Glorious Weekend

It’s February and we are having our faux spring that we often experience this time of year. The boys were pretty surprised the day Eric, the shoer, showed up; in fact, Brady was laying down and Shirley put his halter on him and he still just looked at her like, “What?” Anyway, the boys got shoes and we went riding both Saturday and Sunday. It was glorious.

Of course the horses are all muddy and wearing their winter coats so they tried to tell us they were on vacation. It didn’t matter, we brushed the mud off and put cold blankets on their backs and then the saddles. Brady put his ears back and turned toward me as if to nip to show his displeasure on Saturday. I brought him some Oreos today, so he was a little less cantankerous. Star has been a little out of sync, but he seems to have gotten over whatever it was; Lynn thinks maybe he strained a muscle rolling around and got caught up in a downed tree branch. Ziggy is Ziggy, tongue hanging and all. He’s such a sweet thing—huge, but sweet.

Brady was a little stiff today, but he still considered having a little run up the meadow—after all, we have to be in the lead. Ziggy drank at every crossing of water we came to and we decided maybe with that tongue hanging out he gets extra thirsty! Star cracked me up because I saw it coming and held Brady back, but he went into the creek after Ziggy finished and proceeded to paw at the knee deep water and send it spraying everywhere. He loves to splash. I am just happy I saw it coming and held back or Brady and I would have been soaked.

Shirley has been sore and stiff with her neck and back keeping her cooped up. She rode with a neck brace both days and she says she feels better now than before. I agree there is nothing better than being out in the mountains ahorseback! I think I will be able to make through this next week after all.

Spit and polish

The sun came out a bit and it seemed warm at 50 degrees, so we decided it was time to oil up the leather on our saddles and bridles. Of course I couldn't be at Lynn's without going up and finding the horses on the hill. I had forgotten any treats (!) so Lynn grabbed some granola bars and away we went.

They came running as soon as they heard the crinkle of the foil--boy do they know that sound. The boys are so dirty. They are definitely mudboggers--especially Brady. We will have to get the Downey out again this spring to work out his dreads.

Lynn took pictures of the new barn. It is very nice, but hopefully the back panel on both sides will be removed soon. Then it will be safe to move the feed boxes in and start feeding them under cover. It will be nice for them to be able to get out of the weather if they want to.

We enjoyed an afternoon in the clean and organized tack room. We cleaned and oiled all our equipment we currently use. Next is to do the old saddles and tack so they will be preserved as well.

Since we can't ride, we have been reading a lot of Trail Rider magazine. The newest edition hadn't arrived, so Lynn took to reading old copies. She brought me a July/Aug 2005 article by Kent and Charlene Krone. They get to do some of the coolest rides and then write about them (I could do that!). Well this particular one was in the wilderness of Canada. I totally enjoyed the article, but had to call Lynn and admit that I would be too scared to do this type of ride. She is fearless! However, being alone with grizzlies and deep, swift, glacial rivers make me nervous. I want a guide along who is armed and whose job it is to protect me. Someone who knows the easy places to cross the river and who keeps me and my horse safe.

I know I keep saying it but, I mean it! I like car camping, Lynn! I like my creature comforts. Most of all, although I love horses, riding, and camping--I am a town girl!

**pics too slow to finish uploading--so only silly ones of me are in the album. I'll get the barn pics in tonight. ****Pics are up! (Sat. 1/9)

Winter chores

Anyone who knows Lynn and her horses has heard her say, "Ziggy's growing! He's getting bigger all the time! He can stop anytime!" Well, the proof is in the pictures. His backend is higher than Lynn's head. She keeps saying she wants to pack in and camp; well, I don't know how she'll get on with her camping gear on the back of that boy! She'll need more than a passing stranger to hoist her hiney. (:

I'm a firm believer: car camping is good.

Yesterday I took some apples and treated my favorite boys to them. Then Lynn did all the hard work while I had the easy job. She cleaned their feet and took the shoes off Brady and Star. I held them, loved on them, and rubbed their favorites itches. Ziggy didn't want to be left out, so he tried to sneak my gloves out of my pockets. I laughed out loud--he is so cute, tongue hanging and all. He knows Lynn keeps treats in her pockets; he was getting those gloves out of the way so he could get his nose down in there to see if I had anything special for him.

Lynn not only had the back breaking job of holding up feet and prying the mud and whatever else out and then pulling shoes off, she also had to put up with the rest of the horses standing around her breathing on her and fogging up her glasses while they watched her work. Brady even reached down and gave her a massage on her upper back with his lips, while Indy looked on with a "Whatta ya doin'?" expression. He had to know Star would get him later for being in his personal space.

Next on our list of chores was to clean out the trailer and oil up our leather for winter storage. So we emptied everything into the quad trailer and moved them down to the tack room. Once the door was opened and the mess overwhelmed us, we decided first-things-first--we had to organize. After a couple of hours, the tack room was awesome! Although we did not get to cleaning up the leather, it will be easy to do now in the well organized and spacious room.

Although I had the pleasure of standing in the newly built, beautiful barn, I forgot to take a picture. Hopefully the sides will be modified soon and the horses will be comfortable enough to use it safely and be warmer and more protected from the elements. (After all, I am still praying for snow!)

Well, that's it for this town girl's country chores this week. Here's wishing you all a safe and blessed new year!

Wanting to be "back in the saddle"

It's December! I am missing the boys. Lynn left a cryptic message on my machine last night about keeping his head up, digging my toes into his armpits, and hanging on! I thought maybe she had been bucked off. But no, she was sending me a message about Brady who is just full of himself. He is acting like he is seven again.

The last two times I have ridden I have worried a little about going off. I think I am due. He really wants to run and when he gets started, he pulls and puts his head down--not good. He is a high-headed horse and putting his head down makes me nervous. He is too excited and just wants me to sit back and enjoy, but I am nervous about going fast.

Lynn knows this. She even had a dream about me going off. Of course she said in the dream I had five blankets on him! Anyway, she has been feeding Brady something new that is supposed to help his joints and help him feel good. It's working. I am glad he feels good, but he needs to remember it's me up there and not Lynn, the crazy woman!

I have not ridden in weeks. My mom and Gene were putting down a new wood floor for me and building a beautiful hearth. I felt guilty going riding; although, I did go to town with Lynn and Lee and bought new furniture. Now it is raining. I don't know when I'll get to go! Next week is Winter break, so I will go up and take carrots to my favorite boys.

Exploring new territory

Yesterday, Lynn, Shirley, and I tried out a new trail system. We drove to Weaverville, had breakfast, and turned up Hwy 3. We drove a few miles out of town to East Weaver Creek Campground. Lynn easily turned the truck and trailer around and we parked in a turnout near the campground and a trailhead. I say "a trailhead" because there are many possibilities to choose from!

It's October, so the colors around us were phenomenal: the yellows, pinks, and reds up against the evergreens and browns took my breath away. The boys were in high spirits--they love a new place to see. We rode along the creek for a ways and came to a fork; we chose not to cross an interesting-looking bridge and headed up a little farther where we made a creek crossing. We rode through lots of bright yellow grapevines climbing up fir trees and varying shades of pink dogwoods, mixed in with orange oaks and some brillant yellow ash (?) trees. The trails were clear and we didn't have cedar trees or madrones slapping us in the face or hanging over our heads and dropping their water down our necks! The trails were beautifully maintained and easy on our horses.

After the creek crossing we rode on a nice, soft road and enjoyed many different views; we were to the west of, and way above the town of Weaverville. We could see the regenerated burn area off west highway 299 that we drive in order to reach Weaverville. We could see Yolla Bally and the clouds that covered the mountain range to the east were an awesome sight. Unfortunately, there was one spoiler--hunters. It was the last weekend of hunting season and we heard shots fired that didn't seem as far away as they should have been! We rode around the corner to a clearing and sat, so if they were above us they would see us easily. Brady was nervous, as was I.

We continued down the road, looking for our next trail sign. We came to a road that headed back toward where we thought we should be heading, but we weren't sure, so Lynn rode into a nearby yard where a man was out working. We heard his horses calling to our horses, so we figured he must be a good guy. Anyway, he told Lynn we should travel on down the road a bit and we would see another trailhead. He recommended it as a good ride that would take us back to the campground. He was surprised and impressed we had come all the way around the top. Well, we are "cowgirl tuff."

We found the trail and headed back toward the campground area. It was indeed a great trail. There were so many signs for other loops that we became very excited to return. We rode through many different types of terrain and felt safe and comfortable all the way. We met people with dogs on leashes, others out hiking, and even two hunters who mumbled and freaked out the horses a little. We eventually found ourselves at the bridge we had seen on our way out in the morning. All three horses crossed it easily and eagerly in order to get away from the mumbling men in camouflage with guns.

All in all , I think we rode a little over four hours. Ziggy's head was hanging a little, but the other two were high stepping and happy. The three of us were filthy (of course) but as happy as we could be! Our next idea is to find out about camping there: we could get camp set up on Friday night; Alisa could meet us there and then we could spend all day Saturday and maybe a little Sunday exploring the trails. Sound good?

This is a definite redo!

(Lynn, leave me a comment with the trail committee information, address, and/or website to use in my article for Trailrider. Thanks!)

It's fall in more than one way!

Fall colors were all around us today. The poison oak was red and pink and salmon-colored; it was especially beautiful climbing up trees. The dogwoods were in various stages of pink and green and hopefully I will get some pictures from Lynn since she stopped every little bit and took some. She also took movies of us--on purpose this time--so maybe I'll see about downloading them as well.

Last weekend, we all met up in Red Bluff and went riding at Jelly's Ferry. It was a pleasant, breezy day. We traveled all over that flat and even went through a deep little creek. Brady and I almost took a header when he caught his foot in deep groove left in the hard ground, but somehow I stayed on and he righted himself. Thankfully he wasn't hurt. It was good to have all of us together again--Alisa and Odie; Shirley and Star; Lynn and Ziggy; and me and Brady. It had been a while since all us of rode together and it was fun.

Today was an odd day on the Hennessey. It was foggy and drippy. The branches seemed to hold their water in little cups for us and it wasn't long before we had it running down our necks and off our helmet visors. There were hunters out and about and everything sounded differently. Once again, it was me and Brady doing tricks. I never really know what happens. I just find myself in the position of hind end in the air and top-heavy helmeted head hanging over his neck! But, I guess he shied and then slipped and fell onto his knees. He scraped his nose on the ground and I squealed in his ear, but I stayed on and I helped him get up a little by getting back in the saddle and up off his neck! I guess I'm getting stronger or more balanced or something since I didn't go off. Although I will say that both last weekend and this time I got a cramp in my leg so I must be clamping on tight. (:

Anyway, he was positive there were scary monsters out in the brush today. Finally he was proven right--as we were walking out the last bit like we always do, a covey of quail lifted straight up, flapping loudly over the big clump of blackberries directly in front of us. I felt the reins lift from my shoulder where I had them draped and Shirley, who was behind us laughed and said I should have been on him that time. I guess he jumped straight up in air and landed to our left. Good grief! Then he settled down--it's good to be right.

Catching Up

Well, there has been a lot of excitement and wet blankets in last few weeks. For example, on Sunday when Lynn and Shirley went riding without me they came upon a group of kids camping after an obvious all-night party. They didn't wake them up or take down license plates, but worried about it just the same. When they returned to the meadow, the kids were all gone, but there was a campfire blazing!

Once again, Shirley and Star took off on a run for help, while Lynn dug up a squirrel hole and used the dirt to try and stifle the fire. The little bit of water they both had left didn't even make a dent. Pretty quick, Shirley and the closest neighbor were back to help fight it while Forest Service was on the way. They had it almost completely out by the time official help arrived. Armed with the description of the vehicles, the local Forest Service guys thought they might know who the culprits were. The potential for a huge fire was there and many people and animals could have lost everything.

On another Saturday ride up the Hennessey, I had a surprise--we were tooling along and suddenly, I was laying across the saddle horn, Brady's neck, and one of my feet had flown out of the stirrup. I thought he had tripped and we were going down! All I could see was the ground coming up at me. As I pulled back to help him back up--I looked up, some bicyclists had very quietly come around the corner and startled Brady. He had shied--both front feet stretched out into a wide V. Once the men spoke to us, he was fine. That's what we get for being too complacent, I guess.

One Monday night, Shirley, Lynn, and I went to the rodeo grounds with another friend, Toni. She wanted to work with her young horse, Buckwheat. While Lynn and Toni worked with saddling, bridling, and eventually riding Buckwheat, Shirley and I rode around in the arena.

I walked Brady all around the arena so he could see everything. Then I came out and got on him. When I took him back in, he had a fit. Feet high stepping and whirling around. He saw the gate and made for it. We walked around outside and then when Shirley got on Star, we went back in. We just walked them side by side so they would calm down. Then we cantered a little and trotted and I worked on being more centered and balanced.

After they both settled down, we worked on reining. We trotted in figure 8s. Then I walked Brady and took my feet out of the stirrups, closed my eyes, and held my arms out. I want to be more in tune with his gait and sit more balanced. Brady sensed there was no one in control, so he took it. He started walking faster and faster and heading for gate. Finally I took back the reins and we stopped to watch Toni ride Buckwheat. It was a fun evening and we almost got to ride in moonlight by the time we finished. Next time, maybe I'll be brave enough to try bareback!