A Weekend for Shirley

Saturday was Shirley's first ride in almost 17 months. She rode Buster, who hasn't been ridden in a year. They did great! She looked at ease the whole time, in fact, she really wanted to ride longer, but had made the mistake of bringing Happy, who couldn't go any further. When we got home, she said, "We're riding tomorrow, right?"

Sunday, was less successful for her, but was very much like what it was before her heart attack; we rode up the deadwood ridge and down to the turtle pond again. Buster was a little more antsy and threw his head all day (which is how it always was!). Ziggy, used to a couple of places where we would zoom into a canter, did it at the end of the ride and caused Shirley to get a couple blood blister/bruises on her wrist fighting Buster. She said the reins were wrapped around her there.

She told me, "When you get older, your skin gets thin." She said people will say about her, "Well, she would've been okay, but her skin got too thin and wouldn't hold her together anymore." Cracked me up.

Sunday was also a digfest for a couple digging dogs! "Hard to 'leave no trace,'" Lynn said, "when you got a couple digging dogs!"  Do holes count?

We had two beautiful days of sun and butts in the saddle. Life is getting back to normal.

A trip to Deadwood Ridge

Sunday started out with a bright, bright moon shining in the window! That means no rain! So off we went to break in those new shoes. We rode up to the top and took a left--both of us were thinking the same thing! We wanted to see what trees fell down. Well, quite a few did, but not the ones we thought should.



We rode to the turtle pond and our get on rock was almost completely submerged and there was still a big patch of snow. It was cold and the wind was chilly.

Lynn convinced Lee to help clean up one spot of our trail so Shirley won't have to go off the bank to go around it.

Jupiter was full of himself or hungry or something; anyway he was a pill. Ziggy almost threw his head going down a hill, but didn't seem to slide down any.

It was another good day.

I missed church this morning, but somehow, I think it's okay.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

On Saturday, Lynn and I did some toe trimming. Wait until Adam sees the raggedy job we did! :) But we got Jupiter and Ziggy into some boots and away we went. In addition to just getting to ride, both of us have been wanting to see our trails. Yep, sure enough we have some trees down across the way and we had to jimmy-jack ourselves around them and we didn't even go all the way to the top! The boys were puffing a little, Zigs doesn't like wearing boots, and both of them were not happy about walking across rocks, so we did a short ride.

But it was glorious. There was water running everywhere and the evidence of where water had run earlier was crazy. Everything was bright green and the beginnings of flowers are starting to come out. There was even some snow still tucked into shadows.

Ziggy is so silly--he loves to slide down hills. He just plants his front feet and whoosh. Lynn even squealed once because it was a fast, out-of-control slip. I think I could see Ziggy grinning. If he has to wear those boots, he's going to make it fun. If not for her, at least for him. :)

The girls were happy and running, too. The water was cold, I'm sure, but that didn't keep them from running through it. As I am writing this, Ziva stood up and vomited up a horse hoof--good grief, from Saturday! It wasn't even chewed, she must have swallowed it whole. Poor thing.

Shoes on Tuesday; the boys will be happy and we can start the season of riding. I think all of us: horses, dogs, people--all of us are excited and happy to get out and be on our mountain!

Trail Trials

Wahoo! We finally got to ride our horses on Saturday. It is unbelievable to me that we have not ridden since November--that is the longest we have ever gone without riding. Last year we rode in February's snow and in March we rode just about every weekend (at least that's what I think I remember!).

Anyway, we went to the BCHA's Trail Trials in Ferndale. Last year we worked. This year, we had it scoped out, so we near some of the outbuildings near a patch of lawn. The boys got to eat out of their hay bags and stand on grass, rather than the blacktop. Both of them are shoeless and tenderfoots.

After we brushed, and brushed, and brushed, and then cleaned the dirt and hair off OUR faces (the wind was blowing), we saddled them and rode around a circle drive. Boy, it felt good to be in the saddle. Then we headed over to the arena. We had the option of walking them through the obstacles first, but we elected to just do them.

We started with a gate. But it didn't seem like it worked right. So I just walked him through it and then over the to the mounting block. I got on and went around the gate to the next obstacle. Lynn did the same thing. I didn't really see her again for a bit, because of course, Zigs just went through everything and Jupes is the shy guy.

Next were the turkeys and a 30 inch step over log. Jupes sniffed the turkeys, sniffed the log, backed up and went over. The second time we did it, he would not go over it. We went around the edge and he sniffed all those turkeys and went back over the log from that side, but still would not over it from the right side. ?? It must have smelled funny on that side or something. We walked through the brush and logs--no big deal.

Next was pulling a LOG--way bigger and heavier than it should have been. Jupes was like, "What are you doing? What is behind me? Oh no, you are not making me pull that horse-eating, loud thing back over there!" So we drug it and then I dropped the rope.

The tent, dog, little girl inside the tent, and two women standing there gave Jupes pause. He looked at the fake deer and said, "I'll stay here. Can I come in the tent? Do you have granola bars in there?" Finally we got past them and turn into the "forest" with the bear skin, wild cat skins, sheep skins, and he relaxed. Later, both of us were in there waiting our turn and they just stood there; it was no big deal.

Then came the silver pond. No way, Jupes said! I don't like it. We never went through it; he wouldn't even get close enough to smell it. He wouldn't follow Zigs. Nope. Not going.

We went by the backpacker--no big deal, didn't even look at her. We went over the tippy bridge several times. No big deal. We kind of back down the trail by the chicken. I need to work on backing--he'll do it, but really only interested in it when he sees the purpose. :) We went over the logs and turned the way we were supposed to turn. Then came the llama. He touched noses with it. The next time, the llama was peeing, so Jupes was like, "Give him some privacy! Plus he's stinky." Then he asked the guy for a treat.

The trash was kind of a big deal. He didn't want to go through the pit with the trash. Go figure. He's not used to seeing litter? We finally did. We attempted to side step down some PVC. He would have if he could have figured out what I was asking him to do--it was my fault and I was trying not to be in the way. He was so good.

It was fun and I'm glad we went. I am super proud of how well both of them did. They're turning 14 and it shows.