Why? Because Horses!

December 10, 2015 / Redheaded Endurance / Leave a comment

I’ve used that…reason? justification? expletive? a number of times over the years. You know, when these beloved critters of ours do that perplexing thing, at that wrong time, and you question yourself Why, Why…Because Horses. That’s why. Up, and down, year round, because horses.

First, there was a ride! Kenny and I picked up our stallion buddy Aqua and his human W last week, and Kenny had a successful first tour of Sycamore Hill and the old train tunnel.

12345468_898753903086_7842115516476797601_n

12301761_898753928036_2645976627486622225_n

12304544_898754042806_5752148478843250954_o

12342362_898754102686_2493017053658935956_n

tunnel time

We also had some fun discussions about being a non nose-up tail solo unit

12345420_898843433666_8829082393316659688_n

Noooo

12316263_898843493546_8629515216083638892_n

Oh okay!

Kenny digs the gastric perks of playing endurance pony

On the weekend, I eagerly headed out to take Kenny for a solo jaunt..

Because horses. A few superficial cuts, but enough to stymie a ride, better safe than sorry after all. Blaze and I went for a frustration zoom, and I felt better.

12310670_899189834476_6840115808800712342_n

12294788_899209909246_7428425467547463260_n

This week Rory had a nastily yellow ring of snot around her foreleg where she’d clearly removed it from her nose. She seemed a bit quiet, but was EDPP religiously and her temperature remained steady. I spoke to my vet and in passing he mentioned wetting hay, to bring down any possible dust levels. Well that rang a bell, as my new semi load of hay is gorgeous Oregon grassy alfalfa–and very dusty. Because Horses.

As I obsessed over her health, Rory had a fine gallop the next morning..

12357078_899785031696_1784005593883991246_o

Trrrrot!

12314239_899725860276_912356898967650182_o

Just looking epic, nbd

Meanwhile the wettest and windiest storm of the year was inbound, so I suffered every horse but woolly mammoth descendent Blaze to wear a rain jacket. Because you know, I care. The fillies proceeded to try to strip themselves and each other. Because you know…horses.

12366183_899879197986_2181428011555858803_o

pictures of false innocence

12365885_899879222936_9148928965494529355_o

Rory dons her first blanket at 2.5 years old–a 72″!

It was a properly wet and windy night and they were all still clothed this morning, ungrateful wretches. Our land is now already greener and soggier than it ever made it to last year, with mushrooms sprouting in the horse poo and standing land puddles. At last. The massive tarp I hung off the roof to cover the protruding end of one of the hay stacks came off overnight, and some of my precious hay got err….pre-soaked, for Rory! Ahh, horses.

12345389_900052126436_18462943473301560_n

rain gives way to fog, greeeeeeen ❤

Grateful, and the New Guy

December 2, 2015 / Redheaded Endurance / 4 Comments

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings, near and far. My husband and I spent the day together, taking our crew of dogs up to the snow and cooking a full Turkey and all the trimmings (he cooked..I clean).

12304298_897773123576_2070648222180700533_o

12250010_897772414996_1959123431897792778_n

Nailed it! Thanksgivings human and pony

12316602_897800264186_6012045847969231239_n

12313932_897806990706_746365756332246654_n

It was a week of giving Thanks, entirely. In addition to Scrappy leaving and settling into his new home, Kenny settling in here, the holiday, and my mom’s birthday–the hay man came!! There was some organized chaos, a lot of heavy lifting, standard tarp shenanigans, and then there was a year’s supply of hay stored. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, rather!

When things are going swimmingly and you’ve brought home a new pony there’s only one thing to be done: go forth and ride solo, just see if you can bring it all crashing down about your ears. That may sound dramatic but then you may not have been life flighted to a bone rebuild after bringing home a new horse before. I’ve learned a few things since that incident years back but no one is immune from gravity, nor repeat incidents, so with 80% confidence I caught up Kenny boy last weekend, let a neighbor know I was headed out alone and my timeline, and off we went to the lake.

suppppp

Well first, we had discussions on loading. We did on the way back as well, that time including a well meaning audience who offered raised eyebrows and cookies (you’ve probably never tried to coax a Morgan-headed beastie into a trailer before if you’re offering that). None of that bothers me, partially because after loading animals in an 80s Miley 2 horse straight for 6 years nothing will, but also because I truly see trailer loading as the introductory place to an entire horse relationship, and I have absolutely gone about it the wrong way before.

If you think about it, trailering a horse home is your first big bonding moment. This includes your driving, and if you haven’t been tossed into a large trailer and driven about like a horse, you really should for the reality check. But back to the loading, unless the old owner does it, which I’ve never gone for, this is your first chance to work with the horse.

Here little horsey, get into my nice strange dark death box, you don’t know me from Adam but I swear it’s safe!

Sure, maybe the horse has been trailered for years, in different conveyances, etc. It’s still a new person with a new death box–and how will the new person go about it? In the past I have expected a horse to load because they know better etc. Now I truly see the first trailerings as an incredibly valuable training opportunity, where first you can let them take dominance, impose your will without compromise, or lay out a path that you two can travel together.

I can’t be as naturally soft with Kenny as the Arabs, yet anyway. He’s clever, and not spooky, and his first attempts at going *through* me promptly reminded me of the first Morgan I ever rode–a gelding back in Maine who regularly flattened my tiny self into the wall on his way to doing what he wanted. Kenny, being both Morgan AND pony, has notions enough to be an interesting gelding, but is also pretty adorable and looking to partner up. His riding experience of late has been with other horses and/or in the arena so being a solo trail horse out with a partner was clearly a bit confusing for him. I have the impression that, had he the current fitness, mentally Kenny would follow a horse right through a 50, for the herd quality of it. On his own? It was a confusing 6 miles for him, but with a few NopeNopes and OverHeres from me we had a great little intro ride overall, including bridge crossings, trots, EDPP, and minimal tantrums when other horses came and went in the lot.

12289610_898095103326_6841513273178089345_n

12289732_898095198136_4084790345538495457_n

12304394_898095128276_791224262175639845_o

when you gotta go…little Morgan feet, troll doll hair, adorable!

12321113_898095168196_490574728367634226_n

12294633_898095277976_5321329242874414179_n

12313917_898095307916_2920967357150507799_n

12304310_898095248036_8709736229686137735_o

11202574_898095367796_1254472163001122186_n

My husband is still trying to get used to the fact that Kenny doesn’t spook at every whisper on the breeze, or tractor scraping by. I’m still getting used to Kenny’s high pitched voice, which makes me grin every time. Kenny? Well he’s still getting used to us–and I think we’re all doing fine.

Catching up at RHE

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 / Redheaded Endurance / 2 Comments

With Tevis done, Sparky sold, and Scrappy out on trial at a wonderful home within the family, a few boxes were feeling ticked. So clearly it was time to play with my big red filly!

so grown up in the face these days, if not the voice

Orange adventure crew hiking at Lake Oroville

stuck between a rock and a wet place..

this is a lot of work..snack break?

my home born dreamgirl and the get er done rig!

ok just one more picture of her… 🙂

Fires continue to rage across California, particularly in the north state. Lately if it’s not us it’s someone else we know far too close to the paths of these sudden and terrifying blazes. I volunteer for the county fire scanner breaking news pages when I can and am continually in a state of awe and gratitude to all the firefighters and folks out there protecting us. THANK YOU!

smoky skies do make epic sunsets

In pink nosed pony news, I’ve been in the market for a full nose fly mask for Apache this summer. First I bought an Arab sized Cashel full nose mask which was quite entertaining but belongs on a Warmblood (literally, a friend uses an Arab sized mask on hers), then a local boot client recommended Equine Sun Visor. I ordered one up and it arrived in about a week; the mask is beautifully made to specs (choose color/mesh/pattern, with free embroidery) and seems to be a great fit! 95% UV protection and the little fella hasn’t shed it in the 4 days he’s worn it, despite apparently sticking his head in various sticker bushes.

the snoz to protect (pear eating derrpp)..and the snoz protected!

stole an afternoon on the water with the pups & husband

pretty much..

Jazzy is 4 months+ and busily doubling in size. We’re really happy with her brain and nature as well as her obvious protection and patrol instinct. What a dog she will be!

Enjoying the cooler weather we’ve had in the last week, Blaze has to taken to lurking in the shadows at morning feeding then erupting in a flurry of feet and dust and taking triumphant laps around his domain as his surprised human watches. So I put him to work! 🙂 A nice young gal who’s eager to be around horses came up and helped with some dirty work around the place and had a good ride on Blaze. The mighty bouncy trot teaches posting like no other, buahah.

cooling down

Tack Side note: the wide tree Solstice I bought from my Tevis rider fits Sheza–and Blaze?? Apache is next to try. This saddle must be magic! Also trying a Nurtural bitless bridle on Blaze, he seems to like it

I find myself at an interesting transition period in my herd with no saddle horse to focus on endurance with and absolutely no desire to look for one. I’ve got a whole lot of interest and enthusiasm and at least some knowledge to apply to this Make Your Own Endurance Horse thing, and with 10 year old project Apache and 4 year old up and comer Sheza I feel like I’ve got some good prospects. The rest, the becoming, is all up to us together!

p.s. Scrappy’s latest adventures 😀 ❤

Crewing Tevis 2015: It Ain’t Over til It’s Over

August 3, 2015August 4, 2015 / Redheaded Endurance / 5 Comments

This was my fourth year crewing Tevis and as ever there was much to see, plenty to learn, and lots of strategic waiting to do. The weather also threw a nice curveball, as Tevis is always hot but this year it was literally raining en route to Robie, as well at Robinson Flat on Tevis morning. Eventually the sun came out and upped the humidity factor nicely, too. If it wasn’t a big tasty bowl of challenges it wouldn’t be Tevis, right!

raindrops into Robie–found my rider, “chasing” her to camp 😉

the mighty Rushcreek Seth, attending to his vittles

Looking good team

This year there were 10 Rushcreeks vetted into Tevis on Friday, here’s a fun group picture. Also interesting to note, 50% completed, in accordance with overall Tevis completion average.

I did my usual gathering of crew bags (including Dr. Lydon’s this year), dialing in of rider wishes (what do you want specifically met with, tack/clothes changes, highlighting small details not to be overlooked), and met my crew buddy. It was still impressively cool and grey as I headed back down to Auburn to my old friend Motel 6–aaand promptly proceeded to lock my keys in the truck while shuffling gear. Fortunately I’d just devoured a #2 Animal Style from In n Out so I was chuckling instead of raging when I called AAA. That was sorted out easily enough and before I knew it the alarm was pinging in the wee hours and it was time to head for Robinson Flat!

cool unsettled weather & Blue moon over RF, Sat am

I’m always in the first fleet through ..

..so we get a nice shady near the road and bathrooms

guestimating off last year’s time, we were ready with the cart. time card and in!

always good to check full protocols if you’re a meeting skipper like me..they needed a Pass or Recheck blood draw card as well as time card

Seth is a typical Rushcreek trot-outter: “why human, this is stupid”

And a fabulous RC eater, of course

after a panicked “we need what sort of extra card to leave?!” (blood draw) sprint

Laura heads merrily out of RF at 11:55

Finishing up at RF means cleaning up your mess including hay, and it’s a good idea to bring your own trash bags as they can (and did) run out. We piled gear in the wonderful cart–every Tevis rider should have a crew cart, really, and I say that having crewed a buckle entirely solo with no cart— and we headed out, picking up someone else’s abandoned crew member along the way.

Foresthill parking lot was crowded, sunny, hot, humid–pretty well true to form, and I blessed my bright orange truck again as a crawl around the parking lot looking for a parking spot/sliver of shade resulted in truck recognition and being taken in under a boot client/friend’s awning and sweet trailer set up. Thanks again, W!

Bath road was busy as ever with the community and crews cheering the riders in

grey skies again as Laura rolls in around 730 pm

Seth needed to pee so he took a minute or two to pulse down but once he peed BOOM did that pulse drop

Foresthill trot out, Seth says “this is still stupid..”

Seth continued to eat and drink nonstop through the Foresthill hold while our rider rested and freshened up, then about 8:40 it was go time again.

This was the latest I (or my rider) had left Foresthill but all was in good order. After giving another buddy a ride I headed over to the Stadium and spent about 930 pm til 4 am switching between refreshing the Tevis webcast, chatting, and napping in the bleachers under a horse blanket. I made sure Seth’s stall was freshened up with vittles and poo removed, then closer to time brought the cart down to the Finish crewing area with hay and a mash pan and blanket ready.

In a bit of delirium and with the stadium announcer tiring I didn’t even hear or see Laura come in and do her victory lap, for all that. There is video (trying to add it) and he looks great trotting loosely around the stadium and under the banner. In the crewing area, Laura hollered at me where I was apparently sleeping with my eyes open and I snapped to it and whipped off tack and we headed in to vet.

…and then Seth looked a little funny and we needed to recheck.

You could have knocked me over with a feather and I was doing my best imitation of a guppy fish at that point. We’re a low key team especially based off our success together last year, so I didn’t even have a cooler of ice to hand to get ice on his legs (lesson learned!!), but fortunately Laura has many friends and some ice wraps popped up pretty quickly. Begging pardons and with pleases I reestablished how much time we had left to recheck and she went for it–and sure enough Seth was slightly off on the right front and they were pulled at the Finish. While he did look good trotting in, once adrenaline wears off sometimes things are revealed, and that was that.

So now you know why the title makes sense. I think Laura said it best, classy and realistic to the end, so I’ll leave you with her message:

“For everyone who thinks I finished Tevis…I actually didn’t. Even after crossing the finish line after hundred miles, horses are required to be sound at a trot to receive a completion – and Seth was off on his right front. There’s a video that Jen Smith has that shows him trotting his victory lap and he’s not unsound at all. Sometimes things like that happen. It really sucks, but you know, if this were easy, everyone would do it. Thanks for all your support and best wishes.”

P.S. Seth is looking and moving great, picture by L as of the a.m., vacuuming up his vittles and bright eyed for the next adventure. Safe travels East, my friends

Miscellaneous Gear Review

July 14, 2015 / Redheaded Endurance / 9 Comments

It’s been a while since I did a gear review, and I’ve accumulated a few Yays and Nays that I think are worth sharing.

Rider Apparel

UndeRider: I am one of those that sometimes wears 2 bras to ride. I recently purchased the Anita Extreme Control wireless sports bra after a fitting at the UndeRider booth at Wild Wild West ride. I’m a spasmodic shopper who has lost a significant amount of weight in the last few years and the size bra I had been buying wasn’t accurate, FYI, so a fitting can be worth doing. I liked the bra the few times I wore it working and then I really put it to the test on Gold Country 50 this past Saturday. Each time I put it on I briefly go “this is too tight around the ribs”–and then I completely forget about it and the girls til it’s time to change. Which for me is exactly what I want to happen with a bra! Winning. Already ordered another.

Kerrits Ice-Fil: I love the long sleeve tech shirts, literally wearing one right now. The Ice-Fil tights,linked in the brand name heading I have 2 pairs of because the pair I bought in what I thought were my size were way too large, sizing is a bit odd. The material feels as warm as if not warmer than my Irideon basic tights,and they’re quite stretchy to that point I question durability. Now that I’ve talked crap, I’ll add that I can’t stop wearing them and it’s purely because of the thigh pockets for my cell phone and goodies. In search of more favored thigh pocket britches..

Rackers Tights: I bought these because of the above mentioned search. They have a pocket, but it’s on the front of the leg which is awkward. I also found the fit awkward, and the material feels like a tarp. They are not in my britches rotation.

Horse/Tack:

Tailing Rope: I bought one of these nifty doodads from the lovely ladies of American Trail Gear at AERC Convention this year. Spark recently enthusiastically broke the snap while tied to a hitching rail–so I threw on some other clip I had in my tack trunk and it’s still awesome. Apparently it’s so new it’s not on their website yet but here it is on saddle, coiled, it’s the thin blue rope and has a 2 ended beta keeper that snaps onto a D Ring on the saddle on one side and holds the coiled rope in a snap on the other:

I just pop open the snap when I bail off and away we lead, without having to undo reins or martingale. Here it is deployed:

11141224_869112200296_8566674097222051605_ny

Rein Keeper: this is another easy to make yourself or Look Distance Depot has one! doodad that is so handy. Coupled with the ATG tailing rope above, I just snap the carabiner on the reins as I am bailing with said tailing rope (as seen in eating pic above, that’s why the red reins are staying up) and again no need to watch or undo reins.

Snazzy Fleece Coolers : Hooves N Whiskers is a fun source of dog and horse goodies, from my favorite buckets, TubTrugs, to gorgeous handmade mohair girths and unique coolers. Spark borrowed Sheza’s at gold Country and this picture does it no justice, it’s got lovely black borders and everything..

That’s all for now!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: