June 2009

• Sunday 7th - OCD R Us
• Tuesday 9th - Dry Glue-Ons
• Thursday 11th - Re-gluing
• Saturday/Sunday 13/14th - Cooley Ranch
• Saturday/Sunday 20/21st - Chores and Fat Boy
• Tuesday 30th - Wibble

Back to May • Forward to July

Sunday 7th - OCD R Us

I'm sitting here, picking bits of dremelled boot out of my eyes. Roo gets his first pair of Glue-Ons today, and in a fit of OCD, I dremelled more breakover into the front boots to hopefully reduce any forging:

How much difference it'll make, who can tell.

I did manage to get off the T-word for a whole day yesterday and pieced madly, the result being half a "barn chicks" quilt. Trying to cut 16 layers of flannel + freezer paper was a little much, so I split the stack into two - so the result is half the quilt:

'Course, I don't like the colours now, but it'll probably grow on me. The yellows are more yellow and less orange than they look here... pft kindly stopped by the quilt store in the afternoon as he went past and bought a new rotary cutter blade, so cutting out the next 8 layers will be infinitely easier (hacking at them with a blunt blade got old, fast).

Rasping Success

Hopi finally got properly rasped last night. He'd gotten to the "I don't wanna and you can't make me" stage, so I enlisted pft as a handler, we used a rope looped over his nose and funnily enough Hopi was able to deal with the whole situation. He wasn't great, but I was able to rest his back feet in the cradle of my stand - which was a first, without him having a meltdown. His feet now look like he's loved, not neglected.

Glue-on... er... Non-Success?

So that didn't quite go as advertised. I think we put too thick a layer of Goober Glue on and then didn't let it sit long enough to get really tacky, so instead of acting like glue it acted like a lubricant. First he twisted the front boots a few times, then he completely stepped out of the right front boot, then he wanted to cock his back foot, so the heel kept sliding off. And when I pushed on his hip to make him stand square, he'd twist the front boots. <grrr>

	Pretty prep-work. I rasped him diligently beforehand, so he'd have a lovely trim job. Then I put the boot on and drew around the top with a felt-tip to show which area I had to rough up. Then I roughed with the rasp. At that point, I discovered he had too much flare to rough the hoof, so I gave him an even more diligent trim and now his feet are beautiful.
	Pretty prep on all four feet...
	First we glooped the Goober Glue on all four boots. I wanted a really thick layer so it would fill in any gaps. Probably that was a mistake.
	We paid special attention to the heels, glopping in as much stuff as we could so it would seal any gap in the back.
	This one's a little blurry, but this is the bead we put all around the boot, then added more in the toe area.  The Goober Glue is really sticky, so hard to smear. When you try, all that happens is it sticks to your finger and you smear it all over the outside of the boot and yourself by mistake.
	Three boots on. Lots of goop on Roo's leg from him stepping out of the boot. Notice how he's got his rear foot cocked. He did this a lot and each time he did it, the boot heel would slip off the the foot. Which is why I'm not convinced the right rear boot is very well attached. It makes air-slurping noises when he walks on it... suggesting that he's not really properly attached to it. Hopefully I've glued them on early enough that a) I can ride up Dead Truck on Tuesday to see if they stay on and b) if they don't stay on, I've still got a few more days to glue them back on again... and back on again... and back on again.
	Right front - this is the boot he stepped completely out of. There's space you can prod in the front of the boot, so I'm not convinced this one is very well attached. We'll see if it stays on. Lots of glue stuffed in the back of this one, since that's his smaller foot, so there was more lip sticking out the back - and therefore more for his back foot to grab hold of and pull off. If this boot comes off this week, I may try the next size down.
	Rear boot. I had to twist it back to center after about 30 minutes, so we'll see how that turns out. The left one (that we let cure longer) seems relatively solid. The right one (the one that usually twists off on the trail) less so. Might have to redo that one too. <sigh>
	Goopy front boots from the side. They aren't perfectly centered... but then again, neither are Roo's feet, so we'll see.
	I tried to smear the top glue around to make a bead. But I'm not sure it worked.

So, the moral of the story is to let the glue cure longer once you've smeared it on the boots. 

I'll ride Tuesday and see what stays on...

Tuesday 9th - Dry Glue-Ons

	From afar, you can barely see he's got anything on his feet (which means there's no way you'll be able to tell if these things are still on or not while you're riding along <grin>).  Hard to tell how much of the apparent toe-in of the boots is his actual toed-in-ness and how much from twisted boots, but upon rechecking, his left front is nicely centered, while the right front is slightly off <grrr>.
	His back feet actually look pretty solid - more so than I thought they would. They are such a nice tight fit to start with, this probably helps.  <fingers crossed> that these work out, otherwise he'll be wearing shoes in the back for Tevis.
	Right rear - this is one of the ones I was concerned about, since we had difficulty keeping him seated in the boot (he kept wanting to cock his foot), but it actually seems quite solid, so maybe it sorted itself out. This is his "pushing off" foot, so the one that gets most abuse, torque and twisting (and the one that should fly off first).
	The fit is really nice and snug around the back on his rear feet and the glue is rubbery enough that it isn't causing any hard lump in the bulb area.
	Left front - this is his bigger foot and this one seems good and solid too. You can see the rub marks on his pastern from trying out the neoprene socks ten days ago on CA Loop. Strangely, only this pastern rubbed, no idea why the other one didn't. He's got a matching rub on the outside and on the front. Back to our usual pastern wraps for this pone.
	Right front - this is the boot I'm least happy with.  It's his smaller foot and I took off a bunch of flare just before putting the boot on, making it even smaller (nice trim job, though). In retrospect, I should have tried to fit him to the next size smaller boot (I have one he has been wearing on the back - it's a little worn, but serviceable).
	He's not all the way into the toe so there's an air gap lower in the boot although it seems firmly glued at the top and sides. The lip of the back of the boot sticks out more than I like. We tried to fill it with glue, but apparently just ended up glueing some of his hair to boot, so it ripped out <ouch> Plus, as mentioned above, the boot is slightly twisted. This one may have to come off and be re-glued before the weekend.

Thursday 11th - Re-gluing

Predictably, since I'm going to be gone Friday and Monday, and Viv, my work counterpart, is also gone Friday, plus the moon's getting big, everyone has gone bezerko at work, wanting their stuff "right now" even though they haven't actually written it yet.

Took Roo for a spin on Tuesday evening to try the boots out. As I was tacking him up, I noticed that he wasn't even wearing the left rear one any more. Initially thought he'd lost it in the trailer ride, but no, apparently it didn't make it out of the paddock.

This was the boot we let sit and cure the longest, but when I found it and inspected it, it really didn't look like it had much glue in it which was puzzling, so I'm not sure what the problem was. It's hard to put the shell on the foot without wiping off a lot of the glue in the quarters (where the boot fits tightest) and pushing the glue you have on the sides down into the bottom.

Slapped a Glove on the left rear for our ride and off we went. Tried hard to twist the remaining three Glue-ons off, but they stayed firm, even the right front, which felt loose and was a bit rotated.

Great!! (also had a most excellent fun ride, which I video-ed)

Last night, got home at 8:30 pm and started glueing the left rear back on again, paying special attention to LOTS of glue application and careful cleaning of hoof with rasp, sand-paper and alcohol (which I hadn't done first time around, just rasped). Got the left rear seated nicely and decided "what the heck, if we're re-gluing, we might as well redo that right front since it's 'loose' and a tad twisted".

Started to prise it off. The back came off relatively easily - good that I opted to do this... but I couldn't get the front part off, since it was welded to his foot. Lots of tugging and grunting and squeaking, finally got it off. That glue has a *great* seal and just because part of it may not be secure, it'll definitely hold the rest of the boot to foot very nicely. It was good to see how well it holds, even if I was pulling it off.

Re-glued the shell on, adding [post-curing and post-installation] some pumps of the schnozzle through the V in the front to fill the air void in the toe area...

(...Brain evidently not working properly [by then  it was about 10 pm], didn't really think about the air void... and how I said that boot was too big, and how I was going to glue on the next smaller size shell...? ...Remember the single front Glove I lost at Cache Creek? It was the right front. Repeat after me: "Roo's right front is his small foot".)

Went out at 11:30 pm to release Roo from his stall-prison and was confronted with a single front boot sitting lonely in the middle of the stall with Roo standing next to it. Apparently adding vast amounts of wet glue to the toe area isn't a great idea, along with glueing a boot on that is too big... twice...

Went to bed a bit sad, but glad I'd started the glueing process so early, so I could work through it and still have time for operator error.

Fitted the next size smaller shell to that (smaller) right front foot this morning and we have a winner! About to go home and glue THAT one on this evening, along with finishing up all my other chores...

Thursday Evening: Success! (at least it seems so). The smaller boot worked much better and he didn't move in it from the time I put it on, despite all the other horses escaping out of the paddock 20 minutes before the end of the curing process - meaning Roo had to jump up and down, paw the ground, shriek and generally make a fuss. Boot still in place and not twisted. Looks promising.

Saturday/Sunday 13/14th - Cooley Ranch

Cooley Ranch went about as well as a ride could go. It was one of the toughest I've ever done, but so rewarding because we seemed to have really gotten it right. Roo performed excellently, and, apart from not pulsing down terribly quickly/low, he did a perfect job all weekend.

The glue-ons worked great - write up here (much of which is already shown above), and photos on Facebook

If we can repeat this kind of performance for Tevis, we'll have a great ride (although to have two good rides in a row is probably pushing the endurance gods' magnanimity <inspect fingernails nonchalantly>).

Saturday/Sunday 20/21st - Chores and Fat Boy

The glue-ons are de-glued ready to go again, the orchard is mowed, the second half of the chook quilt cut out, and the raccoon is removed from the dry swimming pool.

Sunday night, pft and I rode along the lane and I rode Fat Boy (aka Uno) in his new 1.5 back Gloves. I've got eight weeks to whip him into shape for Bridgeport... might be asking too much, but we'll see. He's so lovely and floaty to ride when he's moving forward (and not scooting forward like an idiot, or going like a slug). He did some good trotting up Becky's hill, so isn't in too bad shape... just a bit pudgy. I was worried that he'd be sore, since I got a little overenthusiastic when rasping him earlier in the week, but he felt fine in his boots. Chili even came with us and he managed to keep his brain with her around.

Tuesday 30th - Wibble

Well, so much for the last entry - got a lovely bout of poison oak from our ride on 21st and then felt crappy all week, so ended up doing nothing except try to sleep it off. I don't think it's feasible to get Fat Boy ready for Bridgeport, afterall - not without over-doing it myself, so we're shelving that project for now.

Spent the weekend in a state of angst watching the WS100 Run - the sudden increase in temperatures (100°F here,  105°F at the Confluence when I went to get hay mid-afternoon Sunday) and the resulting carnage. It provided me with a less than comforting reality check. Nothing like it when you're already feeling like a wet paper towel and your horse's visit to the chiro on Saturday revealed a multitude of issues.

Still, despite the weekend of emotional torment, Roo and my Tevis Entry got faxed in Monday so we're committed to "Just Do It". 

Today I worked on crew shirts, crew directions, breathing, and readjusting my head. Calm I'm not, but I'm starting to slant my mental state in the right direction.

The trailer brakes decided to stop working and a new brake-controller didn't fix the problem, so I took it into Sundowner in Auburn for them to look at it today. On the way home, Chili and I stopped off at the Confluence and went for "A Quick Run". We only went to the waterfall and back - probably less than two miles - but with the temperatures hovering around 90°F, we had to sit quietly at the waterfall and then scuttle from shade bush to shade bush the way back. Apparently dealing with heat isn't a strong point right now - which probably means I have to try and get out and run - even short distances - at work during lunch... eck... pavement running... my favorite...Not.

In the meantime, pft and I re-glued a set of boots onto Roo's feet this evening in preparation for the weekend camping at Robinson Flat. Garrett Ford sent us a pair of the new "reinforced toe" Gloves, so we'll see what kind of damage Roo can do to them. The glueing went less than smoothly, again, with Roo stepping out of his left rear boot twice, his right rear boot once, and twisting his left front boot <sigh>. I'm sensing a switch to the 45-second-setting Vettec Adhere in our future. In the spirit of further experimentation, we also drilled holes in the bottom of the boots with the idea of pumping the frog area full of Goober Glue - have to see how that goes tomorrow evening.

Roo's chiro visit on Saturday was less than stellar. Apparently his head was on crooked, so she fixed that, then worked on his neck, then his back (both sides), then his pelvis/loin area, finishing up with adjusting something in the right hock and the left fetlock. Not promising. We have been instructed to work hills in a more collected manner - Roo is to step under himself more (instead of just trailing his back legs behind him) and allegedly his newly-chiroed body will now allow him to do this. We're not necessarily supposed to do miles, so much as good form hill-work. No more getting off and running the downhills - I'm to ride each one, pushing him from behind to get him working off his butt more. We'll see.