Keeping It Real

Patrick and I spent another three days luxuriating up in the Sierra two weeks ago. We slept late, lounged around reading for most of the day, and then went out and rode 6-9 miles in the late afternoon - just about perfect.

Of course the weekend was not without its hiccups. On Friday evening Uno dumped me while we were out on our rehab ride. It was partly my fault - the day before I'd given him the day off, reasoning that he'd be in the trailer for 2.5 hours so that could count instead. All that it actually did was fill him with joy and enthusiasm so that within five steps of our first trotting session he began to leap about, leaving me dolloped in the thick soft grass (how glad was I that I opted to ride him in the meadow, rather than the hard dirt road in camp?). Friday Fergus also undid his halter and we glanced up to see him wandering off.

On Saturday, while trying to scratch his head, Uno managed to catch a back leg on his overhead tie rope and flip himself over, wrapping the soft cotton rope around his pastern in the process and trussing himself up like a goat. Thank goodness for quick release snaps and for cotton ropes. He has a rope burn and is gimping around very pathetically, but will mend in time. Luckily he doesn't seem to have wrenched anything from thrashing around.

I've been using overhead ties for years and this is the first time I've had a horse get tangled up. No containment system is perfect, but overhead ties such as EasyCare's HiTie are quick and easy to use - and about as safe as you can make them for horses who's main aim in life seems to be injuring themselves. That said, I think I will be investing in another couple of Clips to provide more safety.

Sunday morning, Fergus also managed a Houdini escape involving unsnapping two quick release snaps and completely demolishing his cotton rope. I still have no idea what he did and how he did it, but with both Jackit and Uno tied to the trailer, he wasn't going to go far.

And on Sunday I also managed to fall off Jackit. Frankly I was surprised it took this long - there's not that much real estate to balance on. It wasn't either of our faults really - we were trotting along at high speed following Patrick and Fergus and there was a tree down across the trail. Jackit knew there was a new trail to the right to detour the obstacle and started to turn, only to realise that Fergus was still going straight. There was a moment of indecision on both our parts as to which direction we were going and I opted for right while Jackit chose left. He looked pretty shocked that I'd come off, while it just made me laugh. Falling 2' does give you bruises, but not a lot else.

Over the three days we managed to ride about 25 miles  (a miracle in itself, given how lethargic we were), including a really fun cross-country exploration. This wasn't preplanned - we'd originally just intended to ride across the meadow and through the trees to some lakes, but the ridge to the east beckoned and off we went. I felt a little badly because Fergus was only wearing Gloves on his front feet, barefoot in the back, and the barren volcanic ridge was pretty abrasive in places, but Fergus seemed to take it in his stride and didn't seem at all ouchy. Jackit's little feet were encased in Gloves all weekend - I just loosened the gaiters in between rides.

We even came across several patches of snow - quite odd for the end of August. Neither pone was sure what to make of it. Fergus approached with extreme caution, then promptly ran away.

On the last day, we again rode out towards the waterfall, as we had on our previous visit. This time we didn't go as far as the rock steps, but did encounter Jackit's arch nemesis - the Large Boulder of Death.  I'm unclear why this particular boulder is considered such a hazard, but we spent a few minutes sniffing it and insisting that he walk past it in a calm, adult fashion.

And of course the trail did require some clambering:

A great long-weekend - and now I'm home, I'm eyeing various sets of feet with dismay. How did they get so long?? Has it already been *four* weeks? Apparently so.