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.