Ready to Ride!

Woke to fog siting in our valley, and watched as it slowly moved out,
giving way for some interesting sunrise moments, and then views out
across the mountains to the next mountain rang. After it warmed up
some, I took Hank for a short ride. The area is really lovely. I have
been taking pictures, which will have to wait until I get home, and have
a better internet connection to download them. I fussed with my saddle,
checked my saddle packs, got my water bottles etc. all situated, and
then had a few hours where I was actually bored! I cleaned the camper,
and worked on the furnace. It would not light this AM, so I looked in to
it, and found a mudabber next. Got that taken care of, and now it will
light. Might need it again in the AM to take the chill off the camper.

Today was bright blue sky one min. and then a storm headed our way, only
to go some place else. Then right as briefing was starting, we see
another storm headed our way, with bright bright lightning, only to
skirt to the south of us. We have some wind tonight. Hank has his
awesome blanket on that he won at The Air Force Academy ride. It is warm
and waterproof. Thelma is in the horse trailer, curled up in hay and
shavings, just as happy as can be.

Tomorrow Open will ride around 27 miles. We will have 3 P&R stops, and
lunch in camp, that management cooks for us! Burgers with all the
fixins. Tonight we had a potluck, and a bring your own meat to grill,
and they had cooks there doing the grilling for us. My steak was
perfect! Tomorrow night they feed us dinner, and lunch again Sunday, and
salad bar Sunday afternoon. They do take care of us, that is for sure.
All part of the entry fee.

When I went to check in Hank with the judges, we were first to go. I
trotted out to the grassy area, sent him off to do his first lunging
circle, and half way around he slams on the brakes, and stops, shoving
his head down. There was a huge Prairie Dog hole. I calmly gathered him
up, moved him, and redid that circle, then reversed, and finished up. At
least we knew he was paying attention to things!

Now, it is time for bed. We ride out at 7AM. Hoping we won't have fog
again, as we would never see the ribbons on the trail to guide our way.
I'm ready to go share some trail with my favorite Arab. Even if he was
naughty tonight and reached in to the tackroom while I cleaned poop,
grabbed his breakfast bucket, and spilled it all over the place. Bad
Hank. Bad

Arrived at CO ridecamp

Hank, Thelma and I arrived at our camp for the weekend a few hours ago.
I found a spot on the hill to park, and managed to get enough internet
service to send emails, so hopefully I can post to the blog that way
this weekend.

We are on a private ranch. Sort of a slight valley, with mountains all
around. The storm clouds have been passing by, and once and awhile I can
hear thunder. But so far, none of the storms have headed towards us. The
weather is such a nice change from the heat at home, with it being in
the upper 60's right now.

I am going to really watch things this weekend, and hope I don't get
altitude sickness again like I did at the last CO ride. Have been
drinking lots of water, and know the signs. Still not sure why I got it
again after not having issues for over 20 years. And also hope Hank has
better pulse readings this weekend. He too, is drinking lots f water! He
seems to prefer the CO water to the 100 gallons I hauled from home. Go
figure!

I've seen this road before

In the morning some time, I will load up Hank, Thelma, and head yet again, towards Amarillo. I am starting to memorize what small town follows the next along this road. Then after Amarillo we head northward across the corner of New Mexico, and on in to Colorado. I have a lay over arranged about 400 miles into this adventure. I will skip the kind of spooky fairgrounds we stayed at last time along this route, and instead, found a horse hotel, with a large corral for Hank. Then Thursday we will have a short day of 200 to 250 miles into camp.

This ride is near Westcliffe CO, and is on a private ranch. The ride has had maximum entries for weeks. My class, Open Heavyweight has about 15 entries! We will sure have our work cut out for us wit that many nice horses in the class. Hoping that Hanks higher pulse at the last CO ride was just getting to the higher altitude too early in the week. This ride I think is around the same altitude as the Colorado Springs ride. But I know I am going to watch for signs of altitude sickness with *me*, while I take note on his recoveries all weekend.

My hubby commented on how fit Hank looks. I have been trying to bring his weight back up some, as it drops from all the travels. He is sure not carrying much extra. Looks ready to hit the endurance trail.

This Saturday is the Tevis 100 mile ride out in CA. I would love to go back and give it another go. Hank got us our buckle on his first attempt in 2005. Then in 2006 he had a colic at around 60 miles. Never had any cases of colic before that. 2007 I went out and volunteered at the ride. The trail is one that calls me to come ride it again. Many never want to see it after riding it once, but I love the trail. I was looking up at the 1/2 moon tonight, thinking how it was developing into the full moon that will shine down from the sky during the ride, when so many riders are still out there trotting along through the darkness. Am thinking that maybe next year, I will head that way again. But this year, we are concentrating on the NATRC rides, and see where this journey takes us.

I doubt I will have internet at this ride, but if my aircard does work, I will of course post some.

The midwest mechanics tour

I have a Garmin NUVI navigation GPS for the truck. This trip, I found out just how handy she is to have along. I knew I could punch the fuel button, and she would tell me where the closest gas stations were, and the food button pointed me towards eatery locations. And, you can type in a name, like McDonalds as an example, and she will tell you where the closest ones are. Hit GO! and she directs you there. But her knowledge really saved me this trip.

I had a low tire on the trailer, so I typed in TIRE, and she directed me to all the business locations with the word TIRE in them. One on the next exit, pulled off, and got that nail out of the trailer tire. When the Power Steering pump went out on the way to the ride, she found me that wonderful Ford dealer just 10-15 miles off the freeway. Complete with the phone number, so I could call ahead. Like a electronic Yellow Pages!

As I arrived at the ride, my clutch was giving me some trouble as I pulled in to camp. I managed to get backed into a camping spot, and just did not dwell on it during the ride. Sunday afternoon, I decided to figure things out. After the ride, I packed up camp, loaded Hank, and figured if the truck would get going out of camp, and on to the country roads, then I could head on home, and drive when it was cooler. But, truck had other ideas, and I could not shift, and managed only to re-park, about 150' from my previous spot. At least Hank had a new spot to graze down.

I asked about local mechanics etc. I was told which dealership to avoid, and was given a name of a mechanic about 8 miles away. I found their website, and saw they did towing also if needed. But I figured I could get the truck moving if it did not have the weight of the trailer, and I could start it in 2nd gear. (manual transmission) Next morning, I punched them up in the NUVI, and called them. They told me they could 'maybe' look at it that afternoon, and when I asked if they had a place I could wait, then flat said "No". So, on to plan B. Punched FORD into the GPS, and found a dealership south in Jefferson City. Gave them a call, and they said bring it on in. Even checked first to see if they had the part in stock. (I told them I thought it was the clutch master/slave cylinder that had gone out)

So, Hank was put in the round pen at camp with food and water, and off I went. Indeed, I could get the truck in to 2nd, and get it going. With my GPS telling me where to turn, she directed me towards the dealership. Drove slow on the country roads. When I hit the highway, I tried to shift to 3rd, but no luck. Had to pull over and stop, turn truck off, pump clutch, start in 2nd, and THEN I was able to shift through the gears. Even managed to get it shifted into drive on the freeway! Creative driving and shifting, and soon I arrived at the dealership. I sat in the waiting room with my laptop, as the got to work on it. In less than 2 hours, I was fixed with the new clutch cylinder, and heading back to get Hank.

Got trailer hitched back up, Hank loaded, and headed home. Thankfully for this trip, I did not need the services of any more mechanics or tire repair shops. The weather was fairly kind, not blazing hot, and I arrived at home around midnight.

Again, when my NATRC family knew the truck was sick, I had offers to come get Hank, rescue us if needed, or give us places to over night.

Cedar Creek day two

Sunday was a shorter day. They had originally planned the rides distance, and speed, assuming it was going to be typical July weather of HOT and HUMID. So, today we were only doing about 18 miles, and slower than Saturday, at a pace of 4.5mph. I personally would have loved to have had them change the pre-planned speed, and moved us out a tad more when the weather turned cooler than expected. I want to test my horses condition against the trail, and other horses, and when the rides are easier, then their condition is not always tested. We were riding the same trails as Saturday, but shortened. And, we did not go to the side of the park with the more boggy / muddy conditions.


So, out through the meadows, along the tree line, past cows etc.



After an open field we had our first P&R, and afterwards, we had a gate obstacle. Open and close the gate (full size, not just a horse gate) while mounted. We could choose the manner / direction. The gate had a small "horse" gate next to it, that I knew Hank would be suspicious of if he was facing it, and looking at it in front of him, so I opened the gate facing him away from the opening, and the other gate, and backed through and turned and closed it. He was a very good boy. We open and close gates constantly on our home trails and we rarely get to do one at a ride. Speaking of gates, this area has a very interesting gate design out on some of the trails. We actually had to go through one (not judged) each day. They are set at a diagonal angle, and lift kind of like a gull wing door like those found on some sports cars.





Hank was still rejecting the stream water for the most part today, but drinking a bit better than the day before. Some rides, he loves the water, others he is fussy. He did love the water they hauled into camp, which I could smell was chlorinated. Kind of weird, since our home water is not chlorinated. But, I am never really suprised by Hank having yet another opinion. ;-)


MO has a LOT of caves and caverns. We had one creek section that we rode down into the creek, past a cave, and then back out of the creek.

I ended up out on front for awhile through some woods. If you ride out front, be prepared to be the one to remove the spider webs and spiders from across the trail. After I had about 3 spiders hit me in the face, I got a small branch, and rode with it in front of my face to grab the webs and spiders before I ran into them.

So, more woods, power line trails etc. we came to one of the gravel roads.

We ran into one of the ride volunteers, who said we were to have an obstacle down the road a bit, but the judges were not there yet. The Open riders who got there first decided to just wait on the judges to get there, so we would have another judging opportunity. We could have ridden on, as we were not super early, but I feel that since we paid to be judged, we might as well wait a little bit. If they had not shown up within 5 to 10 min., I think we would have headed on down the trail. But, they were there about 4 min. after we arived.

They placed a 6" round log, that was about 6' long in the road. Told us to face the horse towards the log at one end, and pivot/side pass around the end 180 degrees, until we were facing the other way. No stepping over the log etc. Pretty basic, and Hank thankfully did not get his own ideas to start sidepassing etc. Did it pretty well I thought, and off towards the end of the ride we went. Back on the same trail we came out on, and Hank of course was in a hurry, as he knew we were heading towards camp. Finally got him ahead of some horses, and he took the time to drink much better.

The final stretch of the days ride was on the gravel road into camp. We commented on what a beautiful day it was, and who would have thought we could have had such perfect weather in July for a ride. Bright blue sky, some fluffy clouds floating around.


Those who missed this ride from that region, really missed a lovely weekend.

Check out went fine. Hanks metabolic scores seemed to stay the same, although the horses metabolics were not checked on trail this weekend, just at camp each day, after each days ride. He did not lose any pulse points, but I knew that a couple of the SIX obstacles the vet watched over the weekend, Hank was less than perfect. Much of it I get complacent, and don't start thinking about how to keep him on track, and not let him come up with the "Hank way" of doing something. The horse is very well schooled, and can do about anything needed on the trail for me, but sometimes we are not on the same page with how to get that done. My fault for not being in charge of the situation all the times. And as I said before, to ride an Arab, you need to keep a sense of humor at times.

So, awards time, and Hank placed 3rd, and I placed 4th. I got my score cards, and started glancing at them quickly for any errors in math etc. I saw that for Hanks little decision of stepping into the ditch and turning, instead of crossing it, he lost 1 1/2 points. And he rushed up out of Saturdays creek, which was another point. Those two were preventable on my part, and good reminders for ME on the fact that I need to work on us working together. The back through the trees, where he was resistant, but we got it done, he lost a point. I'm not upset by that, as I know that once he bumped his butt against one of the trees, he had lost some confidence in my keeping him safe. A different approach to the trees next time might help. Happy he got an excellent on the gate!

I glanced at the horsemanship card, and saw that I had a -2 for "did not complete" on the log we had to turn around the end of it. Hank had a 'good" on his card. So, I am thinking that they transposed a rider number or something, and I got someone elses score. I hope who ever got my "good" appreciates it. lol Did have an interesting comment of "lack of rein control" in the creek crossing. I remember Hank dropping his head to drink, and my letting the reins go long for him to do so, then gathering back up when he decided the water still tasted bad to him. Would not change a thing,as Hank wanting a possible drink is more important to me that my score, and we pay for judges opinions at the rides. But that one, I'd love to see a video, to see if I did something my mind is missing as far as keeping "control" of him.

I learn something at every ride. My big thing this weekend is to concentrate a bit more, while staying relaxed at any obstacle, and to try to stay a few steps ahead of my opinionated Arab who thinks too much. I am not one who worries about preforming for a judge, as I have been competing horses for about 40 years. But I worry more about "what" Hank might try to do. He is just not a horse that waits for me to tell him what we are going to do. His mind is always going, and second guessing what I am going to ask. We do a lot of just stopping and standing in front of potintial obstacles and situations at home, to let him relax, and find that sometimes, we don't do anything.

Cedar Creek MO NATRC ride, day 1

Slept pretty well last night. Who would have thought that riding a ride in MO in July, would have you tossing a real blanket on the bed to stay warm?? Got up and got Hank and I ready for the 7AM ride start. We were the 5th team to time out. Not knowing the trails, and how they mark them, I prefer to follow someone who has ridden the area before. We had a mix of trails. Some that went along the tree line edge in fields, some through the woods. Some gravel roads. Single track, and two track. Lots of creek water, which Hank decided did not taste good. He is becoming a water princess. The pace was 5mph, and we were told the afternoon, had more mud, and slower going. So, we moved along where we could. He is feeling good, forward, and not showing any outward signs of stress of fatigue from all the travel time. We had an in hand obstacle of backing between a couple close trees, then a mount. Mount was really good, backing was fair. He hates things behind him he can not see in those situations, turns to look, then turns his body. P&R's were good. Another obstacle was one that We had an off trail, down and up, with a small ditch at the bottom, maybe 2' wide, not deep. I know Hank normally leaps these things, and I did a big sigh, which the vet commented on. I said "I know what he normally does with these things". So, as I prep for the leap, he steps into the ditch, hangs a hard left, and starts walking towards the vet. I stopped him, and then said "Now watch us get out of this". I quietly backed up in the ditch, turned on the haunches, as he stepped up out of the ditch, and back up the hill we should have gone up in the first place. I can't get mad. Hank just figured this was a good option, and often does something that catches me off guard, and very unexpected. Riding Arabs means you have to have a sense of humor.

The ride is pretty. I never know what to expect. we did have a cool creek we rode into that had a cave along the wall of the creek. Photos of course will follow.

So, I better stop now, as I need to recharge the laptop. More tomorrow, with hopefully more detail!

Truckin

Well, the truck had a bad power steering pump. Much better, and cheaper than the Hydro-boost. We arrived at camp, and I got all checked in etc. BUT, not far from camp, I noticed the truck was getting tough to shift. (manual transmission) I think that maybe the clutch master cylinder is going out. But I am going to enjoy the ride, and not fret about it until Sunday. I LOVE this truck, but dang it, what is up that it is all of a sudden getting 'sick' on me???

Will try to report this weekend. Slow internet, won't be any photos. Now I'm off to the rider meeting!