Mommy.....

Eowyn (left) and her mom, Hoanna (right) with me at the beach...I ponied Eow off her mom around all over the place as a youngster :)

Now for some of her background. This will be a picture heavy post :) I want to introduce you to Eowyn's mother, Hoanna. Hoanna (said HOE-NA...name given to her by her very first owner...it means 'Footsteps in the Stream' in Cherokee supposedly) was my first horse, and the best pony (at 14hds even, guess she really could be a 'pony' :) ) a gal could have! She originally belonged to my friend Terri, who was told that she was totally rideable and a nice horse when she got her. Not. The horse had NO CLUE what to do with a rider..she tolerated you on her back, but didn't understand anything about being ridden.
So Terri hired me to train her for her. No problem :) Hoanna, despite being an opinionated alpha mare at times, was really easy to work with and willing to try about anything if you put it to her right. I really enjoyed working with her, and of course, promptly fell in love with her. Not long after, I went to Germany to visit family for a few months. While there, Terri emailed me saying she just didn't get along with Hoanna (opinionated mares are not her favorite thing) and was thinking of selling her. I of course begged her not to, and to wait til I got back to the states and we could talk. We ended up working things out, and Hoanna was mine from then on :)

Our "Glamour Shot" together :) I had a lot of fun that day doing a photo shoot with her :)
Terri took this pic, and then I took 'glamor shots' of her up on her horse, Scooter...

This was in 2002 I think. Lots of trail riding later, Terri tells me her neighbors, the Ruprechts, introduced her to something called endurance riding. She crewed for them and helped volunteer at a few rides, and it had looked like a lot of fun. You could ride 25, 50, or even 100 miles! What a concept :) Sounded like fun. So Terri and I promptly decided to condition (over condition it turns out later) our horses and give it a whirl. After much trial and error, we figured it out. Hoanna didn't do too well at first (too much of that error part), so I was thinking she really wasn't any good at the sport (750 miles and a good amount of LD miles as well later, I now know I had just done it all wrong the first time around, and Hoanna can do the sport just fine!) and thought I should breed her to an Arab, for that perfect endurance horse... She was a QH/Morgan cross herself, so I thought a little Arab would get some speed and energy in (she has always been a tad lazy...would rather eat and sleep all day, not go work, LOL), but keep her 'do anything' and unflappable, mellow character in the mix. That's where DR Thunder Bask came in.
But here are some pics of Hoanna.... She is currently a semi-retired pasture bum (which she doesn't complain about), that I ride a few times a year, or put all my friends or family on that want to ride a horse. She is just as easy to ride if you ride her every day, or once a year. LOVE that horse :)


Back in January of 2009...she can run around like an Arab when she wants to :)






Always up for silly tricks of mine :) She's a good pony!

This is the FUN horse... I can do this same shot bareback, in a halter, no issues!

Hoanna's 3rd ride, an LD at the Pacific Crest Ride. We went overtime (again..all three of our first rides, as no one really explained that the Vet Checks were part of the 6hr ride time, LOL...so I was always just a little while over...) but otherwise did well. She wasn't sure of the water crossing in this shot :)

Ahhh... goofy saddle/pad (she STILL has white spots to this day from this saddle :(...), no saddle bags, but look! Even then (shod horses) I was carrying an Easyboot :) You can see Scooter, the big bay, in front of her. This was Terri's QH that she started on with me and Hoanna...he wasn't mentally fit for the sport though, and was sold (being ridden here by a mutual friend...Terri had already moved on to an older Arab for this and the next few rides).

I bred Hoanna in 2004, and then while she had the time off being preggers and having a baby, Terri ended up with Cheyenne (the big, grey, Mustang/Arab that I got most my miles on and most ppl were used to seeing me on) and the I started riding him, as he was too much of a handful for her at the time. She then got her trustee Oliver, and we rode those two all over in many E-rides. But in 2006, I decided to try and bring Hoanna back into e-riding again...I had learned a lot from Chey and many rides, and thought maybe if I did it right this time around, she'd be fine... and sure enough, she was and we had a wonderful time!
Here we are at the end of the Redwood 1 (or 2?) ride...this was one of the 3 we had overtimed our first year, and it was nice to get that load off our back, by successfully completing it this time around :)
And Cuneo Creek... I think I always had the biggest, shit eating grins on this horse :) It was always such a joy to ride her! So easy (as you can see, a halter is all she needs, just like Eowyn) and just fun to be around...



After doing fine on one-day LDs, I decided to bunp up to multi-days.....
Day one of Hat Creek... a wonderful ride and she felt great all day :)

Day two of Hat Creek.. still doing fine and we finished in the nick of time, but finish we did.

And at the Wild West ride.....

After she did fine in a few multi-days, I figured it was time to try our luck at a 50. I picked Bryce Canyon, as XP rides are much mellower an atmosphere, so no worries about getting caught up with a bunch of racers or other issues. And if she didn't feel like a 50, I could always explore the trails around camp for shorter distances.
My favorite picture of her... She looks so cute and happy and what scenery! :)


Out on trail... she did great! She finished two days there with no issues at all :)

And after the ride, we pulled ribbons as well... She and Oli look so goofy in their pink hula skirts, no? But it sure was a fun day pulling ribbons on the prettiest trail out there :)

We also did a day at Virgin Rim and at Grand Canyon with no problems at all either. So in 2009, I decided to try some more days... We did 3 days at Death Valley, and 3 days at Eastern Mojave, all with a happy and healthy horse. And now that I knew what I was doing, I also recognized what a good little horse I had. Her resting pulse was in the lower 30's, and she always recovered fast at vet checks and the finish. She was the Little Red Engine That Could :) That made the outlook for Eowyn being a future endurance horse all the brighter! Not only was Doc a great e-horse, Hoanna looked to be doing fine too. The hybrid genetics of the two, should result in a fine horse :)

Eastern Mojave... Snow and cold didn't phase her and we had a great time :) (Top photo by Steve Bradley)



Death Valley... Still having a great time :) Flat rides were her forte... turns out that her hocks are a bit arthritic (would turn up as back soreness on hilly rides)..so she did great on flatter rides, but not so well on really hilly rides (50's only, nothing was wrong on LDs). So that, along with having too many horses too ride, led to her semi-retired state.
And day 3...Still going strong :) Pic By Steve Bradley

After that, I took her to Cuyama and did two days before she got back sore on day 3 (hadn't quite figured out it was her hocks...thought it was the saddle first, so next we experimented with different saddles). Then we went to Ft. Schellbourne, where she also did two days, but I could tell she was getting back sore again, so didn't try any more days. Not long after, I figured out what the problem was. But then I got busy riding Eowyn a bit, and then Storm arrived and I really had too many horses to have to ride and keep in shape. So I tossed Hoanna out in the pasture and let her be, with the occasional trail ride. She seems to be enjoying herself and this lifestyle (always said she'd make a great broodmare, as she LOVES the boys and loves to eat and just hang in a pasture, LOL) seems to be making her happy enough. :)
A view from the top of the world...love Schellbourne, and hope to be able to ride each of my horses there one day... :) Eow will hopefully see it on the XP trail this year!

Little tuckered after coming up a LONG climb, but still game to go :) Love my pony! (Photo by Steve Bradley)

And a perfect picture amongst the beautiful Lupine.... Happy rider and happy horse :)