May 2009

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wet-Roo.jpg (81599 bytes)Friday 1st - Bus Stop to Finish (16 miles)

It was v. wet. Very, very wet.

I only went because I'd planned it 24 hours in advance and I'd just gotten Roo's new boots. Otherwise, I would have stayed home in the dry.

It wasn't too bad this morning, which encouraged me even more. But of course by the time I'd rasped Roo's front feet and put his boots on, it was pouring <sigh>.

Got my feet soaked in the first 100 yrds walking through wet grass and it didn't get better. The rain wasn't so wet (ish), it was the wet floppy bushes slithering over my legs and leaning down low over the trail, such that I had to lie along Roo's neck to avoid it (and some of it was poison oak).

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Timing: Mindful of Crysta's schedule, when I was above the river crossing (it was too slick to all the way down there), I started the clock, giving myself 1:15 to get to the quarry.

Roo thought the whole idea sucked and was pouting most of the way - he really hates being out on his own - so I exhausted myself peddling him. Despite this, we managed to get to the Lower Quarry 10 minutes early, incl. stopping to talk to some hikers just before we got  there (I counted this as my "LQ vet check time").

The next chunk is "30 mins fro LQ to No Hands". This we managed perfectly on time, trotting (peddle, spook, swerve, whack, peddle) the entire river road, stopping for a couple of minutes above hw-49 to call pft to ask for pickup in an hour, and then having to tiptoe along the top part of the trail because it had turned into a creek. But we made it.

The last section is 1 hour from No Hands-to-Finish and we went OT by 5 mins. I made Roop trot everything flat and he cheered up slightly, but some of the climbs were so slick (exiting the Black Hole, f'instance) that he could hardly keep his footing, so I let him go slower there. The last hour was *really* wet.

So all in all, pretty interesting. Riding the pouting horse was kind of like riding a horse that had already done 85 miles - motivation wasn't his strong point. He didn't seem to mind the wet, just being out there on his own.

But I've never really watched the clock like that. Apparently it's exactly an hour from LQ to the top of the Black Hole, but then took us 10 mins from there up over Robie Pt and down the other side, which amazed me.

wet-Roo2.jpg (85571 bytes)pft was kindly waiting for us, which was just as well as by then we were v. v. wet. My saddle is soaked (currently residing in the spare 'oom to dry out), my feet were squishing (and pruney), but thank goodness I'd thought to bring dry top and legs for me. Sadly forgot socks and shoes, though.

Newts: Oh, and I counted 144 newts on the trail. I was worried that the bottom of his boots would be covered with Squished Newt and deliberately didn't look behind me as we travelled down the trail. They were *everywhere*.

Roo's feet looked great when I peeled the boots off. There was some sandy gravel under the straps, but didn't seem to have rubbed. His frogs are looking better than they ever have before - he shed them all out about three weeks ago and the new ones are perfect - so I'm pleased about that, even if his feet aren't nicely concave yet.

When we went back by Potato's to pick up the car pft had left there, I grabbed the two blankets in the trailer and zoomed up to Bob Walz's and put blankets on poor soaked Provo and Mouse. Unfortunately, the blankets are the ones that went to DVE for Roo and Fergus (a 72" and an 84"), while P and M both wear 68"-70", so they looked a little overwhelmed, but at least they should warm up. Tomorrow I'll go over and put sensible-sized blankies on them.

Green-Yellow-Gloves.jpg (95497 bytes)Sunday 3rd - Coloured PowerStraps

The new PowerStraps showed up, so I put green ones on Fergus' size 2s, and yellow ones on Roo's 0.5 fronts. The red pair will eventually go on the Size 1.5 (Fergus and Uno's back boots?) once they've been used a few times and stretched.

Introducing the new Chooklets:

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  • Silver Laced Cochin (big black)
  • 2 x Mille Fleurs (fluffy cheeked ones)
  • a silver seabright (white head)
  • a golden seabright 
  • an old english (tiny one)

Wednesday 6th - Filter? What Filter?

At the weekend I finally decided that it was better to throw the cat-pee-smelling horse blanket in the wash, so even if I didn't have waterproofing stuff to spray on it afterwards at least it would be clean and I could fold it up and put it away (rather than leaving it in a soggy heap at the foot of the back deck stairs where it had been residing for several weeks).

Last night, I remembered that I hadn't actually gotten around to removing it from said washing machine - only to discover it sitting in a puddle in the tub with a "Drain Error" message.

I set it to drain again and went to bed. 

Removed the blanket from the WM this morning (although I think it might have to go around the world again, since it still had soap residue on it) and decided maybe I should "check that drain-thing that it said something about in the manual...". hairball.jpg (75520 bytes)

When it said "check and clean the filter every month or so", I didn't realise it meant for me to check and clean it. I thought perhaps the fairies would do it?

Anyway, apparently if you wash your dog beds, your saddle pads, and your horse blankets on a regular basis, it's a good idea to check that filter....

Wodge of felt-like consistency hair completely jamming the filter:

By strange coincidence, this morning my Mumma IMs me:

"I started this morning cleaning out the fireplace which was grotty. Then I decided to vaccuum up all the soot and managed to clog up the vacuum cleaner. After lots of poking and prodding I discovered a filter which should be cleaned every 3-5 months............ well I never knew that so I cleaned it. Problem still existed so I put bamboo sticks down the tube and found it was bunged up with sweety papers or something. Now it works, but I can't use it cos the filter is all wet in the garden. Instructions say not to use it wet."

Like mother, like daughter?

Sunday 10th - Glove Comparison

Worn-Glove-comparison1.jpg (154232 bytes)Worn-Glove-comparison3.jpg (143912 bytes)Here are pics of Fergus' size 2 Gloves that he wore on the back, then on the front for 160 miles, and Uno wore on the front for 18 miles - for a total of 178 miles. 

The other shiny boot is a brand new size 1.5 that we got for Fergus' back feet (also fits Uno's back feet).  

 
ZZZ.jpg (140300 bytes)Worn-Glove-comparison4.jpg (144125 bytes)Looking at the current rate of wear, I think we'll get 400-500 miles out of a boot before it's smooth on the bottom. Even then, unless riding on grass or mud (something we don't do much of around here in the summer), they would still offer some protection.  

 

yellow-powerstraps.jpg (208524 bytes)Roop, Chili and Me Have an Adventure

Roop was due for his final ride before we go to Cache Creek 50 next weekend, so I decided to take him on the China Wall loop to try out his new Renegades (the Dead Truck hill being the litmus test for boots), and then take a few mile detour to Green Gate and back. This would be about 10+ miles.

Alas, the Dead Truck hill once again claimed the life of a boot. This time it was the left rear which we've not lost before. It was twisting before we even got up the first part and fired off when we got to the last steepest, rockiest part - and then started rolling speedily down the hill. For a while there I thought I was going to have a long walk back down to get it, but luckily it stopped. 

Dead Truck Hill Profile:

I think part of the problem is Little American Creek is only half a mile or so before you start up the hill, so the horse's hooves are slippery from that. Next idea to try is wrapping his feet in athletic tape to see if that helps stop the boots from turning in the first place.

We continued up to the top of Dead Truck and Roo got kind of goosey, so I was telling him off for being jumpy. At the top, we turned left instead of the usual right (which he was, of course, miffed about) went about another 10' and saw a bear sitting in the middle of the trail about 50' away. Ack.

Roop's eyes were as big as saucers, so I had to sit quietly and make sure he wasn't going anywhere. Chili was behind us, so oblivious to the excitement. 

Bear1-2.jpg (144294 bytes) The bear stared at us for a while, looked faintly disgruntled, then turned and ambled off up the trail - the direction we wanted to go. 

This is the blurry pic of the rear end of said bear, 
with the camera on the wrong setting <roll eyes>.

After a pause (during which I couldn't get Roop to move anyway), we followed, stopping to gawp alarmedly at every pile of sticks and bush and waving piece of grass. 
 bear3.jpg (257790 bytes) After a quarter mile or so, the undergrowth widens out and there was the bear again, "hiding" behind a small sapling off the side of the trail.

Here's the bear, "hiding".

At this point, I decided perhaps we didn't need to go to Green Gate after all, since then we'd need to come back past this area and spend the entire time worrying about where the bear was now - and no doubt meet him at some inopportune location (most of this trail is - like all the other trails in the area - about 3' wide, with a steep drop-off hundreds of feet down to the river).
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So instead, I turned Roop around and moved back along the trail to try and get a better, less vegetation-disguised shot of the large 200-300 lb orange bear hiding behind the sapling.

Not too successfully, as you see. 

Trouble was, I also had to stop Chili from figuring out what "that smell was?" (she was coursing back and forth with great interest), and stop Roo from leaping out from under me.
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Finally, we came into a gap in the bushes with the bear's face perfectly framed - and that's when he got up and started moving towards us. Ack.

This photo is blurry because a) my hands are shaking and 
b) Roo has spotted the bear and wants to leave RIGHT NOW.

Needless to say, we vacated the area in a controlled manner - i.e. I didn't let him run because I wasn't sure I'd get him stopped.

So we didn't manage 10+ miles. But we did get a good cardio-vascular work out.

There were no newts on the trail...

Saturday 16th - Cache Creek Ridge 50

Or "Fun With Boots"

Tuesday 19th - Birthday 

Today Uno got ridden for the first time since early February. We went to Cool with pft and Fergus and had a lovely relaxing time in the long-waving grass. Uno was a very good boy and did some good work on the uphills, despite being out of shape so I was very happy - having built him up into a monster in my head. 

Mumma bought me a new hoof stand for my birthday and I'm very excited about it. 

Monday 25th - Much Needed Holiday

One of my prime directives for this three-day weekend was to get lots of sleep to catch up after getting pretty zonked by the lack of sleep/efforts of last weekend's Cache Creek ride in hot, hot, hot. I did manage to catch up on sleep, but I also overdid it, so wasn't much better off.

Saturday I went over to where Mouse and Provo are currently lolling in the grassy pasture we're borrowing. I intended to rasp Mouse's long-overdue feet. Of course, Provo needed rasping too, but when he decided to run off and not be caught, I realised that even though I "dinna wanna",  I'd better rasp the three other horses who are there because their owner got in a car wreck and is in long-term hospital care. Got two rasped and then I finished up with Provo (caught, by fetching Mouse back in for fly-spray application - and he came running along behind like a dog worried about being left out). 

My new "hoof jack" got put through its paces and I was very happy with it - much easier and pleasanter to use than the old clanky one. I especially like the foot cradle that was great to use on Provo's "difficult" back feet and for doing the 30-year old stallion. I still managed to rasp my knee cap, my wrist, my thigh, and my thumb, but until I learn to wear protective clothing ("It was too hot"), that's how it's going to be.

Unfortunately, three horses is about my limit for rasping, so after doing four in a row, I could barely walk, let alone finish up the last mare. So I left her for another day when I have to go back over and do Jackit who's just up the road. Home for supper and out cold in bed.

The next day I had to go and help with the Dru Barner Fun Ride, so spent all day standing in the sun, handing out drinks to about 100 riders and then driving about on rough roads, searching for lost riders. Home for supper and out cold in bed (am I picking up a pattern?).

Today I intend to do all the things that I hoped to do over my "three days off" - riding Uno again, maybe some quilting, maybe messing with Roo's feet and boot fit, maybe making a boot bag for the saddle, and if I'm feeling up to it, rasping Hopi who's feet look even worse than Mouse's did. The main difference is Mouse stands still like a good girl, while Hopi acts like an idiot.

Tuesday 26th - Success!

pft and I did the Dead Truck loop this evening. Well, we nearly did nothing due to a communications error where I went to Greenwood and pft waited for me in Cool, but never mind.

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Yesterday I took just enough toe off Roo's back feet to manage to smoosh him into a pair of 00.5 Gloves. They were pretty tight and I had to whack them with the rubber mallet to get them on, but he wore them in the pasture for a few hours without losing them and without his feet falling off, so this evening's ride would be the real test.

Result: we rode up Dead Truck Hill - AND THE BOOTS STAYED ON!!!!! A FIRST!!! boots3.jpg (117147 bytes)

The right one twisted a little bit, but reseated itself by the end of the ride. YAY! Even though they were kind of tough to get on, they are already getting easier with use. Hopefully this won't make them too baggy to continue to stay on.

This horse looks drunk...

The pastern wraps went a bit haywire on this ride, 
which was a first - not quite sure why. My new gaiter 
socks are on their way, so we get to try those out next.
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And then to add to the drama, I took pft up to the bottom of French Hill to show him where I saw the bear... and it was still there. :) I didn't see it, but pft saw its butt disappearing into some bushes (I only got to see the bush "moving in an unnatural manner").

So we decided not to ride to Green Gate after all (again).   :)

My prototype boot bag also got a try out. Yesterday afternoon, I ripped apart an old dog coat I'd once made for Chili (it didn't fit her and she chewed a hole in it, so I figured I might as well put the leftovers to good use) and re-sewed it together into a boot-sausage shape. 

boot-bag2.jpg (126568 bytes) boot-bag3.jpg (104819 bytes) Wanting to really try it out, this evening I stuffed it with two bulky Renegades and it worked like a charm. To begin with, it was a little too tight and pushing my sheepskin cover into my butt, but I loosened the cinch strap a tad and it relaxed into the perfect spot. It doesn't poke me or the horse.

boot-bag4.jpg (115284 bytes)It attaches top and bottom with snaps and I found a leftover strap from my pommel bag so I could cinch it down really tight in the middle to completely eliminate any bounce (can't stand bounce). 

Having it full of two Renegades makes it a little heavy for just one side and I think in reality I'd probably make two - one for each side - and at most only put one Glove and one Renegade in each (or better, two Gloves in each - even lighter, since they would just be for emergencies anyway and the 00.5s stayed on so well...).

Hmm. If it wasn't completely stuffed with boots, I'm also wondering if I could use it for elyte syringes. Have to think of a way to fasten the syringes in there, since they'd poke out the top, but that's a definite possibility.

The bottom of the sausage is angled into true boot shape so it doesn't have a baggy bottom (can't stand baggy bottoms) - that was the trickiest part of the design to put together and it came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

But obviously it can't be green...

Stuff that I seldom need to access is gradually being moved to the back of the saddle to give me more space on the front. The small light blue bag is my first aid kit which never gets used but must be on thsquabbles.jpg (112631 bytes)e saddle at all times "just in case" (to not take it would be fatal). Finding that bag its own spot on the back of the saddle freed up an entire one-side of the pommel bag - yay. 

(and for those of you wondering why I don't just get a cantle bag - I can't get it to not flop around back there, since the saddle doesn't have a skirt to jam it up against).

Roop and Fergus squabbling over who gets to put their nose in the hay bag hole.

Saturday 30th - CA Loop

There are tons of pics that go with this, so I stuffed them all here: CA Loop Pics.

It was an interesting ride. We didn't meet any bears, although a beaver down by the river flapping its tail did cause Roo to bound forwards in an exciting manner - and he did wait until we were in a relatively safe place before leaping sideways with alarm over a rock that had come down the cliff.

We saw lots of lizards.

We met one group of three riders coming the other way on Cal-1, but were able to squeeze past.

All boot activities mentioned are Gloves. And here's a pictorial page showing how the boots are doing.

Things we learned:

Fergus:
  • Fergus needs to learn to be sponged, since he gets hot.
  • Size 3 boots with PowerStraps work in front.
  • Wrapping athletic tape under the boots was a waste of time - it all ended up wadded in the toe.
  • If he was to go further than 25 miles, I'd probably put pastern wraps on his front legs, as he was just starting to show signs of scuffs, but just ruffled hair, not rubs.
  • Size 2 boots with PowerStraps work in back.
  • Athletic tape under Size 2 boots did not stop them from twisting slightly, but they didn't get any worse or pop off as they did without the PowerStraps.
  • Fergus thinks he's tired long before he is.
  • Fergus doesn't much like lots of downhill (possible saddle problems? - although his back was fine at the end, so maybe just lack of condition/muscle?)
  • Fergus acts tired, and then runs away in an exciting manner when you trustingly let him graze loose at Francisco's
  • Fergus will not be allowed to graze loose again.
  • Fergus will get his leg over his lead rope and pull back and break the scissor snap if you then tie him up. Hopefully pft will no longer tie long.
  • When Fergus does this, he will scare Roo into running and the two of them will take off excitingly across the meadow at Francisco's (although of course my good boy stopped)(his halo is getting weighty).
  • By doing this, Fergus does not earn himself any sympathy and we weren't sad for him when he told us the long hill up to Driver's Flat was haaard.
 Wrapped Foot
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PowerStrapped Back Feet
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Fergus' Francisco's Escapade
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Roo:
  • roos-feet.jpg (97007 bytes)Athletic tape under all four boots meant I didn't have any boots pop off (but given the activity we were doing, I'm not sure they would have popped off anyway).
  • Size 00.5 boots in the back didn't twist at all (there's really only one steep uphill on that section - but still, I think they would have twisted on it if they were going to).
  • Lots of downhill walking means that the toes on the 00.5s in back were completely worn through by the end of the 20 miles. This is a BAD thing and means that even if I can get Glue-ons to work, will they stay intact long enough to do Tevis? I suspect this was because we walked much of the second ten miles, so possibly this would be less of a problem during a Ride (since we walk less), but still concerning (will talk to Ashley further about this, since Mimi's also a toe-dragger).
  • forging-or-heel-first.jpg (66229 bytes)Todd's pull-up neoprene socks did not work well on the front (I opted not to use them on the back) and allowed the gaiters to rub. Not sure why, but since the pastern wraps are working and easy to put on (the socks are a pain), I think I'll abandon them. A shame, since I only just got them. Maybe I can send them back and he can use on someone else? He's had good luck with them, but they didn't work for Roo (the rubs weren't as bad as they would be without socks, but he hasn't rubbed at all with the pastern wraps).
  • Are these shiny, rounded off heels caused by heel-first landings or forging? Hmmm

The Trail:
  • <Aside> It took us 1:15 to get to Cal-1.
  • Even though it didn't feel like we made great time, (per Crysta's Tevis timing) we still managed to get to Cal-2 26 minutes ahead of schedule, causing much cheerfulness.
  • When we got to Cal-2, the mileage was only 10.2 (not 11).
  • We still managed to get to 11 miles ten minutes ahead of the 3 hours allotted. More cheerfulness.
  • We were 45 minutes late arriving at Franciscos (even using up our gained 26 minutes).  Sadness.
  • Fergus was "v. tired" by then (or so he told us), so we made bad time on this section... but still, there were many places I'd be walking anyway. I'm still not sure how you can make that chunk in 1:15, given that it has some of the most exposed sections of trail on it.
  • How trippy is that white dirt road leading to Francisco's, trotting in the dark? it seemed to have lots of solid raised rocks and I wondered how it would ride during the Ride? Is it a walk-trot-trot-trot-walk section?
  • Throughout the journey, I mentally went through how dark some of the parts under the trees would be and whether I'd be willing to try and trot various sections, or just walk.
  • After the Deadwood Trail, CA Loop seems quite tame.
  • It looked like they had been working on the CA Loop trail, as some parts were wider than remembered, and nicely groomed, most especially the exposed part at the bottom near the river.
  • At Francisco's, we stopped and let them graze. Fergus was ready for a break and needed some sustenance to cheer him up.
  • pft went over to get a water bottle out of the saddle, and Fergus ran off - did a trotting loop of the meadow (while Roo watched from his grassy spot, munching contentedly) and trotted back to Roo. Erk.
  • After Francisco's, we went half a mile along the trail towards Poverty Bar/River Crossing, just to give Roo the idea. He was quite happy with this concept.
  • Roo did good on the long climb up to Driver's Flat.
  • Fergus drafted, but was cheerful enough to pick up the trot a couple of times, so evidently not quite as exhausted as he thought.
  • The trail was SO pretty this time of year... loads of flowers and sunny tall grasses. And when we got down to Sandy Bottom, the river was flat and still (at least until that beaver banged his tail). It was really overgrown down there - like a jungle - lush and green. Just gorgeous.
  • pft did well with the ride until we stopped and he pinched a nerve in his back. Thankfully, just temporarily (personally, I think it was just an excuse to make it so I had to take off Fergus's boots, which, with the athletic tape, were like sweaty smelly socks <euw>)

On to June