Oo, and my 25 lb bucket of Equi-pride was dropped off at the gate by Fed-ex this morning. It’s SO much fresher and better smelling than when I was buying it in the feed store (last time I got it from the feed store it was in fact gone BAD)…love this stuff for great healthy coats and an easy All-in-One vitamin/mineral supplement.

That’s kind of what this week will be like. My Amazing Crew Husband can’t come to Hat Creek Hustle this coming weekend where I’m hoping to ride both days of 50s, so I’ll be extra quadruple checking I remember all the essentials. I do that anyway but you know, when a circumstance of a ride weekend changes your mind goes WHEEEEEEE with all the possibilities of what may go differently due to the change. I’m not very worried about it, I always take care of all the horse stuff while he is usually the camp set up/cook, so as long as I bring delicious, easy-prep things to eat it won’t be a whole lot different.

Hat Creek is my favorite ride of the year, so I’m really looking forward to it! At least 4 of my riding buddies from near and far will be there for both days of riding as well.

 Lots of tack to clean and re-pack, taking Desire to my trimmer’s Wednesday for a fresh trim and Glove glue-ons, and hope to pull out of here early Friday morning!

Just a glamour shot of my beautiful Joey boy..

I’ve been hitting the hills with Desire quite a bit lately, and this morning I hit the lake solo to do some more. Since she had a rough go of it at hot, hilly Cache Creek I have upped her electrolyte protocol–now using Quench feed through electrolytes and syringed Endura-Max for endurance rides– and added some more hill training. We are planning (hoping?) to do both days of 50s at Hat Creek Hustle next weekend  and while it’s not known for it’s hills or particularly technical trails, hills are Desire’s weakness, so hills we shall ride!

We went 10 miles in 2 hours this morning, including 3 long gradual trotted hills and a cantered short steep hill. I added more wraps of tape under her front Gloves but found that too many wraps meant the boot couldn’t slide over and just mushed the tape up her hoof. I took about one wrap off and then put the boot on and used a butter knife–hey it came to hand and worked well–to tuck the tape edges solidly under the Glove shell since it was still a little rucked up. 3 wraps of tape didn’t do it last time and 5 was too thick, so I ended up with 4 and cramming the tape in. I slid the knife under the edge of the top of the boot shell (remember it’s a butter knife and in no way sharp) to lift it slightly and then kinda levered the tape under it and then let the shell settle over it. I tell you what, we did some torque-y moves today and powered up hills and all the boots stayed on, plus the one I really wedged like that with the butter knife was actually hard to pull off at home which was reassuring.

The shorter, steep hill we cantered up:

 The only thing is, I avoided water completely. I really just wanted to ride today and not do the boot rescue thing so I cut over to the bike trails, parallel to the horse trails, to avoid the water crossings. So yeah, my boots stayed on, but I avoided my nemesis, water. Sorta ironic for an endurance rider’s nemesis to be water, but fortunately there are troughs along the trail as well as natural water crossings, and Desire drank nicely at the troughs. I did the boot gaiters up looser than last time and the rubs were minor to non existent, but the Velcro ripped open on one when we were trotting uphill; that was our only boot problem today and I did jump off and re-Velcro it of course, but man is that new gaiter Velcro cheesy.

A sweaty chick who will eat anything..kinda like me..

Still it was nice *amazing* not to have any boots off. So I guess I glue for endurance rides, Glove for non-water crossing rides, and hopefully Renegades will stay on for anything? We’ll see! I’m borrowing a set from a Renegade rider at Hat Creek next weekend, she confirmed she is going last night and her horse wears the same size as Desire. It’s nice to have endurance friends for so many reasons!

Speaking of Hat Creek, my amazing crew husband can’t make it, so we’ll be on a 4 day Girl Adventure, just Desire, Georgia the chihuahua mutt, and myself. It will be good fun and an adventure for sure, and there are some good riding buddies from near and far that will be there too. So looking forward to it!

Another positive, interesting, fun training session with Joey and my trainer friend, B, this afternoon. He was SURE she was going to start bunny hopping for the first 20 minutes or so and was keeping his eyes well on her, while working nicely for her. He finally decided she wasn’t going to hop and by the hour mark when we quit he had worked in his snaffle bit, under saddle for the first time, done his flexing nicely, learned a new trick, picked up his front feet, and let his hind legs be rubbed. Happy days!

Hoo-yah, look at that trot!

Joey, meet saddle pad

Joey, meet saddle:

He moved out at a nice working trot and got used to the saddle flapping and creaking on his back for a while in both directions. Then B worked on bending and flexing. She did this with the lead rope on his halter last week, and this week put the lead rope on his bit, and gently encouraged him to turn his head that way. He is expressive but learns quickly, as below where he says Noooooo and 3 seconds later has given in:

B looped the lunge line over the saddle and left the long end dragging behind him, and that really gave him something to think about. His hind end is progressively less off limits but still an area of concern for him, particularly the right hind. And he is worried about things behind him, like when I walk a ways behind her leading him down to the round pen to work. So dragging things and having his hind end handled a lot are essential for this guy.

Dragging the rope off the left side:

More concerned about the rope dragging behind the right side:

Then it was back to leg handling, first with the rope for quite a while until he was stone cold bored with it, then she started with her hands again:

He really wasn’t very bothered by her handling the left hind this time. She ran her hand right down to the hoof and he just stood for it:

Of course he was much more worried about the right hind and she circled patiently with him again as he yielded away from her and tried to block her with his head. She kept a hand on his quarters and circled quietly and he got better bit by bit. He started to realize if he stopped moving and stood nicely, she would stop touching him, and once he grasped that she would release when he stopped, then rub his leg again. Still, sliding her hand down toward the stifle always prompted circling again. She did manage to rub all the way down to the fetlock a couple of times but it’s still very much a work in progress with that right hind.

My little working boy!

His new trick was great practice for him and you could really see him pleased with himself when he figured it out. She brought the rope around behind him and stood back on the offside, so that he had deal with a rope around his hind legs AND her behind him, which he was very uncertain of. Then he had to flex and follow the rope for the release, also great practice. You could see him thinking and enjoying it, aside from the nerves about her being behind him..

What is she doing back there?!

The rope around the back, he tries to figure out where he is supposed to go for release..

Oh okay, flex and follow to release the pressure  Smart boy!

He always marched right up to her after he completed the turn and licked and chewed like, “See, I’m smart!” He got too smart and started to circle when she tried to walk towards his rear to get behind him, so she swapped up her technique and just looped it over his head to get it behind him, as he wouldn’t give up the circling game. The first time she changed tactics you could see him thinking, “But but, how’d it still get behind me and around my legs?!” It’s always good to out smart smarty pants Arabs and keep the ball rolling!

See, I’m a good boy and figured it out

After he did that exercise well in both directions she called it a day. Joey was calm and quiet and had taken a lot of new stuff in stride and I’m all for quitting when you’re ahead.

 He has great stamina and though he moved out in the saddle quite a bit, the round pen was shady and he didn’t get very sweaty today. There was a cool breeze and the last few nights have been chillier so we skipped the bath and he was standing so quietly in the cross ties at the end that he got to go home after only a few minutes.

Oh, that thing from my back!

Standing so nicely:

Another great session with a very smart boy!

Steed:

Heading off for the Big Hill:

Bottom of the Big Hill:

C and Sonny ready for the Hill:

Looking back down the hill from the top!

It was a good, sustained climb. We trotted for a bit and when their heart rates got too high (well, Sonny’s, C was directing our progress as I don’t care to use a heart rate monitor, too much crap to worry about for now) we slowed to a walk for a few minutes at most and then trotted on. I forgot my phone and my GPS kicked the bucket so I had no mileage or speed tracker and it made me twitchy. Become addicted to that stuff! Even my random mileage tracker phone app is better than nothing. But we did about 9 miles in 2 1/2 hrs. We hand walked the horses back down the hill and it was a good stretch of the legs.

Posing in the wild flowers at the top…You can just see Collins Lake and the valley in the gap of the trees behind my head, we could see the whole Butte Range and valley from the top of that hill!

The much cursed and beloved stream crossing. Cursed for the booting issues it causes and beloved for the horses to cool their toes and get a good long drink, as Desire did on the way back to the trailers..

I’ve had it with the Gloves. I’m glueing on for (hopefully) 2 50s at Hat Creek next week, and after that I’m trying out some used Renegades that are coming down the pipeline from a friend. If I like them she’ll sell me the used ones. I’ve invested A LOT into the Gloves already and my husband is Over It. I am too though, and I’ve tried every conceivable thing to make the Gloves work, but it just isn’t!

I got home and rage-mowed the lawn before I even went in the house. About halfway through I was tired and whiny and hungry and out of rage, but I had to finish, so there’s that.

It’s grey and raining lightly this morning, after a HOT weekend with temperatures near 100. We had a guest up visiting since Friday and did the whole Lake Oroville boater thing on Saturday, complete with me hiding under an umbrella and spraying water and sun screen over myself constantly–and a handful of bass caught. I didn’t even get a burn but I swear my skin radiates sun heat for days afterward.

And so as the sprinkles fall and the dust settles, the pale skins say Ahhhhhh and put their sunscreen down for the day. Sweet relief.