Long Time No See/ A New Adventure

Bruneau Sand Dune State Park

Today I want on my first "official" training ride with Chardoney. I want to take her to this ride the first week in August in the Owyhee Mountains. It's called the City Of Rocks Pioneer Ride. We'll be doing a 25 mile LD or two.

My partners for this adventure will be Katrina and Tawshi; and Mo and Mo. Yes, Char on Char and Mo on Mo!

Chardoney has shown me that she loves to be out on the trail. She goes out forward on a loose rein. She's not spooky at all, just a little green and unsure which will resolve itself over time. She has already come so far!

Today we rode down the canal bank with Katy and Tawshi. Both horses are used to being followers rather than leaders. I have gotten so used to not having to use a crop out on the trail that I didn't even think to bring one. Big mistake! Without a confident leader, BOTH horses had sticky feet. I am sure this will be something we will overcome. When I first took Chardoney out on the trail even in a group of confident horses she did the same thing. She got over it in a few rides.

We had some nice trotting on the way home (key word home!). Then we decided to do some trot sets around the hay field where both horses felt confident. We rode a little over 3 miles all together.

I am looking forward to this new adventure!

Tough Sucker II

Last weekend a bunch of my friends, Tom and Chase and I  traveled to Oreana for our first official Endurance ride. I rode Delight. Tom and Star went out on their first ride ever for both of them. The distance was 25 miles. It was a beautiful day.

Unfortunately Star thought she was full of rocket fuel. She jigged the whole first loop - which was 16 miles long!  So she was pulled at the vet check for being too tired. Tom was very disappointed and I don't blame him, it was a letdown after all of the training he has done with Star. They will be heading back out on training rides and getting ready to try again next time.


Delight was her wonderful experienced self. We finished a comfortable 18th place with 30 min left on the time clock, exactly where I wanted to finish. I was hoping for a nice slow ride to start the season out.

Chase brought along his friend Autumn and together they did an awesome job of helping out with all of the chores and horses. They also gave each of  them their traditional unicorn horns for good luck.

Countdown to Busy Season

This weekend will be the first of six weekends in a row of horse related shows and events.

I am so excited to take Delight and Chardoney out as well as being involved with helping folks from Blue Note Arabians and JP Arabians with their horses. Then, there are my  comrades with Endurance Team Buttercup to help and to cheer on.

I gave Chardoney my first ever full body clip. I think it looks nice. It took me 3 days and two doses of sleepy stuff to get it accomplished due to a clipper snafu. I still have some detail work to do on her hocks. She isn't having much to do with it, so maybe one more time of clipping to get those tiny crevices finished will do the trick. I sure wish I would have done them while she was doped up. I thought they would be no problem. Silly me!

This weekend she is going to be "on display" at the Horse Expo. I hope she will be a good example of the Arabian/Half Arabian breed and stay inside the show stall! I can't wait to show her off.

Today Chardoney will get her first ride with Christy who will be riding her in the TVC and at Sport Horse Nationals. I won't be able to be there to watch. I am crossing my fingers that it will be a good match!

Old Age

I was just thinking today about how our horses all have their "birthdays" on Jan 1. This will make Delight 20 years old! Tawshi will be 11, and Star will be 6 - is she really that old? She was just born! My new girl Char will be 6 as well.

I have been thinking about the age "20". It sounds so old. I read all the time about people retiring horses in their mid teens! Heck, that's when I *first* started Delight in Endurance! Delight is getting grey on her face and she is loosing some topline but other than that she is a maniac. No signs of slowing down at all. In fact, I really feel like her attitude and her "go" are a lot younger than her body. I went for a 2 hour ride the other day and had to work hard to keep her at a walk, she was sweaty and ready to fly. We both love zooming down the trail!

Last year I skipped taking her to the last endurance ride because I felt like it took her so long to come back from the one before. It wasn't that her "go" was any less or her attitude was lagging. It was just a gut feeling based on the look on her face from her pictures out on the race trail. It seemed more work for her than other rides.

Maybe I pushed her too hard - we did have a fast time - or maybe it was a failure in getting her really fit - or maybe it was an age related thing. I dunno. I will make sure she is very, very fit for next year. (This is done with long slow miles not speed work).

I don't think she is ready to retire yet but it is kinda scary to ride a horse who is "20".

The Pink Flamingo

It's nearly time for the Pink Flamingo!

This is the ride that started it all for my riding buddy Sandra and I last year. Since then we have each logged 100 LD miles on our horses! We also have logged 25 on Lyn's horses Sam and Tacki. I think we have definitely found a new passion.

This year we will be bringing 4 horses and 4 riders along. Sandra will be riding Tia in her first ever 50 mile ride. I will ride Delight for the 30 miler on the first day and the 25 miler on the second. Katrina will be riding Sam with me on both days. On the second day we will be joined by Nancy, a first timer riding Takima.

Our crew will be headed by the best crew leader ever Lyn. Chase, Cherish and Nancy, will help her crew on the first day and Chase and Cherish will help on the second day.  Lyn has big plans for some yummy food and Sandra will bring her metal fireplace so we will have food and firelight every day.

I can't wait to hit the trail in the cool green mountains of Cascade. We'll have food, fun and friends. I am so blessed!

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Jan 4, 2011

I had a great ride today. I lent Delight to one of the boarders so that she could take her granddaughter on a trail ride. The granddaughter was riding her (the boarder's) horse named Cody. I planned to ride Tacki.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances I had to stay back and do a few things at the barn and they took off without me. I rode out on Tacki alone, riding in my new English saddle. I have only ridden her out alone one or two other times, and I can count on one hand the times I have ridden I have ridden in this saddle. English saddles are scary doncha know!

I headed down the road that I thought my friends had gone down and as soon as we were almost off the property Tacki started getting sticky feet. Instead of fighting with her I abandoned the idea catching up with my friends and turned around back to the farm. I didn't force the issue as I really wanted this to be a relaxing adventure for both of us. And, I knew my friends were at least a mile down the trail ahead of us. I didn't feel like hurrying to catch up with them.

Tacki on a ride this summer

Tacki and I went all over the property (It's 100 acres or so), but not up and down the hills as the ground is too hard and uneven. I love riding this little mare. Sometimes she was very worried but with the slightest encouragement from my legs or hands she gave it her best try. She's not 100% trusting of me yet and she scooted a couple of times. But I am so pleased with her try that instead of becoming uneasy it made me look forward to seeing how she does after a whole summer of riding her out. We will be going out lots more times as we get ready for the endurance season.

In the end, I am glad I rode out alone today because I have some wonderful quiet time to think about things other than my troubles. Sounds corny but the horses really are a balm for my soul. After Delight, Tacki is my favorite horse to ride right now. I am really looking forward to our summer of riding together.

Oh and I did just fine in the scary saddle. Maybe I will get my love of riding English back after all....

Char