• 1-2 September - Chiro Lady; Visit to Quincy to Inspect Emma P
• Monday - 3 September - Riding with Leslie n' Eagle
• Sunday - 9 September - Quilting 
• Tuesday - 11 September - Riding From Home
• Thursday - 13 September - Grading Worries
• Saturday - 15 September - Virginia City 100
• Wednesday - 19 September - Paranoid Worries
• Thursday-Monday - 20-24 September - Tejon Ride
• Thursday - 27 September - Horse Shopping
• Friday - 28 September - WL Infra Red Advert; MC Uno Supreme Advert
• Saturday - 29 September - Visit to Inspect the Red Horse in Oroville
• Sunday - 30 September - Fetching the Red Horse Home

Back to August 2007 • Forward to October 2007

Saturday-Sunday 1-2 September
Chiro Lady

Chiro lady Dr Dawn Ellsworth came this morning to "do" Eagle and Roo.

Once done with Eagle, Dawn worked on Roo-Fidget-Pants. We had to jam him up next to the trailer, since he couldn't possibly stand still. It was worse than watching him "standing" for (on?) a PnR person.

Anyway, she found some stiffness in his sacro-iliac (sp?) area which I think is what I was feeling with his reluctance to go downhill, and a bit about half-way along his neck (don't know what that was about). Other than that, she said he was pretty good - and better than he was when she saw him back in March, so that was good. I felt like I caught anything before it turned into something more difficult to resolve.

Of course, then I put him away and he put in some really big bucks - to which Dawn said "oh great, he probably just put everything back in the wrong place again". <roll eyes> Thanks Roo.

Visit to Quincy to Inspect Emma P

Introducing Emma P - appearing in her debut feature:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct8DaFYozxE

Emma P's Big Adventure - In which Emma P bravely faces the big wide world for the first time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOdUVFnrxMU

Emma P - Endurance Foal - In which Emma P prepares for her endurance riding debut at 4 weeks old: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OwQ_wk-COk

Monday - 3 September
Riding with Leslie n' Eagle

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=3850686

Leslie and I rode again today and spent quite a bit of time poking poor Eagle at the end to try and figure out if his back was sore. I found one area where "maybe" it was more tight, but it could just as easily have been the way he's put together. Either way, he was better today than last Tuesday, but that might be because he was going Roo-Slug-Pace instead of Nancy-Gabri-Warp-Speed.

It was pretty warm out and neither pone was super eager to rush about. Roo seemed more slug-like than normal, but did pick up the pace in the last mile or so once he realised we were done.

I rode in my new saddle complete with sheepskin and mammoth pommel bag. Except for some fiddling to get the pad straight under the saddle so the gullets lined up, it was fairly incident free. At one point Roo decided to canter and that felt a little insecure, but just needed getting used to (not helped by him bucking for the fun of it either).

We had an exciting moment when we met a bike coming around a blind corner, but it was surprise more than anything else (then they were happy for an excuse to stand around for a minute or so).

All in all, a nice 16 mile ride that hit the spot (esp. when I realised once I got home that that's the last "big" ride he'll get to do before we go down to Tejon in a couple of weekends - next weekend is Virginia City, so I'll be gone).

Sunday - 9 September
Quilting 

	Inspired by my visit to D last weekend, I took the weekend off and spent the entire time quilting, which I haven't done since last winter. I was trying to get my "last winter" quilt finished before this winter arrives, so I wouldn't feel so guilty. It's a "fishy quilt" made from some fishy fabric I bought in Hawaii when we visited the *previous* February. It is really nice and far along now - I'm at the quilting stage and then just have to bind it. But today I'm all crunchy from sitting at the sewing machine all weekend.  :)

Tuesday - 11 September
Riding From Home

pft and I rode down Andy Wolf last night and both pones were completely awful on the way out. Roo trudged along and kept weaving and trying to turn for home. Since I lent pft my reins to try out, I was left with no rommel, so eventually cut a twig with brushy leaves on it and was reduced to hitting Roo on the shoulder every time he tried to turn around. He wasn't amused (but it was better than yanking on his mouth in the way that John Lyons' magazine [which I was reading later that night] told me I shouldn't be.).

Riding a non-cooperative horse makes you ride like crap.

We took the route down that splits - one side is a fairly overgrown singletrack, the other a wide dirt road. Since it was getting dark, we took the overgrown split on the way down, while we still had light.

At the bottom where we turned for home, both pones were miraculously cured of all ailments (except Zini's brain must have fallen out, because she started acting like an idiot) and started behaved like sober horses again - no drunken weaving.

On the way back on the nice clear wide dirt road, we had to stop because Zini's flailing caused her to loose an EZ boot. Luckily I was musing about how much like an EZ boot that "rock" I'd just passed looked like.

We got the boot back on and immediately came across a massive oak tree down across the trail. Hmmm. Lucky we took the "non-technical" route out.

pft tried to get Zini to go over the low part (a huge log that was about mid-thigh height) and she tried hard, but couldn't quite get it (the landing on the other side was awkward). In the process of coming back over the log with her front feet, she dragged the other boot off and flipped it into the undergrowth, so I had to go and look for that in semi-darkness.

Roo nearly made it with me leading him, but chickened out. With time, he probably would have done it, but then we realised with a bit of brush removal, we could go around - which Roo thought was much more preferable.

It was pretty dark by the time we made it home, only to discover that Zini was missing the boot off her wimpy foot again, so pft took the dirt bike back and went and found it (right where she took off like a bat out of hell when I suggested we "trot slowly").

Her feet were looking really good the other day - nice and big - and the EZ boots stayed on. But then Farrier Ted trimmed them... and they went small again. That's why the boot doesn't stay on. :(

Time to try Epics on her.

This morning, all four of her legs were slightly filled. We only went five miles, but she was acting somuch  like an idiot much of the way home, she probably "went further". That girl needs to get out more. 

Thursday - 13 September
Grading Worries

You know, we should probably grade our worries into categories:

• One Star Worry: Imaginary ailment that only we can spot and is meaningless and most people would neither notice nor care about (Examples: Zini's legs filling Wednesday morning, Roo resting his back leg "more than usual", etc)

• Two Star Worry: Ailment you can definitely see, but probably won't cause any long-term problem, but should be looked at several times a day in order for the appropriate paranoid "he'll never be sound again" thoughts to prevail. A short-term ailment. (Examples: Roo's scrapes and holes from falling over)

• Three Star Worry: Something that really exists and your neighbour at a ride would also spot it. A potential hazard that will involve handing over large amounts of money to the vet, spending large amounts of time doing rehab, and not spending much time doing any rides in the near future. (Example: Zini's unsoundness...)

Saturday - 15 September
Virginia City 100

My friends Dorothy and Dennis, and Crysta were doing VC100, so I went up to crew.

Dorothy wasn't sure how it was going to work out, since she'd hurt her back the week before, so she was heavily medicated - not an auspicious way to start a 100. Then her horse Andy had a melt-down right at the very beginning when the riders had to walk out of ridecamp and cross the railway line to go up to the start. Diane Dixon-Johnson's horse Sancja nearly went down and I thought for sure her ride was over when he was skidding after slipping on a metal plate placed over the rails and then tripping over the rails when he went sideways. I was amazed she stayed on.

After witnessing that, Andy wasn't having any of it and I ended up having to lead him over (as well as light the way for numerous other riders).

Once they started, he was still freaking out - leaping about, jigging, falling off the trail (D was v. proud she didn't fall off), and barging into the horse ahead in the dark, who understandably tried to kick him - missed Andy and hit D in the shin. <roll eyes>

By then time they got to the trot-by at ~20 miles, she was in tears of pain and opted to pull there. She was miserable because she so wanted to do the ride. But like I told her - just because she wanted her back to be better didn't make it so.

Trouble was, there was no trailer at the trot-by. The idea was if your horse was pulled, you'd hand-walk it the five miles down the grade to the next VC.

Well, that was out of the question, so yours truly got to ride Andy down that five miles for D (she took my car). It was a lot of fun to unexpectedly jump on a (warmed up) horse and speed off down the trail. Bailey was relieved to finally be allowed to move out (although the enforced slow pace for the first 20 miles probably didn't do him any harm), so we felt like we were flying down the dirt road. (nice to get to preview a small section of the trail as well! I even got a ride photo <g>).

Thank goodness it was just five miles, as I got a nice fat rub on the inside of one knee just from that short distance in D's saddle. Not a saddle I could ride in for any length of time (felt like my butt was sticking out and it made my back hurt).

Ooh, fun!

it really was. Especially as: 

1. I knew Andy wouldn't be going on, so didn't have to "save" him for later, and 
2. we could go at Bailey's pace - not something I'd want to do for any length of time, but quite fun for a run-around. :)

One of the main things I got out of this ride is that you need to, above all else, protect your horse from concussion and rocks. Bailey didn't look bad on Sunday morning, but his front legs felt awful lumpy (note, I didn't feel them beforehand, so maybe they're always lumpy?).

I'm thinking the shock-tamer rim pads Dennis used are an excellent idea. I'm also thinking Sneakers, EZ boots with comfort pads in them, etc, etc,... whatever you can pad with, I'd do it.

I'm still alarmed by the damage a person could do on this ride, but think it just needs careful thought.

It's weird, the more I think about conversations with people and observations, the more I feel like I learned this weekend without even realising it. It's good - I get to "tell pft all about it" during our hour commute in the morning. I'm not sure how much he gets out of it <g> but rehashing it with him, and again here, clarifies things in my mind that I maybe only absorbed subconsciously.

Poor Crysta. She'll no doubt write about it, but as she was coming in at 51 miles, Sinatra began to choke on some *hay* of all things. He was getting worse and worse as they went along, but thankfully Dave Cootware happened to come along with some water and they were able to syringe it into Sinatra and clear the blockage. At that point he had green slime coming out of his nose and Crysta was totally freaked (understandably). Since she was near the back and he'd been stressed and Susan McCartney recommended he not have any hay for a bit (how was he supposed to do an endurance ride with no hay?), and she was also, by then, ~40 mins behind the last rider, she wouldn't have had a fun job during the next hard loop. So that was that. 

David Jewkes' horse also choked at 77 miles - on a carrot. <sigh> so he pulled too. <grr>

Dennis finished *fine* - Bailey looked *great* at the trot out, but his front legs were a little lumpy this morning (are we surprised?). His back and girth area were a bit sore at 50 miles, so we switched pads and put a fluffy cinch on him and it got a little better. His nose was rubbed raw from the hackamore for the first 25 miles - but then Dennis switched to a snaffle and he was fine after that. 

You remember how he put shock-tamer rim pads on, plus mesh with Equipak? Well, as we're trotting down Geiger Grade, I said to him "I think you lost the Equipak out of your LF". Dennis said "I can't have, it's held in there by mesh".

But no, it was gone.

So he replaced it at Foothill Market (25 miles). Then when he came in a 51 mile at camp, both feet had lost their Pak, so he replaced it. Then when he came in at 71 miles at camp, the RF had lost it, so he replaced it. 

We concluded that maybe Equipak wasn't the way to go with Bailey. :))  Those tubes cost $35 a pop and only fill two feet, so he basically used $105 in Equipak alone this weekend.

Gives you an idea of how rocky it is out there, though, if it obliterated the mesh as well as the Pak.

Left Virginia City at ~ 1pm this afternoon and only got as far as Lake Tahoe (45 mins down the road) before I had to pull-over at a vista point and climb in the back to sleep for 30 mins. Stuffed my face with crisps and chocolate at South Lake Tahoe to stay awake (felt sick afterwards) and then luckily Kevin called when I was about 15 miles from Placerville coming down 50 and starting to swerve again. That kept me awake long enough to get home. 

You had to pull over and sleep!! That is so good of you to do that.

I didn't have much choice - I seriously thought I was going to hit the barrier a couple of times. When my body shuts down, it shuts down. I literally pulled over at the first spot I found where I could park - a vista point right where you get to Lake Tahoe, climbed in the back and was gone.

 You might have gotten less sleep than I did,

Second year in a row to both win VC100 and 
get BC - Roo's Dam, AM Sands of Time

My pony's prettier than Sandy. But his butt isn't as good.

He is awfully cute! Give him a year or so and I bet his butt will be better too :)

It's not quite as big or as nicely shaped. But the pretty part counts mostest, right?  (<g> call me an air head <g>)

Marcia said "Thanks to Bazy Tankersley for letting us continue to ride Sandy rather than breeding her"  - and I'm thinking "but they did breed her - and he isn't winning" :)))))

Well, his rider "mommy" hasn't asked him to win ;) Wisely of course at his age, but who knows? ;)

Wednesday - 19 September
Paranoid Worries

I bought a new new cantle bag at VC and put it on today, but the colour's a bit funky - it looks like we're veering further and further away from that bright blue and closer to navy.

Lucy, I don't think you are paranoid enough to be on this list if your 
BIGGEST worry is your saddle pad clashing with your cantle pack

No, that's not my biggest worry, but it's one I can fixate on in order to avoid worrying about the "other worries" :)    :

• Roo resting his back legs a lot (one-star worry)

• Lucy already having no skin on the inside of one knee (two-star worry - it could make me miserable over three days)

• Lucy having no skin left on her knuckles since VC100 dried the skin out so much and then I gnawed on them worrying about stuff I still had to do and not having the energy to do it. Now they bleed at regular intervals... 

• How many bandaids have I packed? and how long will they stay on if it rains?

• Will the cool weather mean it'll be better for Roo's legs, recovery-wise?

• Will the cantle bag cause his loin rub to come back? 

• Will the single grungy pad cause the loin rub to come back? 

• Should I be concerned about the scab on his back and the one on his withers that he got from rolling on rocks?

• have I packed enough feed for five days?

• Will my brand-new EZ ride stirrups cause problems? 

• Should I try and ride him in EZ boots to protect against concussion? 

• Are his feet EZ-boot-shaped again, now he's on 3-week shoes? 

• Will I have time to ride him upon our arrival Thursday afternoon to try this out? 

• Will I be able to tell? 

• If they won't work, I'll put Hoof-It in instead. (I haven't ridden him since 9th when Leslie and I went out.)

Take coats and gloves, too!

The bummer is I don't know if we're up for all three days, and may stop after two. Trouble is, the bad-weather day is Friday which I *have* to ride in case I do want to do all three days.

I'm encouraged by Laura Hayes' horse doing 7 x 50s at GSFHR, after only doing one (?) 50 prior to that. But we'll see how Roopie goes. He was certainly cheerful enough on Day 2 of Washoe. It'll definitely depend on what the trail is like and I'm going to ride as smart as I can.

Roo got his bath yesterday and is currently living in a cotton blankie to stay clean. I used Avocado mist stuff on him and since I'd already wet his tail and sprayed some "WOW" ("make the horse less green/orange magic potion") on it, it seemed to brush out better.

The hay, horse fud, and dirt bike are all loaded.

Things still have to do:

• mend one fleecie cooler that "someone" split down the front
• do some food shopping
• deliver Chili to Ann's
• pack fud and drinks
• pack some more clothes
• pack all of pft's clothes

	Thursday-Monday - 20-24 September Tejon Ride You know how when everything goes right, it makes for really dull ride stories? Well, this one wasn't dull, but luckily very few of the "interesting things" happened to me personally <g>. Roopie looked fabulous and I haven't been more proud of him after a ride. I'm always proud, but this one he really did good at - particularly given some of the suckiness of it. :))
	We stopped at a rest stop by Patterson on the way home and decided to unload him (didn't dare on the way down, since we were trying to make up time. It took us 7:15 to get down there - stopping a couple of times - once at least 30 mins to let him eat BP slurry)... .... anyway, back to the Patterson rest stop. Unloaded him and took him over to the grass which was inches deep and springy. I kept a careful hold of his lead rope with both hands and kept an eye on it so he didn't get it wrapped around his legs. He peed. Then he rolled. Then he rolled some more... then again... and again. That grass was so delicious to roll in after being tied to the trailer since Thursday night (I think he laid down on the high-tie, but lying on the hard ground isn't the same). He drank. He ate BP. He ate hay in the trailer. He ate more hay. When we got home, he ate more hay (and rolled a few more times). He's loose, his legs don't look like he did anything, let alone two x 50s in deep slop with climbing. And he definitely hasn't lost any weight :)

Sharing beetpulp about half-way  on the 7:15 hour trip down.	Day 1 was a nice, cool sunny day and was fairly uneventful. I rode both days with June Scales and her pone, Shortie, was a good little worker - trucking along just like you're supposed to. We also rode quite a bit with Cheri Briscoe and her young stallion, Echo, who was most impressive.  It rained overnight but I thought it was going to clear out for Day 2, but set off once again with all my wet weather gear just in case. Needless to say, this time it *was* needed.  We repeated the same trail as the end of Day 1, but the vet check was a little further along Bear Trap Canyon. After the first vet check, we climbed and climbed and climbed up to 6100', riding through blue spruce at the very top. After we crossed the ridgeline and started down the other side, the vegetation changed abruptly to high desert scrub and the view opened out over Antelope Valley. We made lousy time on this whole section, as we were either climbing trudgingly (Roo kept looking longingly at various cow trails that headed back down the hill), or going down, down, down on the other side.  Finally we hit some nice firm DG and were able to move out. About this time, we came upon a rider (didn't know who it was) off her horse and looking like she was going to get on. She had a look about her that suggested that she'd had a *long* day (this was at about 23 miles?) so I figured the horse had been messing around. She went to get on her horse, so we sort of rode towards her, so that her horse wouldn't try and follow us - otherwise, we would have carried on past. It turned out to be Susan Garlinghouse. She got one foot in the stirrup and the horse moved a little and she sort of toppled backwards (on one leg) and put her arm out to catch her fall. Then she doubled over frontwards and was very quiet for a min and June said "Are you OK?". She was quiet for another moment and said "I just broke my arm". It turns out she had just gotten this arm out of its cast and evidently it wasn't properly healed. There was a tying rail there, so I looped Cheyenne's rein around it (cowboy style), thinking that if she pulled back, it would just unravel. And I snapped Roo's tailing rope around it too and told them to be good. Hah. Fat chance. There was a house being built right there and looked like workers inside, so I went to try the door - but it was locked. Finally we got one of the plasterers to come down (and while this was going on, Cheyenne pulled back and got loose, so Roo did too and broke the scissor snap on his tailing rope - rather that than his halter). This place was gorgeous but right in the middle of nowhere up the side of this canyon - nothing anywhere near for miles around. Thank goodness her injury happened right there - anywhere else on that loop, Susan would have had a long, painful ride to get out. I had some vet-wrap with me, so wrapped Susan's wrist as best I could. It wasn't quite the same shape as it was supposed to be and she seemed a little shocky and moaned a couple of times when I was wrapping which was hard, since I had no idea how tight she wanted it.  Offered her some old vicodan, but she said something about getting sick if she took that, since she was already on "------". She did take two pills of some kind of painkiller, don't know what it was though. Since Susan said Cheyenne ponied OK, we ended up taking the rope halter and rope off June's horse, Shortie (Cheyenne was just wearing a hackamore), and putting that on the mare. I tied a few knots in it, so it wouldn't just unravel out of my hand, we sent Susan off with the mexican plasterer who didn't speak much english and set off the 15 miles back over the ridge to the vet check. Ponying Cheyenne didn't work too well to start with, since she is *huge* and Roo is tiny, and their gaits didn't mesh too well. Every time we tried to trot, Cheyenne would trot really big, so I'd yank on her, her head would come towards us and she'd steer Roo into the berm by the side of the road, and when I tried to leg him over, he couldn't since her bulk was in the way. At that point, I wasn't sure we'd be able to do anything but trudge along and therefore figured we'd go overtime. It was pretty frustrating, especially since that was about the first good footing we'd been on the whole loop and the only place to make time.  And then, after about five minutes, it started to spit. Then it started to pour and it was blowing right in our faces. Roo tucked his head down by his knees, and Cheyenne did too, and finally I was able to get them both into a nice medium trot, without Cheyenne barging us off the side of the trail. After a bit, Roo didn't want to be in front any more, so June and Shortie lead and that worked really nicely since she could control our speed more easily than I could.  Of course, the rain got worse and the footing deteriorated to the point of being scary, but Cheyenne was listening nicely to me and being a good girl and although she was still longer-strided than us, she figured out what the rules were and I was able to pony her on about a foot-long loop of tie rope and keep it all together. Finally, we turned back *up* the mtn and stayed trotting for as long as I could convince Roo (which usually isn't very long), then walked. Got to a water stop where there was a guy who held Cheyenne while we let the horses eat for a few minutes. He told us the route back to the vet check was another 6 miles of "dirt road" over the ridge and back down again. By then, the  rain had abated and it looked like it might actually be brightening up. Hah. We set off again and pretty soon it was spitting again. And soon after that it was raining. We were on a steep fire-break type road that had just been bulldozed through the bushes. It wasn't hard packed and was light clay, so every foot fall went in then backwards. We got to a more level part, but it was really lumpy and rocky and I didn't think I could keep both pones out of trouble so we continued to walk.  We could see other riders just across the canyon - but realised it was because we had to go down a *really* steep bit and then up and even steeper bit to get to where they were. It was very deep and very sloppy and we just slithered and slid down it and slid and slithered up the other side.  We were under the trees then, but came out into the open and the fog rolled in and it poured, with the wind howling around us - and we had to keep going up and up and up. Each foot-fall still sliding backwards. Roo stopped a couple of times because he didn't want to play anymore, and of course Cheyenne swung around in front of us and got all tangled up, so we're slipping and slithering in the mud on this off-camber "road" with a steep drop-off on one side and high bank on the other. Every now and again, Cheyenne would squeeze up against my knee - and when it was her shoulder, it was warm, but mostly she'd squeeze her soaked sheepskin saddle into my leg. A couple of times she shook, and water came off that saddle like a wet dog. The low point of the entire ride was reaching the summit in sleet and being confronted with one of those pseudo-gates made of sticks and barbed wire. Both pones turned their butts to the sleet and poor June had to clamber off (exposing her sheepskin saddle cover to the elements) and work on the gate. It was like summiting Everest :))) Worse, poor June couldn't find anywhere to get back on once we were through the gate (she was riding with a loose cinch, so couldn't get on from the ground and didn't want to tighten it for fear of galling Shortie) so she had to walk in the steep downhill slop for about ten minutes. Going down the other side wasn't much better - after going up 2,000' in 4 miles, we then had to go down another 1,000' in one mile - still in fetlock-deep slop.  Finally we got under some trees and it was less deep mud - but then we were skating on the surface, so the horse's feet would slither out from underneath them (just what you need on a tired horse - great way to pull something). Cheyenne would slither past, me trying to keep her back, but trying to keep balanced on Roo as well, for fear of pulling him off-balance and making him slip. But the pones all did great, except for some heart-stopping slipping, and we finally got back down on the good footing along Bear Trap Canyon. The only snag with this "good footing" were the numerous ground squirrel holes that peppered the road - I could steer Roo around them, but making sure Cheyenne didn't step in one was less easy. But heart-in-mouth, we got through it fine and delivered her safely to Charlene Lewis. But we all got back in one piece, and Roo seemed pretty content for his ordeal - I think he was a lot warmer than I was. Once we left the vet check, we had to climb another 800' or so up onto the ridge again. I thought Roo would just give up on me - and indeed we met a rider coming back down who said her horse was just too tired and quit half way up. We made our way up - very slowly - but he did it, and once we got to the top, he was superb all the way home - about ten miles - just kept trucking along - trotting up some of the climbs and pulling and enthusiastic. We'd left the vet check dead last, but caught up with Becky Hart who complimented us on our horses' downhill walks (we slithered past her), then caught and passed another three riders and finally made it into the finish at 7 pm (it was a 55 and we started at 6:30) so with 15 mins to spare with Becky. pft met us at the finish and said he thought that we'd be trudging along, all sad and tired - and there we were, blasting along, pones pulling on their reins wanting to run in, smiling and joking and having a good time. It was a really good way to finish the ride. I was worried that I'd be driven to want to do all three days and wouldn't be able to stop, but I was happy to decide not to go on Day 3, just like a grown up. I felt fine. Roo felt excellent, running into the finish, pulling on me on Day 2, but I figured he'd worked so hard he didn't need to go again and ruin it all. Strangely, I was actually more tired after Day 1 and had to take a nap when we came in. At the end of Day 2 I was pretty snuffly - I'd been wearing soaked clothes for about six hours by then and my bottom was *really cold*, so I climbed into bed and turned the heater up. Roo still sucks on uphills, but he'll do them - just very slowly. But he gets there in the end :)))))  His sense of self-preservation is very, very high :)))))) My mom went for the Sunday LD and called last night and said the ride was MUCH, MUCH harder than she expected and that a lot of people chose not to ride the third day. Most people didn't ride the last day - not because they knew it was going to be difficult trail - but because their horses had worked so hard on Day 2. I talked to a bunch of riders independently, and almost all said they felt their horses had done enough. Many were like me and would have happily *ridden* again - just not on *our* horses. It turns out, the climb they did on Day 3 was the same climb we did on Day 2. But we ended up having to do the same amount of climbing twice, since we went down the other side of the ridge into the desert - and it was on the way back up again that it *poured* with rain.  They only had a 10 minute hold for the entire LD (30 miles) and even then they just barely made time.  She was riding with an older lady who's horse was pretty out of shape though so they were walking a lot. On Day 2, they shortened our second hold from an hour to 45 mins.  Frankly, by then I din't care. I wasn't even sure how long we were there for - the small details like that were kind of blurry and unimportant <grin>. I sat with my fleece cooler wrapped around my legs, trying to stay warm while Roo munched contentedly in his rump rug (which he wore open for much of Day 2) and I was glad that Susan denied being cold when I asked her (she seemed a little shocky), since I would have had to give her the rump rug (it's my own prototype, that unfolds into a blankie-sized blankie, since the rump rug is folded double) and then would have had to give Roo the fleecy one at the vet check - leaving me with nothing... :( "The distinguishing mark of true adventures is that  they're often no fun at all while they're actually happening!" This is what we told ourselves as we were going along - this may suck now, but it makes for much better stories in years to come :)
The start of Day 1
June Scales and Shortie, who  we rode with both days,  trotting along Geghus Ridge
Looking back along Geghus Ridge
Highest point of Day 1 - looking towards the Central Valley
Zini's potential future husband - MMF Thunder’s Echo - Doc's son, who impressed me greatly over the two days we rode together.
Roo objecting to the steep downhill
Roo gawping at cows at  a water tank
Day 2, vet check #1 -  Roopie chowing down
Climbing the long, long climb  up to 6100'
Over the ridge onto the desert  side above Antelope Valley
The first good footing in a while - just before Susan broke her arm
Trying to warm up in bed  afterwards - I was soaked
Roo snug in his wet-weather blankie
Patrick going out to play on Day 3;  I stayed home and napped <grin>
Grizzle enjoyed the trip
The trail at the start on  all three days
Castac Lake
Leaving Tejon Ranch

Things that didn't work out this weekend:

I found an EZ boot in the mud on Day 2. Score! And I found a  blue plastic pan as we were leaving this morning. Another score! (and it's Roo's colour).

The new saddle felt *great* and I loved it, even though the stirrups  don't seem to face the right direction (wondered if that didn't help my knee), and I have a hard time getting the pad on straight under it (wonder if it was "rucked up" on Day 2 and that's why he rubbed?).

Roo ate about 20 lbs of carrots. We took a 50 lb bag with us.

It was 370 miles to get there... so about $180 in gas round trip <gulp>

I found Zini a boyfriend to breed to. Uh oh.

Photos from Lynne Glazer

Climbs and Descents at Tejon:

Roopie's now got 635 miles and I've got 1085! Yay!

Thursday - 27 September
Horse Shopping

So having come home from Tejon hot to book Zini in for a date with Echo so we could cook our own baby, we realised she wouldn't have said baby until Spring 2009, so he wouldn't be ready to get on until 2013 and not really useful until 2015, which was a long time to wait.

From that, we came to the conclusion that buying one was probably a better bet, so I've been window shopping that past two nights. I still wouldn't mind breeding her, but pft would need something to ride in the meantime, and I worry about having all my eggs in my Roo-basket.

The angle we're aiming towards is:

• Substantial bone (prime directive here is that this horse never go lame)

• Suitable for HW rider

• great walk

• smooth

• gelding

• Ideally LD ready or close

Having searched the ads, I did find a bunch of horses that didn't quite fit this bill, but might be worth a look see....

I haven't given up on Zini coming sound yet, but need to consider options, esp. if she takes a while to sort herself out. Along those lines, I was thinking I need to pass Mouse along to somewhere that will use her. Since she's so smooth, I was thinking someone with bad knees would be an ideal match.

Friday - 28 September
WL Infra Red Advert

MC Uno Supreme Advert

Saturday - 29 September
Visit to Inspect the Red Horse in Oroville

So we were able to make it up to Oroville late this afternoon to visit Red and ride him a little bit.

	OMG! I love this horse! He is *such* a sweetie - I really haven't met a nicer temperament horse (he's much nicer than any of ours ). The lady who has him had surgery two weeks after he arrived, so she hasn't been able to do much with him, so his feet need trimming pretty badly (he's currently barefoot in front and shod in the back - quite long in the back). She was also trying to swap him into a long-shanked hackamore, which he doesn't understand yet, so his steering wasn't very good and he was a little worried about what you were asking for, but just confused mostly. We round penned him - and the sand in the round pen is pretty deep - they just got 8 truck-loads put in, where 4 would probably be enough, so he was floundering a little (and wanting to roll in the best bits <g>). Then I got on and rode him for about five minutes at a walk and trot. He's totally out of shape and soft, but even so, has a lovely walk with impulsion and is very, very light to ride. His trot - which from watching him trotting loose, I thought would be bouncy - is really easy to ride as well. Two laps of the round pen was all I needed to see myself doing 100s on this horse, easy. (Oops. He's not for *me*, is he? <eg>) He doesn't waste his energy - but isn't slug-like lazy - not like a pokey lesson horse, or a non-responsive one - he just doesn't move unless specifically asked - but when he does, he feels like he comes up under you and pushes off behind. Then pft rode him for about ten minutes. It was hard, since we'd brought along my Barefoot saddle which he hasn't ridden in before (it was nekkid, while all the other saddles had tons of bags, etc on them, and I wasn't sure how green he was, so how he'd react to too much "stuff". But the lady said she'd put a saddle on him with a bunch of junk and he didn't care). pft's stirrups were also two holes too long to begin with, so he looked like his knees were up around his elbows. Despite pft's short-comings - having never ridden him before; never having used a long-shanked hack, so not really having any steering; and not being very balanced in the sand, Red did great with pft. You know how some greenies feel drunk and weebly? Well, he didn't feel like that at all. Just a little uncertain now and again. His default behaviour is to either stop, or to back up a little. When pft went to get off at the end, it turned out the saddle wasn't very tight and he got his foot a little hooked in the stirrup, so the saddle ended up totally twisted around (to the point where we couldn't twist it back and had to unbuckle it). Red's response was to stand there. He didn't care. Here's the video we took during our visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpNjm6BO-FI (btw - those little things at the end are mini-mules! TOO CUTE! They are so funny. They are currently 3 and 4 yrs old, so next year they plan to put them in a little cart - and take them to the Draft Horse Classic in Grass Valley <g>) Red's very sensitive - just not in a stupid way. He's steady, desperate for attention and love, does his best for you under saddle, and very nicely put together. He has the bone and size for pft, without being huge (which was my selfish worry - that we'd end up with something mammoth that I wouldn't enjoy). He's narrow, without being slabby. Has a nice chest, nice butt, nice legs, pretty head, and moves really nicely. pft said he liked him much more than he thought he would - just from having seen the first photos the lady sent, he wasn't wowed. But once he met him in person, he said he was much better looking than he realised - and has that sweet personality. So the only worry is his has a thickened hock - apparently he was stepped on as a foal. It's obviously bigger, but I couldn't really say how. We discussed getting it vet checked, but I'm not sure what a vet would look at. I don't know if it would need to be x-rayed or u/sounded or ??  Lady said she did flexion tests on him and couldn't get any reaction. I liked the look of this horse's build in his pics, but wasn't prepared for how nice he was in person - both personality-wise, and to ride, albeit very brief. I got off thinking that I'd want to ride and ride this horse - he'd be addictive. And I think the more in shape he got, the more fun he'd be - but all along without being crazy. I suspect you'd be able to ride him on a totally loose rein the whole time without him being upsidedown and hollow. Before we met him, I was worried at his greenness - I know that doesn't always work with a non-skilled rider, but I don't have any worries now that I've ridden him - I think he and pft would get on famously and have a lot of fun. And so would I, if, perchance I was to ride him at any time.

Funnily enough, we had a massive storm blow through here last night - a small ferocious cell with wind and rain and I could hear the pones banging around out there. I go out this morning to feed, and Roo's got a fat fetlock, RR. His LR is a little puffy, but the RR is much worse. I assume he slipped in the mud and tweaked it, since I couldn't find any whack-marks. <sigh>

My worry is that you hear tales of horses pulling things/tweaking things - but it doesn't happen during the hard ride they did, it happens a few weeks later when they are doing something innocuous and whatever was teetering on the brink, snaps.

So in a fit of paranoia, I'm wondering about not even taking him to High Desert, even if the fetlock goes down, just to give him time to heal properly in case this is related to the slop at the ride last weekend.

I buted him this evening, so will see what he's like in the morning. I didn't trot him out, but he looked a little tender on it when he was walking around when I let him out while I was feeding (hoping it was nothing and it would go right down again).

Sunday - 30 September
Fetching the Red Horse Home

We woke up this morning to the following email:

We're currently working on names - as Renee said, to a more Trumbullfied one.

We're both v. excited. But as I said to pft, I'm going to be very, very firm with myself. If he isn't sound enough for distance, I *will* sell him on. He's definitely a gamble, but too nice to pass on "just in case".

Comment from Renee:

I especially like the part where you say that if "red doesn't work out, you can sell him as a pleasure horse"......baaaahahahah! You? Sell a horse? Seriously?

---

Roo's RR fetlock/lower hock is still puffy this morning, more or less exactly the same as yesterday morning. I gave him 2 g Bute last night, and another 2 g with breakfast this morning.

pft took him for a walk down the hill this morning to feed the neighbour's pones and it wasn't any less puffy when they got back. pft said he seemed a little stiff on it.

<sigh>