April 2008

We rode at Cache Creek today with Karen S, so pft could try out the buckskin one more time. I took Uno along and we went about five miles (phew, that's a long three hour drive for five miles of riding :)) ).

I discovered that much of Uno's scarediness is caused by separation anxiety, which helped a lot in being able to better control his angst and prevent any weird behaviours.

Karen kindly trimmed much of the excess toe off Uno's feet and pft's going to have a go at being chief rasper for Uno and the buckskin - who's currently named Fergus.

While we getting ready to leave, two hunters drove in with goats tied in the back of their pickup. The horses all went on alert (well, except Uno, because I don't think he saw them) and so we had to go over and say hello.

The hunters dressed the goats in little pack saddles with smart cordura packs filled with goodness knows what and off they went. As soon as they were through the gate, they took the goats off-leash and let them go on their own. After milling about for a bit, eating grass, the goats set off in hot pursuit after the hunters.

Karen and I both are baffled as to what the motivation is for the goats to stay with the men? Wouldn't any self-respecting goat just stop and eat grass?

Anyhoo, Fergus is home and he's in a stall for the night and I'm whupped from driving for six hours.

I was just out feeding. I've been putting Mouse in the orchard at night, since I figure she won't run around much and then I don't have to clean her stall in the morning. Then I put her up in the stall during the day. Her leg seems to be healing very slowly. Yesterday I started putting "Wonderdust" on it instead of wrapping it with the Betadine-a-like glop he gave me. The bandage didn't tend to stay on very well anyway and the wound would ooze. It's now completely filled in with proud-flesh and I was starting to worry that she'd grow a cauliflower there, so the Wonderdust is supposed to stop that happening.

Anyhoo, the point of the story was - I was walking across the orchard and looked down and there was one of those tiny red-striped grey racer snakes - but she'd stepped on it and broken its neck. Poor thing.

I wonder if those things grow any bigger than worm -sized? They must, mustn't they? But I've only ever seen tiny ones. We have a centipede near the front steps that's bigger than those snakes.

Fergus on his Spring-Tie for the first time ever:
Patrick boinged it up and down a few times first,
to make sure he knew it was there, and once tied,
he was most excited to discover he could reach
the ground *and* there was grass on it.

We rode with Leslie and Eagle. To begin with, we tried to ride part of the Gold Country ride trail backwards (Leslie said that Eagle needed a big hill <g>). Trouble is, they've been logging in that area and *really* thinned out the forest, so it was almost unrecognisable, so we ended up on a trail that was really overgrown with manzanita and downed trees (and, it turns out, wasn't the right trail).

Pft and Fergus were in the lead and pft ended up getting off and moving full-grown trees, etc. off the trail (hmm, methinks we really could use him to clear trail if we trained him to drag stuff). Roo was leaping around, complaining about stuff poking him and Eagle was trying to run Leslie over - and Fergus was just standing there, reins looped on the ground while pft fought the brush. He was cheerfully pushing through things and not batting an eyelid.

Most of the time, they were off in front, doing a fast TWH walk, while Leslie and I trailed along behind, yakking. Fergus likes to be in front, pioneering and striding forth. pft looks so relaxed and comfy on him - it's great to see.

Fergus actually fits in the middle stall of our trailer, which is good. He looks a little large in there, but fits. He makes Roo look like a midget in comparison. He's the first equine we've ever owned who looks like a *horse*. Really. He's horse-shaped. You'd never call him a pone. He's nicely balanced. I'll send some pics in a second.

We have him on trial until the end of April, at which point, if for whatever reason he doesn't work, we can return him in the same condition and get our money back.

pft's riding him in my Barefoot saddle, which seems to suit both of them well, and Fergus's barefoot, so that works

pft's going to try and keep him barefoot by judicious rasping at regular intervals. He's never had shoes on - the most was EZ boots for really rocky stuff.

Roo and Eagle were harrassed by a killer rabbit on the trail, causing them to undergo much fear and consternation. It could have had fangs or been rabid. It's possible.

pft and Fergus rode 5 miles with us, then took the Trumbull trailer home and Leslie and I did another ten miles or so at a faster pace (and found the missing trail by coming at it from the other direction).

Mouse is currently turned her out in the orchard with Roo, so she can move around a bit more. Her leg seems less filled from that and I'm hoping discomfort and laziness will keep her from running around too much, although she was running when Leslie dropped me off on Sunday.

I managed to lose my lovely new yellow sponge between the bottom of Rock Creek and when we got back to the trailers... I think I give up with sponges - twice I've put new ones on the saddle and twice I've lost them first time out <sigh>.

When we got home last night, there was *another* of those little racer snakes crossing the path. I thought maybe this one was dead too, so picked him up. He wasn't dead and promptly pooped all over me. I guess he didn't want to be picked up. :)

pft and I took Fergus and Uno to Cool and did some muddy creek crossing training. Fergus got in the creek to drink, but then forgot and wouldn't go in again. And Uno - after watching Fergus *not* go in the creek - could see it was obviously dangerous, so he wouldn't go in either :)))

We ended up crossing in a different place that was longer and muddier, but they were fine with it <roll eyes>.

Then later we met some killer deer and he didn't spook or scuttle nearly as much as he had been. Apparently the click-treating helps keep his mind off his worries :))))

We had a lovely time, putzing along, trying to get Fergus to foxtrot (not sure we'd recognise it if we saw it).

Today was "chores day" - weed-whacking the 2' high thistles off the electric tape, mowing, etc. so we didn't get to go out until late this afternoon, so went along the lane and then out the back on the BLM land a short while. Very green and VERY POISON OAKY...

We spent much of the morning measuring the gate and the gate posts - we're going to move the gate back from the road so we're not parked around a blind corner while unlocking the gate.

To begin with, we couldn't find the trail and ended up coming out on Bear Creek road, so we backtracked again, went back and forth a few times and finally spotted the turn-off hidden in the weeds.

I wasn't sure how overgrown it would be. There was a big tree down right at the start of the trail after you come off the Meadowbrook loop, but we were able to squeeze past it and after that, it was OK. A little rough in places, but really not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I wasn't sure if anyone rides it, but it seems they have been.

We rode it all the way to Grey Eagle Mine Road and then up that road as far as where the trail turns off again - about five miles out.

It was in the mid-80s here and although Fergus drank at the creek as we were leaving, there wasn't any other water source along the way. We stopped to let them pick at what little grass there was at the turning around point - and let Chili Dog cool off - she was panting.

When we set off again, after about a quarter mile, Fergus started acting weird - stopping and putting his head down and looking generally uncomfortable. He whinnied at Roo and I, who'd gone down the trail a little ways and stopped.

pft thought maybe he was colicking (yikes). We went a bit further and ended up emptying every single bottle of water we had into the little soft scoop bucket we had with us and he quickly figured that out and drank the whole lot down. I imagine it was like a small sip of water for him, but better than nothing.

pft's saddle had slipped back on some of the steep uphills, so he set that forward again and then we hand-walked them the next half-mile or so (up and down some more steeps) and then got back on and he was fine again.

So we're speculating, he was either dehydrated and had a clod of grass (it was wimpy grass, not lush stuff) stuck in his throat and the water sorted it out, or he was really dehydrated and the water sorted it out, or he was uncomfortable with the saddle where it had slipped back, or a combination of all three. Not really sure. We decided from now on to carry a Camelbak of water in the cantle bag, just in case - at least until he acclimates better to the heat and doesn't need to drink every 40'.

Either way, he came back the next five miles absolutely fine and we detoured to get more water on the way home and he slurped that down and was very cheerful about the whole thing, so no harm done. But it was scary for a minute.

The trail is really rocky to start with, so we put him in EZ boots on the front and were glad we had - it was pretty rough in places.

Oh, I nearly forgot! At the end of our ride, there is a wooden bridge to cross. Roop and I went first and Fergus followed very nicely.

Then there's another bridge off to the side as we were coming in, so we detoured off for more bridge training.

Again, Roop and I went first and then we turned around and sent Fergus over first. He was a bit worried to start with and not keen, but finally plucked up courage and walked across nice and calmly - no rushing or scuttling. pft was very pleased with him (despite the fact that he'd rammed pft's knee into a tree about half a mile before <g>)(no matter, I rammed my shin into a tree yesterday riding Hopi out back. As pft put it, it wouldn't be endurance riding without war wounds).

Scrabbling around playing musical horses to try and give horses space. Monday Uno got his leg caught over the electric tape (which wasn't electrified, so I can't really blame him) and scraped it up a little - not bad, though. The "fence" didn't do so well - he ripped off every single tape holder from every tree/fence post for 200', so the tape is now hung from tree branches. Highly secure.

This afternoon I went down to check on them and Hopi wasn't even inside the perimeter of the "fence" - he was wandering around on the driveway. Uno's now too scared of the killer fence to go near it - he was looking very worried when Hopi was out, since he couldn't go after him.

So Hopi's now in with Provo/Zini/Jack, Uno's alone, Fergus is alone and Roo's in with Mouse. I need more fencing and quick.

Roo is full of beans and going to be a PITB at the weekend. Hopefully I'll stay on - I don't remember too many lurking rocks along the way.

Here I am, late leaving again to go to Buck Meadows. Still, both Roo and Hopi are in the trailer, so I'm just cooking my breakfast before running out the door.

Hopi was actually quite easy to catch - that is, until Zini came up and chomped a big piece of his tail, so he naturally ran away. <grrr>

I decided on going to Buck Meadows in the end (instead of High Desert or Whiskeytown) because I figured it was the best training for what we're aiming to do - i.e. Patriot 100 next month. BMs has lots of continuous trotting which is where I'm weakest, so it'll be good for both of us.

Leslie was so desperate to avoid riding with me on Saturday that she stuck pins in Brandi so that she'd have to be pulled.

Then today she stuck pins in Roo when I wasn't looking so he'd get pulled and she'd get to continue without us.

She's mean, that Leslie.

Actually, both she and Brandi are a bit scraped up and she's got the beginnings of a doozy of a bruise on her knee where they both went flying about three miles into the ride when Brandi trippped on a rock in the hard dirt road and they both went down.

Brandi scraped her knees and her face, but seemed OK - there was a trot-by just after that, and she was cleared to continue, so we did the rest of the 20 mile loop (and she did it very nicely and was forward and happy), but was intermittently gimpy at the vet check, so got pulled. Leslie was a bit relieved because she was tripping a lot and was understandably nervous about it.

It seems that Brandi needs a new shoeing protocol. Otherwise, she scored very highly in the "easy to ride" and "quick to pulse down" categories (and paced great with Roo, doing a nice easy trot).

So Leslie hung out in the sunshine for the rest of the day while Roo and I went and did the next two loops all alone - very, very slowly owing to the fact that Roo was convinced he was going to die out there, all alone... talk about having to peddle.

Then this morning, Eagle was about as flamboyant as I've ever seen him - leaping and bucking and flinging his legs to and fro in an impressive manner. Leslie did her best to convince vet Kevin Lazarcheff that Eagle was lame, but no deal so she had to start, so we hand-walked them out for the first couple of miles before we got on. Keeping in mind it was 23 degrees, we were actually quite glad to be walking and keeping warm.

We did the first two loops and I was really impressed with Roo generally over the whole weekend - he was forward and willing and we trotted up some really loooooonnnnngggg grades (just like a NV horse) (those grades GPSed at ~1,000' in 5-6 miles).

For once, he pulsed down really well and was super-good at the trot out - going fast and furious. So I was totally gobsmacked when vet Kevin Lazarcheff said "He seems a bit off on the left rear, can you trot him again" and sure enough, that was the end of our day.

He managed 70 miles over the two days with about 7500 ' of climbing - most of which was done at the trot so I was very pleased with him.... it just would have been better if he'd stayed sound. :)

Current speculation is deficit in selenium/magnesium/electrolyes, so I have to work through that better.

As it turned out, it's probably just as well that we were pulled - my body's very creaky - creaky calves and creaky back and creaky ribs.... (some of which might be related to falling off Roo 500 yards before the finish on the first day when he spooked at a pee spot of all things - and then pitched a hissy because he wanted to gallop over the finish line with the horse just ahead of us and was whirling and threatening to rear, so I had to whack him over the top of the head <grin>).

....Anyway... what with being creaky n' all, I was very relieved not to have to do that last 20 mile loop - and it meant that I was able to drive home tonight without falling asleep (although it was dicey at times) and got home around 9:30. I think if I'd done the whole ride, I would have been totally wiped and screwed.

Eagle did great on his own - Leslie went and finished the last loop in fine style with Joanie Smith (wife of mule rider Frank Smith) who we rode the first loop with. They probably had way more fun without me, since they were both riding forward horses who had not been ridden the previous day, so were much fresher than Roo.

Oh, and I took Hopi on his first camping trip and apart from acting like I was going to beat him at every opportunity, he also did great - he ate and drank incessantly, so if he can do that at a real ride, he'll do well. He thought it was very fine that every time I opened the manger cupboard (conveniently located right next to him) I would feed him goodies. Lots of whiffling noises (also at 5 am when my front-runner neighbour got up to feed her horse both mornings.)

Not sure why - the backs of my calves (which I could feel were tight at the start of day 1, so I guess I pulled them then) and my ribs (falling off? I can't cough). My lower back was hurting too (I had to ride along pressing on it, which helped), but that's fine today. Strange what hurts and why. It always seems to be something different at each ride.

(thank goodness - I was thinking at the weekend - my portapotty in the trailer is set up where I can hold onto the door frame to lower myself onto it <g>).

Kevin Lazarcheff the vet said he couldn't feel anything in his leg, which was gratifying, so he was fairly sure it was cramping. A couple of times on that last loop we did, Roo shot out from under me in a manner quite unlike him. He spooks sideways, not forwards and I was quite surprised. And neither time could I figure out why he did that, so maybe that was cramp? Curious.

But I think my bid to do Patriot 100 next month has probably gone down the tubes... <sigh>

If I give him most of the 8 weeks off, he'll have time to heal up, have his body adjust to his new stuff, and then we can repeat the 2 x 50 effort and see how he does. If he can pull that off, then I can take him to Swanton with a happy heart.

If I just supplemented him and took him to Patriot and he did the same thing, then I really wouldn't know what to pinpoint:

I think it is a management issue. But I want to make sure there's no damage first, before starting to manage something that's already broken (if anything is - torn muscles, that sort of thing).

At Buck Meadows, he certainly performed better than he ever has in terms of willingness (he'll tell me if he's tired. And if he's tired, he will tell me he doesn't want to trot up hills); recoveries (he was at 48 coming in to the first vet check after 20 miles, which for him is *outstanding*. The rest of the time he had 56/56 CRIs, which is also good for him); and general outlook.

He scored mostly As, (particularly for attitude. I think he got an A+ at the end of Day 1 because he really was looking cheerful.) Usually, by the end of a ride, he's looking a little pooped around the edges and will trot, but it's hardly animated. At Buck Meadows he was super-animated and I was having to run *fast* with him to keep up with his trot outs - even when at that last trot out when he was lame.

My main concern was his standard B on muscle tone, which he often gets at rides (I distinctly remember him having that at this same ride last year. That's one of the reasons I'm chasing the selenium, etc idea). He always feels tight in the back end - even when he's not working.

He's carrying weight really well - not skinny, but just verging on the chubby side.

He's eating well. He has energy to spare (wanting to leap about, wanting to run [not that he gets to, but he'd like to], etc).

This was the first ride I've taken him to where he felt *strong*, rather than a little on the weak side. Where we did trot the uphills, they were gradual grades, rather than steep hills. When it got steeper, I'd let him walk whenever he wanted to.

That said, we did the second two loops on Day 1 totally on our own, so were hardly blitzing (understatement) and walked - nay, *trudged* a lot.

On Day 2, once we finished hand-walking the first 2 miles, we maybe went a little faster (mph) when we *were* moving out, but also hand-walked down a long grade, so I don't think Loop 1 was detrimental.

Loop 2 we started out quicker, trying to catch up with Joanie, but when we weren't catching her, we walked the long grade up and hand-walked down. The rest of the trotting was well within his range. Although there were a few times when I felt he might be being stretched, they were short-lived and I kept him to a sensible speed. We were certainly travelling at below 10 mph on the good footing flat stuff.

I could only just see it when I was trotting him at the weekend - it was more a funky twist to his back leg than a gimp. I'm not sure I'd be able to see it trotting him myself if it's subtle (and given that the more you look at back legs, the funkier they look anyway, I'm not sure a sound horse wouldn't look weird).

I finished in 8.5 hours ride time - we had 1.5 hours of holds...uh...well, Ok.. I took 2 hours of holds, so it was more an 8 hour ride time. On Day 2, I think we did the first 25 miles in 6 hours, incl. a 45 min hold.

I don't necessarily think speed was a factor here. Unaccustomed trotting uphills could have been. And unaccustomed continuous trotting (which was the reason I went to the stupid ride in the first place, so we could do lots of continuous trotting <roll eyes>).

What I was trying to figure out is how much selenium etc he should be getting, and if he's already getting "x amount" from the LMF, how much *more* do I need to give him?

I came in from feeding this morning feeling like I didn't want to do any more rides ever again and don't want to play any more, or at least make any concrete plans.

I got in the shower and by the time I got out, I was all hot to drag That Bad Pony to Patriot 100. This mood swing is apparently what happens when you forget to take your Prozac for a week. :)

"That Bad Pony" was trotted out last night in an effort to ascertain if he was still off or not, but was so filled with energy and enthusiasm that neither pft nor I could see anything - he was fit to explode... so much fun (not). So I'll say one thing - 70 miles at the weekend didn't seem to tire him out <sigh>.

When we got home, we took the old gate from down the bottom and fashioned a pen for Uno by opening up the back panel on the end stall in the barn. It's not huge, but since he ate most of an apple tree during the day (he was ensconced in the orchard, since we had no front gate and therefore deemed it a bit too dodgy to let him stay in the pretend-fenced bottom paddock), we decided we'd better get him out of there quickly before he did too much damage to himself/the orchard. He seems content in his new housie, although Roo isn't keen on him.

While I was gone over the weekend, pft had put Uno in with Mouse, but apparently he saw her as something to bully on, so that wasn't a good combination.

pft and I took Fergus and Uno to Cool this afternoon and rode to Pointed Rocks and then hand-walked them *down* Pig Farm and back up the canyon trail:

Pig Farm is a trail that is pretty steep, so you usually ride *up* since it goes down 650' in 1 mile and then up the canyon trail - 600' in 1.75 miles.

Lots of poison oak for the pones to snack on on the way down, lots of lil' flaars (pretty).

Fergus did really good and Uno was a good boy too, except for bolting for a short while when a) Fergus was cantering and left us behind and then b) something rustled in the bushes. I can't really blame him, since we were on the same trail where we encountered the bear that night and he was set-up to get scared.

(I suggested we went back for a "re-do" until pft pointed out "what if it was something *big* in the bushes?". I hadn't thought of that, so we carried on instead <g>)

I fully expected the incident , so although it made my heart race at least it warmed me up - I was in a t-shirt and had told pft to speed up a bit because I was cold (be careful what you wish for <g>).

Other than that, Uno was a very good boy and is definitely coming round and is a lot less jumpy/spooky than he was. I was very pleased with him.

Fergus is quite amazing to watch downhill. He sort of lengthens like a worm and extends and goes fast (at a walk).

Interestingly, we did some trotting and Fergus' "slow trot" seems to be around 9 mph - while Uno's trot is only about 8 mph, with apparently not much extension yet. It's sort of depressing in an "ohmigosh, lookit what he can do!" way, as he accelerates away from you in stealth you-can't-really-tell-he's-moving-fast-except-he's-gone mode. :)

On Uno, I can jog-trot quite comfortably along with Fergus' flat walk which is around 5+ mph.

We did some separation stuff - me n' Uno leaving Fergus behind. Initially he wanted to come with us (that's what you do, right?), but once he realised that wasn't what was wanted, he just stood and waited for further instruction. pft then gaited to us where we waited, doing a running walk (I think? <g>).

We're going to continue experimenting - with me doing that jog-trot in front of them to see if we can get him to change gears. We're hoping to find a 7-8 mph "something gaited" that Fergus can do, but so far haven't quite found it.

But pft's still in love and looks happy and relaxed on him (and, as he said, like he knows what he's doing

) so I'm guessing he's not going home when his trial period is up at the end of April in a few days.

OK, so we got one of those, but to see him just standing cheerfully, not worried about dragging bushes and stuff going on, he's a good match for pft (and he's sweet too).

I was playing with the computer this evening and the whole house suddenly juddered for a second or two and that was that. Apparently it was a 4.7 earthquake just up by Reno. Here's the map of who felt it (that's me in Garden Valley, 95633):

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/STORE/X242527_08/ciim_display.html

My friends Ann and Jess just got back from a 2 month RV trip and we knew that Ann would have not much to do when she came home from her trip, so not wanting her to be bored, I got her to volunteer to "grow" this year's clutch of baby chooks. I wanted more, but really don't have the time to deal with babies right now (my cup overfloweth).

I was down to two roosters (nasty rooster and tiny rooster) and one hen - and nasty rooster was coming closer and closer to being taken to the feed store every time he attacked me (about once a day).

So we went to "b'fast" (at noon) on Saturday, and then went over to Echo Valley feed store where I got 35 bales of three-grain ($12.45... light bales, but *nice* hay) and 5 bales of orchard (not so nice for $15.50). At least we're set for another month now <heart palpitations at the cost of feeding all these horses>.

And then picked out 11 new baby chooks - and Ann chose two runner ducks - YAY! I WANT RUNNER DUCKS! (not that I have a pond, but still...)

Anyway. For some unknown reason, Ann also agreed to take the nasty rooster and put him in their fenced in garden to eat bugs. Fine by me. We took him over there last night in a box and he was named "Simon" (because he's mean).

All the ‘children’ made it through the night and are quite rowdy today. Even the lil grey puffs are doing better. Those ducks are really funny!

As for SIMON! This morning I went out to admire him and… looked and looked. He was nowhere to be seen. Hours later we heard crowing from over the back fence. AHA! We all leaped into the car and went in search. There he was, entertaining the neighbors.

We chased him around for about 20 minutes before I finally snatched him. Took him home, put him back in the garden. Looked away for 1 second and he was out again. This time he was in our acreage and has spent the day looking things over with Sidney not far behind [Sidney is Ann n' Jess's orange and white dancing piglet... uh, I mean heeler]. She knows she’s not allowed to touch him but she won’t let him out of her sight.

He’s been all over the place and now (post nap) we don’t know where he is. We kept Sidney in the house during the nap. Nell went to sleep like a good doggie but Sid lay at the front door panting nervously for hours. I’m off now to look for signs of Simon.

We got "breakfast" at 1 pm and just now finished our fencing/gate chores and are sore and tired. My hands are blistered and pft's covered in scratches.

We've got the big gate erected, the small gate post cemented in (we now have a people/pony gate to one side), the fence strung along one side and the t-posts banged in along the other. We just have to string the fence on that side and once the cement is set, drill the holes in the gate post for the small gate.

Funnily enough, pft fed the pones this morning and tiny chook ran up in attack-mode. He never bothered when Simon was in residence, but has now evidently decided to inherit the job. He didn't come near me, though, so I'm hoping it's just because pft isn't such a common occurrence in the barn territory.

We thought we'd lost the remaining chooks when we were in the middle of fencing - there was suddenly a lot of screaming and screeching and alarmed clucking. At that point, we were using the truck to hook the come-along to stretch the fence, so there was nothing we could do except send Chili racing up the hill.

Later, we came back up, expecting to see a pile of feathers and there were the two chooks, scratching away in the pony paddock. No idea what was going on.

When I went out to the barn this morning, I heard the rooster crowing from
the stall. I look in and he is just "perking away" and happily doing his
thing. So, I guess your rooster has taken up residency in our barn! I'm
happy to have him if this is where he has decided to live (and he survived
the night!).

Fergus is a little stocked up. Not badly so, just a little. He got bitten by a tick (I'm guessing) on his sheath and one side was swollen on Friday. Today it's still a bit swollen and his glands under his jowl are also a little enlarged, so I'm guessing he's reacting to that. I've had it happen before on the other horses and the ticks are out in abundance right now - I need to slather everyone in Repel-X on sheaths and under tails (I couldn't use a crupper with Roo at Buck Meadows, since I'm guessing he'd gotten a tick bite under his tail and had rubbed it raw, poor guy).

In an effort to pay for hay, I sold the old Barrel Racer Circle Y Sportsaddle in about 0.7 seconds to Karen Sullivan, who we got Fergus from. We bought it years ago as a "spare" but had hardly ever used it. Pretty saddle, though.

pft told me he read that it is important for endurance horses to have fat in their diets, so I went and bought a bag of Super Supplement and a bag of LMF Gold which has BOSS and flax and Cool Calories in it (I think).

The SS was $25.
The LMF Gold $20.
Performance was $18 (this is what I usually feed at rides).

Then if I get the E-Se-Mag I can add that to the mix too, plus elyte the crap out of him. His legs are bound to fall off.

pft and I found a new trail at Cool (pft had been on partially ages back on the mtn bike, but it wasn't well defined then). Now others have been using it, it's a lot clearer. It goes along the edge of the canyon a bit south of the new coffer dam trail. Very pretty twisty single track with views down to the river and into the Valley through the trees.

We worked on Fergus foxtrotting and got him to do it quite a bit. His foxtrotting speed is around 6 mph, but I suspect it'll come and get better the more we do. We got him to do it by me jog-trotting along in front with Roo, to encourage Fergus to do just that bit more speed than he does when doing his running walk. When he broke into a trot, pft would ask him to not do that and, voila, foxtrot. It was fun.

I've got so's I can hear it best (esp. since I'm usually in front). In the back, I watch pft - if he's bouncing, then I know he's trotting (highly scientific <g>). At the moment it seems that Fergus tends to go into a trot for a stride or so, then drop down to the foxtrot.

For a horse that just turned 6, he's so steady. He led most of the way yesterday and only spooked once when he came around a tree and there was an unexpected tree stump. Compared to Roo, who led for about 100 yrds and was leaping about all over the place like an idiot. "He is a bit spooky, isn't he?" quoth pft. <sigh>

At the end, we trotted them out (it was getting dark) and pft thinks he can still see something funky in Roo's back end. I couldn't tell because it was too dark, but if so, I'm bummed. I might have pft trot him again tomorrow in the daylight and see if I can see anything.

I hope it's paranoia too. As pft said, it could just be the way he moves normally. I didn't get a chance to do anything this morning and we've got class this evening, so might not get a chance until Thursday or Friday to trot him out. I'm a bit bummed, but trying to keep it under rational control. :(

Money is a little tight right now (gosh, what a lot of hay 8 horses can eat!) and I was getting a bit sweaty about it, so I stopped my riding lessons with Jeannette. Hopefully when the Subaru payment is up in the summer, things will be a little less strained so I can go back to them.

Roo's Selenium Testing:

I finally pinned down what Roo's se test was exactly.

It was whole blood and he was at 0.2 ppm which I think puts him at the bottom end of the range - as an endurance horse, he's supposed to be between 200 and 250 (I assume that's the same measuring blobs, just with a decimal place shift?)

As of midnight tonight, Fergus is officially ours to keep. Yay! pft's still in love and he is a great calming influence on all of us.