June 2010      

• Saturday 5th - Hot and Wimpy
• Sunday 6th - Glueing on Boots
• Saturday 12th - NASTR 75
• Friday 18th - Nippers That Nip!
• Saturday 19th - Babby Chooks 
• Saturday 26th - Bees!
• Saturday 29th - NV Moonshine 
• Bee Update After Nine Days

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Saturday 5th
Hot and Wimpy

In an attempt to do "heat training" (it finally got warm), pft performed shuttling duties and Leslie and I rode from the Overlook back to the Bus Stop. We were completely pathetic and the horses even more so. It was very humid and it took us 4.5 hours to go 15 miles. Admittedly, we did stop to chat to the aid-station guys at the end of No Hands Bridge (there was a running race going on) and partake of their wares. And we did stop in the river. And we did fix Nuggie's boots several times (time to put her in the next size smaller). And we did stop when Uno tried to kill, me, but it was still pathetic.

Uno did pretty good until we got nearly to Maine Bar. Leslie and I were talking about how arabs had been used to detect mines because they were so good at noticing things that were different, when Uno (in front) did a big spook from some shrubbery and only by managing to hook my leg around the pommel bag did I manage to stay on. I was already crampy from the weather, so this gave me an even bigger cramp in my ribs.

Things settled down again until we started up the trail to Potato's. Uno was again in front and got very snuffly and was gawping at every patch of sunlight and generally on high alert. Alas, I was too complacent and didn't pay enough attention and next I knew, he'd leapt sideways up a vertical bank. As he came up towards me and I felt his back end start to slither backwards down the bank, I was trying frantically to figure out how to get off - in that situation you don't to be anywhere near the horse for fear of them falling over backwards on top of you. Luckily he started to fall sideways away from me, so I was able to bail off on the high side. He got back down on the trail in front of a very startled Nugget who was frantically trying to figure out what we were supposed to be panicking about, and ran off down the trail for about 30 seconds before realising he was on his own and came running back again looking worried.

My shaky, adrenaline-filled photo of Uno's bank

The last half-mile was managed without any further adventures and Uno did settle down again, so I'm wondering if he smelled a bear or some such that had come through recently. Poor guy - he does worry and doesn't do well on closed-in singletrack. He's much happier up in NV where there's less vegetation in which to hide eye-pluckers.

I was pleased that a) he didn't run too far, b) he didn't try to jump off the downside of the trail (very bad idea), and c) he showed much athletic prowess in leaping up the bank. 

He received a small cut on his foot, but was otherwise unscathed (and his boots stayed on). I got a bit more cramp to deal with and had to take an elyte pill before I went to bed because I was cramping all over.

Sunday 6th
Glueing on Boots

As of Monday morning, Uno's boot were all still on and the lil' cut on his foot doesn't seem to be causing any pain/problem.

I did the old goober glue - five pumps of glue and a splash of water, mix for a minute, then smear on the boot and let cure for five mins. Pft cut a bunch of water bottles in half and I used one for each boot as a lil' cup and used plastic knives to smear (those worked *very* well).

• The first boot I put on (left rear) I forgot to let cure at all, so it was slimy and it the process of trying to put it on and twist it, I got tons of glue in his tail, but it stayed on.
• The second boot (right rear) I twisted around, then partially pulled off again to see if it was smearing properly. There didn't seem to be much glue in the quarters, so I smeared some on with my finger. It seemed like most of it ended up in the bottom of the boot under his foot (beware for doing Adhere - maybe put most of your Adhere bead up high, so that it doesn't end up low?) If it wasn't so messy, I could see a reason to paint the hoof with glue also, to get both sides to bond to each other.
• Third boot (right front) went on nicely.
• Fourth boot (left front) was gapping a bit at the front and I think I let it cure too long before putting it on as it didn't seem to bond properly to the foot. I twisted it around a bit, so hopefully that'll smear the glue on the hoof and get it to stay. We'll see.

This was actually the first time I felt like I had some idea as to what was happening with the glue, and like I say, may smear the hoof as well as the boot next time. Maybe. :) (anticipating a big mess).

Once again, the thing that took the longest was the foot prep, even though I'd "trimmed" him the day before. I sat  and really, really looked at his foot and balanced the heels really carefully. I also took more off his heels, anticipating that he'll grow foot over the next week. If it had been the day before the ride, I wouldn't have taken so much off.

I'm still concerned about his abcessed RF (from back in January - it finally grew out) - about the amount of "sole" or calloused material or whatever it is on  the sole where the abscess was. I'd really like to chisel it off, but am waiting like a good girl, instead of doing  something radical and laming him up. Maybe after the ride I'll really pare it off? or not. :)

And I drizzled Coppertox into his frogs, so he won't have smelly feet when the boots come off in 9 days.

Saturday 12th NASTR 75 Uno performed above and beyond his capacity at NASTR and there aren't many things better to give you a high than finishing 75 miles with a horse who looks better at the end than he did when he started. As predicted, the left front glue-on didn't last longer than 15 miles and had vanished by the time we got a few miles into Illinois Canyon. Putting his Glove on wouldn't have been a big deal except for the large quantity of glue still stuck to the front of his hoof, meaning the snug Glove didn't want to slide on seamlessly. A bit of glue-plucking later and a few whacks with a handy rock and we were good to go and suffered no further boot problems the rest of the day. By the time we came in to the first vet check at 25 miles, motivation was fairly low and it was definitely time for a break. Uno spent the entire hold trying to eat Nug's rice bran-laced food (I never feed rice bran) and generally making a pest of himself, drizzling mush all over Nug, Leslie's crew bag, Leslie's helmet and Leslie, while crew-Crysta tried to herd him back to his own [unwanted] food.
	The next loop is the least desirable one - the Kalahari Desert 25 mile loop. It starts off fairly nice - you drop down a steep wash (hand-walking) and then wind your way down the narrow, deep sand funnel to the bottom 2.5 miles further on. This is followed by a really fun twisty singletrack in the sagebrush, before dropping onto some interminable dirt roads with no shade for miles and miles. Uno was a lot more cheerful about this section than I was. Unlike the previous time I did this ride, the last few miles of this loop were actually another set of fun washes completely filled with wild-flowers. Alas, by then we were too "bleah" to really enjoy it and it was a relief to finally get back to the vet check. Uno was slightly less of a pest during this hold and didn't require 100% supervision. Uno's trot-outs at the vets were pitiful - "why bother" seemed to be his motto. He didn't seem sore or tired, just unmotivated.  Nuggie scared us all by nearly getting pulled at this second vet check, only to discover the problem was that Leslie had filled her ear with water out on the trail and she was carrying her head strangely. The next loop was the "shortie" - an easy ten miles with lots of bunch grass at the far side, so we let them graze as we went along, not making any land speed records, but making the horses a lot more enthused than they had been on the way out. As the afternoon cooled, we set off on the final 15 miles back to camp and the finish. I knew we had plenty of time but we didn't really want to end up riding El Dorado Canyon in the dark - lots of low-hanging branches to skewer your eyeballs on. But we needn't have worried - on the way home, all three horses flew along like they'd done nothing all day and they were refreshed by the cool evening.  The last 45 minutes did end up being ridden in the dark, but they had put out glo-sticks for us so it wasn't a problem. The only problem was Dave Rabe pulling glo-sticks and stuffing them into his t-shirt to carry them and then coming up behind Uno - Uno wanted nothing to do with this strange glowing man and did his best to hide behind Nug. At the finish, I don't think I've ever seen Uno so excited - he was the most animated he'd been all day, but still managed an excellent CRI (52/48 or something) and was so loose and comfortable-looking. He even trotted out with impulsion. As I said, to complete the ride was great, but to complete with him looking so good was about as good as it gets.
Many more photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222373&id=592870648&l=24748e685a

Friday 18th
Nippers That Nip!

After trying to hack off 8 weeks of hoof growth from Provo's feetses and being unable to squeeze the toothpaste from the tube the following morning because my hands were so sore, I finally gave in and decided it was time to get a pair of real hoof nippers with real cutting surfaces that actually cut hoof. 

After a fruitless search for Delta Horseshoe (who, we subsequently discovered, don't sell retail any more) on the way to work, pft found "Horseshoe Barn" in Sacramento. 

Off I went to try out all the nippers which come in a variety of sizes to suit hand and foot. I eventually settled on a pair of GE 14" nippers - super-expensive - but I'm expecting them to last a lifetime. 

This evening, I plucked Fergus out of the paddock. Decided it was fitting that he should be the first guinea pig since the fact that he has always been barefoot is what set the ball rolling for the other five. Unfortunately, Uno had been at work in the water trough, pulling the automatic thingy up in such a way that it spewed copious amounts of water all down the paddock so Fergus was covered in mud. A quick hosing later and he was ready for his manicure.

The new nippers cut like a hot knife through butter. Ooooh. The main thing that this means is I have to be careful not to cut off too much hoof with my new-found nipping powers. Luckily Fergus came away relatively unscathed.

Babby Chooks

Nine! Of the ten potential eggs, nine hatched over a period of two days. Good job.

Many more photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221023&id=592870648&l=3a985b77b6

Saturday 19th
Bees!

For the story of the bee installation, please see this post I wrote at www.biobees.com.

Many more photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=223825&id=592870648&l=994384ead1

Saturday 26th
NV Moonshine

This ended up as an EasyCare blob post:

Saturday 29th
Bee Update After Nine Days

Another post, complete with photos at www.biobees.com.

Many more photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=226610&id=592870648&l=ed369f50be