Robbers Route NATRC Ride

Saturday at Robbers Cave State Park in Wilburton OK we awoke to kind of a foggy sky, and a bit humid. But no rain, or rain clouds! I was the first to time out, and we got with it and started moving out right away where we could.



This is one of the awesome photos Jim with Optical Harmonics takes at the rides. You can see more of his work here:


Optical Harmonics


Not knowing the trail, I had only heard how some sections were really slow, so to make time where you could. Even with that constant rain earlier in the week, the trails were not very muddy, and really, the footing was pretty darn good. Lots of rocks, and often downed trees to go over or around, but in general, not near as bad as I had imagined the trails would be. Because of the expected bad footing after the rain, they had slowed the ride down, and added a lunch stop for us on the trail. I packed Hank a “lunch” and made him a mash. I have a little campers sink that folds up and makes a great little tub for him to eat out of, then tucks into my saddle pack when done.



This vet is a condition, soundness type vet, and she saw us two times on the trail for metabolic checks, and then another back in camp along with a soundness check. Hard to keep track of all the numbers, but I was happy with how Hank was doing, with the exception of another lost pulse point. I was also glad I fed him the mash, as he, and many of the horses seemed to not like the water on the trail, so I at least got some food in him, and some water from the mash to keep his gut mobility going. We rode all day with Don, who rides a very nice Arab gelding named Khidd. He and Hank get along well, pace about the same. Don is always good for some interesting stories, and the time goes quick as we trot along.



Another photo by Optical Harmonics

The trail is 99% wooded, with just a few spots out in the open. Many single track trails, creek crossings, and rocky sections.




Even with the slower speeds, the trail was testing many of the horses with metabolic point loss.

Sunday was another foggy morning to start out.



Right after we left, the judges watched us cross a large creek, and up a bank. Then up the mountain we went. Again through the woods, and then the first P&R, which Hank did fine, and we were on our way again. The sun finally came out, and it was getting warmer, but still a bit humid. At the second P&R, we were in the sun, and I knew this would be one that could lose some points. I stripped Hanks saddle, had put water on him heading in to the stop from my water bottles, and fanned him to create a breeze. While we managed to slip through with no point loss, horses on both sides of me had point loss for high resperation, and a friends horse had pulse point loss. Not long afterwards, we came to a judging point. After last weekends refusal to back between the trees, I just had to laugh when that was exactly what we were to do. But, I had tried some things around camp earlier in the week, and decided to give it a try. I gave Hank a peppermint before asking him to do a thing, and had another one ready. Then I asked him to back between the trees, and he was perfect. We then had to side pass over a log, and again, perfect! I gave him his second mint then. I felt like I had won the Kentucky Derby he was so good. Maybe this will work. Will know after the next ride. We were on the home stretch, heading back to camp.



In the woods are some of the biggest mushrooms I have ever seen.




I had never ridden this ride, but I really enjoyed the trails, sights and challenges.

Hank checked out pretty good at the end, and I thought he had done well. But, you are never sure how the other horses have done. I was really needing him to place well for the points he was needing, and in the end, Hank got the Sweepstakes award again. After having some less than spectacular placings, this was a good boost, when I was questioning if we should keep going on this adventure. So now, we head to New Mexico in the morning. I guess Flag will get to go along again. Maybe he does help keep Hank happy when on these long hauls.

And if the blog seems a tad dull and scattered, I realize I am having trouble finding the time with all the travels to post during the rides, and then get in a hurry to type them out afterwards. Hopefully I can get back on track!

Onward to Oklahoma!

Left East Fork Stables Monday morning, to head to our next ride in Oklahoma. It did not make any sense to drive back home, then come right back up to the ride. Again, I did not have any firm plan on where to stop for the night. I decided to just see how I was feeling, and how the horses were doing. I made a stop near the Natchez Trace State Park in TN, and unloaded the horses, walked them a bit, and gave them each a mash to eat. The loaded up, to head back down the road. I had been told about another State Park, but really did not know just where it was. As late afternoon came on, I saw the sign for Village Creek State Park. It was about 14 miles off of the highway, but decided I had driven long enough today, and this looked like a good spot. Found the Equestrian Campground, and it had open air stalls for the horses, and nice spots for camping. The down side was that I crossed the grass to head for a shower and felt itching on my legs. CHIGGERS! Mean little buggers, but got them off me with some bug spray. The horses were settled in, and went to bed. Some time in the night, it started to rain, and pour, and thunder, and lightning. I was glad the horses were under cover, and the dog secure inside the horse trailer. I hit the road early, heading on to Oklahoma. Arrived mid afternoon, and put the horses in a couple corrals, then headed back to town, just 5 miles away, to grocery shop, do a load of laundry, and find the feed store for some more hay. Flag is not a big horse, but can sure eat a lot! Got done in town, and then settled on a campsite. Put up some high lines for the boys, so they could move some. The corrals were pretty yucky from recent rains, so not the best option for them. The laundry was not completely dry, so I had to hang it around inside the camper.



Sure could not hang it outside with the weather. Around midnight, it started to rain. Not hard, just a steady rain. It was not cold, so I did not bother to go put on their rain sheets. By morning, it had not stopped, and the horses were now in mud. And then it rained more. All day Wednesday it rained. I moved mud, raked, scraped, and dug. Tried to keep the water flowing away from the horses, and not puddling. Before sun up on Thursday, it stopped raining. I moved the trailer, changed where the boys were tied, and got them out of the mud, and on to drier ground. You can see where they had been tied, and how muddy it was in the foreground.




About 15 or so others showed up Thursday for the ride, so it was nice to have company after being all alone in camp for a couple days. Hank was convinced this was not a ride, and was shoving me with his nose on Wednesday, which is his saying he wants something. I really think he was ready to load up, and head down the road. After other horses arrived, he seemed to change, and was not being pushy. Maybe he does know that this IS indeed a ride!

I got up on the roof of the trailer to drop down Hanks other bale of Timothy hay. I had bought some nice water proof bale bags, bade out of heavy duty waterproof fabric. Well, they still managed to leak, and his hay is wet on one side. Of course it would be the Timothy, which is so expensive. I still have Timothy pellets, and some nice Bermuda hay, along with the Prairie grass hay I got in town, so they sure won’t go hungry.

By Friday afternoon, the camp was alive with riders for the NATRC ride, and some folks who came up to camp and pleasure ride for the weekend. Got Hank checked in, and my saddle bags checked for all the needed items, tack ready to go, and his breakfast for Saturday pre-made, so I could stumble out of the trailer before sun up, and hang up his bucket of mash, and go back in the camper to finish waking up. When he hears me move in the morning of a ride, he will usually whinny to tell me I better be getting him is breakfast soon! The weather was still unsure, but the chance of rain for the weekend had gone down.

Ride The Edge day Two

Sunday dawned clear. We had an early mounted trot for the vet at 6AM, for another 6:30AM ride out.



Todays trail gave us more lovely views as we headed a different direction from yesterdays trail. Hard to believe this is all private property.




Our first P&R went fine. As we left, the horsemanship judge wanted to have us do an obstacle. Bet you can’t guess what it was! Yep, back between two trees. But, the vet was watching too. Gee, think this is gonna get better if we keep asking the horse to do it? Nope…. So we have homework again, not that it will make a difference in Hanks mind. Lol Now it was time to head towards the climb I had heard about. I was out front, riding alone, which is our favorite place to be. The trail started a decent down, down, down. The walls of the mountain were looming above us with the tall rock walls.



Past an old mine



Then it opened up into a valley with beautiful little cabin.



After Hank drank from the spring behind the cabin, we headed across the meadow, and then started the climb up the other side. Up, Up, Up we went. This is our kind of trail. Rocks and climbs!



We got to the top, and could look down and see the little cabin which was just a speck off in the distance.




We had a couple mile loop up top, before our P&R. Again, no points lost! Hoping we are back to normal for his pulse checks. As we left the P&R, we had a mount for the judges, from the off side. After a long weekend of riding, this tested those who were feeling the miles of the weekend. Now we were on the home stretch, heading back to camp. We ran into the team of mules and the wagon again. Glad they did not go through the P&R area when I was there!

We finished up, and did our check out, and metabolic check for the day. Hank was again fine, and moved out so nice at the end, his Movement, Attitude and Willingness went up. So, no points lost all weekend for condition or soundness, but his obstacles (backing between trees) cost him. He ended up placing 5th in the class of 8 or 9 horses. I was hoping for a 4th or better.

Now off to Oklahoma…….

Ride The Edge NATRC, day 1

Ride out at 6:30AM. The sunrise was trying to break through A light fog that had settled around camp.



After we timed out, we had our first obstacle for the vet, which was a muddy area in the trail to cross, that had some limbs scattered around. Hanks kind of obstacle. These make sense to him, and he walked right on through. Another ½ mile or so down the trail, the horsemanship judge had a ditch and bank to deal with. Hank decided that he found a better method of getting up the bank than stepping nice, and leaped up it. He is so strong on the hind quarters, this is his usual method. He gets the job done well, but not as pretty as a horse who steps slowly up and over.

The morning was a bit cool, so I pushed to try to get some time made early, as I was not sure it would stay cool all day, and we had a long day ahead of us. The sun was starting to shine down between the trees.



We found a pocket to ride alone, and cruised on down the trail. Much of this area is on the Cumberland Plateau, and the trail often went along the edge, giving us some lovely views. Here the tops of the mountains are peeking above the fog in the valley



We had our first P&R, and I was hoping Hanks issue with losing pulse points was behind him. While not really hot, I pulled his saddle, and he stood there and fell asleep, and did not lose any points. We had another vet obstacle, which we were to back between a couple trees. Remember my schooling him on this very thing on Friday? I knew this vet would ask for this sort of back through. Well, Hank being Mr. Opinionated, decided that he was still mad from yesterday. I stayed very calm, showed him the trees, and turned to back, but he decided to back between two bushes instead, and would not line up on the trees. Getting in a fight was not going to do me any good, so we had a “Did Not Complete”. That cost us some points. Not sure why he has blocked to this, unless he is just not trusting me to not get him hurt by running into a tree or something. We practice at home some, and he does it. Oh well. We later had a side pass that was a bit tricky. A log that slowly got closer to a bank, so that the horse had only about 12” between the log and the bank to put their feet, and they had their head up over the 2’ bank. Remember my mentioning Hank likes to just jump up banks? Well, he decided that it would be a much better idea to do just that, when we got to the area that was so tight for his feet. As I have said before, I never know how he will process something. Arabs often are thinking a few steps ahead of their rider, and that is something that I actually like, is they will take care of themselves. But once and awhile, I wish Hank would turn his brain off, or at least slow it down. Lol We had our other P&R, and again, no points lost! Whew. Somehow I ended up way ahead of time, and when I got to the 2 mile point, I found that I had some time to kill, along with many of the other riders.



As we waited, we heard some jingle noise, and saw a wagon pulled by a pair of mules come up the trail. Most of the horses did not care, and Hank was very curious, and had to go get a closer look.




It was time to head in to camp, and we rode in pretty much in a group. Some of the riders were in a cheery, singing mood, and shared a song or two with us as we ended our 36+ mile ride.

(video to follow)



After returning to camp, the vet did his one metabolic check for the day after we had been in awhile. Hank was fine, with no points lost. Tomorrow we have 18 miles to ride, but a good climb that some have told me about.

What state am I in?

I have lost all track of time. I left last week to head to our ride in Tennessee. Heading out Tuesday AM, with the plan to arrive some time Wednesday, to give Hank some time to rest and relax before the ride. I did not have a confirmed over night place for Tuesday night. Not knowing the road and route, I decided to just sort of wing it, and find a place. I actually had a list of places that I could stay. I decided in the late afternoon to shoot for the Agri-Center East of Memphis. It is a fairgrounds, that advertises having stalls to over night horses. I tried to call them, but it went to voice mail. So, I figured I’d just head there, and figure it out. As I got close, I saw the lights of the amusement park against the dark sky. Great, the fair is going on. Hope the stalls are not all filled. A parking attendant pointed me towards the barn area, which then required I pull the rig through a temporary gate that was about 2” wider than my trailer fenders.



Not a great pic, but this is the gate we had to get through in the dark.

With some creativity, we finally had to undo the gate, and shift it for the trailer, as getting the trailer lined up was not going so well. Finally through, I found that there were NO other livestock, and only a couple horses in a pen. Found some stalls, got the boys put to bed, and headed that way myself. But I managed to get about 8 mosquitoes in my camper, who were bent on having a bedtime snack on ME. I finally figured out that if I flipped on the light in the bathroom, they would go that way, and then my fly-swatter in hand showed them they had feasted their last meal.

Next morning, the boys and I rested, we headed off on our last 300+ miles. Oh, did I mention I brought Flag along to keep Hank company on this trip, since we would be gone almost 2 weeks from home. Figured maybe Hank would be happier with a friend. I must be nuts to take along an extra to feed and care for, along with the dog who has her own set of issues. Thelma, who is 9 years old has some Polyps in her butt. Kind of the form of doggie hemorrhoids. So, she thinks she has to go poo all the time. And it takes forever for her to get the job done. So, every time we stop, she starts with the 10-15 min. routine of wandering around in the squatting position, trying to do the doo. Frustrating if one is in a hurry to get going again. At least when she is in the truck, she crashes and is asleep until we stop again.

We finally arrived at East Fork Stables. This is a 12,000 acre private property with a campground with electric spots, stalls, show ring, store, and all the trails we would be riding. I was not sure what camp sites were ours for the ride,so I parked for awhile, then later found the ride manager, who told me what site numbers were ours for the weekend. Moved, and got a nice spot that I did not have to high line the horses. I could use my Hi-Ties on the trailer, with the horses standing in dirt, not gravel. But later, I found out that I had been misinformed, and had to move a second time. This time I had to actually unhook truck from trailer to fit in the spot.



It had some close trees to high line between, and the ground was not muddy and tore up from previous horses camping like some of the high line poles were below the campsites.



Slept well, and decided to take Flag for a short ride Thursday AM and pony Hank. I had put Thelma in the trailer for the night, where she often will sleep on her home on her own. When I opened the trailer, I found she decided to rearrange all the shavings from left side of the trailer, where I had pushed them out of the way, against the wall to the right side. She kicked, pushed, and moved the shavings, even throwing them up on top of the feed barrels. Not sure if she had a temper tantrum, or just wanted to rearrange to suit her needs.



I knew I’d not have much time to get Flag worked at all for the rest of the weekend, so off we went. He was very cheerful, and anxious to check out what was around the next bend on the trails. Hank was also very forward, and actually wanted to pass Flag and lead the way. Not a plan Hank. We got back, and more rigs had arrived. Many came in on Thursday. People started introducing themselves, welcoming us to Region 5, and saying “hello” to Hank. I am so bad with names and faces, and knew I’d never keep everyone straight.

Friday morning I took Hank out for a few miles, leaving Flag in camp. The trails have permanent markers, and I had a map, so I planned a small loop. The trails were often wide enough for wagons, and the footing was really nice in this section. Some beautiful ponds, but they were marked to not water the horses near them.



The weather was very nice, not as humid as I had prepared myself mentally for, and not real hot. I came across a couple trees close together along side the trail, and decided to stop and ask Hank to back between them. Well, this did not go well at all. Sometimes his brain kicks into over drive, and he starts thinking way too much for himself. He fussed, refused, got mad. I had not seem him get mad at this sort of thing in a very long time. I worked through it, and finally rode him straight through the trees, then backed up, and finished on a better note than we had been on when he was refusing. I mention this obstacle, as there will be more on this later.

Back at camp, I got him cleaned up, and then saw I had two tires on the trailer going flat. Both on the same side. So, I jacked up the trailer with my little floor jack I carry, and took the tires in to town to get them fixed. As suspected, both had a hole, where I must have ran over something on that side of the trailer. Better to find it now, than Sunday afternoon. Got back to camp, and got Hank checked in with the vet. This vet always comments on how nice Hank moves.

Tomorrow, we will ride just short of 37 miles…

No Cell? No Internet? No way!

We arrives safe and sound at the Ride The Edge NATRC ride near Jamestown TN. Would you believe they do not have any ATT cell service in the area? NONE!! (what did we do before cell phones?) And that means my wireless card does not work. The camp is to have WiFi, but it is down. I drove to town, and found a wireless spot driving about to check quick mail, send a note to hubby that I am fine, and then do this quick update on the blog. So, y'all will have to wait until Monday to find out how things went for Hank and I. Weather is looking to be pleasant fr the weekend. The only bug issue are BIG horse flies, and Thelma picked up some tiny sead ticks on her face. Looks like the Frontline is not working. A bath and dip is in order tomorrow. The camp is nice. Showers, wash racks, electric hook ups, and even RV dump stations! I'm getting spoiled, that is for sure, since many camps this year have been an open field.

More Monday, unless their wireless gets fixed in camp

Head East cowgirl

Hank and I leave in the AM to head to the ride in TN. I decided to take Flag along, to keep Hank company on the road. At at the ride, Flag does not care when Hank leaves him in camp. Flag seems to really enjoy traveling. Such a funny / quirky horse.

We have to get out health cert in the AM, on the way out of town. Forgot thr vet was closed today. But, did get Hanks new shoes!

He is looking good, and seems ready to hit the trail again. Hopefully I can shoot pix of some interesting stuff on this trip, Going where I have never gone before!

Thelma is ready to take her position in the back seat . She followed me around as I was packing tonight, making sure I did not forget her,

Silly dog