Friday 1st July
Toenails and More Bushwhacking

Bad: finally lost much of my big toenail after it got smooshed riding 20MT 100
Good: it didn't hurt when crammed into Ariats and ridden on
Bad: My swirly blue-green tights aren't quite as good as they used to be
Good: My bulldozer pony will go through *anything*

pft was supposed to meet me at Cool for our normal Friday evening ride, but alas the trailer had a flat, so he couldn't get there. So I came home and we went bushwhacking out back on the BLM land, following a trail that we cut a year or two ago but haven't used in a long while. 

It was a little overgrown, to say the least, but if you lie along the pony neck, or get off and lead him, he'll go through *anything* vegetation-like. I was sure to go in front because we create less "wake" than pft and Fergus (ducking from flying springy bushes), but we can also fit through tiny gaps better than them. :)

My swirly tights were surviving beautifully, given the stuff we were pushing through - with only a tiny hole on one shin... until the last 50' when I ripped the thigh open on a sharp branch. Trail needs work. Tights need mending.

My hand-walking pone was a plod this morning! Yay!

...and another plod this evening. Maybe he's starting to settle down? Hope so, otherwise the 30 mins riding won't be much fun.

Saturday 2nd
Gold Country

Good fun doing Finish-line timing at Gold Country endurance ride all day with Ann and Jess. Best of all, my Humboldt Co. friends came down for the ride so we got to hang out afterwards - I see them too rarely. Lots of hot puffy horses from the unaccustomed heat and humidity.

Sunday 3rd
Successful Sunday

Lie-in achieved, 44 bales of hay acquired, tights mended, two pones ridden. Unfortunately little progress on the 22 feet that need trimming, the unmade tights, or the dumpster-styled house, but you can't have everything.

Happy 3rd July. Loading hay in 100 degrees. Let's unload it at night, eh?

Douglas Feed - jolly hot down there. And their squeeze was broken so they had to load the hay 10 bales at a time from the forklift. I hid in the shade. Got home and the chickens acted like I'd brought home the best chicken fort ever - within seconds of me parking, they were climbing on it, poking in the gaps between the bales, popping their heads out of the holes, flying from truck to trailer and back again having a fine time :)

Monday 4th
Jackit's First Real Real Trail Ride
Dead Truck Loop - 6 miles

This is the first time Jackit has done a ride that was the same as I would expect from a "seasoned horse". Admittedly for a seasoned horse, it wouldn't be a big deal, but for a greenie, this trail asked a lot of him and he stepped up admirably.

To start with, it was 95 degrees, so we were all quite damp and puffy. There was lots of singletrack with drop offs, which he felt pretty solid on - except for not knowing to move off my leg which posed some problems when he decided he was going to go around something on the trail on the drop-off side. He did great with the creeks and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and got off for the steep downhills (notably Dead Truck hill and the drop into Little American Creek from the east side, which - although better than it was - is still a 8' drop straight into the creek).

Finally, there was about 1100' of climbing and descent, which hasn't been asked of him before. By the time we were climbing out of Little American Canyon, I thought perhaps I'd asked too much as he was slowing considerably, but as soon as we got back on Cuz' Trail again and he recognised where he was, he took off and chased Fergus up the hill at quite fast speeds - trotting a good bit of the last mile or so and even cantering a few strides (our first canter!). He felt like a real horse.

Staying with him is quite hard - there's such a tiny "sweet spot" to stay in that you really have to work to keep balanced and I'm very aware how hard he probably has to work when I start to get squiffy.

I was very proud of my Small Thing once again.

New hay very popular - it's orchard/meadow for $14.50! Score!

We unloaded the hay. It was 101°F in the barn. So much for unloading it last night. I discovered I probably could have gotten another 8 bales on the truck. Dammit.

Whuffling up the scraps afterwards. As you can see, Uno isn't exactly isolated in his enclosure. Yesterday we did our first 30 mins riding outing and he was OK - not great, but the three yr olds on the neighbouring ranch were doing galloping laps, so I'll cut him some slack - hopped off and led for a while.

Tuesday 5th
EasyCare Blob:

In Which I Ride Little and Often

Wednesday 6th
More Bee Bars

Managed to add three more bars to the bee hive last night - the trick is to slip them in the back of the hive before they notice. Unfortunately, a couple *did* notice and I ended up with a bee entangled in the fluffy hair at the base of my neck. That'll make you squeak. Thankfully, she was able to extricate herself without tears on my part.

Thursday 7th Happy Birthday Jackit Today Jackit is 6. He got a bag of mini carrots to slobber on. He thought that very fine. 6 feet trimmed, 18 to go.

Friday 8th
Trying to Ride at Cool

It only took 1 hr 15 mins to get from my office to Cool after work today <grrr>, so pft, Fergus, Jackit and I got a whole 45 minutes of riding in before the lights shut off. <sigh>

We took the paved road down to the (apparently closed) Dead Lady Trail and clipped our way through the blackberry bushes at the far end. Came home via the Indian Grinding Rocks trail (and some dummy stuff from Jackit who didn't like the look of the dry creek crossing). Met a strolling-at-dusk skunk at the top of the last hill - gave him a wide berth :)

Saturday 9th
Rehabbing and Ponying

Spent most of the day blissed out eating English muffins and honey while still lolling in bed with a good book, fan on, windows open, 90+ degrees F outside. 

Resulting conclusion - wasting a day like that may recharge my batteries, but causes low morale.

Rode Uno and ponied Roo (and Chili came too) down the lane early this evening for the first time - it went very well, so I was pleased with both pones. I was thinking there wouldn't be much traffic. Met a Model T Ford. That was odd.

10 feet trimmed, 14 to go.

	Sunday 10th Jackit and I Amble Solo at Magnolia Nearly four miles ridden; dogs, hikers, horses, and mtn bikes encountered; four creeks crossed (like a pro); and what was he most alarmed about? The spot where nine months ago there *had* been a puddle and now there was nothing. :) He's now covered in mush and I'm covered in Gatorade.
	Gerle Loop - all rocks and tree stumps were inspected with care. This is about the "spookiest" (and he wasn't really) he's been - I think because several runners came up behind him, so afterwards he kept anxiously checking behind him.
	Taking a pee-n-munch break at the top of the Connector. Apparently he hasn't quite figured out the eating with a bit in yet, but he *aced* the two creeks.
	Watching the mtn bikes coming up the hill - most interesting. He was  fascinated by all that passed - esp. the three mtn bikes... oh, and the rafters on the South Fork American River. Lots of stuff for a Small Thing to process.
	In the absence of a pair of Gloves with gaiters, I found Roo's rear Renegades and they seemed to work well. I now have some correctly sized Gloves on order, so it'll be interesting to see which works best, given that his front feet are so wide and short - he definitely doesn't fill the toes on the Gloves.   Such a pretty trail - on  the way back down the hill.

Monday 11th
Roop

Poison oak between my toes <arggghhh - itchy>... off to scrub with Technu Extreme

Was all excited at the weekend to get Roop out, ponying, twice.

The first excursion (Saturday) went seamlessly. Uno, Roo, Chili and I all ambled down the lane (pavement), no problem.

Sunday, we tried a repeat performance, only this time we went the other direction (dirt/light gravel). The conversation went like this:

Needless to say, I was unimpressed by his behaviour.

This morning I went out and Roo's back legs were fat as tree trunks and his fronts also a bit stocked up. I'd given him and Provo their shots (WNV + 4 way) on Saturday evening (finally got around to giving these, after freezing the first batch, then storing the second batch for two months in the fridge). Provo's back legs were also stocked up yesterday but (bad mommy) I just figured it was from stomping flies and didn't think much of it.

Ah. Maybe he had an excuse for his bleah-ness yesterday.

Hopefully things will subside in the next 24 hours. :(    

It scared me to start with (until I remembered the shots) - there's Roo, supposedly restarting his career and all I did was pony him at a walk for an hour and his back legs did *that*??

Tuesday 12th
Stuck at Work

Poor us, 9:43 and still at work. At least I got to net surf, poor pft was the one working late for once.

He was working on something as a favour to a co-worker and it had to get done last night. The co-worker had given him very explicit directions on how to do the complicated thing he needed to do...except the directions were in an older version of Excel and not even vaguely compatible with the upgrade pft has on his computer. (Microsoft, in all their wisdom, completely revamped all their software so you can't do any of the things you used to do in it - unless you first jump through many hoops and spend hours hunting through menus. It reduces me to MS-induced tourettes on a daily basis right now).

We finally got home at past 11 pm - fed the pones, but no rehab excursion for UNO :(

Wednesday 13th
Trigger

After not getting out last night, Uno thinks he's Trigger. Chili treed a skunk/raccoon/small bear & the rustling caused much excitement, incl. a short bolt (interesting, since I was ponying Roo as well), followed by some leaping about, some rearing, at which point I was able to stop the overreaction long enough to get off and frog-march them past the tree in question.

On the way back (still on foot), Uno demonstrated his signature move "Lookit how high & for how long I can rear". <sigh>

He had been stuck in his pen for 30 hours without any excursions, so you can "sort of" forgive him. Sort of. :)

The funny thing is, he was absolutely *perfect* on Sunday - walked out briskly and calmly like a complete adult.

Thursday 14th
Well Behaved Again

Uno and Roo were both perfectly behaved this evening for our excursion, despite the clanking irrigation machinery. It seems that Roo's bleahness on Sunday was definitely the effects of the shots, as he was keeping up nicely and was cheery again.

Trimming: I'm only managing to trim two feet at a time (by the time I get home, ride Uno, feed, muck, etc). So last night I did Uno's back feet (actually poked at his front feet too, trimming some heel, and afterwards wished I hadn't).

The previous session I did Roo's back feet.

Now I only have Fergus x 4, Hopi x 4, and Jackit's back feet to go, before it's time to start again.

14 feet trimmed, 10 to go.