His canter today was much more even side to side than I think it's ever been. The only issue was my inability to ride the left lead well. It just hurt too much. Mostly I just went as limp as I could and trusted I'd end up where I needed to be on the downs.

The next morning, Hoss's left hind swelling wasn't any worse than usual and went down with the walk.

Conditioning Ride 11-12-11 or, Yes, She Really is Nuts

Two weeks after our Moab adventure, I took Hoss and the boys for a short trail ride at Hollenbeck. The weather was turning, and I had a rehearsal to get to, so we didn't have a great deal of time to get in a ride. The boys were completely nuts, and Hoss was showing signs of feeling a bit pent up, so getting out was as much a necessity as anything. I also wanted to try out a suggestion I got about using the heart rate monitor. Since the electrode on his side had rubbed the hair off, I had asked online for advice. One of the suggestions made was to put both electrodes under the saddle on both sides. In addition to this, I needed to try out the brand new Renegade hoof boots I'd gotten for Hoss's hind feet.

The swelling issue Hoss developed after Moab hasn't changed. I did start taking him on morning walks, and the swelling will go down to the point the leg looks near normal. I've been applying liniment every day in hopes of improving things and getting it to go away. In the mornings, though, the swelling is back. I did trim out his feet and took a very hard look at that left hind, but there's simply nothing there. He has no pain response of any kind, but I think he's beginning to get ticked off at me for continually messing with it.

Fiddling with the HRM took more time than I hoped it would, and I couldn't get it to work quite right. It was clear the watch was receiving a signal from time to time, so I figured we'd just ride and hope that once Hoss had sweated up enough there'd be a good signal. The Renegade boots took less messing with to put on, but I had spent some time at home making some adjustments to get the straps right.

When I mounted up, it was pretty clear my hip was not going to be thrilled about the whole notion. It was immediately achy even through the drugs they gave me at the ER last week. As we headed for the cowboy gate and the trails, I realized I had little to no "leg." I couldn't use my leg for a cue without experiencing pain and cramping in the muscles. Luckily Hoss was still feeling a bit stiff and sore from our misadventure, so he wasn't taking advantage of my disability. I did figure out I could simply shift my weight from one butt cheek to the other and he'd move over in response. Cool! My trainer commented he's so good he'll even do what I want when I don't ask right.

We hit the trail at a sedate pace. It wasn't raining yet, but there were some sprinkles. My daughter had come home shortly before I left, and I quizzed her on the weather conditions, which had convinced me I could get away with a ride. Besides, it's not like we were going to melt or anything. It did turn out we timed it perfectly. The rain didn't really hit until I put Hoss back in the trailer.

Once we had warmed up adequately, Hoss picked up a nice but somewhat stiff trot. Clearly he was still "out" from sliding down Wipe Out Hill. Also, while brushing him, I found some extremely sore muscles. Clearly he was going to need a visit from his chiropractor before going to Lead Follow! Still, he was happy enough to get out, and after a bit smoothed out adequately enough I could be sure he wasn't lame at all.

I knew Hoss was sweating adequately enough that the HRM, if it was going to work with both sensors under the saddle pad, was going to work. I fiddled with the watch, and saw it get a few signals, but it never did give me a reading. That fix was a bust.

I had to be to a choir rehearsal so I really didn't have a great deal of time to ride. As a result I decided to cut the trail a little shorter than usual. Rather than go up the hill, we turned down, cutting off the extra two miles or so up the hill. At the flat, we had a good run-out breezing until we hit the "short cut," where, to his surprise, I turned him to cut off another mile or so of trail.

Once we topped the rise into the meadow, we took the "high" side, cutting the trail just a smidge shorter. As we trotted along, Mac caught sight of a coyote in the middle of the meadow and took off after it. Ash was not far behind him. I hollered, but was summarily ignored. I didn't have Mac's shock collar on, so had no way of stopping him. Not knowing what trouble he could be chasing, I sent Hoss cross-country as fast as we could go after the dogs. The terrain is uneven enough we weren't confident to do more than a swift trot.

Ash was the first to acknowledge my commands and return to me. I could fortunately see Mac, so at least I'd be able to get to him without a major search if things went badly. The coyote, fortunately for it, outpaced Mac and went to ground somewhere Mac couldn't find it. Mac also returned to me, looking slightly abashed. I'm really going to have to get a two-dog training collar system!

Back at the trailer, I got Hoss untacked and found the swelling on his left hind had reduced to completely normal. I ran my hand over it several times, poking and prodding and pinching and squeezing. Only response was a disgusted look from Hoss.

We only got in 5 miles, and I didn't really collect data knowing it was going to be so brief. I got Hoss and the dogs home just in time to turn around and head out in the terrible weather to go to my rehearsal. I was late, partly due to the miserable weather and partly due to getting a late start.

So, yes, I'm nuts. I'm giving serious thought to heading out to Lead, Follow or Get out of My Way.

It’s Just Never Easy

Ten days now since our fall at Moab. So here's the update on how everybody's doing.

Hoss looks pretty good. He still has a tiny bit of swelling around his left fetlock and pastern. I palpate him every day, but so far he's just annoyed that I keep fussing. He gives me no pain response at all. There's no heat and the swelling feels mushy for want of a better word. I'm beginning to suspect there's something going on with his foot. Again, no heat, but the swelling is of the variety that would make me suspect an abscess or other hoof injury. I haven't done anything about digging into his feet, because my hip hurts an awful lot.

After nine days and I wasn't any less crippled, I decided I'd better get checked out. I called my doctor's office and was told she couldn't see me for three weeks! I didn't think that was quite soon enough. This is more than a little frustrating. How long in advance to I need to know I'll have a problem in order to get in? She does have a triage procedure which I have used in the past. It's a little hit-or-miss. Without being physically seen, the nurse has to go by my description of my symptoms. If I miss something or I'm wrong, well, I get the wrong treatment. More than once I've gotten the wrong diagnosis based on the phone interview thing.

Based on the realization that either way I'd be driving into town for xrays at the least, I decided to forgo the triage process and went to Balboa hospital instead. I'd considered hitting an urgent care closer by, but realized the hospital was a better choice. The urgent care doesn't have an xray machine, so I'd have to be referred to another facility. It would likely result in me driving all over the place to get a diagnosis. At least at the hospital, it's one-stop "shopping," as it were. Any diagnostics could be done right on site.

Mondays are evidently a rather busy day for the emergency room at Naval Medical Center San Diego. There were so many patients a woman who was sent in by her doctor after discovering a dangerously high blood sugar level had to sit in the waiting room. There simply was no place for her in the back. They drew blood on her and plopped her back in the waiting room.

I knew I'd be "fast-tracked." Balboa used to have an urgent care, but due to remodeling, it's not in operation. Now everybody goes to the ER, and anybody who should be in urgent care is sent to fast track. Obviously I wasn't in any immediate danger. I was in the ER waiting room for a few hours before a bed opened up in fast track and I was called over there.

The student Physician's Assistant came in and did the exam and background. Her first comment was "So you got kicked by a horse." Um, no, not kicked. My horse did not kick me. He was slipping. He had no control. He slid right into me. I told the PA I wanted it officially noted the horse did nothing wrong. I'm beginning to feel the statistics about horse-related injuries are skewed because ER personnel don't get what the patients are telling them. I mean, someone looking at the report for my injury would assume Hoss had kicked me!

Once I got the whole kicked/fell thing straightened out, the PA decided based on my description to get xrays taken of my hip. There was a bit of a wait, but I had a book with me so it wasn't bad. Getting the xrays taken was not fun. First the tech had me put my toes together with my heels apart. Wow, that was uncomfortable. Worse was when he had me bend my knee and drop it to the outside. Holy crap that hurt!

Back over at fast track I lay down and waited for the results. It seemed like a long time passed before the young PA came in. What she told me was more than a little frightening. She told me they saw what looked like an avulsion fracture in my hip.

I know what an avulsion fracture is, so this was not good news. An avulsion fracture occurs when the attachment of a ligament or tendon to the bone pulls part of the bone away. This type of fracture can be significant and require surgery. From her description, I knew it wasn't of the surgery variety. Still, it would take a long time to heal and involved soft tissue damage, which just takes even longer to heal. They were waiting on the radiologist to confirm the diagnosis.

I spent a rather tense time waiting for the final word. Ultimately the radiologist determined what they had seen was calcification in my hip joint. My right hip has been a problem for a very long time, so it doesn't surprise me they're seeing arthritic changes. I did get the chance to see the xrays myself. I do have some experience reading xrays, even if it has been horse films. To my eye it could go either way. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was misdiagnosed and I do have a fracture. Fortunately if it is misdiagnosed the fracture is mild enough as to make no difference in treatment.

The last couple of days Hoss has been giving indication that he's getting rather bored with the standing around and doing nothing. He has figured out how to remove the T-post caps on his pasture fence. He had the fence down enough he could have left, but was standing quietly in his pasture. I think he was expressing his desire to get out. I'll probably start taking him along on morning walks just to break up the monotony.

As to the remainder of our ride season, I'm not hopeful. At this point I am leaning heavily toward not going to Arizona for Lead, Follow, or Get Out of My Way on the 19^th. My pain level at this point is simply too daunting to make me feel comfortable with committing to another ride. I'm thinking our ride season is over. I have two more days to make a final decision, so while I'm pretty sure we're done for the season, I'm leaving the door cracked for the possibility.

The Drive Home

I wasn't planning to get out terribly early on Sunday. I had dishes to wash and a camp to break down. Mary and Dorothy Sue planned to leave pretty early in the morning. Since I was hauling a horse Mary was selling back to California with me, they tied her to my trailer before they left. I heard them pull out long before dawn.

I fed Hoss and laid back down, figuring there was no purpose in getting up for good until the sun had come up. The little mare, Kahleelah, was upset her friends had left. Mary had only left a little food, not wanting to risk Hoss getting to something he's allergic to. Kahleelah paced back and forth a bit and nickered. I listened to her for some time. At one point I heard the trailer gate pop open. I got up and got it closed and gave Kahleelah some Bermuda hay out of my supply to keep her busy.

After laying back down, I tried to get a bit more sleep. It was a long drive home and I wanted to be as well rested as I could be. But I had slept pretty well, so for the most part I lay there awake, listening to the horses rustle about. After a while it became clear Kahleelah wasn't settling, so I got up. I started the process of getting packed up by cleaning up the truck, then got the trailer packed up. I was going to wash my dishes, but discovered I didn't have scrubbies to wash them with. Alternatively I put the dirty dishes in a trash bag and put them in the truck.

By the time I got the tent down, it was still wet, so I couldn't roll it up and put it away. I put my memory foam and sleeping bag back in the back seat of the truck so I could sleep. The tent got shoved into the truck on top of everything else. The tarp I put on top of my tools so the dirt on it wouldn't get on the tent.

I was packed and ready to go. I got the truck hitched back up and started the process of loading. I made up a hay bag for Kahleelah and tried to load her. By this point she had hooked herself on the trailer, popped the door open, and generally spooked herself with my trailer a number of times. So she seemed to have decided my trailer was a horse eating monster. I got her to get in, but she promptly flew backwards back out of the trailer. I wanted her in the middle stall and Hoss in the very back so I could get him out if I needed to. Also, there's nothing to prevent the horse in the last stall from trying to get out when the gate is opened. I know how Hoss will behave. Kahleelah I didn't know, and I didn't want to risk her getting hurt if I opened the gate.

In the end I had to find someone to help me load her. A very kind young man named Chad helped me. He got her in and out a few times before we were able to get her to stay in comfortably. Chad tied her off and closed her in, and I loaded Hoss.

Hoss's hind legs had swollen up pretty badly over night. His left hind in particular was swollen, from the hock down. When I untied him and asked him to load up he didn't want to use his left hind to get in. He hopped on his right hind and got in. I must admit, he's quite the athlete to be loading three-legged! He would stand on the leg, but he didn't want to bend it.

We pulled out at about 8:30 am. Kahleelah sure danced around in the trailer. When we stopped for gas, she was pawing in the trailer. I figured this was simply due to nerves, so I left her be. Hoss was unconcerned by her behavior. He's been trailered with horses behaving much worse than that!

The drive was pretty uneventful, with exception of Kahleelah acting up in the trailer. I stopped and offered both horses water, and discovered poor Kahleelah was tied far too short! I loosened her up but didn't untie her. When I tried to leave her untied, she tried to duck under the divider. I didn't want to take a chance she'd hurt herself so I tied her, but much longer, just short enough to keep her from getting her head under the divider. Hoss I took out of the trailer and walked around for a few minutes. He was stiff to start, but loosened up as we went. He took a good drink. I wasn't able to get my bucket filled deep enough for Kahleelah to get a good drink. She couldn't figure out how to get her halter beyond the lip of the bucket. We weren't terribly far from where I'd be dropping her off, so I wasn't overly concerned. Once we hit the road, Kahleelah was much more settled in the trailer. Guess being tied short does not sit well with her!

We met with Kahleelah's new owner just outside Victorville. I unloaded Hoss and we got her out. Her new owner brought water and shallower buckets, so Kahelelah was able to get a good drink before loading up in the other trailer to go to her new home. Once they had left, Hoss was unhappy about being separated from his new trailer buddy. I needed to take a nap before heading the rest of the way home, so I loaded Hoss back up with food and water, and we moved to another location where I could sleep in the truck. I didn't want to leave him tied to the trailer because I couldn't find a place to park where I felt he would be safe from truckers trying to park to rest themselves.

I crawled into the back seat of the truck and slept like the dead for six hours. Normally my phone receiving emails or text messages will wake me up. This time, when I woke up and picked up my phone, I found messages I'd never heard my phone alert me to. For sleeping in the back seat of my truck on a badly bruised hip, I felt very refreshed and alert.

I gave Hoss a pan of beet pulp and a flake of rye grass. I decided to try hauling him with a half-full water bucket in the trailer with him to see how it went. I know people who have done it, so I figured it was worth a go.

We hit the road again about 5am. I decided to get breakfast on the way and drove into El Cajon to have breakfast at the Antique Row. I had eggs with bacon and sausage. Probably a mistake, and I sure did hurt later on, but it was about the best breakfast I'd had in a week. We were back on the road before 8am, and home by 8:30.

Hoss's left hind leg was still swollen, but his right had returned to near normal. I put him back in the pasture and gave him a bunch of hay. Uh-oh the goat was sure happy to see him. The dogs were so excited they could hardly contain themselves.

Before we had arrived at Moab, the water tank in the trailer had failed again. My husband had repaired it, but either the repair didn't hold or it found somewhere else to leak from. The floor of the tack room was soggy and some mold had started to grow. I pulled everything out of the tack room so it could dry. I got the tent out and hung up to dry, the dirty dishes in the house to be washed, and everything put away properly.

I decided I wanted to wrap Hoss with standing wraps, but I didn't have the mud stuff I needed to do the job. This meant running in to town to get some at the feed store. So I hopped in the Jeep to run that errand and check the mail. My daughter had used the Jeep while I was gone, and she had left it with hardly a drop of gas in it! So now I had to go all the way down to fill the tank. At the post office, I found several checks to be deposited, which made going all the way down that much easier.

When I got back, I gave Hoss a bath and got his legs wrapped. While bathing him, I found the heart rate monitor sensor on his right side had rubbed the hair off his side! It wasn't enough to make it bloody but sheesh! I really do not need him to keep getting these sores. His girth gall isn't any worse, fortunately, as a result of this ride. I was keeping it slathered with hydrocortisone cream.

Because of the swelling in his hind leg, I've decided to withdraw from our next ride this weekend. I'm hoping we'll still be able to do the Lead, Follow or Get Out of My Way ride in Arizona in another two weeks, but I'm not depending on it. If the swelling goes down by this weekend and he doesn't show any further signs of trouble, we'll probably go.

I have decided the Easyboots are no good for his hind feet. The hair loss from the rubs from the gaiters is terrible, and I'm pretty sure the swelling in both pasterns is due to the gaiters. I'm thinking about going with Renegades for his hinds. If they work out, I'll probably eventually move to using them all the way around, but I'll use up the Easyboots I have first.

Because of this little misadventure, we will not make our mileage goal for the year. That's okay. I'd rather have a sound, happy horse, than the record I was looking for.

Moab Canyons Endurance Ride Day 3

I slept pretty well in my tent despite the cold. In fact, if it hadn't been such a trial to get in and out of the sleeping bag, I might have removed a layer I was so warm. I got up at 5:30, fed Hoss and went into Dorothy's trailer to get dressed. The weather forecast had been for the days to get progressively warmer. I put on a tank top and my funky tights under my flames sweatshirt and windbreaker.

When I went to put Hoss's boots on, I noticed his hind legs were pretty swollen. The right hind pastern had several spots where the hair and been rubbed off. I put Body Glide on his pasterns to help prevent any further problems. I had picked up a pair of interference boots from Griffin's Tack, and put those on to protect his interference wounds. I figured the swelling would go down as we rode and warned Mary I'd have to adjust the boots, probably a few times during the morning as the swelling went down.

This morning we headed out at a pretty sedate walk. Hoss was feeling better than he had the previous morning, but he wasn't feeling the need to take off. Hadi was definitely feeling good. He was downright frisky!

After a little bit of a warm up, we picked up a nice trot with Hoss in the lead. He was keeping a pretty good pace. He was doing a very good job of being the leader to start out.

We let other riders get ahead of us. One rider was having some trouble with her horse and asked us to pass. Our horses weren't close at all, but her horse was getting very upset, so we accommodated and got ahead of them. They passed us up again later.

We decided to sort of baby our way along to the first vet check. We knew the first loop was shorter than the second, and we wanted Hoss to look good when we got into the vet check. So there was a lot of walking going on. Hadi evidently decided he didn't like this plan. I heard Mary hollering, and she had Hadi came blasting past us. Fortunately it was on a reasonably straight, flat section of trail, and Mary was able to ride it out. I got Hoss into a controlled canter, but made no attempt to catch Hadi. Hoss is slow, so he probably wouldn't have been able to catch him anyway, and I figured it would only encourage Hadi to run that much more. I just kept Hoss close enough we'd be able to stop and help Mary if she came off.

After we got back on, once Hadi had given up the idea of catching other horses, we rode along at a nice pace for a time until a group of 25 milers joined the trail. They were trotting along faster than we had been, and Hadi wanted nothing so much as to catch up to them. We tried to let them get away from us, but Hadi was not having it. We decided to get off and hand walk the horses for a time to get Hadi to cool off. He was feeling very good and appeared to have decided he needed to catch every horse he saw.

Once the 25 milers had gotten far enough ahead and we felt we were in more of a pocket clear of other horses, we got back on and rode on. We came upon the 25 milers, two girls and their mom, and they were short a horse. The mom's horse had gotten loose when she turned the horse around and the saddle slipped. She came off, the and the horse took off. She figured the mare had gone back to camp and was preparing to ride double with one of her girls.

We continued on our way, in no position to do anything to help them, although we kept our eyes open for the missing horse. The terrain was excellent, flat and not too deep, so we did quite a bit of trotting. I looked back at one point when Hoss was telling me there were other horses, and saw a group of riders trotting along with a riderless horse. They'd found the missing mare!

When we came in sight of the vet check, I hopped off to give Hoss plenty of time to recover. Once we walked in, he took a good drink and by the time we got to the P&R area, he was down. The vet commented his gut sounds were much better than the previous day and he looked much better.

I had sent a hay bag with alfalfa from home and bran. I mixed him a bran mash while he tucked into the hay. It was not easy. He kept trying to get the bran before I was done with it. Once I got the bran mixed up real well, I set the bucket I'd used to get water aside and gave him the bran. While waiting for our hold time to expire, I observed he was quite pleased to have a bucket of water right near him. He would drink from the bucket in between bites of hay. I'm going to have to get buckets to send out to vet checks in the future.

Once our hold was over, I gave Hoss a dose of electrolytes and we hit the trail again. This last loop was the first loop of the first day done in the opposite direction. I noticed many things I hadn't seen on day one. Not that it's surprising I missed things. Hoss was pretty fresh, so I was spending more time controlling him than enjoying the scenery!

We tried to stay in a pocket away from other horses. This seemed to work best for Hadi on day three. We caught up to a pair of horses being led by their riders and passed them up. Then the riders got on, and the horses caught up to us again. When the riders dismounted again, Mary and I set a good pace in an effort to get away from them.

We were riding through a wash with deep sand, walking, and I was drinking, when those horses caught up to us. They went past me without saying a word. I didn't think anything of it. Hadi was not pleased. When they came up behind him without warning he got a little goosy. Mary was rather unhappy about it, and I don't blame her. It's simply good trail manners to warn other riders when you're approaching and/or wanting to pass.

The other horses got a distance ahead of us, and we figured they'd be gone. We were wrong. It wasn't long until we caught up to them again, as they'd yet again gotten off to lead. Mary asked them to please warn her when they were approaching to pass, as Hadi was very easily upset by other horses coming up behind him. We passed them and continued on.

By this time both horses really wanted nothing more than to stop and eat every bit of grass they saw. We would let them stop for bites from time to time. I took to only letting Hoss eat if I pointed out something for him. He was starting to stop on his own, rather than waiting for permission.

Once again that pair of riders caught and passed us. This would be fine, except by this point we realized we were, in reality, going faster than them with their frequent dismounting, but couldn't stay far enough ahead not to deal with them. Every time they got back on, Hadi wanted to keep up with them. We'd pull off and let the horses graze in an effort to get the other horses away. Hadi figured out he should snatch a bite and then continue so he could chase the other horses. Hoss, on the other hand, was more than happy to keep eating.

After a bit, we inevitably caught up to them again. Just in time for Wipe Out Hill. On day one, we'd come up this hill, and although Hoss had slipped a bit, it wasn't terrible going up. I knew going down would be harder. It's recommended to lead the horses up and down this hill, and I am considerably slower than Hoss. I briefly considered hooking his breast collar through his reins and sending him on down without me. I discarded the plan because I was worried he wouldn't be able to figure out what to do on his own. So I kept hold of his reins and started on down.

We were about halfway down when I heard him start to slip. I looked back to see if there was anything I could do for him. I have an impression of horse legs going everywhere sort of like a cartoon horse in skates. Then his foot caught the back of my leg and swept it out from under me. I landed on my right side very hard, sliding just slightly down the hill. I hit my hip, arm, and ribs. Fortunately I managed to release Hoss's reins. He got himself stopped and waited for me to get up.

The two riders who had been ahead of us and stopped to wait for us at the bottom of the hill. Mary was at the top waiting for us to finish the hill. I am told Hoss sat down like a dog on the hill before he managed to get himself stopped. My fall evidently looked a lot worse than it was. I was asked by everyone if I was okay. I thought it an odd question considering I was sitting up and moving around, although not quickly. I was assessing the damage! I realized later my reply should have been, "I'm counting the bones."

Hoss waited for me to get up and gather up his reins. We made it the rest of the way down the hill without incident. At the bottom I checked Hoss over. He didn't have any obvious injuries and seemed happy enough. He wasn't particularly subdued, so I was pretty confident he wasn't injured.

We waited for Mary and Hadi to get down the hill, and we hand walked for a time. I wanted to make sure both Hoss and I had a chance to work out any kinks resulting from our unplanned adventure. It also gave some time for the other two riders to get ahead of us a ways.

The rest of the way back to camp we went pretty slowly. Mary tells me I looked rather gray after that fall, and I can tell you my right hip hurt an awful lot. I had hit damned hard. The muscle I'd landed on was protesting rather loudly. Still, we did our best to make good time. I didn't want to be out there any longer than necessary. Walking, in my opinion would just prolong the agony. We trotted as much as we could. Hoss never took a bad step.

At one point, within a mile or two of camp, Mary asked if I'd rather walk or trot in. I allowed as I didn't really care, but we'd get there faster if we trotted. So we trotted.

When we got in to camp and the final vet check, we were allowed to present without unsaddling first. The only problem with this plan was Hoss was starving, and the only hay on the ground was – orchard grass. His heart rate wasn't coming down. I explained to the vet he was really hungry and I couldn't let him eat what was available, so I'd rather take him to the trailer and let him eat for a while before presenting.

Hoss dug into his hay like he hadn't eaten in a month. I made him a bran mash which he sucked down in about two seconds. I got him untacked once the heart rate monitor showed him consistently down to 60 beats per minute. I threw a light blanket over him. Once he had slowed down his gorging, I took him back to the vet, where he cleared the check with no trouble.

Back at the trailer I gave him bunches of hay and beet pulp. I removed his boots, observing the rubs on his pasterns weren't any worse. The boot on his left hind I had to cut off. I got out my nail nippers and cut through the hose clamp to get it off. Both hind boots were damaged on the outside toe. I don't know if he did that on Wipe Out Hill or somewhere else.

I have to say that, while the boots are working fine on his front feet, I consider them a total failure on his hind feet. I think I may try a different brand of boots. I don't want to go back to shoeing him unless I absolutely must.

We got all three days finished, and got some nice completion awards in the mix. Of course, all Hoss cares about is the food!

Moab Canyons Endurance Ride Day 2

I got up in the dark at 5:30am to feed Hoss. I flicked on my headlamp and walked around my trailer to the sickening sight of his leadrope dangling from the trailer and no sign of Hoss. I went back to the LQ trailer and let Mary and Dorothy know Hoss was missing before I went hunting for him. It was absolutely dark, no moon and certainly not enough starlight to truly see by. I reasoned Hoss wasn't likely to go very far, so I started in a circular search pattern. I found him a couple rigs over, eating who-knows-what sort of hay. It looked like alfalfa. I collected him up and took him back where he belonged and fed him his real breakfast. I could only hope he hadn't found orchard grass to get into. I figured what he had been eating looked enough like alfalfa not to worry too much about it and if he got sick, well, we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

I put Hoss's boots back on. The one with the bent hose clamp I was unable to get the end into the keeper. If I'd had a pair of needle nose pliers with me I might have accomplished it, but it was not going to happen with my bare hands. I was left with just leaving it and taking my chances.

I used the S-hack on Hoss for this day. He's really getting to where he hates the Kimberwicke I've been using. When I tried to put it back in his mouth at the end of the vet check on day one, he fought me about it. Not so badly I couldn't get it on, or that we created a scene. Still, I didn't want to be dealing with him getting worse about it as the days went by. As it was, when I went to put the S-hack on, he jerked his head away and I had to discipline him about it. Once he realized I wasn't putting the bit back on, he settled down.

We headed out with Mary and Hadi again. Hoss didn't have quite the same get up and go as he had day one, but he was still pretty forward. Hadi was doing a pretty good job of leading, but he'd slow down when he thought Hoss had fallen too far behind. Hoss would catch up and Hadi would pick up the trot again. After a while, Hoss figured out if he dropped out of a trot sooner, he'd get to walk a little while, too. I think he was feeling a bit like he was doing an awful lot of work compared to that young whipper-snapper. And he was definitely more tired than I would expect him to be.

Another rider on a black arab stallion caught up to us and we all rode together for some time. The stallion kept us at a pretty good clip. Hoss couldn't really keep up, so we'd let them get ahead and catch up when they slowed down. At one point we caught up to a horse whose airs above the ground were quite spectacular. Mary was not interested in letting Hadi see that, so we dropped down to a walk and let the horse get well ahead of us.

At one point we missed a turn. We were trotting along a road and I noticed there weren't nearly enough hoof prints. I hollered out my observation and we turned around and found the trail we were meant to be on. Fortunately I'd noticed it pretty early on.

While we were trotting along, I felt Hoss take an odd step. He was off about five steps on the right hind after that. When I got off at a water stop to give him electrolytes, I noticed he'd knocked open the old interference scar on his right hind. Well, that sure explained it. That could not have felt good! I suspect it was because we were going pretty quick for so long.

We came into the vet check and I checked my GPS. We'd been averaging 6 mph! That's pretty quick for Hoss at his current level of conditioning. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep up with that stallion all afternoon.

It took Hoss longer to come down than I would've liked, and his heart rate stayed pretty high for some time. His gut sounds were pretty low, too. I explained to the vet he'd gotten loose in the night, so I didn't know what he might have gotten into. I also pointed out the interference wound on his right hind.

Mary and I decided to let the stallion go and continue on our own. The vet commented Hoss seemed very tired, so we wanted to take it easy so he'd look good when we got back to camp.

Much of the short loop we rode next we walked. It was alternately rocky and very deep, so not a great place to trot anyway. We did short bursts of trotting when one or the other horse felt the urge. Once we turned the corner so to speak and were headed back toward the vet check area, both horses seemed to perk up a bit. When we got back to the vet check area, they had a drink and wanted to eat. Unfortunately the only food laying about was orchard grass. Fortunately there was plenty of edible grass growing along the trail, so we headed on back toward camp and the finish. We let the horses stop frequently to snatch a bite or two of grass.

It wasn't terribly far back to the finish. We got back to camp about 5:30 for the finish. This time we had to get our saddles off before we could take our horses for completions. I took Hoss back to the trailer and got him untacked and cleaned up a bit. Hoss dug into his hay with vigor. I got his beet pulp started soaking to give him after he'd been vetted through.

Hoss vetted through just fine with a 54 heart rate. I took him back to the trailer to remove his boots. The bent hose clamp had become much more damaged, to the point I couldn't remove the boot. I checked with the vendors on site, but no one had the parts to repair the boot. My only choice was to leave it on. I removed the other three and loosened the gaiter on the one he had to wear overnight.

After the previous night's escape, I decided to pitch my tent and sleep where I could see and hear my horse. I did leave my clothes in Dorothy's trailer so I could change while standing up in the comfort of the heater. I'm glad I did move into the tent. About 10:30, I heard unusual noises, and sure enough, Hoss had escaped again. The rotten horse has figured out how to open the clip on his lead rope!

I caught Hoss back up and tied him back to the trailer. I got him some fresh hay in hopes of encouraging him to stay "home" and went back to bed. Despite temps dropping below freezing, I was quite comfortable. I had gotten myself a zero degree sleeping bag for just such occasions. I have to say, it was well worth the money!