Cooley Ranch part 3 the end.

So I was hoping for more pictures to post of Rifle from the ride but Cyd can't get them off her camera :( On a better note I do have another video of him up on youtube. http://youtu.be/O-du3AloiIo

On to the ride. We started out the third and final loop with all four boots on both horses. We're hot and tired but know we are almost to the end and are grateful to go back through the river and get wet. So back through the river, down the road, turn at the house and oops, there goes Rifle's front boot. Cyd jumps off to get it but the wire holding the boot together has broken and I can't fix it on the trail. As I keep thinking Rifle is going to sell I didn't have a spare boot. There was a size two epic in the saddle bag but I had tried it on him before and it would not go on. But as our horses have done lots of conditioning barefoot we decide to keep on going with Rifle missing a front boot. Now I had not ridden this loop before and did not know the next part was through a river bed for several miles. I started to get a bad feeling as this was a lot of rocks to be walking on with no protection. Just as I was about to try and rig something we went back to the dirt trail. We had caught up with our riding buddies at the river bed and we all continued on with them only loosing a boot once and the rest of ours staying on.
We jump off to go down the big hill and Cyd had me taking pictures with her camera. I put it in my helmet then about 5 min later got tired of carrying it and attached the helmet to my saddle. Yep, no surprise we got to the bottom when I realized I lost Cyd's camera. We are so tired and don't know exactly where the camera is and can't bear the though of going back. Hmm, I bet Forrest will let us borrow the 4-wheeler later and we can come back and get it. So down the trail a bit farther and thank goodness we have completed the circle and are back to the road. Now I start worrying about all the gravel on the way up to the hill and camp. We decide to stop and see if I can rig the epic to stay on. I take it out and pop, on it goes with no problems. I was so upset with my self. The boot went on easy and I could have saved Rifle around 8 miles of barefoot some with rocks. Oh well, up the hill and back to camp. We made it but we took the full 12 hours with all our boot and other problems. Rifle pulsed in at 48 and got all A and A-'s on his vet card.
After this ride and all our trouble I am a bit tired and have decided to just have some fun trail riding for awhile. Plus we need to work on getting the barn up. So next race is I know you rider in WY on July 28th.

Cooley Ranch - Part Two, the part where it got frustrating

So off we go on loop two. After a good 1hr and 15min break the horses are feeling great and had a long snack with lots of drinking only 10 miles in. I used up the last of my athletic tape on one of Kate's hinds and had scavenged around in Cyn's trailer luckily finding another roll on the floor. Used some of that on the other hind with a precious little bit left to take on the trail. I also threw in a roll of duck tape just in case lol. So starting out both horses with all four boots on, Kate has 10 miles barefoot on her hinds.
We go down the road, through the river and down the ranch road up the dirt atv track over the hill and wow another boot comes off. This time it's Rifle (can't remember front or hind). So irritating, stop in a shady grassy spot and back on it goes only 2 miles into the loop. Another five miles or so down one of Rifle's fronts come off. This time Cyd decided to try vet wrap as we have precious little athletic tape left. Since she was down she did the other front too. Oops, big mistake. Ten feet down the the trail both fronts come off. Another 8 mins or so and both are back on using up the last of the athletic tape. On we go, nope Kate's hind comes off, hmm duck tape how well will you work? At this point we are dead last and like 30min behind the people in front of us. Then we started hearing voices, maybe we're going crazy. Nope two stranglers who got lost and did 6 extra miles come up behind us. Now I helped mark parts of this loop and have ridden it before so they decided to stay with us and have a tour guide. The funny part is they are barefoot and booted too. So while we are all patient while someone fetches a boot one of their horses has been loosing boots all day too. Well we made it back to the vet check with one of Kates fronts coming off which I duck taped back on, Rifles hinds coming off several times and we decided to leave them off the last 5 miles and our new friends loosing boots several times too. BOOTS SUCK! But crossing the river before the vet check, Forrest told us about a deep spot and we got to SWIM! That cold water up to our knees felt really good.


They both were down when we came in and vetted in with all A's, they had actually improved in the last 18 miles lol. As there were only a few people there we got nice spots to tie them in the shade under trees and they both munched down. The lady in front of us pulled as she was very tired and then the vet sent us on our way. Our riding buddies left before us as we were not organized. But a few minutes later we were on our way with all four boots on again, and lots of duck tape :)

Cooley Ranch - Part One

Well Cooley was fun, but also a long hard stressful day. Bad enough that I think I will take a break for a bit. It started off good. The night before I put Rifles boots on trying a small amount of goober glue for padding around his frog. I put Kates front boots on with goober glue but as her back boots can rub I left them off. My lovely husband got up around three and feed the horses for us so I did not have to get up till 4:30am. My friend Cyd agreed to ride Rifle for me so we went and caught our horses about 5am. Now the fun started. I knew I was running low on goober glue so I had borrowed some from Cynthia the night before. It took what I had left and hers just to do one boot. Crap, now I have to find more. Thank goodness Cynthia had another tube. A passing stranger helped me get it in the gun and I though I was set. No, now it won't come out. So I woke my husband up with a plea for help. He finally got it working, well it exploded but we had enough glue to finish the last boot. So running a bit late after all this and out comes E, the junior I was sponsoring at 10min till the start and she had just caught her horse. Ahh, we're going to be late. All three of us helped her tack up Joey and we hopped on to start 15min late.
As we have not had time for a warm up we walk down the trail. Thank goodness the antsy people were long gone so our horses were happy to walk. Not even 5 min down the trail Kate starts getting pissed at her boots. One comes off and then the other. Wet goober glue, not a good thing. Learned this the hard way. So I attach the unbroken one to my saddle and carry the other as the gator tore off. We finish the first mile where we cross the road and I stashed the broken boot to pick up later. The next four or so miles are all hills, we made quite good time going up and down repeatedly and came into the vet check. I stopped to ask the vet if it was ok to keep riding with my hind boots until the hold in about 6-8 miles. He was quite laid back and said sure, just come back sound lol. So out we went for the second part of the loop.
Now it was my junior E's turn to have problems. She was riding Joey in a different saddle than the last race as his old one was not fitting. They had been on several conditioning rides and had no problems so we all assumed it was fine. Then he started bucking. Thank goodness she is a good rider and was not bothered by it. We assumed it would stop soon, but no he consistently bucked the rest of the loop. Humm, is it the saddle or something else. We came into the vet check and my mare was already down as I had been on the ground walking for the last few miles. Rifle took 1-2 min to come down but boy was he down at 52bpm. Then I look around for E and Joey, they're standing at the beet pulp and he's no where near down. My wonderful husband takes my horse and I go help her splash water on Joey. He comes down in another 5 min and we all head over to our pile of gear. We let Kate and Rifle munch for a minute while we get organized then over to vet through. Both pass easily, I think Kate had a B for gut sounds but all other A's. We check in with E and Joey and bummer, he has no gut sounds. They say he can go on only if he eats well during the hold. Well after spending an extra 45min at the vet check after our hold time is over Joey is still no looking great so they pull. So sad for E and Joey, but eager to get going on the second loop as we are last out of the vet check. Now we have lost an hour time wise but at least we are heading out and both horses have all four boots on.
To be continued.....

Riding in CA

We arrived in Eureka on Tues night and Wed night went for a lesson with my trainer S. My husband Bob is a great natural rider but had never taken a lesson before. I was so excited for him to take one with S because she had a western and english background and really focus on improving the rider, not just the horse. When Bob took his lesson I tacked up and hoped on Rifle. Now I incorrectly assumed S would not like Rifle but to my surprise she loved him! Though he would be a great Dressage horse and perfect for pony club. I ended stealing some of Bob's lesson so we could play with Rifles lateral work and canter transitions. He was so calm and laid back and had a prefect metronome trot and canter. He is a pleasure to ride in the arena especially compared to everything else I own lol.
On Sat I left Eureka for the Cooley Ranch Endurance Ride. Forrest and Cynthia put on this rider and they are Rifles owners. I love this ride and was so happy to go down early and help set it up. Sat night Bob and I went for a quick ride so he could see some of the trails before he went back to Eureka. He rode Ike and I rode Rifle ponying Kate. F & C's horses were loose on the 30 acres and they came to follow us down the trail. The start of our ride was along their fence line and it was so cute to see the herd galloping up the hills. This was the first time though that Rifle has really prepared to spook. As the herd galloped up it made a ton of noise and he hunkered down like the world was going to end. The funny part was that he did not actually move his feet and when he saw it was the horses he was fine. I though for a moment we were going to go somewhere lol. The rest of the ride was calm as normal. Up hill, down hill and over dale.
On Tue we had some spare time in the morning and Forrest said I could mark the start. Decided to take Rifle as Kate had done some trail marking the day before. We saddled up and headed out alone. He tried a few times to turn and walk back but was easy to persuaded to keep going out. It was great to ride a horse that moves well off your leg when putting up ribbons in strange places. He is so nice to ride alone. Does not whinny, spook or have any anxious behaviors after the first 10 feet from the gate. He was happy to trot and canter along on a loose rein and eager to speed up when asked. We even too a detour off a side trail and checked out a donkey. On the way back into base camp we came up to the gate and I wondered if he would open it. I have never tried opening gates off him as we condition on public trails and there are no gates. This one is a tricky one to do from in the saddle but I though it was worth a try. He stood quietly as I leaned over and undid the clip and pushed open the gate. Had to take two tries to push it shut but the second time he figured it out. Rifle had to stand still while I grabbed the gate, then walk forward into the gate while keeping me steady so I could hold it. Then stand still as I dropped my reins and had to use both hands hanging off the saddle to grab the chain, wrap it around and clip the snap. He did it! I was so surprised and proud of him. Rifle, the gate opener and closer extraordinaire.

Traveling Home

Rifle was the superstar on our trip home. Out of the three horses he was the only one that would drink at the lunch stop and he drank a full bucket each day. He also ate two full hay bags worth of hay each day plus cleaned up his regular dinner at night. I have posted two videos of him loading into the trailer. The first was unplanned, thought I would see what he would do if he was loose and it was time to go. No surprise, he jumped in without us even touching him. He was slightly confused as to what I wanted but with a few kisses he figured it out. http://youtu.be/V86mg5kYLHI The second is how I normally load him, just toss his lead rope over his back and he self loads even when he's the first one in. http://youtu.be/MZVahB6s4oM Sorry they're sideways, I can't edit video from my phone so you also get to hear us talking lol. Side Note: No, I don't travel with the bars down on the windows. I just opened them to offer the horses water at the lunch stop.

New Video

Finally got the video of Rifle running loose in the pasture online. This is just three days after doing his first 50. http://youtu.be/FfgO02e35wc

First 50 mile race

Check out the video of Rifle on the ride: http://youtu.be/789vNjbs5_k

We did it, Rifle and Kate completed their first 50's and Bob his first endurance ride. It was a long ride, 55 miles in 11.5 hrs but everyone came through looking great. The ride was about 3hrs from home. They both traveled quietly and as normal Rifle ate his whole hay bag and Kate ate maybe one bite. We arrived and parked then let the horses loose in the arena to run around and roll. We tried to get everything ready the night before but of course had a few hang ups in the morning. It was a controlled start and was about 10 min late. We left about 5 min after at a walk on a loose rein, just out for a trail ride :). After a extra warm up walk we started to move out when Bob and I both noticed how calm Rifle was. Now he is normally calm on trail rides but the last race he was prancing and did not want to settle down for several miles. The calmness was actually un-nerving and we took the first 15 miles quite slow. There was a vet check for the 30's then and after we checked and did a few tack repairs while the horses ate we went on. At this point we had been getting passed quite frequently and Rifle seemed to perk up and realized we were on a ride so we started moving out. For the next 15 miles he looked and acted normal, willing to slow down but happy to move out as well. So beside a few pictures stops and water breaks we trotted back to camp. About a mile out we hopped off and walked in as my mare is hard to pulse down. It did the trick as Rifle was way down and her just down as soon as we entered camp. We went back to the trailer and un-tacked letting them eat for a few minutes before back over to the vet. Both looked great at the vet check, Rifle had A's and one B. My husbands knee is in recovery so I trotted them both out at the same time to everyone's amusement. Rifle ate all his bucket and ate grass hay till we were ready to go. For the first time my mare actually ate decent too!

Back to the trail we had another 14 miles till the next stop which was a pulse and 30min hold. We made good time trotting along with a few water and grass breaks until we came to the HILL. Ok now to explain, steep downs used to be one of my biggest fears. Probably since I broke and trained my youngster who had very wobble legs and almost fell down a few with me. As we came up to this one I saw it was quite steep but as my mare is very sure footed I decided to give it a try. I told Bob he had to stay on too as on a previous hill he was constantly slipping on the gravel and had slightly hurt his ankle. At 15+ miles to go we could not afford for him to twist it. Down we went, and down, and down, then down some more. Now Kate's style is to barrel down the hill at a fast walk. She actually did quite well even that fast and did not slip once. Rifle prefers to take little steps and tip toe down so I had time to take video and pictures.

After we started down it was not too bad until the second down when my mare started refusing. We went a bit sideways and had several balks but eventually made it down. Not Rifle, he just kept on trucking down one step at a time. Between the hill and the footing down to the vet check we did not make good time. Right before the check was a small pond and after Rifle led in as Kate's not fond of water they got a good drink and their feet cooled off. When we came into the check it took a minute to come down after leaping out of the pond, they said since we were at the tail end it was up to us how long we stayed. At this point I knew it was a really long day and there were only two riders behind us. As 11 hrs is long 11.5 is long too so we might as well stay. The horses enjoyed eating a small bucket and we relaxed for about 20mins as they ate hay. Still 11 miles to go though so back up on the horse and out to the trail we went. We relaxed on the way home alternating trotting and walking. I knew the horses had another ride coming up in a few weeks and did not see the point in shaving off a few minutes by rushing home. Both horses looked great coming into camp, the riders not so much lol. Rifle was A's and two B's on his final vet card. We spent the night and let them out in the arena in the morning while we packed up camp. They felt fine the next morning as my mare did not want to be caught and Rifle followed trotting circles around me. Had a safe trip back home and they were happy to see their green pasture and went straight to grazing. Next race is Cooley Ranch 50 in CA and it will be interesting to see if Rifle is calm or excited.

Visiting California

So due to a death in the family I will be traveling home to CA the beginning on June. I will go through Nevada and up to Northern California visiting Eureka, Santa Rosa and Placerville area. For a serious inquiry I would be happy to detour so you could try out Rifle. We will be competing at Cooley Ranch in the 50 mile ride on either 6/9 or 6/10 which is in the Santa Rosa area. We plan on being around the first two weeks of June but plans are not definite yet.

Arena Day

Took everyone to the arena today. Now this is probably one of the more stupid things I do, please not too many lectures. But I take all four horses at the same time. As you can see from the pic I alternate riding the chestnut or black gelding, and always pony the mare with Rifle tied to her saddle. Now this was really easy when I only had three horses but it got more difficult with the fourth. Thank goodness Rifle is such a good boy and happily follows along. The only one who is a problem is the chestnut Ike who if I am riding he either goes to slow or fast and if I pony I have to drag him.

So we made it there and back safely. Everyone was a little hot today, not sure why maybe the irrigating this morning and them getting flooded lol. So Rifle started out a bit tense and jittery. We just walked around the arena for a few laps then started adding halts. He would not stand still at first but with several one rein stops he finally decided standing still was a lot easier. Tensed up again as we started trotting but relaxed after a few laps. Now when I say tense that's all I mean, no bad behavior he is just on alert trying to figure out what you want. I think he keeps expecting someone to tell him to rush or get mad at him but when I just wait him out he calms right down. He used to do this every couple of rides but has not done so in months. Something about today as all the ponies took extra patience in their own way. We did some leg yielding at the trot then went to canter. His canter is great, it is so easy for him to collect up and go slow or fast. He prefers to drop him head rather than go into a frame so we worked on that then added in leg yielding. We did some more work on transitions then called it a day as he was chill and I had two more to ride still. Totally calm on the way home. Had a big almost semi truck pass us rattling and a pack of small dogs charge us but did not even blink a eyelash. Several days off now and then his first 50 on Saturday.

New Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXyYo30h6g8&feature=share&list=ULiXyYo30h6g8 Finally got some video online from our ride a week or so ago. My husband came along on his gelding and took bouncy video but I wanted to show how chill Rifle can be. I rode Rifle and ponied my mare who is not easy to pony as she wants to race. Rifle was perfect! Walk, trot and canter on a loose rein and he did not care about the mare body slamming him or trying to take off. The video shows Rifle's base personality. Most days he is like this, calm and willing to do what ever you want. Occasionally the nervous side kicks in and he gets tense and wants to prance but you can calm him down quickly with your seat and half halts. Rifle is great to pony off and ponies great too. His first trip to the beach I ponied him off my black gelding and we went w/t/c and in the ocean. When we go to the arena here I tie him to my mares saddle and pony her and my husbands gelding off my black gelding. A bit crazy but a short walk through back streets lol. http://youtu.be/BQfnP2rJpA4

How to describe him

Rifle is what you would call a sensitive soul. When he does something wrong all you have to do is glare at him and say no then instantly he backs off and says sorry. He's the type of horse you can't get mad at when he's misbehaving or upset as it just make him worse. If you reassure him and tell him everything ok and he's fine or put him to work he calms right down. His base personality is very calm and laid back, but every now and again he gets nervous and needs something to focus on.

So after the endurance race I was not able to ride for 2.5 weeks. Wisdom teeth out, had to go to a flat track race ect. I am lucky enough to live about 1/2 mile from where I work and my boss is fine with my horses hanging out in one of her paddocks. So that day I decided to ride Rifle even though he had done nothing for awhile. Went out caught him, tacked up and hopped right one. We calmly rode down the street walk and trot on a loose rein, seriously I was riding on the buckle. With no exercise for 2.5 weeks and no lunging or anything he was totally chill. We passed goats, cows, horses, lawn mowers, big trucks pulling trailers and no reaction. Then of course he has to look funny at a overturned wheel barrow lol. We get to work and I decided to take him with us to the track. I load up the race horses and untie Rifle and he walks right into my boss's trailer which he has never been in, no hesitation at all. We get there, and he has been there at least 3 times before and when I tie him up he starts to panic. He paces back and forth and starts whinnying. I had race horses to deal with so I just untied him and threw him on the walker. Within a few minutes he settled down, stopped whinnying and just walked around. About 30 minutes later when the race horses were done I go pull him off, jump on and start riding around the track. We did four laps, trot, canter, hand-gallop and trot. He was not tired at all but that's about all there is time for before the race horses are cooled and ready to go. Load back up, put the race horses away, hop on and calmly walk on the buckle back home. Not sure what happened to make him scared at the track but all he needed was to go to work and he was fine. I love having a horse around that I can just jump on and go though. It save me a lot of gas money :)

Endurance

Picture is from the first ride of our season, Antelope Island 4/15 where Rifle complete the 25 mile race placing 5th with my friend Lindsy. We had a great ride with all three horses finishing. Rifle was slightly hyper at the beginning and wanted to prance but he calmed down as soon as we got to work. He pulsed down right away at the pulse and go and each vet check. He ate all of his bucket, had a drink and munched on hay until the lunch break was over. At the pulse and go on the way home he had a long drink and was quite relaxed. He was down when we crossed the finish line was passed his vet check with flying colors. We have been doing lots of other condition rides this winter with several people riding him including my husband who is a heavy weight rider. He does all of our training rides barefoot and goes over rock with no problems. For races he wears renegades and would also fit in easy boot wide gloves. His boots stay on without any tape or glue and he is a pleasure to boot up. On May 19th we plan to do a 50 at Hell's Kitchen. My husband will ride him accompanying me on my mare. Rifle goes in a Free n Easy English endurance saddle currently but he is very easy to saddle fit.

The start of Rifle's training

Above is a picture of my friend Barbara riding Rifle in a Western saddle on the trail. Rifle and I have done many things together over the winter. We started out working at Ricochet Ridge Ranch where I rode him on a riding vacation with about 20 other people on horses. He started out a little nervous in that big of a group and would prance while we walked along. He quieted down quickly with the use of half halts and my seat. By the end of the week he was confident riding in a big group and we had a lovely canter down the beach with about 10 other guests. He was one of the few horses in the group calmly cantering along with little rein contact. He was happy to be in the front and content to be in the back. This winter I started his training in Dressage and he is currently showing training level and training first level. With about 30 days of solid Dressage he would be showing first. He has great athletic ability and very even movement. He could easily go second or higher. We then progressed on to Jumping. Now I am not much of a jumper so we have mainly stuck with small jumps. He is great fun out on the cross country course flying over logs. He stays quite calm and is willing to walk, trot or canter over depending on what you tell him. His balance comes in handy canting up and down the hills into jumps. An educated guess would say his previous arena training had been western. He easily puts his head down during the canter and will start to collect underneath himself. He has a rough canter halt transition and with then canter on from a standstill. He neck reins in the arena and on the trail and will smoothly back up collected. We have just started to work in the arena with barrels and he will continue in training till sold.

The beginning - how Rifle came to live with me

My dear friend Forrest Tancer bought Rifle from Global Endurance Center in Moab Utah. Anyone who knows of their reputation knows they sell wonderful endurance horses. Forrest and Rifle did a successful 25 mile endurance ride together and Forrest took him home. Sadly Rifle and Forrest did not work out together. I was staying with Forrest at the time and had took over his conditioning and training. We meshed quite well and while I had two horses already I could not leave him behind. I took Rifle home with me with the plan being to sell him for Forrest in the spring. I have had Rifle for 9 months now and while I really enjoy him it is too much work to train and condition 4 horses myself. I am looking for a forever home for him where he can have his own person to love.