Adventures In Trail Riding...

The small hurricane that hit just
before I made it to my car...

Let me preface this entire story with... I was not going to ride tonight... I was going to take the night off... catch up on house cleaning, get groceries, maybe watch a movie & cuddle with Buster. But, no, I was drug out kicking and screaming by my two crazy friends. "its my last night at the barn" "You have to come!... even though I'm only going to be moving up the rode."

I tend to be the annoying voice of reason in most situations and lets face it of the four of us I am the oldest in the group so its my job to have my head screwed on straight.... that, and I've done my fair share of stupid things and learned the hard way from them. 

So anyways, we head out on the trail tonight even though its already thundering and there's a 60% or better chance of rain... and not just a drizzle, but a 

Rio trotting over a log taken in a ride
 earlier this week

torrential down poor akin to a small hurricane with thunderunder and lightening hitting almost on top of us. 

We've been doing a lot of exploring lately, and recently found a short strip of cleared grass with brush on either side. Safe for a good canter or gallop. We manage to make it about half way around and reach the clearing.  I'm holding my breath as we trot down it and turn around to come back because I can feel Rio gearing up to go... the third time we've done this, and he's figured out he's going to get to run every time now. The encroaching storm has the horses a little worked up too.... and then there's Sky the Thoroughbred practically pushing him from behind because she wants to go so badly.... Crystal's logic is that Rio acts as a break for Sky... comforting as long as she actually listens to Crystal's half halts rather then running us over. 

Belle & Megan at the bank coming back from a ride
earlier in the week. 

Rio has such a big solid canter that even though Belle is rocketing down the path at a full gallop we barely break from the canter if at all the entire run. I have to say though despite all the factors in tonights ride that could have had him amped up he and I were probably the most balanced we've been ever going at that speed in an open straight away. I was really super pleased. 

At this point I can hear the thunder getting closer, but we've hit the woods. We take a few minutes to play jumping over fallen logs and head for the the road back towards home. I'm thinking to my self... "self maybe you were just being a big sissy". "You're going to make it back no issue before the storm hits!"

And, that's when I see Belle freeze at attention to something in front of us and I hear some one say "look there's two little bears"... great just great. Two little bears equal bear cubs which probably means bigger meaner momma bear is probably not too far away... warning danger will robinson danger!

If we go forward we run the risk of finding Mamma. If we turn around we run the risk of getting caught  in the storm....  Needless to say we turned around. We broke the number one rule of trail riding which is never run towards home. I think we made it back in record time. I managed to get Rio untacked and put away before the down poor came, but didn't quite make it to my car so I ended up getting drenched anyways... At least we weren't out with the horses in it. That would have been a nightmare! It was raining so hard I couldn't see where I was going walking back to the car. And, when I finally did get the courage up to try driving in it the streets were pretty flooded and there was a giant tree branch down in the rode. 

Sky & Crystal... last weekends ride. 

Out of all the craziness one thing was solidified for me. My horse trusts me and I trust him... wow have we come a long way in a short couple of years. Rio used to spook at every thing and be high energy on the trail pulling, and racing through it and generally being a nut. Tonight of all nights when he had every reason in the book to be spooky... rain, thunder, lightening, wind, cantering toward home, other spooky horses, being left behind a bit by said horses,  and wild horse eating animals... he did not spook once, not even a flinch... I could tell his energy was up, but he listened to every single cue I gave him. 

When its all said and done it makes for a good story I can tell my kids some day, but I don't think I'll be doing any more pre-storm rides... I'll let Megan the brave and Crystal the crazy have fun with that.... then again who   
                                                            knows!

I could take a lesson from Fergus...
If you haven't seen Jean Abernathy's cartoon... totally go do a search fro Fergus the Horse!

`

Check out the rain...

For my friends...

I Blame It On Them...

My mom recently threatened to set up a match.com account for me... apparently she's decided I need to get a move on and get married. I even had my friends threatening to do the same thing on E-Harmoney tonight.Aside from a few bad past relationships and a crappy family life growing up, I blame my lack of a social life, and a guy on my horse and these three girls....

Above - Megan & Belle, Rio & I, Crystal & Sky
Below - Christian & Rio

 I've always had an obsession with horses, but it seems to have grown ten fold since I found people to ride with who have the same goals as I do. When I was a kid I was more then happy to have my little rescue horse and be able to ride at all. But, when we'd attend the National Western or go out trail riding at the local hack stable I'd find myself wistfully wishing I had a horse I could show, or at the very least other riders my age to hang out with. I wanted to join the Westernaires (if you don't know who they are check them out by clicking the link) so badly even tough I was not a western rider just to be around other kids who rode more seriously. My parents just did not have the time or finances to support those dreams, and as I got older and took on the majority of the horse expenses myself through high school, college, and on to adulthood neither did I.

Growing up I got my fix from reading the Saddle Club series, and daydreaming what it might be like to go riding with characters Stevie, Lisa, and Carol weather it be going to a schooling show, riding on a haunted Halloween Trail Ride, or taking horses out camping and getting lost in the woods. I read every horse book known to man, and watched every horse movie, and on the rare occasion I got to take my little mare to a 4-H meeting with neighbors down the road who had a trailer I lived for it despite the fact she pretty much hated leaving home and would spend the hour trying to find a way to buck me off.

Moving from the small backyard properties I grew up with and into my first real boarding barn setting in College was a step in the right direction towards achieving my goals of riding with a group and working towards showing, but even then it was difficult to juggle.

When I moved to the Central Florida area I got my first real exposure to off sight trail rides with my gelding who, unlike my barn sour little quarter horse mare, actually loves trail riding. And, in the last year I had the opportunity to meat up with the three aforementioned culprits shown above.

I fallowed them to our current barn even though I loved Seminole Stables where we'd been for a couple of years because having my own little pony club of friends seemed to be falling into place... good things come to those who wait, pray daily, and work their butts off. Despite some drama with the current barn owner... a long story for another day... I'm still convinced that all things happen for a reason. Had I not moved to the barn we are at now I never would have met our current instructor, who in four lessons has made more progress with me and my Appaloosa horse then then our last dressage instructor did in a years worth of lessons. More on that in a future blog to be sure. And, with other friends to ride with weather its a training session in the ring or a road trip out to the trails its just that much more motivating to put in the effort to get to the barn consistently.

Riding 6-10 hours a week on top of working 60 hours a week has been a challenge. I'm often tired, and grumpy about the prospect of dragging myself to the barn at the end of a long day, but 20 minutes in and I don't want to leave. For once in my life I feel just a little bit like an athlete. And, for the first time since graduating college and moving further south I have  group of friends who all like riding as well... Riding pretty much is my social life...

So, I've come to the conclusion that I just need to find a guy who will tolerate, or better yet love horses and the horsey lifestyle as much as I do, because I don't see that part of my life changing anytime soon.

Anyone know a single cowboy?

Happy Birthday Rio!

Birthday Boy

Wednesday April 17'th marked Rio's fourteenth birthday and 8 years under my care and ownership. Wow has time flown by! 

No matter how old I get I will always have a little bit of kid inside me, and yes I am one of those crazy people who celebrate their animal's Birthdays and treat them like family. So you can bet we celebrated this year just like we do every year. But, this year was especially special because I had 3 amazing friends to celebrate along side. 

Rio got his annual overdose of treats including peppermints from his second mom Christian, giant carrots from the farmers market provided by Aunties Megan and Crystal and I brought out apples and cookies... 

I figured since cake wasn't such a huge hit the last two years (see The Birthday Cake Massacre) we'd try sugar cookies.  They were a much bigger hit!

And, while Rio may be turning 14 I think it was me who hit an early midlife crisis. After we finished our treats we spent the afternoon taking pictures and doing stupid things like around the world... pure pressure at its finest ladies and gentlemen. You'll notice I was smart enough to NOT tell my friends about the movie function on my camera until after I'd been successfully hazed into completing the game myself... at which point I let Megan video everyone else... I'm sure they'll be payback coming my way in the not so distant future. 

  

Rio & Christian

We finished out the afternoon with a nice quiet trail ride. It felt a bit nostalgic... like we could have been taken from the pages of the classic kids book series "The Saddle Club" that is near and dear to most preteen horse loving girls of the nineties, 

myself not with standing. Over all it was a great day, filled 

with fun, and I am beyond blessed. 

                                                                                                                                                            

                   

 

 

Do not attempt this at home...

The Elusive & Rare Equigiraffe...

Its believed a new highbred species of equine has been spotted at a local barn in the Central Florida area. The tree eating animal is believed to be a cross of Equine (Equus Ferus) and the Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata). 

The newly termed Equigiraffe is an extremely sensitive animal, often picky and opinionated towards its fellow equine counterparts and in its diet as was evident when the equigiraffe was offered a cookie alongside other horses during the recent siting. The species has a catlike independent personality. 

Though occasionally stubborn when put to work the new breed appears to love jumping! 

The equigiraffe (pictured) is believed to be one of only a few existing, but further studies are being observed. 

For Megan.... lol.

Love My Vet... Just Say'n

In dreamland post sedation to recheck his tooth

Rio had his dental re-check this morning. We went in expecting to pull the tooth and the ligaments around the remainder of the tooth had actually tightened up around the tooth and healed. Rather then traumatize him again the vet opted to leave the remainder of the tooth. We'll recheck again in six months when his fall vaccines are due. Awesome! In the mean time I get to rinse his mouth with salt water 2-3 times a week to help keep any food from building up and causing another infection back there. Here's hoping he stays healthy and problem free.

While I'd have liked to avoid putting him through 2 sedations and two hours of torture... and the unexpectedly larger vet bill it was an educational experience. I knew that horse's teeth continually erupted through the gum line as they wore down through out life. I knew the reason for annual dentals... that their teeth often ware unevenly leaving sharp points. I never stopped to think about the fact that different teeth come in at different stages in their early life and that because they continually grow and come in at different rates the roots of the teeth are actually very tough and long. Some teeth are harder to pull then others depending on the age of the horse, and that is what happened to Rio. The good news is that while the whole tooth was loose initially it looks like everything is healing up now that the cracked peace has been removed and the infection is gone. Obviously its better he keep the tooth then loose it so I was happy. 

Took advantage of the drugs to trim & pull his mane... long overdue!
Was the easiest mane pull ever!

I love my vet. He treats my horse like his own every time he sees us. He always calms my nerves even if its just a phone call with questions about how to do something, and unlike some of the vets in the area he really is in it for the best of the horse and  not for the money. Rocky only does what is absolutely necessary. He could have pulled the tooth. He could have charged me for more work then was really needed. Not only did he not do that, but he only charged me a half a trip fee. He didn't charge a re-exam fee or a fee for the sedation (usually a $40 fee). He could have easily gotten another $100-$150 out of me today even only rechecking the tooth, but he charged me $25.... and then drove back after he realized he forgot to drop my coggins when he could have just as easily e-mailed it to me and moved on... he is truly worth his wait in gold. I've met plenty of bad vets and farriers in the last 3 years since moving to the central Florida area, but I think I've finally lucked out and have a decent team lined up in my horse's court. 

Spring break starts in less then 10 days and we are good to go and healthy just in time to hopefully take our first lesson with the trainer at the barn over the break. We are definitely in a good place!

If The Tooth Fairy Visited Animals...

As an ESE teacher working primarily with elementary aged kids it seems like at least once a week some kid is enthusiastically showing me a tooth they lost, or at the very least a loose tooth that's just about ready to pull. I usually respond with the cursory "oh wow how cool!" " You'll have to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy!... how much you think you'll get for it?" When I was a kid... and I'm not "That" old the going rate for a tooth was fifty cents maybe seventy five. Do you know what the going rate is these days!?!? I've had kids tell me anything from a few dollars to $20... really?!!!

If the tooth fairy were real... I wonder what she'd pay for the mammoth size tooth that came out of my horse's mouth this morning... I don't know what it is, but apparently I have bad luck with animals and their teeth. My dog Buster has had a dental every 2 years his entire life when most dogs have maybe one or two in a lifetime. Rio gets his teeth done on average every 18 months. My animals are better taken care of then I take care of myself... literally! I have not been to the dentist in at least 5 years! Though I do have plans to go this summer... but I digress.  I make sure they get routine care to AVOID more expensive problems in the long run and yet some how I've had both my pets crack a tooth that ultimately had to be pulled with in the last 6 months. Poor Buster had a tooth pulled when he was under for surgery to remove tumors a few months ago. The funny thing was that the vet said he probably didn't need a dental, but I had it done because he was already being put under... why sedate twice? And, they happen to realize the tooth was cracked and pull it. 

Apparently Rio's teeth are as stubborn as he can be (typical Appaloosa!) because the vet spent 2 hours trying to pull the tooth and was only able to get the cracked piece of tooth out of his mouth despite the the whole tooth being very loose. He'll be back in a week to re-check it. We're hoping it comes out on its own once it loosens up a little bit more. In the mean time he's on antibiotics to keep it from getting more infected then it already is. The crazy thing is I had know idea anything was wrong in either animals case. Both times they were supposed to be a routine dental. The only sign that maybe Rio's mouth was bothering him at all was his slightly crankier attitude about initially taking the which I had chalked up to a re-occurance of former bad habit. Once the bit was in he rode fine. In fact he's been collecting and coming into the bit better then every lately. And, of course nothing about my animals is ever ordinary. Apparently a lot of horses will have the fourth molar crack or rot  when they reach their teens and into early senior hood, but not Rio... nope it was his fifth molar which is almost always not a problem and which happens to have a longer root because of the order the teeth come in as babies and the age of the horse making it harder to pull. In both cases it is a good example of why routine care is better. Had I waited until I did know there was a problem it would have been 10 times worse. 

I am super lucky to have a great vet as well. A friend of mine opted to have a holistic equine dentist out for a third of the cost, but all I could think as I was holding my horse for the vet this morning was what if I'd had this sketchy dentist out (they don't sedate) and they'd had to deal with this issue... would they even have caught it? For sure there's no way they could have even attempted pulling the tooth with out sedation. Now mind you, I'm not cracking using a specialized dentist. But, a good one who has the proper tools and uses sedation is about as expensive if not more so then going to a good vet anyways. And, finding a good one with proper accreditation is hard. 

It was also, yet again, another example of why its so important to have an emergency fund set up...  Rio's non routine dental ended up costing twice what I had budgeted to have this done... and lets face I work my but off to be able to justify having him at all... totally worth it though! I'm just glad we caught it before it became a bigger issue. 

Poor Rio gets to have his feet done tomorrow as well... poor guy is going to hate me by the end of the weekend, but at least it will all be out of the way. And, he gets a week off with plans to be spoiled rotten so in the long run he'll be happy and feeling better. 

Hopefully next time Rio & I update our handful of readers we'll have had a lesson and be making good progress. Until then Rio sends hugs & asks for carrots!

Hurry Up & Wait...

Busy as always I haven't had many opportunities to sit down and write a blog update. Course I haven't seen my horse in almost 2 weeks either! Between rainy weather, sinus infections, and 50-60 hours of work a week riding has been a bit hit or miss lately. 

I finally made it to the barn this weekend though. The plan was to get Rio's spring cogins, vaccinations and annual dental done. And, of course mother nature chose this weekend to freeze out Florida with with ungodly cold temperatures... at least for FL... I know my Colorado friends and others who live up North are laughing at me. 

I got up early, got to the barn groomed Rio for his annual cogins photo and then patiently sat waiting for the vet to show... Rocky is almost always late, but about an hour in with no phone call I started to wonder what was up. He never did show or even call so I have a hunch his wife who keeps up all the appointments probably did not get it in the books correctly... frustrating considering my schedule is so full that it could take a few more weeks to get it re-booked on a day I can be present. 

On the plus side our friend (we'll call her M for the purposes of this blog) showed up as well and kept me company for 2 hours at which point M & I decided to saddle up and go for a ride despite the cold wind. 

I was very happy with our ride. Having not been out in a while we worked for a solid hour with out getting too tired. Rio was really pretty good considering the cold weather and wind are usually an excuse to jump out of his skin. We did mostly trot work. Varying size circles, figure eights, serpentines and bending lines with a focus on bringing his head down and his back & top line round. Once warmed up he went quite nicely keeping a solid rhythm and pace while maintaining his contact with the bit. He has a tendency to lean on me and let his shoulder fall in or become counter bent when I get tired, but a lot of that is lack of conditioning on both our parts. 

I'm hoping we get a chance to take a lesson sometime in the next few weeks. Day light savings time will make it much easier for me to get out and ride consistently. Still trying to decide on how much time if any to spend in California this summer. It sure would be nice to know I've got some income for the summer and to spend time with my friend, but man will I miss riding, especially if we make some headway with lessons and riding consistency in the next 2 months. 

What would you do?