Latest Ride Calendar:
 

• March 26/27/28 - Cuyama 50-50-50
• April 3/4 - NV Derby 50-50
• May 1/2 - Washoe Valley 50-50
• June 12 - NASTR 75
• June 26 - NV Moonshine 50
• July 3 - Mendocino 50 (pft would like to do this with Fergus)
• July 24 - Tevis (Dan and Gina's badly scheduled wedding <grump>)
• August 14 - Bridgeport 50
• September 4/5 - Cuneo 50-50
• September 18 - VC100
• (October 15 - High Desert III 50)
• (October 23 - Sonoma 50)
• October 28/29/30 - Moab 50-50-50

Rides colour-coded for Roo and Uno

Rides in Green are part of the NASTR Triple Crown

Rides in (italics) are possible alternatives

As a result of Roo being out of action for three months, Mendocino is not on the cards for us this year, although pft is planning to ride Fergus there. That said, if for some reason Uno fails to finish NASTR 75 and we don't end up going to VC100, then I may switch him to Mendocino instead of Moonshine (the latter is for night-riding practice)

I forgot to mention that Roo had come along for the weekend, since he had an appointment with Marty Gardner on Monday. He spent a happy three days munching hay on the far side of the trailer, shrieking his fool head off every time Uno and I arrived or departed - which was quite often since there were 4 holds back in camp and the OUT trail also passed our trailer. This activity did not help.

* * *

Nuggie didn't eat or drink well during the night, so Leslie opted not to ride this day. Luckily, junior Zach Rabow had asked if I'd sponsor him, so we wouldn't be going out alone. Uno was surprising cheerful and we took it pretty easy on the way up. 

Hand-walking down the other side went without too much incident, although my body assured me we wouldn't be running too much. Trying to get back on at the bottom proved tricky. Uno had decided that he was going to be Competitive, which meant not standing still and staring off down the trail at an unseen opponent. Threats of Bad Things did little to make him behave.

No matter - his new-found competitiveness meant that he required little encouragement to go down the trail. The only reticence was shown when we came across a guy who was either filling sand bags by the side of the road, or burying a body. Both Uno and Zach's horse Sassy were leaning towards the body theory and we approached with extreme caution (aka, a crawl).

On the far side of the hill, we watched a couple of the front runners come by (figure of 8 courses are the only place we ever get to see the front runners), but when we started trotting down the other side, I noticed that unfortunately Sassy looked slightly off. Bummer.

Sure enough, at the vet check Sassy was pulled and we were on our own for the rest of the ride.

Back at the trailer for the hour lunch hold, Uno scared me a little by appearing to totally shut down. I sat and watched him for a while, getting more and more anxious until he woke up from his nap and started munching again. Oh. That's the trouble with new horses - it takes a while to learn their habits.

Although reluctant to go out from camp after the hold (OK, so he acted like a drunken horse and needed lots of peddling), once we got onto the first stretch of singletrack, he set off at a high rate of knots, trotting eagerly down the trail. 

"Wow, I thought, this is too cool - lookit the pretty snow-capped mountains, lookit the lake, lookit the streaming mane, I must take a photo!". Out came the camera and as I pressed the button, Uno spied a large rock hiding behind a bush and leapt sideways, dumping me unceremoniously on the ground. Ow.

This is the pic I took:

He ran off through the sagebrush, down the embankment and towards the barbed wire fence. Ack. It was probably just as well it was there, otherwise he would have made a beeline back to camp to meet up with Roo. Some kind ladies driving by with a horse trailer stopped on the road on the far side of the fence and distracted him while I scrambled down the bank and went to retrieve him. 

Upon regaining the trail, along came the four riders behind me happened along (I hastily explained we were taking the scenic route) and scooped me up and off we went again. 

Once we settled down again, we actually had an excellent time. I got to listen to Dave Rabe's large porker stories, hear some history of the area from Jackie Beaupre, and marvel at the size of Rushcreek Okay's feet (Carolyn Meier was riding him). Jill Carr on her lil' mule Walker rounded off the four.

It turned out to be a very restful afternoon. We munched our way to the top of the quarry hill, then got off and ran the few miles back down the other side.

The final loop was in the sand east of Washoe Lake again and by the end of this loop I could tell that Uno was getting mentally pretty tired. He ended up in the front and got really spooky at the very end - but despite this, he did good work and finished with excellent vet scores.

Who knew?

Looking towards the Pine Nut Range 
where we will be doing NASTR 75 next month.

> So Lucy, did they also image the front end?  Or just the hinds? 

Just the hinds.

He did x-rays of both hocks (three views) and ultra-sound of both rear suspensories up high, and also u/s the left rear susp. down low where I was worried Uno had clipped him (no damage to that area at all <phew>). Two lots of tranq. to keep him from standing on the expensive machines. :)

He said he could see bone loss on the x-rays - this from being constantly pulled on by the susp. And he could see mild strains in the susp. themselves on the u/sound.

The hock joints looked really good - no arthritis at all. He said that had there been arthritis present it would have been a much harder thing to deal with.

And then he injected both hocks with an anti-inflammatory. He said it wasn't to treat the hock joint or the susp. - more the WHOLE area to settle it down. He said that it wouldn't start to heal until the inflammation was gone.

Now Roo's not to do any hill work and he's not to do anything in deep footing, so he's confined to our smallest pen until the mud dries out (it's hock deep in places). I let him out to wander the property when I'm feeding, since the mud is just in the paddocks. 

Next week I can start gradual riding - at least 15 mins walking, then 5-10 mins jogging. Nothing hard, just light loading of the susps to get them to heal nice and straight instead of jumbled spaghetti. Must ride on "relatively level ground" (I'm thinking Cronin? Andy Wolf? Cool?). Avoid steep hills, deep footing, lungine (I think he means up hills, not in circles) for 90 days. I'll probably take him back for a recheck at the end of this period to make sure he's looking good. 

> Is it just the miles that ended up manifesting this?

Probably so. I suspect this has been going on for a long time with him and has never had a chance to heal properly.

> Or is there something that tends to create hind strains?  
> It'd be nice if they could tell you that it was associated 
> with "this" or "that", but that's probably not the case.

He said that I was to avoid "lunging up hills" type terrain, as well as deep footing - stuff like gloppy clay, which Roo has been living in for several months now (d'you think there's a correlation there?), deep sand, etc.

I'm wondering if it's worth alternating a hill ride with a flatter, long trotting type ride. Not that we have much of that, but if at all possible.

And I should probably start tailing more often in competition (welcome to the back end of Uno for the SOBs, Lucy <g>).

> Maybe there's something else that we can do.. like give 4 months 
> off every year... or 6 months off every two years... just as a preventative.

I can see that having the horse "once overed" every year or so wouldn't do any harm. I wouldn't bother with any vet, but having Marty look him over would be a good thing - even if just poking and prodding the horse - no spiffy diagnostic machines involved. He can tell a lot from watching the horse move, squeezing, flexion, etc.

> How much did the procedure cost? 

They didn't bill me yet. They are usually pretty reasonable and I'm hoping it'll be less than $500 (which isn't bad, given how much "stuff" they did).

> I'm so glad you did it.  You should really give yourself a pat on the back for catching that early! 

I'm not sure I would have done it if that left rear leg hadn't swelled up so it was good that it happened. Marty said that the right rear was the worst of the two - which doesn't surprise me, since that's Roo's push-off leg (note, both Uno and Nug lost their right rear boots - that's definitely the leg that does the most work on most horses, I suspect).

Now I look at him, and he's constantly resting each hind leg. Marty said that's because it takes all the strain off the susp. 

And the crampy rear end was probably caused by him trying to protect the suspensories and compensate (which also explains why his lameness pulls weren't very specific - just "in the back")

I remember years ago someone saying on one of the endurance lists about how their horse had done really well at some race - top-tenning or something.  And then they did a really easy ride a couple of weeks later and that the horse was dead lame and how strange that was, given how hard the horse had worked during the ride and been fine.

Someone else pointed out that the horse probably did something during the ride - which then popped when he did the easier ride afterwards because it was compromised.

And that was *exactly* the scenario with Roo.

> The rest time will go by very quickly... and besides, you need the time to start 
> Jacklet, de-green Hopi, and keep Uno going.  Right?

Yes, I'm not too bothered. I'm thanking my lucky stars it didn't get to the "bad" stage. And Uno's going so well, it's good for him. I've so much to do in other areas (as you point out :)  ) and it's not like I can go to Tevis anyway - so I'm not missing anything, except perhaps Mendocino, which I would have liked to do, but Uno can't do NASTR 75, Moonshine and Mendocino in four weeks.

The one thing that bothers me is how on earth you are supposed to get your horse strong? You think about how you want to "make every ride count", but you mustn't do it too soon. I have no idea how you know when is too soon. I'm not patient enough to gradually load up with any degree of scientificness.

 >  I want to learn how to do that distal-to-the-hock palpation.

It's an odd spot - I'll have to see if I can find it again. He showed me a nerve that runs over the bone just below it (I just thought it was a stringy bit) and it's above that, kind of in a hollow.

> Roo did have quite a few months off when you broke your leg right?  
> So it's apparent that perhaps it's not just the time off, but the careful
> rehabbing that's needed, too. 

I was off from late June to October.

I want to say that I brought him on too fast this spring, but it seems like this has been going  on for a while - I'm thinking of the pull he had at DVE in Dec 2007, followed by a similar one  at Buck Meadows in April 2008. Then a month later he did Patriot 100. He didn't look great by the end of the 100, but still finished.

That's why it's hard to say what to do. This is evidently his weak link, so once he's healed up, I guess we walk-walk-walk those hills, or do slow trot up gradual ones. And a day or so later, give him a big poking over to see if he's sore?

> $500 doesn't seem out of hand for all those films and tests..

Assuming that's what they charge me    I have no idea.
<fingers in ears la-la-la>

Note: Finally got the bill, I was *way* off - $750 <gulp>. $270 - x-rays - 6 @ $45 $180 for first ultrasound $80 for subsequent u/s $37 - Misc. sedatives/anti-inflammatory injections $90 - Joint (hock) injections $90 - Lameness check

 

Provo - Arabian. 1988 - 22 years old this year, Provo has earned his retirement. I did about 400 competition miles on him and either he was injured or I was. He's the funnest horse of all of them to ride when he was "on" - unfortunately that wasn't very often - and the rest of the time he was a PITB to deal with - no brakes and no capacity to learn. On the flip side, he was super-trustworthy on technical trails and a blast to ride on his own when not being hyped up by other horses.

Roo - Arabian. 2000. My "100 Mile Horse". Al-Marah bred (southern AZ) and a good worker-bee. Roop isn't spectacular, but gets the job done and was just starting to come into his own, capability-wise. He currently has about 1500 competition miles. Very spooky at rocks/bushes/tree stumps, not stupid with it but as a result dumps me at regular intervals. At this time, he's on 3 month rest/rehab for strained rear suspensories.

Jackit - Section B Welsh Pony, 2005, so five years old this summer, and getting ready to be ridden. He's about 12:2 hh. Jackit is mostly unflappable and likes to cause trouble by tormenting the other horses (mostly playing bitey-face). I will have a lot of fun with him provided I can stay on (boy, can that pony buck) and don't get dragged off when he squeezes through gaps that only he fits through.

Hopi - Arabian. 2001. My "project horse" who is on indefinite hold until I have time to get around to him. We bought him almost the same time as Uno - thinking that I'd work with him while I was waiting for Jackit to get old enough to be ridden. In the meantime, Uno didn't work out for pft so I inherited him, and then I broke my leg and was out for half a year.

Hopi has a most excellent big walk and was pretty solid under saddle (although I haven't ridden him since the leg-break in June 2008). He has some "don't wanna and you can't make me" issues on the ground, but we're gradually working through them. 

Uno - Arabian/Saddlebred. 2001.  Current Horse #1. Uno was originally meant for pft, but they didn't get on so well (pft kept getting dumped), so I inherited him. Initially I was just going to put a few rides on him so that he'd be more saleable, but instead I've been really enjoying riding him (after a few mis-starts) and he makes me laugh with his gooberdom (last ride: rolled in the sand with me on him; tried to climb into the water trough; dumped me spooking at a rock). He continues to amaze me with how well he's dealt with the  physical challenges I've thrown at him in the last couple of months. Uno has great endurance breeding on his arabian side - his great-uncle was AERC Hall of Fame RT Muffin.

Fergus - Tennessee Walker/Grade Arabian. 2002. We weren't allowed to buy another horse for pft until Uno was sold, but I sent Fergus' advert to him as a joke - and he has turned out to be the perfect horse. Fergus is steady and dependable, without being dull (he's still a big baby). At the same time he's "awesome" in the true sense of the word - has a huge trot and looks magnificent travelling down the trail. Being TWH, he has a big ground-covering flat walk necessitating jogging on my part. He's over 16 hh (which is big in our world of mini-arabs).

Just starting his endurance career, together he and pft have done three 50s.

Sunday 9th
Tickets to England Bought and Other Things of Note

Well, we're all set to go to England on July 22nd - assuming of course pft gets a passport in time (oh, the irony). We'll be gone for ten days. Dan and Gina's wedding is on July 25th and we plan to visit Scotland during the following week.

Tile Be Finished - after starting this project in 2006 and never getting around to finishing off the "fiddly bits", we finally paid "Bob" to come and finish it off for us. This tile was carefully chosen to match the red dirt we have outside.

In addition to finishing off the tile, Bob also dismantled the defunct swimming pool that had finally died*. Having a swimming pool was wonderful if you happened to have a pool boy, which we didn't, so I was constantly wrestling with it. It was like having a demanding pet, constantly wanting feeding and cleaning and testing.And I could never get the balance right for long enough, so much of the time the water was green.

With the pool now gone, our plan is to turn the area into easy parking (this is the only flat place next to the house which doesn't involved walking up and down stairs). Another alternative is a pleasant garden area. But that would also involve input, so is less likely to happen.

* We were due to have a particularly ferocious storm and thinking the power would go out, I suggested to pft that he fill the swimming pool in advance so we'd have water to flush the toilets with. Later that evening I noticed water trickling in the drainage near the barn and figured he must have forgotten to turn off the hose and that the pool was overflowing. Nope, turns out the liner had finally died and water was pouring out the side. :(

The March Chooklets have turned into teenagers. This weekend marked their first opportunity to venture forth into the real world. Only the three oldest ones were brave enough, but they'll figure it out.

They are a funny looking bunch. The two littlest (shown right) are of the brown variety, while the older three have varying degrees of white. I am suspicious that the very white one might be a rooster - it seems somewhat larger than the others.
 

$82 later, we have real live glass in the hole - and can now open and close the window again. 
Compare and contrast:

This hive has a bottom board 
which can be closed up when
first installing the bees (they
like it dark), or during the winter...

Hive with all the bars in place.