I thought I’d seen her squatting in Scrappy’s general direction out in pasture and sure enough after haltering I noticed right away that Sheza was in ridiculous heat; as I walked behind her in the cross ties running  my hands over her rump as I do, she went weak in the knees and slid her rump into me.  Snickerrrr, but no filly, we don’t swing our rumps at the human, no matter the reason. Aside from a few reminders about that, that was our only issue. Sheza’s momma Desire was always sweeter when she was in heat and it seems that Sheza is falling more into that category so far.

 …and that was Rory’s reply!

Sniff met immediate squeal-spin-air-kick and run away. Sheza, for her part, looked *shocked* and immediately started shaking her head, MY EAR, IT’S MY RIGHT EAR, her go-to move for confusion/spicy/spazzy moments. Rory seemed quite pleased with herself and trolled the pasture like a little shark after the fact. Hmm, about time she met Napoleon my mini horse, filly attitude adjuster extraordinaire. Rory had learned some boundaries living with Desire last month but the mare was eating all the groceries for two so she’s currently off the mentor list. Some independent solo time was good for Rory but looks like she’s ready for some more herd learning interaction again, and by that I mean living with a 30″ tyrant with spacial issues.

I feel like this could be us coming in off the trail into a vet check sometime in the future…  🙂

 Sheza had her traditional 15-20 minutes of trotting/cantering/bucking/direction changes in the round pen, then when she looked like something I wanted to ride, off we went!

our faces say it all I think 🙂

 I’m sure it’s obvious but I just love this filly! She has come such a long long way from the tiny thing my husband and I helped bring into the world 3 years ago, or even the wild brat she was at Rory’s age when I was contemplating selling her to gypsies*. My trainer April Moore did such a wonderful job with  Sheza this spring and I truly can’t wait for all our adventures coming in the next few years–as well as all the fun shaping Rory into a fine young beastie!

*when I was a kid my mom used to non-seriously threaten us with being sold to the gypsies and it’s stuck as my threat for my fillies 

Looking at stuff. Important Stuff.

 D uses Easyboots and I use Renegades, and we both had hind boots we thought potentially iffy before we set off but neither said or did anything about it. We rode off and sure enough both lost said iffy boots on separate steep uphills; mine was after water and the cable broke.  That boot had at least a thousand miles on it so I’m not bothered, and replacing the cables is easy.

 time to play my favorite road-to-Robie game: will the bumper of the RV/fancy rig in front of you drag the ground?  in 2012 I watched a cherry red convertible make this drive with bated breath!

 Seth and Laura vet in at Robie park with Doc Lydon

 looking good at trot out

After a successful vet in, I gathered my crew gear and instructions, wished Laura and her two rig partners a happy evening and start, and headed for my traditional Tevis dwelling, Motel 6 in Auburn. I generally get no more than and usually less than 6 hours of sleep over the entire weekend at the motel but the chance to rush back and *shower* when I have the chance is much appreciated.

Personally, I approach crewing as a mission. My mission is made somewhat harder by my sensitivity to heat which ended in my heat stroking out of being there for the stadium finish last year, so I really have to approach crewing like I’m in my own little endurance ride. As such, I get up bright and early and am in the first line of cars to get into Robinson so that my rider gets a good spot to relax, AND so that my rig is parked up top and my hiking/hauling is minimal. This was especially crucial this year as I had a few crew bags to carry, was trying to avoid overheating, and had only my 2 arms to accomplish everything.

in line for Robinson Flat long before 6 am when they let us in

 spot staked out for Laura and Seth

 was a little chilly up there Sat morning, ahh here comes the sun

 crew milling around waiting for riders to come down the lane into Robinson

 Laura and Seth arrived just about when I was anticipating them, and I rushed to dump off his saddle at our crew area and get back to him with some hay snacks. In true Rushcreek fashion Seth doesn’t like carrots or most randomly offered snack items, so having hay in hand was the key!

quick blood draw after P&R and before Vetting in. This is the third year of a study looking for indicators in blood work that might be early predictors of brewing metabolic issues

 Vetting at Robinson, Seth is casual as ever, and ready for some grub

 Good blood work, great vet in, time for a snack and cell break 

 what, doesn’t every Tevis horse stand quietly “log tied” at 36 mile Out Timer? I *love* rushcreeks

setting an alarm for 10 minutes before out time is my favorite way to not get behind. Be sure to  keep track of those pesky little time cards though! I ran back and found ours floating in Seth’s water bucket..got that sorted and Laura and Seth ride away looking great with junior Rhea on a Global horse tagging along

Thanks to my early arrival and parking up top, once Laura was on her way I only had about a 1/2 mile haul of gear to my truck and skeedaddled out of there to go assess the Foresthill situation. This was my first time crewing totally solo; the last years being part of a team definitely helped prepare me for the experience but I was still not entirely sure *what* I was going to do at Foresthill since my rider hitched a ride and wouldn’t have a rig there, it was hot and shadeless, etc. Fortunately I found her rig partners and hid in their shade for a few hours until their faster rider went through and they and their shade left in pursuit of her. At that point I set up in the weak shade my truck provided, and hoped the temperatures would cool before Laura’s arrival.

She rode in about 7 pm and the temperatures had cooled AND some shade had arrived, phew!

Foresthill vet check

 trot out at 68 miles

snacks and shade, stat! cheeseburgers and hay, bit of rest, then a  girth and saddle pad change

 Time to go again! Laura and Seth ready

 Heading out of 68 mile Foresthill stop..

 ..and that Tevis moon is a rising!

 Once the pair were on their way out of Foresthill I visited my best Auburn friends, Shower and In n Out Burger. After making sure Seth’s stall was clean and stocked, Laura’s gear was back in her trailer/stall out of my rig, and I had my Finish line necessities (fleece for Seth, snacks), I spent 5 or 6 hours deliriously visiting with folks in Auburn Stadium while feverishly pressing Refresh on Laura’s name on the fabulous Tevis Webcast.  I had a fun interlude where the spot I chose to relax in the bleachers turned out to be ant infested; there was rather a lot of hopping around and swearing and blanket shaking before I crawled to another spot and surrendered to sleep on the friendly metal floor amid the acrid smell of murdered ants.

3 AM, she’s at the Finish!!! UP AND ADAM!  Here they come, WOOHOO!!!

 Final vetting at Auburn Stadium finish line

 final trot out, and after 3 years of photos I don’t think I’ll ever manage a clear photo of this part of the day, too dark and dusty and the cell phone battery is too far gone–but the picture is clear, regardless–Seth and Laura FINISHING! 

 It was so special to be a part of Laura and Seth’s Tevis adventure; Seth has many quirks that remind me so strongly of my Scrappy boy, but Seth is a bit more motivated and impressive on trail! Still he has that relaxed, unimpressed by trot outs, quirky Rushcreek thing going on and it inspires me that my quirky slow  Scrappy fella and I will get out there and get er done too maybe, at some point. I don’t doubt Scrappy’s ability in the least but some of his unenthusiastic ride habits do make me question his enjoyment of endurance occasionally.  It was really great/special/inspiring to see how a relaxed Rushcreek fellow pulls this thing called Tevis off. Thank you for including me, Laura and Seth! Happy trails and safe travels East.

 So much filly fun!

(wait, you already have a Scrappy..)

 scruffy 8 mo old RC butt

 ..with caution.. 

 Summer got hotter and the Selfies kept rolling in

riding my other filly Sheza, looking down at her momma Desire and step-sis Rory

 When getting covered in goop but still needing to handle boots in between times, it’s best to bring something to wipe your hands off on. Or, you know, this happens: (better than wiping my hands on A though, right?)

 My nieces quite enjoyed the fluffy mini Doxies, and it was pretty mutual!  M and Rip

 Saturday morning A and I went out eagerly to see how our boot experiment had gone, and let’s just say Trial 1 is a failure, as Scrappy was standing at his fence line eagerly awaiting breakfast with both boot shells slid off and the boots hanging around his ankles. He had a slight wrinkle of consternation regarding the crap attached to his legs by the silly humans last night, but mostly had eyes only for hay. I’m thinking I’ll first try putting less goop in there, as I was pretty generous and I think when he put his foot down into the boot it really smooshed down and got slippery in there. My husband suggested vet wrapping the boot on, which is an interesting idea though I also get a vision of going out in the morning to feed and discovering Scrappy had hogtied himself with slipped vet wrap and muddy boots. Back to the drawing board there, but I’ve got a few idea and will post what comes next as it works out or doesn’t.

 After a hearty breakfast the girls were ready to saddle up, so I pulled my faithful horse saint,Blaze, out of the field. I feel guilty these days that I don’t use Blaze more, I think he really enjoys some time out being used, but he is great babysitter/kid/LD horse, and I don’t do a whole lot of that stuff lately.  Anyhow aside from basic maintenance and saying hey in his field, Blaze hadn’t been worked in the last month, but I knew he would be good for the kids and in fact I decided to up the ante to a “Trail ride” through the neighborhood instead of going in circles in the arena like last time.

❤ my sweet boy ❤

    

 We cooled ourselves off at the river after our horse hike Saturday and spent the evening on a great dinner and board games; Sunday was shopping day, and there’s certainly nothing exciting to be told about the city consumer experience except that we did manage to find some critters for them to ride while in a mall, too!

The girls loved helping feed the horses every day and after horse chores and breakfast this a.m. my mom wrangled them up and they headed home. It’s always great to get to see and enjoy time with the family and seeing the next generation enjoy animals and especially get interested in the horse fun is also rewarding in and of itself.

 My feeding crew led back to the barn by doxie Wilbur

Stay cool out there, it’s a balmy 102 degrees here!