She looks so grown up at only 13 weeks old! And are we seeing those muscles people??!

Well a couple horsey things to catch up on and some photos to share. Sunday we met C at the lake again for a ride, this time at the far trail head down by town. I prefer that area and that end of the lake trails but as I’ve mentioned before the parking lot is very secluded and I don’t like to go there alone. We met at 9 and had a nice 3 1/2 hr ride, including a part of the trail I hadn’t been on since the endurance ride (because it was bike trail and C didn’t believe me until we rode it and saw the signs, haha) so it partially made a loop instead of just riding straight out and back the same way. I got up at 4 am that morning to drive my husband down to the river to meet his friend to fish since we are currently sharing one vehicle, so by the time we were in the saddle and on the trail I was already a little tired. We did Sycamore hill and the horses got a good work out, though we walked a little more than usual since Blaze and I were both dragging a bit. C’s horse continues to be a pain about loading back into the trailer to go home (he is off the track and has a few issues) but hopefully that will be resolved soon. She is a lot more patient than I am, I have had SO many horses not want to load in my little straight load that I am a little short on patience with the issue, though generally patience is the key!
The weather has continued to cool through the week and the last two days were wonderfully cool, topping out at 85 at the most. The mornings have been deliciously cool and there was even some dew this morning. It really helps my general mood to get going in the morning in the cool instead of being sweating and irritated at 7 am. Today’s high was forecast to be 80 so I decided to ride Blaze out from here and check out the Bangor Wildlife Area that is a couple of miles away. We left the drive at 9:30 and headed down a 2 mile dirt road, across the main road, and down another mile of paved road to the wildlife area. We only saw a couple of cars and only one sped by without slowing. That irritates me SO badly when people do that, luckily Blaze will walk calmly ahead while cars pass but if I were on another horse and that car flew by like that–danger! I know its technically a road and not a trail but its really not that hard to slow down for the few seconds they pass us. Oh well, people are so naive and/or rude about horse etiquette its pretty much par for the course. We almost had to turn around right when we arrived at the wildlife area as there was a cattle guard across the trail. I dismounted to look for a way around and Blaze made to bravely stride across it before I could stop him, sticking half of his hoof between the bars of the guard! I about had a heart attack and backed him away from it. I was thisclose to turning around and giving up but there was a space between the bars bracing the guard where I could see Blaze could step and avoid the guard and I have squeezed him through tight spaces before, so I decided to risk it. I stood on the edge of the cattle guard with one hand on the reins and the other on his side, sort of blocking him so that the only way forward was to step over the support bars and avoid the guard. He minced his way carefully over with no issue at all, phew! I swear horses know when they need to be careful about things because Blaze is fairly clumsy in general but the few times I have needed him to walk just-so in tight spaces he has managed it perfectly. I noticed when I went to get back on that both my legs from the knee down were covered in those horrible tiny stickers, I mean covered! Blaze had them in his splint boots too (reminds me I have to go scrape them out still, uughh hate those things!) and I don’t have a clue when we got them but boy they got me good. They scrape off fairly well if you hold the cloth tight and use a shedding comb but are really irritating. Only another few hundred feet and we almost got stymied again. There was a big gate to enter the wildlife area and two smaller gates, and in general we could have gotten through the smaller gates fine (the bigger one was locked) but they had put a pole in the middle of the gate entrance to prevent four wheelers so we had half a gate width to squeeze through! Luckily little Blaze squirted through there and we were finally into the wildlife area.

There are herds of cows out there, though none were to be seen today, and I am assuming the tire track roads I followed around exploring were from trucks driving out to feed them. Unfortunately it wasn’t as big an area as the husband and I had expected, since it only went about 3/4 of a mile in each direction before you hit either a fence line or impassable rocks. It was still fun though as there were 5 different dirt tracks leading in all directions that I trotted out and back exploring and then one long steep hill I cantered up. It is fairly limited and takes a while walking on pavement to get there so I don’t think I will ride there very often but it is nice to have a different spot to ride to from home, and it made a 13 mile ride which is pretty significant for not having to trailer anywhere.

The husband had said if I wasn’t back in 3 hours he would start worrying and I made it back in the driveway (actually I snuck in the bottom pasture gate to try to surprise my husband but the mini somehow knew I was coming and started whinnying and outed me!) in exactly 3 hours. It was nice to be able to ride out in the day and not be sweating bullets. I certainly got warm but nothing like riding in 90+ degrees. We cooked up our first crook-neck squash and a big lettucey salad fresh from the garden for lunch which was yummy but I am such a carnivore, I thought it would be just perfect with a big chunk of chicken on top!
Desire’s fly bites are looking better, the War Paint is keeping the flies off and the swelling is completely gone and things are improving. I decided to wash her this afternoon because she doesn’t seem to roll but once in a blue moon and she gets a bit grungy. Filly was fairly cooperative for haltering and they both snorted and rolled their eyes when they saw the hose moving and spraying but got over it pretty quickly. They both seem to react like DRAMA FIRST for a few seconds and then oh, okay, no big deal. Blaze is slower to react and is more inquisitive in general than spazz first and ask questions later. Desire got her bath and re-application of War Paint and then Sheza had a grooming, practiced lifting her feet, and, drum roll please, wore her first fly mask! It took some convincing to get it on her but I just went slowly, rubbing the mask on her, putting it up by her ears, then I just hung it on one of her ears and let her get used to that. She didn’t react at all when I pulled it over her face and put her other ear through and stood and wore it nicely while tied for 15 minutes or so.

Un-doing the velcro to take it off scared her some and I practiced that a few times and put it on and off a few more times then put the girls away and fed everybody. Oh, Sheza is outgrowing her leather baby halter! I had to let the nose band way out and she only has one hole left on the crown piece. Seems like just yesterday I was poking more holes to make it small enough to fit her!
I may be going to the coast this weekend for a family get-together and to see my brother’s baby for the first time, so I may not post for a bit, but I haven’t decided yet since we are down to one high mileage vehicle and I’m not sure I want to risk a road trip. Ohh boy I hope some day we can go a few years without any vehicle breakdowns! Wouldn’t that be something.
Happy trails!

I’m having an issue with my momma mare Desire and flies. First of all, the flies LOVE her. She wears a fly mask all day every day and I fly spray her as well, but a week and a half ago or so I noticed she had two little sores on her belly, apparently from the persistently biting flies. I cleaned them up and sprayed Vetericyn on them and they are mostly healed over now but yesterday I noticed that they were both also slightly swollen, and the flies were clustering on them with a vengeance. Less swollen today but looks like one is starting to become raw again, so obviously the flies are just harassing the areas non-stop. The swollen spots aren’t hot or painful to her, just ITCHY. I put out an email on my local horse forum to ask people what they might have used in such a case, it being my first horse with any sort of skin sensitivity and heard back from quite a few people who said to put on everything from tea tree oil to Vaseline to MTG. My riding buddy suggested War Paint, which she had put on her mare’s belly when a similar issue occurred, minus the swelling. I think I might try War Paint first and go from there. I’ve heard MTG can be great but is also really smelly and awful, and knowing Sheza filly she will give herself a new hair-do or something equally silly with whatever goop I put on there. The War Paint sounds low profile but (hopefully) effective. We shall see! I am dying to saddle up the mare and really ride her, get her to start losing those pregnancy pounds again but one of the sores is right where the girth runs, so guess I will have to wait to try out the new mohair girth, stick with bareback riding until I get those darn spots resolved.
Blaze and I met our riding buddy C at the lake this morning. We did the loop around the horse camp only out and back instead of a true loop, since the loop itself is very short and still partially underwater! The lake is so high this year, its truly amazing every time I see it. The ride was 10 miles in about 2 1/2 hours, we mosied along at some spots and let them stop at all the water so it was a little slower than I had been riding that ride, but we had some good long trots and it was a fun ride. Blaze seemed downright tired at the end, the last mile or so he started tripping a little and his always-slow walk was at its absolutely old-plug slowest. We are planning to meet C at the lake again Sunday but at another trail head for a longer ride, and as the weather is forecast to continue cooling, it should be a great ride.
I rode Blaze without any wrap or boot on his left hind yesterday morning and today and he didn’t hit it at all, it is looking good and finally healing! I’m so happy for him for that to be healing and feeling better and me coz I don’t have to stress about it and wrap it constantly anymore! I think I only went through 20 or 30 rolls of vet wrap during that little escapade. Now we know, no hind shoes for Blaze. It all really makes sense now that I bought him with that big ole bump sticking out on his left hind, someone else must have had him shod all the way around and either was fighting it for a long time or just didn’t care or notice and let it continue for a long time, since that bump is clearly the spot he interferes when shod and had to take some real banging to become raised like that. Anyhow I am very glad that is all looking better and now just need to resolve the Case of the Itchy Swollen Bites on a Gray Mare.

The husband left this morning to fish at about 5 am and since I was already awake I figured I would take Blaze out for a little morning leg-stretcher ride, since we are supposed to ride at the lake with C (new riding buddy previously mentioned) and then again at the lake with C and her friend (I met finishing Cache Creek Ride) on Sunday. I hadn’t ridden Blaze in a week because its been so crappy hot so I figured a few miles out and back this morning would be some good limbering up for him. I’m not often in the saddle before 6 am but it was actually quite nice, peaceful, sun wasn’t blasting yet: over all pretty much worth it. I do enjoy getting up early and its the only way to operate when the heat of the day is impossible to be out in, but it also makes said long hot days..well, verryyy long. But still, totally worth it and enjoyed my jaunt out with Mr. B this morning. There was a new batch of goats with babies alongside the road and we had a VERY Arab moment when Blaze first saw them: Blaze goes from meandering along to neck arched, feet doing a jig, blowing/snorting through his nostrils, then frozen but quivering like he might jump sky high any second. It was particularly amusing because Blaze never behaves like this, and I do mean never. He can get strong at the start of a race but he is never spazzy, snorty, in the true stereotypical Arab style, so to see it, and ride it, was actually kind of funny. We moved along through it and wasn’t a big deal but I won’t forget that fluffy little baby goats are THE scary thing to level headed ole Blaze. We also encountered a herd of paints and Arabs that we hadn’t seen before and a big thick paint (guessing it was a stallion) not only ran to the fence to see us but followed us down the entire fence line, bush hogging through rocks, trees, and over a stream, nickering all the time frantically like we just HAD to come join his herd.

Come join us!

The mares and (gorgeous) foal meanwhile were running circles around the big pasture wondering where their man went. Blaze was much more mellow about a big stallion trying to climb over the sad, sagging barbed wire fence to get us than the extremely terrifying baby goats gamboling around innocently…
We rode back in the driveway about 7:30 and Blaze got an extra Distance Plus mash for being a good boy and going out for a jaunt before breakfast (am I horrible horse owner for doing that? I figured it was an easy short ride and if I fed and waited for him to eat it would have been getting hot. I of course wouldn’t skip his breakfast before any true conditioning or endurance ride). I put the woolly stirrup leather covers on my saddle this morning before we left and it was niiiiice. Lately I have felt like the leathers were rubbing a little on the front of my leg when riding, especially since I haven’t been wearing half chaps, and that wooly wrap around the leather made it sooo much nicer. I don’t think I could make my saddle any more cushy at this point since it now has the full fluffy seat cover, stirrup leathers covered, packs on the front and side, and cushioned, caged endurance stirrups. Pretty awesome set up!

Now if only the saddle itself was about 12 lbs lighter, it would be perfect! Seriously though, I really lucked out buying this saddle used from my good friend 3 yrs ago, I didn’t even consider what the seat size was and just bought is from the pictures posted on her ad. It fits me perfectly, has a very deep seat, knee rolls, and fits every horse I’ve put it on, from tiny Arabs to bigger, fat Arabs to a huge tank of a Foxtrotter. SO if it weighs a little extra, I guess I just need to suck it up and start hitting the weights more, since the saddle itself really is fabulous. Its also lasted quite well, like I said I bought it used 3 yrs ago and I don’t know how long the gal used it before me, a couple of years at least. I’m not the most reliable about soaping the leather but I did pretty well on this saddle before it was covered and the full saddle cover has been on it for a while now. All in all, a great purchase!
Looking forward to the lake rides this weekend, the weather is supposed to continue cooling into next week as well, hooray!

My farrier showed up earlier than expected, which was nice since its only going to get hotter this afternoon. He was surprised at the dings Blaze had managed to inflict on that poor hind leg but as we know, Blaze isn’t the most graceful guy in the world. With his constant itching and rolling, and the interfering in the way he travels, it was definitely just time to get the steel shoes out of the equation, at least in the hind. I definitely hope to be going all Easy Boot all the time with both horses by next season but for now I will go front shoes with Blaze and hopefully be able to finish our endurance season safely and happily that way. It really stresses me out to see a scratch on Blaze, let alone two cuts caused by something I technically did to him by shoeing him. I feel better just having the hind shoes off and hopefully things will start healing quickly now. I noticed that his mane was a little greasy and its wicked hot so I decided a thorough bath was in order (for him, not me–though I pretty much get a bath giving him a bath!). Cowboy Magic shampoo and conditioner works such wonders, though I have the darndest time trying to wash his head and forelock, I usually just end up wiping his head with a damp cloth and I haven’t managed to soap up his forelock, it seems like a soap in the eyes and ears waiting to happen. Blaze puts his head high and rolls his eyeballs to look at me like I’m nuts when I put the hose high up on his neck, so getting soap and water near his forelock and actual face is a challenge waiting to be conquered I guess. De-worming was in order as well so we took care of that, and with the shoes off, a thorough bath, and a handful of carrots, it was nice to spend some time loving on my Blaze!

All Clean!

Oh and when I was walking him back to his paddock he always likes to stop and roll on the barn lawn on the way, but today he took it a step further. He was actually grazing while dropping to his knees to roll, tried to graze sideways while rolling, then got his front feet out in front to get up but stayed that way grazing AND shook off before he finally got to his feet. What a dork! The green he was so frantically grazing at was mostly just weeds and thistles, but the pastures have dried up all yellow and dead so I guess any green is good green to him at the moment! And all the hay and carrots and Bar Ale feed of course isn’t enough for poor starving Blaze 🙂