She sure can be SOOOOO cute when she wants to be! What a face :) Helen has nothing on this pretty pony!Ok, so Eowyn and I survived our first ride! Technically, we did do a 30 mile ride at the local Cuneo Creek ride two years ago, but I am not counting that one. This one is not really 'official' either, as we did 30ish Duck Miles and it was not a true, sanctioned LD. But that is fine, as it allowed me to take it easy, which resulted in going very slow, and we wouldn't have finished in the time allotted for a 30 miler anyway. But that aside, we traveled, camped, and rode, so we simulated a 'ride' as such. And it all went well! That's the most important part :) This was also a dry run test for the Big XP. Taking all three horses that are going, together for the first time, and to ride both mares on Duck Miles on the same ride day, like I am planning to do on my ride days (at least til they are both in shape to do 50's). That part didn't work as planned, but the rest of the ride went off pretty smoothly and I think these three horses will work well together.
My initial plan had been to ride Eowyn on the first loop and Joy on the second loop on day 1. Mainly because I already knew Joy was ok in camp alone, and not sure about how Eow would act, so I wanted to get Eow a bit tired by riding her first, before leaving her alone. Then on the second day, I would reverse the order of who got ridden when. Both days were two loops, with the vet check back in camp, so it seemed a perfect setup to try this out... Ride the first horse on loop one, untack and eat lunch, tack up horse two, and ride loop two. I'd get 50 miles, the horses would each get an LD. Perfect! Or so I thought..
It seemed simple enough on the map...both loops looked about the same length, and from previous years of riding this ride, I hadn't remembered anything too horrid (did I mention I have a HORRID memory? LOL..hmmmm). Course I had ridden the previous rides on Cheyenne, the been there and done that endurance horse who makes just about every ride seem easy. It might have colored my perceptions about the difficulty of this ride just a little...or a lot.... oops.
Add to this, that Eow had been getting a little laminitic lately (nothing major, but it was causing flaring and tender feet)... I have noticed every year I have to pull her off the pasture (not a ton of grass, but grass nonetheless) earlier and earlier. This year I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have (yes, guilt trips already happened and smacking myself for my stupidity! I really SHOULD know better..not like I am not telling my clients every day about sugar issues in horses...sighhh...) and though she is now off pasture and doing fine, she did have an episode. I decided as a result, to get fancy (never get fancy...stick with the good stuff that has worked in the past, and test fancy on a healthy horse first! LOL) and try a new trimming method I had been researching with the help of a local trimmer, who was using this method. It's a bit more aggressive of an approach, than my normal trims, but since she needed some help, I thought this would do her some good. At any rate, though her feet DO look better right now, due to this more aggressive trim (and the pre-existing sensitivity) she was quite tender footed for about 10 days before the ride. By the ride time, she seemed ok in boots and pads on hard ground/rock/gravel, and fine without on soft stuff...not her 100% normal self, but getting there.
Since she was fine in boots, and movement is a key (I had been walking her a few miles every day since her trim..in boots at first) to this trim, I thought doing some riding would be good. The first loop seemed to lend itself to that as well, as I saw two spots on there, where we could shortcut back to camp if she seemed at all out of sorts. The second loop was not set up as conveniently, so the idea to ride Eow first was just solidified there. Having made my decision, and the horses all tucked away for the night (Eow and Joy on the Hi-Ties, which they were doing great on, and Oliver on the high line), I went to bed fairly happy and ready for the big day.
Here she is napping during the day...a good camp horse :) Nothing much seemed to bother her... She ate, drank, and slept well! We rotated the three horses around on all three spots we had set up throughout the day and weekend.
Woke up tired the next day...didn't sleep too well. Too excited/nervous, and it turns out, Eowyn SNORES. She was on the Hi-Tie closest to the truck (meaning right out the camper's back door, and my couch bed and head are right by the door), and I kept waking up to what I thought was my horse dying. See, Eow doesn't snore like a human...or some dogs do. With that sssnnnnaarrr sound from back in the throat. No...she moooaannnss in a sort of uunnnggghhhh sound as she breathes out. Every breath...and it sounds like she's in pain or something. So I stick my head out with the flashlight the first few times to check on my dying horse, to see her flat on her side (yup, dead horse), eyes shut, perfectly normal looking asleep...but moaning with every exhale. Sigghh...she's snoring. Then I remembered that yup, that is her normal snore (we hadn't camped out but a few times in the last 2-3 years with her, and it had been over a year since the last time I think). So back to bed I went, but I just didn't get much sleep anyway. Oh well, what else is new for a ride night..this is why I like multidays...the first night I rarely sleep well, but then I am fine and sleep like a babe. So on one day rides I am tired and cranky all weekend, where on multiday rides I kinda snap out of it after the second night.
Anyway, back to riding... I get up and coffeed up and dressed, then go to tack up Eowyn..after she's dress it was picture time, because now she looked beautiful and decked out like a REAL endurance horse! So cute! I was hoping she'd act the part she was dressing too, and behave like the big girl she was looking like....
A very proper and adult looking endurance horse, all decked out in tack and her new boots :)
Looking for goodies in the tack room...always the foody!
Awww...cute pony portrait...the lead clipped to her halter and going to her saddle is my new, dual purpose tailing rope and gate helper (wrap around pose and open wire cattle gate, pull on the loose end of rope that levers through the clip, close gate...it worked GREAT!)
Mmmmm...are those peanuts for ME?!? Yummy! (Her new, low-sugar treat!)
Looking Pretty for her picture...course I couldn't get a good head shot, as the sun was right behind her there...sighhh... but a lovely butt shot by Terri :)
And then Terri finally did get Eowyn to cooperate for a nice frontal shot :)My plan was to ride out of camp with Terri for a little ways, at the back of the pack. Eow was used to going out with another horse and I didn't want to have to ride her alone right off the bat (in fact, up until this point, I had yet to EVER ride her alone, as I was always too chicken to...figuring if she dumped me and I was hurt, there'd be no to help). Then a little ways from camp, I would let Terri go on ahead (no way Eow was in shape to keep up with Oli yet, even for just one LD loop) and I'd do my own thing.
Up on the first little hill behind camp, Eow looking off into the distance...if she only knew what was waiting for her in that distance, she'd have hightailed it back to camp, LOL :)That worked out brilliantly...we left at the tail and Oli and Eow left camp calmly like on any of our trail rides at home. Eow was feeling good and behaving, and her feet felt fine too. So far so good! We took a few pics in a pretty spot, then continued on, and about 5 miles from camp tops, while I was off walking down a long but gradual slope, I let Terri take off without us (Oli can just fly in gait down these gradual things). Eowyn yelled and tossed her head some, but otherwise was ok with him leaving (luckily she's always been pretty independent and wasn't too herdbound) and settled right down once he was out of sight. From there, I was able to hop back on and continue down the trail alone. We were pretty much tail end at that point, though now and then in the distance ahead, I could see Cheri Briscoe on Echo (Eowy's half brother and Doc's son, still in tact and currently being campaigned by Cheri).
We were taking it slow, trotting on the flats and where we felt like it, walking up and down hills. Crossed some creeks and bogs (she had no issues with these) and she drank at most every oprotunity, even if only a few sips, and grabbed grass when she felt like it too. Yeah :) Good endurance pony! We hit the first place I could decide to turn back to camp, and she felt good, so onwards we went... then a few more miles, and the second split. This was the last split in the trail...the point of no return, where we'd have to go a good 15 miles before we'd hit camp (at least if one is following the map...there likely were other ways back to camp, but I didn't know the area well enough to figure those out, and we were pretty much forbidden to veer off the marked trails by the land owners anyway). I sat at this intersection thinking on how she felt, and how she was moving, and so forth, and came to the conclusion we were good to go..plenty of energy still and she was moving pretty much normally in her boots. Ok...off we go then!
The trail to this point was fairly mild... mostly flat with just a rolling hill here or there.... I knew we had to go up and over some big thing, but hadn't remembered anything too traumatic (memory failure, remember guys?) ...we had just caught up to Cheri while going through a gate (yet another..LOTS of gates on this ride, so lots of getting on and off and Eow having to stand still while I opened and closed them...good stuff! :) ) and I saw Lynne, the photogarpher coming down the road in her truck...ooopss... We were going too slow and took too long I guess, and we missed our photo op! Oh well :( She still shot a quick one while I was getting back on, and then the next day in camp I got a couple of cute ones by her as well... after XP I am going photo shopping! :) You can go look at them here:
http://www.photo.lynnesite.com/Clients/Distance-Events/Lost-Padres-2011/16770804_6xp323#1268518000_t49t4Zb-L-LB
and here for now:
http://www.photo.lynnesite.com/Clients/Distance-Events/Lost-Padres-2011/16770804_6xp323#1269178482_sGchr4h-L-LB
While I chatted with Lynne real fast, Cheri went down the road and around the bend, trotting off...I lost her out of my sight, and then as I also rounded the bend, I saw the road trail (not as well marked as it could have been, but at a walk it was easy to see) duck off to the left into the bushes onto a single track trail. This leads up a hill to a beautiful stand of rocks (where the photos were being taken) and I remembered it from previous years... I thought I heard Cheri somewhere up ahead still on the road, and hollered, but didn't hear a reply, so figured I heard wrong and she was somewhere up the hill, or she was too far gone down the road...I figured if the latter, she'd see the lack of ribbons and turn around on her own, and find the trail. So up and over the hill I went, then hopped off Eow to lead her down the long and steeper back side of the hill. And who should I soon see coming UP the hill leading Echo? Yup...Cheri...waving at me and yelling at me to turn around, that I was going the wrong way....errrmmm..nooo.. SHE was going the wrong way, LOL. So after some discussion and eventually me just ignoring Cheri and telling her to darned well follow me (since I KNEW it was right and the map also said it was, and I don't CARE if there are no ribbons here since those cows over there probably ate them, and who cares what ribbons were or were not on the road Cheri came from) or go do her own thing, she fell in behind me and we went the rest of the way down the hill, mounted up, and soon ran into another road that was on the map. From there, we took a left according to the map instructions and there were plenty of ribbons that kept us on the right track... We trotted along together, and I wish we'd had a pic of the two siblings out there...but it was not to be. Soon the road started up another hill, and though Cheri walked some of it (and I walked it all), Echo was in fine shape and started trotting towards the top, and that was the last we saw of them the rest of the day. Alone...completely...and the tail enders. No one to pick my sorry ass up off the trail if the need arose. Hmmm...somehow, I wasn't even worried about it! Eowyn was being SO WONDERFUL up to this point, my usual cares had just melted away, and I was having a pretty darned good time, just out riding my horse... wow! We have made huge progress! :) There is hope for us in the future, of actually forging a good working relationship! Now off course it wasn't ALL rainbows and puppy dogs, there were a few spooks here and there (though no 360's or leaps clear across the trail like at home...just slam the brakes and look...totally ok!), and quite a few mild arguements about where to go at EVERY intersection (seems she inherited her mother's "Camp-dar"..she was dead on as to which road headed in the general direction of camp, even if the ribbons said to go otherwise, which is where the argument came in, LOL), but really nothing bad. And she just seemed..well...content I guess you could say, being out on the trail with a job to do :) Goody! I will take that and run with it!
So onward we traveled. This hill was the start of THE HILLS... or more like the small mountains. Up and over...back down...up and over...back down. Then a LOOONGGG up...and up... and just as you think you are up top and heading for the downhill again, you go UP some more...yikes! Poor Eow had never had to do this much climbing (and descending on the other sides of course), so our pace slowed even more. Basically we walked, and I tailed the steep stuff (which she did great! Just walked on up the trail with little encouragement to keep going and stay on the trail..yeah!), and hand walked down everything. I must have lost some pounds, and definitely gained smoe blisters and spore muscles from all the walking I did that day! We went over several big hills, and then I'd think it was over, and up we'd go again. I really had NOT remembered all this! But on Chey, I guess it just wasn't a big deal, as he is a great hill horse and just moves on up everything without an issue. On the greeny, not in shape youngster and having to walk/tail/lead everything, it was much more noticeable..uggg... We stopped a lot to graze (and let me catch my breath) and with the slow pace, Eowyn seemed to do ok...not huffing and puffing much and her HR was in a good spot. But by the time I thought we should be back in camp, and we still were going UP UP UP yet ANOTHER big ridge, I was totally sick and tired of this loop. The only other issue, was towards the last third or so of the loop she was starting to get footsore on the downhills, even leading her. Up was ok, flats were just fine, but downhill there was just too much jabbing of the feet into the ground and she was starting to lag behind me a bit. By the end, she was REALLY dragging down the last hill (on a rockier clay road). Once on the flat though (and esp once she heard camp and the screaming horses) she was fine, and trotting circles around me again...so I suppose she wasn't too bad off...but definitely done for the day for sure.
Her trot out in camp was ok to, but I decided there, that I wasn't going to make her go out on another big ride the next day. Maybe a stretch out ride around the camp loop (a nice, soft single track up over the hill next to camp) and that was it. She had done real well on this ride, despite the big hills (which had I known it was going to be such a tough...and long....though the loops look similar on the map, I think it was more of a 30/20 loop split, not a 25/25...ride, I would have taken Joy out first, and Eow second... or both on loop 2 or something!), came back happy and not overly tired. It took us close to 8 hours to do that loop (start was at 7, and I was back at I think 2:45ish) with all the walking and stopping for snacks, but I wouldn't have wanted to push it any faster on a greeny like her. So by the time I had her all set up for the rest of the day, and my own lunch finished, it was too late to go out with Joy on the next loop, and still be back before 7/dinner. Oh well, this is why a test run was good...though I think on XP it will be easier, as most the first rides will be on much flatter and easier terrain :)
Back at the trailer, I untacked Eow and set her up with mush and good hay and she tucked right in like a good girl. She got a good grooming and rubdown after the sweat dried, and I washed down her legs and decided to leave them unwrapped, to see what they would do without interference. Sure enough, later they did stock up a good bit more than I like to see, so we definitely need to do some easier riding and build her up to more and harder miles. Those were quite the hills to tromp around, and a lot of hard packed jeep roads mixed with the nice single track! The legs did go down some after walking her around, and after a nice little stretch ponying and then a small ride the next day, seemed ok. So next time she'll get some clay wraps and we'll take it even easier...one day she'll be a tough little endurance pony, but not just yet! We have a long ways to go, before she's my Tevis horse, no? But I don't really have anything but time anyhow, so it's all good! :)
She slept like a log that night (as did I..I either slept through any snoring, or she didn't snore this time) and looked bright and perky the next day. So I guess she did alright and once her legs get stronger, the rest of her will be all set to go too. I took Joy out in the afternoon for a loop 2 ride the next day (didn't want to make her do those hills either, poor thing!) and Eow just hollered a few times, then was fine in camp according to reports. So that was a plus as well! :)
All in all, we had a great ride, and I am now happy to say I am actually looking forward to our next ride, rather than seeing it as a chore. That alone is worth the trip! :) On the way home, we stopped by Cindy Schleuss', our super excellent body worker, saddle fit consutant, and even trainer. She does is all (http://www.horsesavvyranch.com/) and if you live in or near the Bay Area, I HIGHLY recommend her! She has made such a huge change in how our horses move and feel. It is awesome :) Anyway, she worked on Eow and then we looked at how we rode together, and addressed what I thought was Eow's issue of going down the trail kinda hollow backed and high headed/hollow necked. I had been trying to combat that by trying to get her to stretch herself long and low (from which later we could bring the head back up into a more collected and proper set, with the back up under me), but that was not working well. Cindy saw right away why (Eow is just not made to be long/low, but has a naturally higher head carriage, etc), and showed me how to fix it... which was to LET her keep her head up, as forcing it down was just ticking her off (why we got a lot of head shake and arguments) and not doing much good anyway, but making her carry her head properly while up (ie lifting the base of the neck, bringing up shoulders and withers, etc). Hmmm..never thought of that..basically we were just skipping right to the next step.. well, whatever makes Eow happier I guess! :)
She then had me ride some exercises that I could also do out on the trail, that would get her to straighten, step under with the hind end more, thus rounding up the back more, and working on the front end too. We also tried both the S-hack (which I had just started playing with as a bitless alternative, as Eow would brace at a trot on the sidepull and hollow out) which Cindy said would be good to use, and a Myler Combination bit, which would have a similar, but more refined (and better for lateral/independent sides of the mouth work) effect on her. She seemed to like the bit ok, so I went about finding one for the XP. Did I say how much I like...no LOVE...Cindy?!?! Great person to have on our team :) Whoo hoo! So we were all set for XP in that department. That's a relief...Course she'll likely have plenty to fix after we get back, since both Terri and I ride crooked (both of us were told to raise a stirrup one notch..me on the left, her on the right, LOL) and thus our poor horses suffer..need bodywork for US!
We also stopped and then spent the night, at our good friend and fellow endurance rider, Ruthie Waltenspiel's. She always is so gracious (as is Merryben Stover, our more southerly and also often visited 'horse hotel'...love the endurance network!) and lets us stay over whenever we need to. The rose bushes at her place were starting to bloom and Terri and I dressed up the ponies a little during our sunset walk...spring in the California wine country is too pretty! From there it was back home again, and now we have been in busy preparation to get the horses, gear, the rig, and us all ready for the grand adventure! We are leaving on the 14th of May...about 10 days from now...YIKES!
Here are all three ponies, all prettied up...Eowyn, Joy, and Oliver (left-right)
And a close-up shot...none of them are playing the model too well! Grumpy ponies...
Eowyn looks pretty with a flower in her halter...quite the young lady :)
Oliver...well....not so much, LOL...he doesn't DO 'dolled up' too well...poor boy! :)
So we'll finish with the Pretty Princess again :) Just needs the ears forward next time!
Oh yeah...and THIS is what happens when you trim a horse while it is getting mush at a rest stop on the way home... ;)
