Seriously, the feeling of a smooth, collected, rocking-horse canter is THE best. I like to keep Blaze on his toes with my transitions into cantering so I go into it from stop to canter, walk to canter, trot to canter depending how I feel. It seems to keep Blaze a little more in his brain thinking “ok, what does she want?” then when I used to just always transition walk, trot, canter. I couldn’t get him to trot without trying to move on into canter. Now I have to ask him to get there, which is nice. Breaking from walk right into canter is really fun, on the odd occasion I do it I can really feel Blaze gather him and then quickly, but surprisingly smoothly, power himself right into a nice canter. At least he has some some nice gaits considering his trot can be pretty deadly. There are moments of perfection but for the most part its ROUGH. When he is being silly about something and is all high headed and alert while trotting I feel like I am going two feet straight up in the air and then back down, but not going very far forward. He really throws you out of the saddle. Encouraging him forward usually snaps his attention back to the business at hand and he lengthens out to a better gait, though still fairly rough. I do love his extended trot, however. He really stretches out and goes for it and it feels like flying! I’m being pushed up out of the saddle but also going so far forward at a time it balances out. It would probably be a riot to try an extended trot on a big Arab who really covered ground! Blaze gives it all he’s got and still gets easily trotted by with the longer-legged horses (which is like, everybody). I sure love his steady, wonderful little self though! I feel so bad about his interference mark on his left hind that just is not healing. I can’t believe vet wrap doesn’t stay up! Isn’t that the point?! Am I really that crappy at putting it on? I admittedly started out wrapping it way too loose because I was paranoid but even my snug wraps can’t stay up while I’m riding him. They last longer when he is just in his paddock but still. Today I tried Vetericyn, a big bandaid (lol), about an inch of gauze padding and then a snug vet wrap. We’ll see how long it lasts…
I should clean the mare paddock and I should mow the last of the lawn but I think I’ll read my book in the sun for a while instead!

Well it seems that the EHV-1/EHM is getting under control and quarantined here in California. I am still a little nervous to haul out even though its probably fine..I just love my herd so much I hate to risk it. Of course then there’s the neighbor horses who are constantly loose, running the county roads, touching noses with my horses over the fence..not that I think they have the virus but seriously, its frustrating. They get out SO often and its a miracle they haven’t been hit by cars yet. Anyhow I may be hitting the trails at the lake again soon. Of course today its raining. Monday it rained. Yesterday was beautiful, cool, and sunny and I took Desire for another spin in the arena with Sheza loose with us. Sheza has definitely figured out that she can hang out and graze while mom trots around in circles (being lunged) but as soon as I get on Desire the filly and Blaze both get completely wild and gallop around. The filly cuts in front of us and bucks and kicks at the mare and Blaze gallops mad circles around his paddock. I’m not sure why its so disturbing to them when I ride Desire! Maybe the filly objects to her milk-bar being something else. As for Blaze he is in love with any and all mares so he is probably just objecting to “his” mare being too far away. I tried a little bigger trot on Desire and even one circuit around the arena in each direction at the canter. She really feels like a big fat out of shape mare under me! My panel saddle isn’t fitting her very well at the moment because she is so round but I know that will change as she sheds the lbs. I’m definitely planning on asking for a treeless saddle for Christmas, I love my deep comfy Ameri-Flex but it is SO heavy. Anyhow Desire at the trot is pretty funny, she doesn’t seem to have any stomach muscles to speak of and sort of jogs along with her belly stuck out and her nose in the air. We definitely have a ways to go but she is a pretty willing girl and a cool customer being under saddle again after 6 months off and with the nutty baby and Blaze always having a shit fit when I ride her.
Well, twiddling my thumbs today in the rain. I’m currently reading yet another Philippa Gregory novel, I’m such a sucker for historical fiction. Back to it!

Yep, its true, Momma D is well on her way to getting back to her old self, Desire the riding horse. I have to imagine that laying off work and becoming a mother w/ foal 100% of the time is a big adjustment! I certainly can’t imagine doing it. But I guess she has the instincts that all kicked in just right for her to be a good mom and now, back under saddle! I fitted the blue/wine bridle on her with a D ring snaffle and it looks very nice on her of course. I had to use my big girth I had for Tango, the 16 hand Foxtrotter, on her, haha! 14.3 hand Arab uses the same as a 16 hand tank Foxtrotter..well not for long I’m sure, we’ll find her girlish figure again. Anyhow I lunged her and filly was much quicker to figure out that she could just eat grass and relax and watch mom run around in circles instead of galloping around herself at mach 10. I used the mounting block and got on Desire very slowly and she pretty much gave me the yawn, whatever, reaction to being mounted. She is SUPER responsive on leg and voice which is pretty nice. I mostly just walked and changed directions a bunch and the filly went completely nutty and was galloping around, zooming in front of us, bucking and kicking at mom, while Blaze and the mini ran around their pastures and bucked and kicked. It was all very exciting for the herd, it seemed! They really got amped up once I was riding her. I tried a slow jog because she was a little distracted and I didn’t want to push my luck, but it was a very smooth jog and easy to sit. Very nice! Looking forward to trying a proper trot but we aren’t there yet. She is so very out of shape, she has no belly muscles right now and I could definitely feel it in her carriage. She did great though! She tried trotting off when the filly zoomed by a few times but was quickly and easily corrected. I wanted to take a photo of her with the bridle and my endurance saddle on but I didn’t want to leave Sheza tied unattended so I will bring my camera out with me first thing next time and capture all the excitement. Man, I’m relieved the first re-ride is over! I’ll still be a little nervous getting on the next time but after that I’ll be fine and I can’t wait to be hitting the trails with Desire some day soon!

I wish those times next to my under 10 mile rides were lower but the fact is there is about 25 minutes of walking on pavement on the way out and back. So really 50 minutes of the hr and 30 minutes is just walking for safety on pavement. The 40+ other minutes are trotting/cantering uphill. This evening I went out around 6:15 and I did about a quarter mile sprint at the top of the hill where the road is open and we can see everything safely, which was exhilarating. It was a nice evening ride with a cool breeze and not too many cars. We got back just before dark and I made Blaze a mash and fed everyone. Tomorrow I plan to ride the mare. Its supposed to be cooler which will be nice for. She and the baby get SO sweaty doing our little 15 minute sessions in the arena. I bought 12 bales of 3 grain forage mix hay today and the Bar Ale Distance feed I ordered after the last race was finally in. I guess I should use up all the other stuff I mix individually before I Start using the master mixed stuff but I am dying to try it and see if Blaze likes it as much as he did at the race. I will start gradually mixing it in, its just rice bran, beet pulp, all the stuff he is already getting so it shouldn’t be a big adjustment.
The husband just BBQ’ed the most divine rib eye steaks…must be time to sign off!

Blaze’s new gear

String it all together and it sounds like a whole lot of fun, don’t it?! Rather a lot of pushing, pulling, rearranging, posting, lead rope juggling, and paste and water all over me. But damn it, I love it.
Yesterday the sun graced us with its presence again and though I wasn’t feeling completely up to par (I’m still not, have a cough and a little congestion) I had to get back in the saddle. Blaze hadn’t been out in 5 days and that was quite enough, thank you very much. Due to this equine herpes outbreak I am trying to be good and stay home (I’m used to trailering out 4 times a week!) so I rode on the dirt road above our property. I only did 6.5 miles because after a while of some shade trees and niceness the road turns into a big open dirt path in direct sunlight with nowhere to hide so I turned right around at that point. Also just wanted Blaze to get a little leg stretch before anything too serious. I don’t think I’ll be able to do many miles a day for the next week or so due to staying home but I figure getting a lower and varied (one road is hills, one is pretty much flat) mileage every day still counts. I’m really having an issue with that interference cut on his left hind. That big bulb he must have gotten from interfering badly in the past sticks out a good inch so its pretty much impossible for him not to hit it with his right hind, considering how sloppy he can be with his feet. Anyhow, I am trying ointment, gauze, then vet wrap, then a splint boot to try to keep it clean and unharmed. He hits it even loose in his paddock so just not riding him won’t help. He isn’t lame at all from it but I know it hurts when he smacks that open sore! I am nervous to wrap the vet wrap too tightly because it compresses and I don’t want cut off his circulation just trying to keep a cut clean. Soooooo. Right now he just has gauze and vet wrap on coz I had a theory the splint boot was helping the vet wrap wiggle down out of place. I don’t know. Its just in such a shitty spot.
Yesterday morning I picked up grain and Safeguard dewormer before I rode Blaze. So yesterday evening was time for baby’s first de-worming. I had more trouble with mom than with the filly, of course. Desire is highly suspicious of the tube and snorts and flares her nostrils and generally acts like I’m going to murder her with a small plastic tube. I Jedi mind tricked her pretty good though, I rubbed her face with the tube getting closer and closer to her mouth and talked to her; she was calming down and starting to like it then BAM I slipped the tube into her mouth, pushed the plunger, and had it back out and stroking her face before she even knew what happened. I was pretty proud of my sleight of hand. Better than the wrestling match I had with her last time. Filly of course has curiosity on her side so it wasn’t too hard for her to try nibbling on the end of the tube. She didn’t have a CLUE what was coming so I was able to get the wormer in there and then watch her face register “woah! Something in my MOUTH!” and start chewing away at it. Pretty cute. She wasn’t too bothered by it, I scratched her and she just sort of gulped it down, slightly bewildered. Of course mom and baby managed to wipe their mouths on me.
This morning I managed to get out the driveway on Blaze by 9. It seemed uncompromisingly WARM for 9 am in the spring, especially considering it was cold and rainy two days ago. Luckily the first part of the road is well shaded. If there is just a breath of a breeze I can handle it but the dead still warmth (I won’t call it heat yet) is what gets to me. I headed up the road which is about 1.3 mile of pavement (ah slippery madness) with lots of barking dogs, then it turns to dirt. The entire thing is UPhill. A pretty steep ascent at some points. Once we got to the safety of the dirt road we started jamming. Blaze can trot/canter about 3/4 of the way from bottom, start of the dirt road, to top, way up high with a view, before he stops to walk. I start at a trot and let him naturally break to a canter, then when he slows back to a trot I push him a little more to maintain it and then let him break to a walk when he’s ready. I figure being stuck riding around here will at least give me some concentrated hill work and get to where we are trotting/cantering up the whole thing. He doesn’t stop to rest on it at all, by the way, just slows to a walk and finishes the hill at the walk. Anyhow we did 8 miles up and back in an hour 40, slightly slower than I intended because I had to re wrap his interference sore and dither walking a bit (arg). Plenty more sun in the forecast though! It was a nice morning ride as well, a big black and white butterfly followed us for at least a couple of miles and there was a breeze at the top of the hill and lots of birds singing.
When I got back our friend Jason was around so I enlisted his help to hold the filly while I tacked momma D up in the cross ties. There just isn’t a safe spot to hard tie the filly at the tack area and she is too small for the cross ties. I saddled momma with western saddle just in the off chance she did something silly I didn’t want to risk my endurance saddle. Our jaunt down to the arena was pretty comical as filly was zipping back and forth on her lead line like a little nutter. She never hits the end of the rope hard she puts a hard stop just in time and the goes the other way, but only for a minute. It seems like uncontrollable happy baby energy and she comes back into her manners quickly. Mom did great lunging under saddle, she responded to stopping and changing directions better this time and walk trot cantered off my voice. Filly ran around like a nut job so at the end of fifteen minutes she was absolutely slathered in sweat. Momma was sweaty as well but nowhere near like filly! Jason was around to help again when I was done so after I sprayed off momma D I decided the sweaty filly needed her first bath. We had rather a lot of squirming and silliness but in the end she did get a full light hosing. Two big firsts in two days! Now I’m already tired and not even 2 in the afternoon!

Filly after first bath

It rained solidly all night and stopped around 7 this morning. Everything is SOGGY. Partly sunny now but supposed to get to sunny and 70-something tomorrow. My tack came Monday, its pretty sweet. The heart shaped silver conchos on the bridle are a lot bigger than I thought they would be but they will be cute on little Blaze. I will fit it and take Blaze out tomorrow, but maybe just around here. There is an outbreak of Equine Herpes that originated at a show in Utah and there are 10 confirmed cases in counties around us here in Ca already. I tend to take things like this with a grain of salt but with the mare and foal and everything–I just don’t want to risk my horses. Already cancelled plans to do a trail ride with a couple of people this weekend and think I’ll just ride out from here on the dirt roads for a little while. Better safe than sorry. Anyhow, I still can’t breath through my nose and am a green-snot monster but once again, hoping to be good to go tomorrow. A little warmth and sunshine will certainly help!
Oh the mare must have banged her eye on something this morning, when I went out to feed she looked ROUGH–left eye swollen almost shut, boogers in her eyes, runny nose, dread-locked mane…I was like goooodddd grief! I called my vet just because I have no idea how a horse with a cold (my first guess on what her deal was) affects a nursing foal, but she isn’t keen to travel between farms because of the equine herpes so she said keep an eye on her and call the vet later to update. I went out an hour later and the eye was already almost un-swollen and her nose wasn’t running anymore. I think she must have banged it and I came out right after because her lower eye lid was hugely swollen but was already almost normal after an hour. She ate all her grain and most of her hay, went out and rolled in the mud (lovely), and was trotting around with her tail flagged. So I’m thinking she is fine, just banged her eye and was looking a little the worse for wear this morning. She has lots of loose hair under her blanket, I thought she had fully shed out but there is lots more white hair to cover myself in, apparently.
Can’t wait to feel fine, have some good weather, and be out on the trail again!