Barefootin'

Last Saturday was our first ride of 2016. It's been four months!! It felt so good to be in the saddle; however, the boys don't have shoes on and they were less than happy about it. All of them tried to find the softest ground to walk on. Thankfully it's all pretty soft and wet.

We tried out our chinks! They are awesome. They kept us warm and dry and the branches that have overgrown the trail did not hurt. Shirley says she'll wear them all year. I don't think I will able to as I think they will be hot. The jury's still out on whether I will take them to New Mexico or not. I love the fact that our hostess says she rides in them every day because they make her "look cool!" I think we are totally going to like her.

The best news of all is about Alisa and Keota. After a year of recuperating, she rode her big boy and all was well! Yay! I know that it must have been hard to climb up and be calm those first few minutes. After all of my falls, I was able to get back on without a lot of thought--so less trepidation was involved. After my broken arm in 2014, I rode at least part of the way down; but when I got back on in Feb/Mar, four months later, I was more cautious for sure.

Not only was her injury way more serious than a broken arm, Alisa had to wait a whole year to, as Shirley would say, "Get back on that horse!" That's a lot of time for thinking and worrying. But she did it and he was good. Keota is super smooth and easy gaited, and although she loves Odie--her forever horse--he is a little rougher than Keota.

So we are all off to a good riding year. I hope we all have a "fall-less" year with lots of wet blankets.

Brush Work

We are all excited and happy about El Nino--we want the rain, the snow, the cold weather that keeps that snow on the mountaintops. We want that water for summer. BUT, all those wet blessings mean no riding for us. So we did the next best thing, we walked a few of our trails.

With the extreme downfall at 10 Firs, aka The Place, we were worried about the potential downfall and getting around on our trails. However, they were not bad at all; in fact, only one tree was down and it didn't impede our regular path. Now, we only did the east side of Hennessey, so the west side might be a different story, but everything looked good. We trimmed branches and bushes that have either overgrown the trail or were ones that we always wished were gone.

It felt good to be outside and exerting our muscles a little. The dogs loved it and were running and playing on the trails. There was water running everywhere. Unspoken and aloud, both of us said prayers of gratefulness and wishes that the water would remain all year.

It was a wonderful day.

the pictures

I know, I know--we need the rain

We have not ridden since Veterans Day. November got busy and cold. It rained 10 inches in December AND we had a white Christmas! Yay! The boys have had their shoes pulled and are happily barefoot in the woods. Hopefully that will help strengthen their hooves so they will hold their shoes better. They have had an exciting winter so far with hundreds, maybe thousands of trees cracking and splitting and falling down around them.  They are alternately wet and muddy and dry and muddy. :)  Everybody looks good: Brady and Star are furry, Zigs is pretty lean, and Jupiter and Buster are pretty fat.

Lynn and I are envious of Alisa, who is starting another class. She is going to take Odie, who will be happy to be with her. He is not as smooth as Keota, but the two of them trust each other and Odie will help ease Alisa back into the saddle after a year off. I sure wish Jupiter and I could take some classes together--I know I do a lot of things wrong with him and I would like to be a better rider. I told Lynn I am nervous to ride anyone else, since I have gotten comfortable with how Jupes and I do things and it would probably not work with another horse. :( I also hope he calms down some this next year and stops throwing temper tantrums when we are on the trail.

In two weeks we get to hang out at the Bull & Gelding Sale! I can hardly wait.

Un Branded

We went to the movie last night and I would say it was enjoyed by all. However, I will say it gave me nightmares. :( I had to cover my eyes when the horse fell. I so hope nothing like that EVER happens to us.

I really liked the guys--they were definitely real and seemed like your basic 24-year-olds. :) I thought the trip was cool and I loved the scenery. Lynn leaned across to me and said, "The Trinity Alps have trails just as narrow. . . " Except in the Grand Canyon the drop off is waaaay farther down to the bottom!

I liked the relationship between the guys and their horses. I like the old poet and his song. I liked learning more about the mustangs and the BLM, but it broke my heart, too. I want to adopt them all. According to their website, there were 5,000 people at last night's showing! It was a nationwide benefit for the Mustang Heritage Foundation.

There were people there who have watched it three times! I would watch it again.

Brrrrrrrithday Ride

Yesterday was our annual birthday ride with Shirley. She is 84 years young! What a competent rider, too. She does get flustered and nervous underneath sometimes, but I think that's just respect for the fact that she's so tiny and the horses are so big. She worries about breaking (and rightly so). Occasionally, we do end up in situations that are less than favorable and yesterday we had one of those.

But let me start at the beginning--we headed out from home with our horses in blankets and our tummies excited at the prospect of breakfast at Marino's. Once we arrived at East Weaver Creek trail, we bundled up (it had to be in the low 30s) and brushed the mud off the boys. It was a typical November overcast day; however, the leaves were still bright yellow with a few bright red dogwoods thrown in. It was gorgeous. I think it is my favorite time to ride in Weaverville.

Lynn and I did a lot road riding last time, so she looked up a map and had a better idea of where we should go this time. We rode the Manzanita trail, the Howe Ditch trail, Jack Ass Ridge, and Day Ranch trail. It worked into several loops and very little backtracking. It was beautiful and we had the trails completely to ourselves--seeing no one until we were almost back to the trailer.

It was cold! I was dressed in hand-me-downs that kept most of me warm (Gordy's denim shirt and Cole's red jacket), but like Lynn, my thighs and toes were cold. Lynn had on her WalMart jacket and she admitted it was not a good choice; thankfully, she also had on a fleece vest. Shirley wore her usual old blue standby and vest and never complained about the cold. We all wore gloves. It seemed to get colder, rather than warmer as we rode--well as least until the sun finally came out. Then we could feel the warmth on our backs.

Throughout the day, Lynn had gotten off and checked Ziggy's feet. Once she found a pretty good-sized rock in his shoe. Finally, she said he was lame at a trot. She said he had been off all day and it was probably because his hips hurt. She thinks it is from a poor fitting saddle. He is such a good trooper, he never complained or acted up in any way, though. On the way back, Jupes got his turn at leading, so we worked on just walking back out, because you know, he likes to get back to the trailer for a snack!

There were a couple of narrow, slippery spots on the Day Ranch trail that took us back to the creek. Everyone did well and no one slipped, but it was a little dicey. This is the trail that forks at the bridge. If we take the bridge, we can head left a bit for a creek crossing that allows both horses and dogs to drink. If we keep going (which we rarely do) we wind up and around then back to the East Weaver trail that will lead us back to the creek crossing and then toward the trailer.

Unfortunately, we chose the bridge. We started off first. About halfway, Jupes slipped. The bridge had large leaves scattered across it. I yelled for them to be careful, it was slippery. We skidded and slipped across. Shirley and Star were behind us. Star went down on the bridge. His foot slipped under the railing. Nevertheless, in true Star fashion, he gracefully got back up and continued. He was shaking and holding up his foot when they got to us. Lynn told us to meet her at the creek--she would ride up the trail. As we started that way, she yelled for us to wait. She had changed her mind; it would add another mile on Zigs who was already hurting.

She took off his reins and tried to send him alone across the bridge. He said, "No way, you go first." So she walked very slowly in front of him and he came along behind. He did great. We went to the creek and made sure Star kept his feet in the cold water while they drank. He walked off his fright and his pain on the way back to the trailer. We couldn't see any damage and the way he ran off at the gate (after a good roll) when we got home is a great indicator that he is probably fine.

As we drove home, I recanted how many times I have seen Star go down. He always goes down smoothly and gets back up the same way. Lynn said he is like her dad who just went with a fall and didn't get hurt trying to fight it. Shirley said she more confidence on him than anyone else. I think Lynn has said that many times, but it was the first time I heard Shirley say it. She got a little shook up and confused after the bridge incident, but never missed a beat once we were all back together again. Pretty good for someone who just turned 84! I hope we can all ride on our 84th birthdays!

After feeding, I came home and began to work on Ziva's burrs. I combed a handful out and realized the amount of dirt that was on my new tile floor was coming off her. So we went to the bathtub and I gave her a bath and more combing. After I got out of the shower, I looked at the clock--it was about an hour and half since I gotten home. Poor Haley had hundreds--maybe thousands-- more burrs than Z; I don't know how long Lynn had to work on her!

Anyway, after a great day of riding, I got to do my second favorite thing--sit on my couch with my feet up, Ursula curled up between my knees, Ziva (covered in a blanket) curled up next to me, and a fire in the woodstove. The only detractor: all my Project Runways deleted and replaced with reruns, and now I don't know who won and what their collections looked like! :(

Happy trails--hopefully we'll get to ride on my birthday, even if it's only 56!

Ride 'em cowgirl

Saturday was a new adventure for us--we joined up with BCHA for their monthly membership ride. We met up with them in the parking lot at HSU, where there was an abundance of parking and nothing like Lynn's nightmare from the night before. They were friendier than ever before and a few came out of their way to speak to us and be welcoming.

We walked up the street to the trailhead where we mounted up and headed up the hill. They called back to us that it was steep--but it wasn't. We weren't in the very back, but near it. Unfortunately we ended up behind two very slow walking horses, so we were a bit away from the majority of the pack. There were four horses behind us and probably 18 all in all.

When we arrived at a fork, one of the men said we should probably split up. One trail was "uphill and steep" and the other wasn't. We chose to go with the uphill crew. We still were behind the slow ones and now we were in the back. We stopped on the trail to wait for a man who had gotten off to go to the bathroom. We were back a few feet when one of the horses kicked at Star. I said, "Hey, that horse just kicked at Star." No one paid any attention. Shirley pulled Star back a little more. A few minutes later, one of the horses we'd been following backed up and kicked at Star. This one grazes Shirley's foot and stirrup. This time I raised my voice and sort of yelled (and cussed) and then asked Shirley if she was fine. No one said or did anything.

The man who had been behind caught up and we started on our way. Suddenly, Star put on a show--and I mean a show. Although she was screeching for Lynn, Shirley rode everything Star gave her. He crow-hopped; he twirled; he backed off the trail into the brush and almost down a hill. Shirley did awesome. Once Lynn was able to get away from the older man behind us and me and Jupes, Star settled down. They undid his halter and Lynn ponied him for most of the day.

Jupes did not want to be outdone, I mean after all, he's the spoiled one who pitches fits. So with Lynn ponying Star, us right behind, and then the man right behind us, Jupes crow-hopped a few times. I yelled at him and told the man to go on ahead and he settled down. ??

We saw bicyclists (some flying up right behind us!), walkers, joggers, some with dogs, a pot smoking girl, and endurance riders. Through it all, Jupes did fine and so did everyone else. His only real shy was at some frisbee golf players--he may have seen a flying disk out of the corner of his eye.

It was fun and now we have some new trails to try out. There were a bunch (they called them single track--ha ha) I saw along the way that we did not take.  Probably they dead-ended. We made a big loop and I did not realize we were back until everyone started dismounting to walk down the hill.

It was stressful at times, but I am glad we went.

Three rides

Here I am! It's been so long since I wrote and I apologize to my readers. :) We have had many adventures. First of all, we rode into Stanshaw way back in September. We took the dogs and had a great ride. We went all the way into Monument Lake and ate lunch.

As you can see it was a glorious day! The trails are so nice and smooth and the climb is pretty gradual, so the fat boys didn't have to work too hard. 

In October, we drove to Cueno Creek to join the BCHA's membership ride. Of course we rode by ourselves, but we did check in with them and walked through the group camp with the boys so they could roll in the sand. We spoke with a few people in passing, but I figure the more they see us, the more friendly they will become. 

I cannot just ride like normal people--I guess it's because I have such a flighty, emotional boy. Anyway, he spooked (I guess?) as we were riding back to the campground and somehow I popped up on to his neck. I put my hands hear the top of head and popped back into the saddle. It was so weird. Shirley was hollering, "Get moving! Something must be biting him!" I was stunned and still trying to get my feet in the stirrups and I heard Lynn say, "She's fine--let her get settled." Jupes just stood there and waited for me. It was so weird! We were at a wide spot near where we cross the creek by the old concrete steps. 

I also found out why/how Lynn always has her camera clicking away:

see her hand? She keeps it in her bra!!:)

Last weekend, we rode up the Hennessey. Coming home, I had a rodeo. Doggone Jupiter had a temper tantrum. Twice. No more grain at the trailer for him. Dang, he makes me mad. 

Yesterday, Lynn and I went to East Weaver Creek (the site of my broken arm almost one year ago!). It was a great day. We took the trail backwards from how we usually go. Unfortunately, we ended up doing quite a bit of road riding in the middle. We need to figure out how to get back to the trails. Haley got attacked by a dog, who grabbed at her middle and got a mouthful of bright blue tape. She was frightened--as were we--but the dog did not hurt her. We were glad Happy was not with us as she  is less likely to backdown and be submissive and probably would have been in a dogfight. Other than that, it was a really fun day.

Next weekend BCHA is meeting at Redwood Park for a ride. Although the dogs can't go, we are planning on attending. This time we will have to ride with them since we do not know where we are going. It's a chance to find a new riding place! 

Happy belated birthdays to Sammi and Haley--four years old. :)