Ride Catch Up!

Wow!  Ok so I’m sure that you guys are getting sick of my “ride updates” but it helps me to “get them on paper” so I can go over it all whenever I want to and try to keep track of what we’re doing well with and what needs work!!  Of course, that means that I have 5 decent rides to share and a clinic too!!  I promise to try not to be too boring and I won’t force them all into this one blog!!

The day after Louie and I did our solo ride at the Wildlands, a good friend of mine who has a young horse wanted to go – so we did!  We did quite a bit of trotting and cantering – basically staying on the main road that runs thru.  It was fun watching my friends young mare who’d never been on more than a short little loop trail.  She wasn’t spooky or twitchy about anything and seemed quite happy to be out and about.  Except for the dreaded little water falls that come down off the side of the mountain and make splashing noises in the ditches!!  And the road barriers – for some reason those piles of wood are always “scary”.  We survived and had a great time!  I don’t have any pictures to share, we were  having too much fun!!

The very next day, Meg and I got to explore some new trails!  It was a blast although we learned not to ask her Dad the trail conditions hahaha!  He said there was very little water, just a small stream…..uh huh.  We didn’t take into account the nearly 3 inches of rain that we’d gotten the weekend before!!  I hauled Zandy and Louie to her dads place in Frankfort and we left from his place going a ways down the road to start of the trail.  It was a gorgeous trail, a nice wide leaf covered trail.  We just walked since we were chatting about various things and it would be our last ride before Meg headed back to PA so we were just enjoying it.  When we came to our first “obstacle”.  The stream that was only supposed to be about a foot wide was closer to 3 feet wide and the water was running thru it – I’ve learned with Louie that still water, while he doesn’t WANT to he WILL step into it.  Running water though….. nope.  nu uh. no way!  At least not with me on his back.  So, since Zandy balked at the water too – the blond headed twit, I decided I’d just get off and make my way across and he’d follow – which he did.  Course he tried to hop on top of me but we survived and I got right back on easily.  So on we went.  When we happened upon another “Caution” sign….uh oh what now?  This one though was just for some big boulders that were sticking up out of the ground on the trail – we picked our way over/around and kept on truckin’!  And then it happened.  We came upon this 
mess here.  That water was BLACK and there was no way even if Louie didn’t have water issues was I going to head across it.  I did that once with my boy Buck when Sammii and I were on a trail ride and he “disappeared” from under me…..talk about scary!  But that’s a story for another time!!  You can see on the right side of this picture that the ATV’s have made a go around but that was just as wet.  If you look really closely there’s a “blue spot” in the middle of the top of the picture – that’s Meg.  She got off while I held Zandy and scouted a way to get around.  We still had to get muddy and sank some but we made it around.  Once we got around and were remounted, Meg noticed that Zandy had picked up an extra decoration on our excursion thru the brush.  That stick stayed in her browband for the majority of our ride!  She didn’t care.  So on again we went!  It was nice, kind of an overcast day and a little chilly but it was a nice day.  We started playing in the mud puddles, trying to get Louie to go THRU them instead of tip-toeing around the edges!  We were successful for the most part!!  He’s such a good boy – even if he is a tester!  And then, as we were riding along enjoying the trail and the leaves and visiting and just having a good time….we came to this.  It’s fairly hard to tell from this picture, but the banks on this side were fairly steep.  The water on the left side was shallow and you could see it had a nice gravel base BUT *gasp* the water was MOVING!!  Oh no!  Zandy of course, went right down the bank and up the other side like it was nothing.  Louie though.  Louie said “NO”.  He was NOT going to go down there with that scary running water!  No way!  Meg ended up ponying us across and after a scary moment where he started to spaz we came out the other side like it was nothing.  That scary moving water didn’t eat him after all!  The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful and the trip back was nice and easy too.  At this spot, he hesitated a minute and then walked right on thru like it was nothing.  We played the puddle game back thru too and when we got back to the boggy ATV trail we stayed on and just let the horses pick their footing thru the muddy part.  At the stream I stayed on too.  He stepped a toe in the water and then LEAPT over.  Jumping is not in our future but it got us over the water that day!! 

So there’s 2 rides down only 3 and a clinic to go!!  I’ll try to get those ones done later today –  I actually have to be productive this morning!!

2 Long Years Ago Today

 
Today is a very sad anniversary for me.  2 years ago today I lost my one true love, my soul mate, my best friend.  Buck came into my life on a cold December day in 1991 as a Christmas gift from my parents, and on a windy dreary November day 16 years later I laid my head on his neck and told him it was ok to let go.  The absolute hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Buck saw me thru summer 4H camps, horse shows, MANY trail rides, swimming and eventually kids – we were inseparable for years and not a day goes by that my heart doesn’t ache with missing him.  I have finally been able to make it thru days, weeks and even months without crying for him.  I know this may sound silly to many people, but he was more than a horse.  He was just as important in my life as my children, my husband, parents, brother etc.  He was a family member.

Rest in peace my beautiful boy.  You will never be forgotten.

Solo Trip to the Wildlands

After my last ride with Meg in the Wildlands I was itching to ride some more!!  I had made plans to ride with a friend on 10/25/09 but at the last minute some stuff came up and I wasn’t able to make the trip to her house which is about an hour away.  I tried to find someone to ride with me but no one was available!  I was pretty bummed, but then decided to put my big girl boots on and take Louie to the Wildlands myself!  My dad telling me over and over to be careful did nothing for my jitters and when he asked when I’d be back “so we know when to start lookin’ for ya in the ditch” almost made me change my mind!  I love my dad and know he worries about me a lot since my fall but sometimes he lacks tact! 

Louie is really getting good about just hopping right onto the trailer and is standing like a pro instead of the “in, get jittery, back out” routine we had going on last spring, so he hopped right on the trailer and away we went. 

I’ve been leary about tying him because somewhere along the way I got it in my head that he pulls back.  I don’t know if, like everything else, now that he’s got a job he’s just content to stand most anywhere or if I had made up this pulling issue but he will stand quietly tied to the side of the trailer with no issues.  So I unloaded him, tied him to the side of the trailer and quickly ran a brush over him and then saddled him up.  My jitters started in – is this really a wise idea?  To ride up here all by myself – am I crazy? 

I walked him to the gate, took a deep breath and swung my leg over.  He was a little more “up” then I would have liked but away we went!  He was forward but not naughty in any way.  We went at a nice, brisk walk and a little trotting.  We followed the Hothole Pond Trail and got in a nice canter.  We’d gotten a bit of rain the day before and there was a puddle that stretched across the road.  I was afraid he was going to be a jerk about it but to my surprise (and delight!) he not only got his toes wet, he drank from the puddle!!  We continued on down the trail until we got to the pond – where the new rock was put in, the water was rushing out of the pond over the rock and Louie

wasn’t impressed!  He wasn’t naughty, he just didn’t want to get anywhere near that noise!  I did finally get him up to the pond and he took a drink and then we headed back the way we came.  Save the big fights for another day!

We did more trotting and cantering until we reached the puddle again and then I decided to tackle the “noooo I don’t wanna get my toes wet” thing we had going on!  It only took a couple minutes and he was standing fetlock deep in water and not objecting.  When we got to the end of the road, he started to fuss about going to the right which would take us away from the trailer.  I don’t want him to get into the habit of picking our direction – before long we wouldn’t be leaving the barn/trailer!  So I decided to force the issue.  There wasn’t too much fighting about it honestly!  When I insisted we were going on instead of heading home he decided I meant it and on we went.  We didn’t go far, just around the corner but far enough that I felt ok about turning him back towards the trailer. 

The day after our solo ride, we went riding with another friend and her horse who has basically no trail miles on her.  Both horses were wonderful and I can’t wait to ride with them again!!

I’m feeling very good about the direction Louie and I are heading in and we’re even starting to set some goals for next year!