On this fine, blustery Thursday morning I had plans to meet C and her gelding at the lake. After riding nearly 40 brisk training miles in the last few days I wasn’t feeling particularly ambitious mileage wise and luckily C had to be home at a certain time so it worked for both of us to do a shorter ride. We took the short horse camp loop and had lots of fun chatting and trotting. Before we even left the trailers to ride though another endurance rider and her daughter pulled in to say hello and we had a nice long chat with them. After our ride an endurance friend I met last year was just getting back to her trailer and we all chatted for a while too.

As I was driving home I was thinking damn, I have met all these cool friends/acquaintances in the last year all through endurance riding! I spent a fairly lonely first 3 years after moving here, riding quite a bit but almost always alone (though I had great times with my first riding friend here, J, who introduced me to the Oroville trails–but not long after she moved to Wheatland). After my fun tour of northern CA LDs with my little Blazey boy last year I suddenly know all these people–and not just know them, LIKE them! Maybe that sounds funny but I’m honestly not a super social person and tend to have a small, close knit circle of friends and to hell with everyone else. And let’s face it, after high school and college and the social situations you are automatically put in there, making new friends just doesn’t seem to be that easy, especially if you are relatively introverted like I am. I just love going to endurance rides so darn much, something about it makes me friendly, social, and open in a way nothing else does. Thanks to that, I found myself asking questions, talking to people, and here I am a year later knowing a handful of people I really truly like and can’t wait to ride with and/or see at the next ride! It does take a certain type of person to ride endurance, and I must say for the most part I love that type of person.

The gal we saw after the ride today, K, accompanied Blaze and I throughout the long torturous walk that was last year’s April Whiskeytown Chaser (less torturous since we had a great time chatting) and I saw her again at Mendo Magic later in the year. The lady and her daughter that said hi to us before the ride today I actually only just met in person in the last couple of weeks, but are longtime endurance riders I’ve heard of, and I’ve been chatting with her daughter on Facebook in the last few months as well. We’ve already got a ride with them planned for this weekend! I actually met C when she was crewing for her friend that I finished the Cache Creek ride with last May. My regular riding buddy, N, I met at the start of Patriot’s Day at Lake Almanor last July. And of course good ole Funder, who I “met” through reading her blog, then met in person at Lake Almanor also, where I completely forgot what her real name was but was feeling endurance-emboldened and said, “Hey, are you Dixie’s owner?” Well the rest is history and basically these are all just really awesome women with cool horses and I am really happy and grateful to know them all!

P.S. Getting out to Utah in November 2010 and meeting Dian and Christoph at Global also ROCKED, they are really cool and have been incredibly supportive and helpful–and of course that’s where my rockin’ lady horses came from! I’ll say it again, endurance people rock!!

 The weather kind of sucked! It was relatively warm up at our house this morning and the sun was just starting to come out when I left around 9:30, so I figured it would turn into a nice sunny day. Well that was not to be and it ended up pretty much cloudy and chilly, but also kind of humid. Trotting I was sweating sweating sweating and then as soon as we slowed down I felt chilled to the bone. Desire sucked down more water at the Visitor Center trough at the top of the hill and I decided to go a bit further to try to get to 15 miles.

I have to admit I was losing motivation a little as it was quite chilly at the top of the hill and my nose was running like crazy. The pollen was ridiculous today, I can’t believe how much crap is blooming already. I’m also basically over my cold but for some reason still have a runny nose (especially at speed, hehe). We only went about a mile further, just out to where we could look out over Oroville Dam and concede that it was, indeed, a grey crappy day.

We were at 10 miles when we turned around and in the end were at 14 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I figure that means we can certainly do 15 miles in under 3 hours, and be fine on time for a 30. I never really have a ton of trouble making time in actual rides (except for Whiskeytown, coz I walked the whole time due to rocks) but for some reason when I am breaking down the math and looking at my time and miles on training rides all I can think is: panic and how is it possible to get all the miles done in time?!!? It’s some sort of mind meld of my own creation.

munch munch munch

Zero boot rubs and an even sweat mark. WATAH!!

 Lately she has been hopping right into the trailer without any fuss, on the way home she thought about being a brat and swinging herself sideways when I asked her to load but I just pointed her straight at it firmly again and she hopped in.

I didn’t bathe her today, though it actually ended up warmer up at our house than it was at the lake. Just a good grooming and back to her paddock for some warm mash and extra hay.

My husband is bringing home KFC and I can’t wait!!

Today I finally tried a loop out of Bangor that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It takes off from Bangor proper, such as it is, loops out down some dirt roads past a good friend’s house, and back around to the main road which drops back into Bangor. I figured it was going to be about 9 or 10 miles worth of riding with a good, long, steep hill to conquer towards the end. Turns out from my parking spot out and back was exactly 10 miles, and we did it in 1 hr 50 minutes.

I got the okay from the Bangor feed store/boarding ranch owners to park in their barn area, which was easy, convenient, and kept me from having to worry about my rig. I could have parked in the giant lot at the Bangor public park next door but there is a rather sketchy looking bunch that hangs out there and I just felt better leaving my rig at the barn owner’s place The owners had told me where to park so I was out of the way and warned me that the trainers working out of there weren’t the friendliest (Lol) so I was prepared to be stared at like an intruder, and they did just that, but I just smiled and said I was a friend of the owners and kept to myself.

I somehow forgot the terrifying emu that lives on the corner of the boarding ranch’s property, but Desire quickly reminded me of it as we headed out! No harm done, we crossed the park’s parking lot and headed out down the road.

My husband and I took a quick spin down this road last night after the movies to see just how the long the pavement lasted, which kept me from the “ohmygodwillthisevereenddd” feeling I usually have about riding on pavement. All told it was just about 2 miles from my parking spot, down the paved road, and to where the dirt began. Not too bad! We got barked at by multiple dogs at every house we passed but saw some very cheery people out in their yards along the way who called hellos and said how pretty Desire was.

Once the road turned to dirt we had a nice 2+ mi trot/canter session, no cars in sight, just swinging along a quiet dirt road with fields and oak trees on each side, the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. It was a BLAST!! Desire transitions from trot to canter and back so incredibly smoothly, she is just so much darn fun to ride.

We got to our first intersection at just over 4 miles and turned right onto Dunstone Road, which leads past my friend’s house and intersects the other road which would take us back to the highway.

I had actually done part of this ride 3 years ago with my first riding buddy I ever met here, but we had done it in high summer and it was baking hot on the unshaded dirt roads and no fun. We’d parked at one of her friend’s houses out on the dirt road I was riding on and just gone out and back, so I hadn’t ridden the whole loop but at least knew more or less where I was the whole time. Anyhoo, we had another mile+ trot session and then slowed down to say hello to a very curious mule.

As we were hanging out staring at the mule I saw white vinyl fencing through the trees and suddenly realized we were almost to my friend, L’s, house and that the mule was the one she often talks about–seems the mule likes to escape and wander the neighborhood upon occasion. I texted and called L to see if she was home, no response, but I decided to ride up to the gate and set off the dog alarm and see if anyone was around.

When I rode up to the gate and saw the herd of dachshunds come flying toward me barking I knew L had to be home. They have big dogs too but I knew if the littles were out they must be home. L is the person I got my dachshund Wilbur from, and was also the person that our entertaining mini horse, El Bandito, came from.  She has a wonderful zoo of creatures and is a lot of fun herself.

There was no sign of L at first but I just hung out at the gate letting Desire graze and the dogs bark and after a few minutes sure enough she appeared! We hung out and chatted for probably 45 minutes and Desire discovered something to be VERY SCARED of. That thing being Chuck, the big handsome brown domestic tom turkey that lives at L’s. He is very friendly and follows humans around with his tail on displaying, thrumming and drumming and gobbling. Well Desire found that whole situation quite disconcerting and actually was the most spooked and alarmed by him as I’ve ever seen her. As he came thrumming and drumming toward the gate she threw it in reverse and was back pedaling and snorting as quickly as she could do both. I’m going to confess that was about my reaction the first time I met Chuck! He is a big bird and looks quite imposing all spread out in his glory, but he’s very friendly. L picked him up and held him and I convinced Desire to walk back up to the gate and sniff him all over, but once he was back on the ground and marching around again she kept her eye on him and kept snorting every few minutes. So apparently I need to fill her paddock with turkeys and hunks of wood, as they seem to be her least favorite things in the world! L gave us a handful of Hershey kisses for the road which was awesome, yum!

Maybe 1/4 mile past L’s was our turn onto Avacado road which would take us up the big hill and back to the highway.

As we headed for the hill, Desire found herself with a case of WeMustTurnAround-itis, apparently convinced that this was an out and back and not a loop ride. She just KNEW she knew best and actually tried to fully turn around a couple of times, lol. She must have known what was coming. We tackled the hill at a slow trot and she actually trotted right to the top with no issue! I was planning to trot some, walk some, trot some, depending on how steep it actually was riding it (everything feels different in a car), but she just trucked away at a steady little trot up, up, up.

There was a cow outside the fence near the top and we just had to stop and take a gander at it. The few times I’ve seen cows while on Desire she has acted like they’re demons from hell but for some reason she wasn’t very impressed by this loose cow and stopped right near it to gaze at some horses whinnying way out across the fields. Maybe she was too tired to fear cow, muahahhaha!

We had another mile+ trot once we reached the summit and just as we got back to pavement and the highway we encountered our first cars of the entire ride. There were kids in the back seat of the SUV that passed us and they were smiling and waving furiously as they went by.

I jumped off Desire when we got to the stop sign as we had to walk along the road back down to the boarding ranch and it wasn’t a stretch I felt safe riding. The stop sign is at the summit of another hill and people tend to fly down the backside of it toward Bangor town, so hand walking felt safest.

Here’s what we were walking along for about a half mile back down to the boarding ranch:

Lots of cars went by in that stretch and some slowed down, others didn’t. A couple of motorcycles roared past us but Desire didn’t even flick an ear, just strode along behind me like a trooper.

Below is the beginning of the boarding ranch property again, and this handsome guy coming toward the camera actually lived at our place for the first 5 months after we bought it. He was a client horse of the trainer we bought the place from and we let her keep her horses at the place until she could figure out another spot. Unfortunately his mother, also boarding at our house at the time, came down with and succumbed to a nasty colic a few months after we moved in. It was a really sad thing, I saw her pawing at dinner time and called the trainer right away and the trainer and I stayed up all that night walking and trying to save the mare but she was just too far gone. Anyway her son now lives at the boarding stable in this lovely big paddock:

Below is Desire grazing right next to the scary emu’s pen back at the boarding barn. Apparently after her close encounters with the Chuck turkey kind, she is no longer impressed by emus. We actually startled the bird when we walked up, it was curled up sleeping on the ground and jumped up and ran away when we came around the corner, so maybe Desire felt she had told it who was boss and felt the grass was safe even against the fence. Or maybe she was just tired and hungry!

NO boot rubs. I left all gaiters slightly loose and slicked her legs and baby powdered her boots and there wasn’t a rub in sight! Also, we didn’t cross any water today, and I’m pretty convinced wet soggy boots and gaiters contribute to the rubbing.

Saddle sweat mark was good, slight dry spot at the shoulder but even otherwise and not sensitive to palpitation at all.

It was great to get out to the lake again today with Desire and N and her mare. It had somehow been 2 weeks since we were last out there, though we did a few rides here from home in that time and I was sick for a couple of days last week, too.

Boots: I left gaiter straps all a little loose, ended up with a couple of very small ankle rubs and NO heel bulb rubs thanks to finally applying the much-needed Power Strap to the other front boot. Good stuff.

Saddle: We cruised 13 miles and didn’t get too hot and bothered, so I don’t consider the sweat mark reliable. There were some dry spots, but she was also not fully sweated up, and her back wasn’t at all sensitive to the touch. So a big WHATEVER to saddle fit today. Know what I mean?

Head gear: (can’t you just picture Desire in dorky braces and head gear reading that? Maybe it’s just me..) I put the Kimberwick and martingale on her today. She did wonderfully in them!

This weekend I plan to attempt the big dirt road loop down in Bangor proper…

Feels live forever since I’ve posted, or ridden for that matter. I felt I was getting sick last Thursday when the horses all got pedicures, and sure enough I spent Friday-Monday not moving far from the couch.

My husband surprised me with an overnight Valentine’s Day trip to Tahoe on Tuesday morning 🙂  We had a blast and made a somewhat treacherous icy/snowy descent to Carson City and on to Reno this morning, finally arriving back to our peaceful green fold late this afternoon. It’s amazing how long just over 24 hours away from home can feel! I got a new tattoo up in Tahoe and will be going back to that artist in the near future to have some more work done on a previously existing tattoo that is a little faded and I want transformed into something else. It should look really cool when it’s done, and I love the text job I got done Tuesday afternoon.

Oh, and my husband won a $1300 jackpot on the penny slots at a casino in Tahoe! Pretty crazy.

Back to reality tomorrow, going to get my trailer cleaned up and ready for another lake ride Friday, and desperately need to hit the gym! (Not a bad reality, is it?)

Progress is a great word, and while I feel like horse pucky today and am most likely getting sick, this morning was all about progress. My awesome trimmer was headed out at 8:30 to clean up everyone’s feet and I was actually on the ball enough to pull Desire and Sheza with some spare time before she arrived. Sheza and I had a walk-about sniffing and investigating all the endlessly scary things on the property, while Desire tap danced in the cross ties protesting my baby stealing tendencies. Note to self, if Desire gets more than 2 days off, she goes right back to ridiculous, tense, tap dancing silliness. She had been quieting down being ridden every other day but got 3 days off and today was as tense and raring to go as ever.

Anyhoo I put a rope halter on Sheza today and I think it really did help. She had outgrown everything else and had been wearing her pretty grass green biothane halter but when she is being a punk she can lean and pull on that halter as hard as she wants with no effect, so I decided to try a rope halter. It fit her face really well and while I think my attitude today helped (more on that later), I think the rope halter also helped. The few times she tried to pull back or be bratty she felt the pressure points on the halter and almost immediately came forward again and stopped, rather than pulling back hard and continuing to be a snot like she had in the biothane halter. As far as my attitude, I have a bad habit of becoming irritated very quickly by pointless shenanigans and let’s face it, foals are some of the best in the business at pointless shenanigans. Patience is something I have to work veryvery hard at with Sheza. I recently exchanged emails with a nearby breeder who has been raising foals for years and she reminded me again to not take the foal silliness and “misbehaving” too seriously, but instead focus on becoming the calm steady partner who is there for her and will be there for her no matter the situation, as opposed to The Boss ruling with an iron fist, which is kind of my natural tendency. So I took the rope halter, the filly, and a calm, patient attitude on my walk around the property, and while she did scare herself and spook and did silly things, I made myself just stand calmly and quietly, and she would immediately calm down, snuff me, and move on. We even did this around the horse trailer, and she stuck her head all the way inside the trailer and was sniffing the divider and mats, which is the first time she’s been “in” the trailer in any way (I feel like I’m late on that training front, but better late than never..). Oh and when I put the halter on first thing, she pulled her head away and spooked out three times before she let me do it, which drives me CRAZY but I just stood quietly and ignored it and she came right back each time and finally let me halter her. So, patience wins.

Hooves. Desire’s thrush is in control for the time being–woohoo! I’ve been treating it and it seemed a lot better but it’s always nice to hear from a professional that things are looking good. Her hooves are doing great. Sheza had some thrush in a couple of her hooves and had grown an insane amount of hoof in the last 4 weeks, like her mother, but overall she is doing great too. Blaze even needed a trim which was exciting because he usually grows new hoof at a glacial pace but after just 4 weeks barefoot already needed some trimming done too.

I cleaned my whole tack room and never did find my size 1 Power Strap for Desire’s front boot, but luckily my trimmer, an Easyboot dealer, had just made an order and had Power Straps with her–and get this, they were out of the colors she wanted so she ended up with purple, which is the color I use. Serendipity (for me). I couldn’t install it for the life of me, something about pulling the boot together and getting the screw in place just wasn’t happening, but that’s what husbands are for, right? 😉

Even though I felt crummy I took Mr. Blaze out for a 6 mi meander around the neighborhood in his Epics and the Specialized.

We had some trots and a little blast of canter up our favorite short hill, which was funny because there were 4 or 5 people loading wood into a truck in a field next to the road who saw and heard us coming charging up the hill but I had no clue they were there til afterwards and I was talking away to Blaze the whole time, Lol. A young FedEx driver headed at us pulled over and let me trot up the straightaway we were on, nice of him and it was one of those times I was glad to be wearing my 2-bras-at-once to remedy some of that BOUNCEBOUNCEBOUNCE he was no doubt enjoying, haha!

95% even sweat mark on Blaze though I think I need to shim some more in the “hollow” behind his big shoulder and shark wither. BTW today I discovered that while Desire certainly does it smoother and (usually) more gracefully, Blaze’s trot is actually the same in mph:  6-7 mph jog, about 8.5 mph working trot, and 10+ mph extended. His walk, on the other hand, is a full mph slower than hers, and drives me a little nuts. But I love him anyway.

I’m just beat beat beat. You know that drained feeling when you’re getting sick? Yeah, but I’m not getting sick right, it’s just random allergies or something! Right?! I’m riding Desire at the lake tomorrow, there is no room for a cold!