Closing out Spring

It's the last weekend of May and we have not ridden much at all. It's kind of been a-wake up-and- look- to see if it's raining kind of spring. The most positive part is that Shirley has gone with us all but two of the times we have gotten out. We go pretty slow, but it's steady riding. Lynn has a breast collar on Buster now and it has made a huge difference in keeping Shirley's saddle where it's supposed to be.

As of today, we have ridden all our trails. We have to pick and choose according to whether it has rained recently, but we've been all on of them. Surprisingly, some of the dead trees are still standing and then some came down that we didn't expect. We have done some trimming, but mostly, we have made trails around stuff and are still dipping and diving around the branches and bushes. There are a few that we need to work on. . .

Today we rode our Grey's Falls trail. The motorcycle guys have been out there and they have made some new ones for us to check out once they dry out a little. There is the possibility of an old skid road that looks like it has potential, too. It was a really fun ride and the longest one we've been on all spring.

Underwood also looks good. Lynn and I did that one by ourselves one Sunday. I sure like to ride over there. We tried to find a way around riding the road, but as Jupiter said, "Why are we doing this? You know she's just going to get us in a spot and then turn us back around!" :) It has potential, but got kind of steep and bushy.

Today was the first day the girls had to wear their tape bonnets. Bright pink!

TICKS have been the worst ever. I have had two in one week actually digging in and biting me. Talk about hurt. I have picked off many, many walking on me, Ziva, and Jupiter. GROSS. I hate them.

Memorial Day weekend just crept up and surprised us. Next weekend is the beginning of June! I am looking forward to riding in jeans and shirt sleeves. I think I only went one weekend without my chinks (maybe one day) and I've had a jacket on every time. Even then, I have had cold toes and worn my gloves every day. Yesterday, I was wishing for another layer. Today, I tied on an extra vest, but didn't need it after all. Of course, it's always entertaining to watch Lynn: jacket on with vest, just the jacket, just the vest, just a shirt, then repeat in reverse order. :)  Shirley simply wears all those layers with her helmet insulator and gloves. Today, she took off a layer and her helmet insulator. ! We are usually prepared for whatever weather is thrown at us. It gets cold on that back side! The fog bank was especially neat today.

Both our boys are now 14--Zigs just had his birthday on Friday. Jupes has worked out his beginning of the year quirkiness, firecracker attitude. Lynn is talking about buying Star some old man vitamins so his hair will grow back in and be ready for the saddle; Buster is happy to go. He's a slow walker, but he gets it done! They aren't in great shape, but we're working on it. (Jupes is a chub and breathes hard after climbing.)

We are looking forward to our friends joining us. I was thinking about the PCT today. We should ride it before it gets so dusty. I am always reading the Shasta Ranch posts--I think we need to join them. Although I am certainly happy to ride here at home, we need to start making riding plans for this summer or before we know it, it will be Labor Day.

Anyway, enough rambling.

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.

Afternoon Delight

We had big plans to ride after we went to town on Saturday. You know, grocery shopping and home, right? Ha. We shopped that town like crazy. We went to the Discovery store and spent how much? Oh yeah, I did find the ONE thing I was looking for--in addition to five other things I bought. Lynn found a few tablecloths, which I think she was actually looking for. :)

Oh and Joann Fabrics! Ha. How fast can two crafty, always thinking "hmm," kind of women, get out of Joann's? Not until they have SAVED at least $50 (it was actually more like $150 between us!). Then there's Winco. Everyone in Humboldt County was there. Every cashier line had 4-5 people with full baskets. Costco? Yep. Busy. We diddled around and when we got home and it was 3:30-4:00 by the time groceries, etc. were unloaded.

So we planned to go early--7:00--Sunday morning. Lynn called at 5:30, "Umm, it's really cold here." Ya think? It was 28 degrees. So we postponed our ride til after church. What a glorious decision! We have been talking about going to the Hoop-de-do trail and wanted to do it before it was too slick. We have not ridden it in forever.

We rode down to the meadow, across the creek, and to the trail. We loped and trotted at a good pace the whole time. The boys were excited to go somewhere different. They had fun. It was beautiful! The trees were bright yellow and there were leaves everywhere on the ground, too. It was a bit overgrown since we have been there to break off branches and whatnot, but it was in pretty good shape for as far as we were able to go. We knew there was a bunch of downfall that kept us from reaching the road, but now there is a big tree across that we couldn't get around to even get that far. But it didn't dampen our spirits. We turned and loped and trotted our way back out.

Then we took the trail that skirts around the meadow and worked our way backward to the north end of the trail and looped back to the meadow and then back up the way we came down. The boys were sweaty and the sun was way over the mountain, so we walked the last bit of upper meadow and the road back to the trailer to let them dry off a bit. Lynn and I had smiles a mile wide (I think the horses did, too!). It was just what we both needed before heading back into the work week. Even thinking about it later made me smile.

Jupes is transitioning into his lope more easily and we are loping a lot more. (He is trying to keep up with that tall drink of water who effortlessly runs the trails ahead of him!) I think the two of them had a fun day, too.

Anyway, it was fun and just absolutely gorgeous. Bring the rain on! This memory will carry me for at least one weekend. :)

Fall colors and good rides

Showed up to ride on Saturday of the last weekend in October to this! How crazy! We thought it had fallen, but no! It was cut down and then got hung up in the big oak. It's crazy. And dangerous. AND hanging over our "bathroom." It might be more than just dangerous when they attempt to cut the tree--it might doggone messy--if you get my drift. :) I just can't figure how why anyone would cut it and leave it like that. It doesn't make any sense. It obviously was not going to be a clean fall. And it's a fir.

 Our get on log is a mess, but Lynn picked up an entire tree (ha ha), okay, an entire block of a tree, that was as light as a pillow, but tall enough for us to use as a mounting block, and away we went.

October has been good to us. We have gotten good use out of our shoes. We haven't ridden far, but we've had good rides. We went down on the ranch one day, Underwood one day, and the rest have been mostly on the Hennessey. We dubbed our left hand ride, "Deadwood Ridge." There were other options as well, "Dead Tree Trail," "Widow-maker Trail," and other more alliterative names that I can't remember. Anyway, you probably get it--a good, strong wind and our trail is going to change. I just don't want to be there when it happens!

Last weekend, both Lynn and I had the same thought at the same time: we need to ride our old hoop-de-doo trail off the ranch. Our intention was to do it before it gets too slick, but with our latest weather, we may have missed our opportunity.

Shirley's birthday lands on a Sunday and we have been mentally trying to prep her for a little ride on Star. She has been very tentative, but recently, she got her "blood up" chasing some dogs who she said were chasing the horses. Ever since, she has been way more mobile and independent. She has been riding on the 4-wheeler with Lynn to feed every night. :) Lately, she has been talking more about riding. Hopefully, she is talking herself into it. I think it would do her good.

Today is TGIF and tomorrow, I am meeting my cousin in Redding, so no riding. Hopefully we can start off our November rides on Sunday. We have a few more weeks left on our shoes; then, bring on the rain! I'm ready.