Karen’s Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff

Bowline stopped

The Bowline is a useful knot to know how to tie for those of us with horses. The Bowline makes a secure loop in the end of a piece of rope.  It has many uses, e.g., to fasten a  rope to a ring or tree.  It does not slip or bind.  With no load it can be untied easily.  It cannot, however, be tied or untied with a load on it.  For security a Stopper Knot should be added.

Click here to view a series of images on how to tie various knots.  It’s always good for a refresher - I always forget how to tie some of these knots when I haven’t done it for awhile!

November 20th, 2008 | Tags: Add new tag, bowline, knots, useful tips | Category: useful tips | Comments (1)

Karen & Granite Chief, Grand Canyon XP

Lately I’ve been riding Granite Chief in a Myler Combination Bit.  It works really great on him.  I’m wondering why I hadn’t tried it on him sooner?  I’ve had it for years, and I’m sure that I did try it on him years ago and for some reason decided that it wasn’t going to work for him.  I tried so many things with him.  All of my other horses have been so easy.  I rode Weaver most of his career in a rope halter.  I rode Rocky in a S-hack, and he went fantastic in it - he is probably the most forward horse I’ve ever ridden.  But then, I often did ride him faster so maybe it wouldn’t have worked if I had been trying to go slower, like I do with Chief?

Chief's Myler Kimberwicke Bit

Chief has a low pallet in his mouth, which is why it took me trying out so many different bits on him to find one that worked.  Fortunately I had a few friends who let me borrow from their bit collection so I was able to “try before you buy”.  I ended up getting Chief a Myler low-port comfort snaffle kimberwicke.  He goes really well in it and that is what I use on him the majority of the time.  I think it was Becky Hart who recommended that I try that.  It was sure a frustrating time trying to find something that would work, so when I did I was really happy about it.  Oh - believe me, I knew when something didn’t work.  Because other bits were hitting the roof of his mouth he did what he could to get away from that pressure, which meant going ‘up’, usually not on the front two feet, but on all four.  I’m really not into levitating.  Some of my friends weren’t sure if I was riding a pogo stick or a horse!

I still try to get Chief into something that isn’t a bit from time to time.  He doesn’t cooperate though, and so back into the bit we go <sigh>.  He is especially bad in the S-hack, as he knows how to get his way.  He pushes his nose through it and then I feel that I have to give him more rein because at this point he is NOT looking where he is going.  He does it totally on purpose, knowing that I know that he knows he’s not looking where he’s going.  He usually chooses a downhill to do this.  When I give him rein he’s happy and everything is great.  Except we are usually going about twice as fast as I want to go.  He goes fine in it on longer training rides though, different environment than competition.  I absolutely refuse to have to ride holding him back all day and want to ride on a loose rein.

So, rather than argue about it he gets a bit.  I will keep trying.  Maybe one of these days.  But I’m not counting on it anytime soon.

The one thing I tried on all of the horses that absolutely didn’t work, was a bitless bridle.  Even Weaver hated it - and he went great in a plain old rope halter.  I didn’t like it because it has to be adjusted snugger than I like for endurance riding in.  It might be okay for a one day ride, but I couldn’t see it being comfortable or flexible enough to use on multidays.  Nevermind that I’ve seen too many out of control horses and riders who were attempting to use them.  I think they work great in training, but in an actual competitive environment everything changes.

Chief @ Cold Springs

Next time I get Chief out, I’ll get photos of him in the combo bit.  I love that it seems to get him to relax and settle in whereas he just won’t with the S-hack.  He still isn’t the kind of horse you can take out for a nice easy, short (5 or 10 miles) training ride and expect him to walk home.  He needs a really good workout.  I know that a lot his flaws are what makes him a really good multiday endurance horse.  I’m not going to give up holding out hope that one of these days he is going to finally mature and get over being so competitive on training rides.

We do lots of circles, and weaving about among the rocks and sagebrush.  That is fine but it is like riding a hunting dog that is out there chasing rabbits.  We are all over the place and it gets tiring after awhile.  I mean really, how many hundreds of rides and how many thousands of circles, one rein stops, backing up and other tricks do we have to do?  When if I just put the combo bit on him now, he behaves nearly perfectly?  I probably shouldn’t have said anything, now that I have keep your fingers crossed that he is good on the next ride!

If anybody is looking for something new like a combo-bit, try ebay.  That is where I have purchased a couple of Myler bits and gotten really good deals on them.  Make sure you measure your horses mouth and get the correct size, it really does make a difference.

November 19th, 2008 | Tags: horse bits, Karen's horses, Myler bits | Category: Karen's horses | Comments (5)

Shiba Inu puppies

The puppies are nearing 6 weeks old and will be going to their new homes when they reach 8 weeks of age.  I’m going to miss them - it’s been fun checking in on them and watching them grow and develope.  They are certainly a busy bunch these days!  Here is a photo/screenshot that I took earlier today of the group.  They were also introduced to a cat today, and a new toy that got them to playing tug-o-war as a group - what fun!  Anyway - enjoy these little guys before they are gone.  Here is the link.

November 18th, 2008 | Tags: puppies, Shiba Inu | Category: fun and misc., videos | Leave a comment

I got Bo’s burgundy blitz Renegade’s last week and today was the first chance I had to give them a try out. Took me awhile to figure out what color to get for him and I eventually decided upon the burgundy blitz color.

I also put a set of orange Renegade boots on Chief and wow what a difference a color makes, eh? The orange really pops out at you, especially on a fleabitten grey horse, whereas the burgundy blends in nicely with Bo’s bay coloring. You TOTALLY notice the orange on Chief, it stands out like mad.  I like both colors but prefer the more neutral color on Bo. He has black and burgundy tack so this will be a nice color combo for him.

This was Bo’s first time wearing Renegades - so far I had only put them on to size him. He takes 2’s on front, and 1’s on the hind.   Chief is 1’s on front, and 0’s on the hind.  It works out well for me being able to get colors since they are in different sizes.  Makes it easy to tell everybody’s boots apart from one another.  Since Bo’s shoes were pulled last month I’ve been riding him barefoot and have been really happy with how he feels.  He seems to move just as nice in the hoof boots as without the hoofboots.

The horses trotted and galloped in the acre field today and got a really good workout. It’s really warm and they have their winter coats.

I could see that I need to tighten the cable on the hinds a bit, and then once that is done and I get the pads broken in I’ll make a modifcation to the velcro strap that will keep them together in water.  Then, we shall be all set and ready to go for the next endurance ride! I’ll post a few photos below.  Click to enlarge.  If it looks like the horses feet are long on the fronts, it is just because there are brand new pads in there that need to break in.  The horses look like they have good weight on them going into winter - tho I have been keeping an eye on Chief and he is being separated at feeding times so that I can feed him less than Bo and Rocky.  I work him the most and feed him the least, guess I can’t complain about that!

November 18th, 2008 | Tags: hoof boot tips, Karen's horses, renegade hoof boots | Category: Karen's horses, hoof boots | Comments (1)

Okay, not really—and I’m not going to start chanting the lyrics of a Def Leppard song either!  Actually, I read an interesting blog post about sugar and all of the health problems it can cause.  It is at the Food Journal, and can be found at this link.  Sugar isn’t all bad, but it is important to know that it’s the type and amount of sugar we consume that can lead to health problems.

It didn’t stop me from adding whipped cream to the my ice cream tonight.  I can’t eat completely healthy 100% of the time - it would kill me! lol

November 17th, 2008 | Tags: health, Health Blogs | Category: fitness | Leave a comment

I’ve been doing really good the last couple of weeks.  Especially this last week.  I’ve been awake as many or more hours a day as I am sleeping.  I’m also doing things that I enjoy, and staying motivated to keep working out.  I still get tired too fast, and my husband says he can really tell that my thought processes are not like they used to be.  Yet, it’s still a thousand times better than earlier this year, so I am excited about the progress and how things are going.  It’s taken me awhile to learn to be patient and not overdo it.  For a long time, overdoing it often was just going to a doctors appointment.  I finally realized that I was trying too hard and had to force myself to stop doing that.  My doctor last week did indicate that I am doing better though I am certainly not ‘well’, and I’ve come to accept that it is going to take several more months or longer to get healthy and fully well again.  I know a few of you out there understand what I’ve gone through and how it can be hard that others don’t understand that just because you ‘look good’, or maybe ’sound good’ in an email or over the phone that you are really not okay.

This last couple of weeks had been good because I’ve been able to take care of the horses better.  I had months where I wasn’t able to do that and it was really hard on me.  I don’t want to have animals if I have to rely on somebody else to care for them for me.  Fortunately, my great husband, friends and neighbors really helped out, or I don’t know what I would have done.  Thank you everyone!

Many of you at the Bryce XP ride contributed to a fundraiser that Becky Hackworth spearheaded on my behalf - she made a really nice polarfleece cooler/blanket that was raffled off.  Thank you Becky and everybody who contributed!  I wrote a Thank You that was or is going to go in the next XP Newsletter some time ago but haven’t said anything publicly till now.  That is one of the things I’ve been ‘meaning to do’, and why I also realize that I’m not alltogether ‘there’ these days because I have so many things that I want to do, but can’t seem to stay focused or follow through.  I was really humbled and surprised that you guys would do something like that for me and it was totally unexpected, but definitely appreciated!  Just last week I paid almost $4,000 more in medical bills.  Since I’m not working, it is obviously affecting the finances in a hard way.  But, it could always be worse, right?

I’d also like to thank everybody for reading my blog, and for all that have taken the time to write comments or send emails.  It’s good to know there are so many others out there that share the same passion I do for horses and riding.

If you are having trouble viewing the sidebars on my blog, you may need to install a flash plugin to get it to work.  It works fine in Firefox, and some versions of Internet Explorer.  It looks like Wordpress is going to be doing an upgrade to version 2.7 which will add some new cool features, and my theme is also about due to an upgrade.  Hopefully it won’t be much longer until these things all come together and any glitz’s that are occurring with viewing the blog will be fixed.  If you just want to read the blog, the easiest way is to subscribe (top left hand column) and get it sent in email updates.  Obviously, if you aren’t able to view the columns then that makes it hard - so instead you can add your address to the form field below to subscribe:

November 17th, 2008 | Tags: health, Karen's musings | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (3)

I don’t usually like to explain something to others until I know for sure that it works for me.  That’s why it has taken me so long to get this up.  I have glued pads into Renegades previously, and have now done enough miles and AERC competition in them to know that it worked.  I’m putting this up to help others that have asked me questions about it.  Click on photos to enlarge.

First, get together all of the items that you are going to need:  Boots, pads, scissors (if you need to trim the pads to fit), pen, wire brush, alcohol, cotton balls, contact cement and a paint brush of some sort.  Before you start, read the instructions on the can of contact cement and be sure to follow those instructions!

Now it is time to fit your pads into the boots.  I like using EasyCare dome shaped comfort pads.  They last the longest.  I start with a larger size; that way when they are trimmed down there is less ‘dome’ to them.  Trim toe to toe - the toe of the pad goes on the bottom of the toe of the boot, then trace around the outside of the pad with a pen.  Trim with scissors.  You want to have a snug fit, so be careful not to trim too small.  The boots used in these photos are size 2 Renegade hoof boots in the color burgundy blitz and the pads are size large EasyCare dome pads.

Next, take the wire brush and rough up the bottoms of the pads.  The bottom is the flat part.  Now rough up the bottom inside of the boot.  You can also use sand paper.  When that is done, use the alcohol to clean everything up.  Allow to dry.

Stir up the contact cement well.  Now apply to each surface that you want to glue - the bottom of the pad, and the bottom inside of the boot.  Be sure to read the instructions on the can of contact cement - especially the part that tells you to wait 15 to 20 minutes for it to dry before applying the pieces that you are gluing together.

Practice this next part ahead of time, prior to using the glue to make sure you can do it!  After you’ve waited 15 to 20 minutes for the glue to dry, go ahead and put the pads inside the boots.  Fold the pad up into your hand, kind of like a horseshoe shape or an upside down taco.  Place the toe of the pad in towards the toe of the boot and press down.  Be sure to get it in all of the way - if it sticks together inbetween you’ll have to pull it out and reapply the glue and start over.

Now that the pad is inserted into the boot, apply pressure on the pad.  I pull the heel captivator up and stand in the boot with my foot and rock back and forth.  Again, be sure to read the instructions on the can of contact cement.

Allow everything to dry for several days before use and then when you use your boots for the first time be sure to carefully break the pads and boots in - check frequently while riding to make sure everything is staying in place.  I always need to put quite a bit of riding on a new set of pads with Chief, or else his boots will turn.  Doesn’t matter what boots - it’s because he has very round feet, and moves the way he does. After the pads get broken in, the boots can be adjusted snugger and things stay in place perfectly well.  So remember that and whatever you do, DON’T glue pads into new boots and use them for the first time on an endurance ride!!

Misc. info:  For now, I’m just gluing pads into my front boots and using the hinds how they come.  I usually get about 350 miles or 7 endurance rides out of a set of pads and think that with having them glued in they may last a little longer.  The pads will wear down around the edges - that is okay, the pad is still doing it’s job by providing cushioning, frog stimulation and absorbing concussion on my barefoot horses.  If your horse is flat footed then a flat pad would be a better choice - I use the domes because my horses all have concavity.  Other Renegade users have told me that they don’t ‘need’ the pads in their boots.  I don’t think I ‘need’ them either, but want them in there to help reduce the wear and tear on my horses, especially on rides that have lots of rocks and hard packed footing.  If your pads are wearing unevenly, that is a sign similar to having the tires on your car wear unevenly.  Something needs aligning somewhere - use it as a tool to help you further fine tune your horses trim.

November 15th, 2008 | Tags: hoof boot tips, Hoof Care, renegade hoof boots | Category: education, hoof boots, useful tips | Comments (12)

Just back from a really fantastic ride on Chief.  Once we got to the trail I decided to let him have his way with me - meaning, I let him have the reins and make all the choices on our ride today.  He got to pick how fast we traveled and whether or not we went straight or turned.  It was really quite enjoyable and one thing I’ve come to know about him now that we have spent so many years together, hours and miles on the trail and months and months of time traveling and camping out together is that a lot of what I like to do has merged with a lot of what he likes to do.

I had that same kind of relationship with Weaver.  I could just think that I’d like to turn on a certain trail and he would always make that turn.  I was probably cueing him subtly and not realizing it, yet it was pretty uncanny sometimes how frequently we thought and did what the other one wanted.  I feel like I have that same soul/team-mate relationship with Chief.  It’s not something that is easy to describe, and no way to measure the strength of our bond but it’s there.

I let Chief have the reins and we began trotting on the narrow singletrack trail.  T-shirt weather, blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds and birds were chirping.  Chief slowed on his own on the downhill, to a walk on the steeper parts and then picked up a trot again.  We didn’t turn on the usual singletrack trail that I usually take and instead went right down the sand wash.  We crossed over several other washes and trails and headed up a narrow ravine, then right and towards Sheep’s Camp (in the Pinenuts, for anybody familiar with the area).  He was barefoot again today, and chose on his own to trot over everything and we covered some pretty rocky terrain without so much as a single flinch.  He felt strong and forward and confident - I was enjoying the ride and eager to see where Chief would take me.

We turned towards home after a couple of hours and then Chief saw a little ravine that went up to the top of a mountain and took it, even though it turned us back away from home.  I was smiling, happy that he wanted to go someplace new and not just ‘head home’.  We began the climb up the steep trail winding around deadfall, tree branches, boulders and some pretty rough and technical footing.  About 2/3 of the way of the hair on the back of my neck stood up because I heard something growl at us!  It sounded like a cat - maybe a mountain lion?  What do bobcats sound like?  Eeeeeeek!!!  It was a low rumbling kind of growl.  Chief kept picking his way up and around the steep footing and hopping in sections up and over the more steep or slippery sections.  Finally reached the top and neither of us were taking any chances - Chief took off running and we ran and ran and ran for a good long time.  I did slow him down a little as we approached some motorcycle whoops as i didn’t want to come up on them at a dead run.  I was starting to relax a little, knowing that I was out in the open now and putting some distance between whatever animal I had heard.

Now I had some steep downhill coming up and again let Chief choose his way.  He went nice and easy down it, using his hindquarters nicely and making me feel safe and secure.  I wondered what kind of animal it was back there, and if was the same one that had Chief so pumped up the other day.  He was acting normally now so I didn’t think it was close by which was a big relief.  He was a little tense climbing up that ravine - but then, so was I!

The rest of the ride back in was wonderful.  Chief alternated between a fast trot on the trail that winds through the pinion pines and cantering where the footing was great, changing leads on each turn then doing his really fast walk over the rocky technical sections.  I think he really enjoyed the ride - I told him what a good boy he was and patted him on the neck.  Funny thing, as we got closer to home his super fast walk went away and he slowed down to a crawl.  He does that a lot, obviously next time we are going to have to stay out there even longer.

I wonder how many other riders let their horses have a say in how they ride, where they go, what gaits to do?  What would your horse do?  Am I crazy?  Wait, maybe I shouldn’t ask that! 

November 14th, 2008 | Tags: Karen's horses, trail riding | Category: Karen's horses, fun and misc. | Comments (6)

The weather has been absolutely delightful this week.  I decided to take Bo out for a trail ride.  I haven’t ridden him with a saddle on the trail on a real ride (we have gone out bareback for walk/rides with the dogs) for several months.  Today I was able to take Bo out on trails that I’ve never ridden him on yet.  We’re still getting to know each other and developing our relationship.

Chris Martin helped me with advice on how to set up the Freeform saddle to fit Bo, as he has pretty good withers.  I really like doing training rides in the Freeform because it is so light and so easy to put on and off - I don’t have anything on the saddle, just the girth and saddle pad.  It makes it really easy to put on and off, and it’s really comfortable to ride in.

Our ride went really well, we did a fair amount of trotting and did some good hill climbing.  Bo has a really nice walk, I need to bring a GPS next time and see if he can walk as fast as Chief (over 5 mph) — I bet he does as he was really moving out.  I love fast walking horses!  Chris said to ride downhill and make sure I could still get in a couple of fingers under the front of the saddle - and I could.  That was good, and I was happy with how things were going.  I brought my bluetooth along and was talking with my dad.  I could barely contain my excitement with how good Bo was doing on the ride for the first few miles and said happily “he’s doing fantastic and he hasn’t spooked once!”.  Well, guess what happened just when I said that?  Yep - SPOOK!!!  We were on a singletrack trail paralleling a road in the trees when a mountain bike rider came down the hill going really fast right behind us - lol!  Bo jumped forward at about the exact second I made that stupid comment - it was almost too perfectly timed.  Fortunately he didn’t bolt or try to spin and stopped right away.  Note to self: wait till the ride is over to comment on whether or not the horse spooked at anything, and definitely don’t say it out loud where the horse can hear either!

My horses are always used to me talking when I ride them, either with the bluetooth/phone or when I am listening to music when I ride.  I talk to them a lot too.  I talked with Dave Rabe who was out riding Tigger and said he was on top of the mountain looking over Carson City (and Lake Tahoe to the other side).  I told him to wave, since I was in the Pinenuts up on a mountain too, we were only a few miles apart as the crow flies.  He said he’d ridden Tig up a really steep climb for more than an hour and a half and he was still mis-behaving.  Actually the words he used to describe Tig’s behavior were not particularly complimentary.  We wondered about what happened to him - he must have had a couple of wires cross in his brain and the spark melted something???  He was really good for the first 700 miles or so and then he just started to really get wound up, jigging worse than usual and trying to or actually bucking.  We both agree that the first 50 miles you do on him is the hardest, whether it’s the first day of a multiday or the first half of a 100 — after that, he is a real sweetheart and a pleasure to ride.  I think that eventually Dave will get him straightened out, but it is going to take a lot of miles and patience.

And in the meantime, I’ll keep riding Bo who is really well trained, stands perfect when you mount, doesn’t jig, is really light on the front end, walks calmly out of camp on his ride starts and only spooks when you make stupid comments out loud ;).

I’ve been riding all of the horses barefoot lately.  I’m sticking mainly to the nice singletrack trails and the sand washes.  Once I start adding more mileage and going over rockier trails I’ll begin adding boots.  For now it is really nice and easy to tack up and head out in about five minutes.  Everything is dry right now and that helps too.

After riding I did some chores around the barn and then headed over to Curves for another workout.  I’ve been going about 4 times a week and I think it’s really helping.  The quality of my workouts has sure improved a lot from when I first started.  It seems to go by really quickly and I’m not hurting anymore after the workouts.  I am very motivated to keep going because I am bound and determined to be able to ride more than a couple of days at Death Valley next month.  Plus I want to keep up the regular conditioning rides on all of the horses between now and then, so they’ll also be in good condition.

Curves is the kind of workout that you get out of it what you put into it.  Some days there are others there who spend more time talking than actually working out, or they skip half of the machines or whatever.  I think some people go just to say they are working out, but really aren’t getting that much benefit from it.

November 13th, 2008 | Tags: Curves, Karen's horses, trail riding | Category: Karen's horses, fitness | Comments (2)

It’s hard to believe that another XP ride season is behind us - wow!  Time already to start gearing up for a new one, I can hardly wait :).

Year to date results are now complete and riders are listed by mileage ridden.  It’s great to see some new riders up there this year.  Even better, we had a Gold Medal Award winner!  There were none in 2007.  It is a huge accomplishment to make all of the XP rides on a single horse and Terri Tinkham and Oliver did just that - along the way earning a special nickname from The Duck.  I won’t share what that is, unless Terri writes and says it’s okay.  Congratulations Terri and Ollie, great job!  They are going to get a whole ‘lotta really cool stuff for awards - jackets, blankets, plaques, crewbags and the like.  The best part of doing something this huge of course, is in the getting to do it - I’m sure that Terri has a lot of great memories that will last a lifetime.  She is always smiling everytime you see her on the trail so no doubt had a fantastic ride season.

The new award classifications this year for Gold, Silver and Bronze medal horses should give us a chance to further recognize the team aspect of the sport of endurance riding.  To qualify for one of these awards you must complete a minimum of 500 XP or SRR miles, same horse and same rider.  I will work on calculating these results next.  One of my goals for 2008 was to have two horses reach the bronze level, but that wasn’t to be and in the end I didn’t even have one horse reach that goal.  Now you know why I am so looking forward to the new ride season.   Click here to read about previous Gold Medal Award recipients.  Terri is working on her interview questions right now and we’ll get that online just as soon as she finishes.

A total of 90.875 miles were ridden between XP and Sunrise Ranch Rides.  If not for the addition of the Death Valley Ride to the lineup, this year would have been a decrease of 5% overall for the year.

Because weight divisions don’t work out very evenly among the riders attending our rides, we do Top Twenty Five year end award plaques.  This is factored by mileage as this is the most fair way to do this.  Those that are riding for points are usually receiving awards from AERC.   Here is a breakdown of our riders by weight division for 2008.  We had a total of 387 riders.  If a rider rode in the limited distance ride at Death Valley, they are not included in the weight division counts.

To view the year end results, please visit xprides.com or click below to open the files in .pdf:

1)  2008 Year to Date XP & SRR Ride Results

2)  Riders by Year

3)  Stats page on XP website

November 12th, 2008 | Tags: AERC, endurance ride, Gold Medal XP, ride results, Sunrise Ranch Rides, XP Rides, year end ride stats | Category: endurance ride, ride report | Comments (2)

First of all - Happy Veteran’s Day to all the Veteran’s out there, especially our family members - dad, uncles and others - Thank You for your service!

Being a holiday, Dave had the day off work so we went out on the trail together.  He is getting along very well after his knee surgery last month.  I decided to ride Chief and we also took our two dogs along.  They are getting older now and tend to stay fairly close at all times.  It’s safe to say that you couldn’t chase them away, lol.  But then, they have had packs of coyotes come after them so they won’t leave our sight.

Everything started out fine but it didn’t take long until Chief started to act odd.  He started to get really pumped up and moving like he was on the bit and trying to show off how he can dance, and at the same time he was keeping his ears back and turning his head to the left almost continually.  A couple of times he stopped and spun around to look behind him.  We were in the pinion pine trees on a single track trail.  Dave and the dogs were ahead of us.  I then trotted on ahead and he still continued to have his focus on something ‘out there’.  I don’t know what it was, he’s never acted like this before.  Farther up ahead there were motorcycles, people shooting guns, a bicycle rider and a truck out there.  All of which Chief is quite used to, and he wasn’t really paying any attention to any of that though he was very alert.

A few months ago I got this photo of a bobcat in the same area.  I wonder if that was it?  Though he saw the bobcat and just watched it as I had him stand still to take photos - the cat had been within only a few yards of us.  I’ve also run across mountain lions, and of course there are bears in the neighborhood.  Last year the neighbors dog chased one up a tree right next to my barn.  I’m not sure what else could have been causing Chief to act so out of character?  Normally I am most afraid of humans and try to get out and away from them.

November 11th, 2008 | Tags: Granite Chief, Karen's horses | Category: Karen's horses | Comments (3)

Tigger on New Year's Eve - Death Valley, 2008 Ride Season

I just finished updating a great deal of information on the new Death Valley Encounter multiday endurance ride.  Check the SunriseRanchRides.com website out, or click on the SRR tab at the top of this website.  Entries are accepted online - just click here to fill out the form.

There have been many changes made which is sure to make the ride really quite nice this year.  I rode last year and had a blast on Chief and Tigger.  We had fantastic weather and the new trail was great.  Click here to see my photos.

The new AERC ride season starts December 1, so this ride is officially in the 2009 ride season.  Now is the time to start planning for ‘next year’, and at the same time you can join us in celebrating the last few days of 2008!  I really enjoy this ride and have done it so many times I have lost count.

Okay, so the BIG NEWS about the ride this year - we’ve arranged it so that we will have a building to have the New Year’s Party in!  Even better, entry fees, meals and cleanup fees are at the same or lower rate from last year.  This is to try and give riders a break who are no doubt having to stretch their paychecks to make ends meet.  Please try to come and ride at least a couple of the days.

This ride is point to point on two of the days which makes it even more fun and more of an adventure than your typical “stay in one camp the entire time” endurance ride.  I’ve got so many great memories from riding on these trails, and have made so many lasting friendships.

If you know somebody who is available to help volunteer or move rigs, please let me know.  Thanks!

November 11th, 2008 | Tags: Death Valley Encounter, DVE, endurance ride, entry fees, limited distance ride, multiday ride, New Year's, point to point ride, Sunrise Ranch Ride | Category: endurance ride, ride photos | Comments (1)

Tigger's 1,000 AERC Miles

It is hard to believe that the 2008 ride season is almost over!  The new ride season starts on December 1st.   There are still a couple more rides on the calendar in November for those what want to get in some more miles or points for 2008.  Now is a good time while you are thinking about it, to renew your AERC membership for next year.

I just received Tigger’s 1,000 mile medallion from the AERC this week.  He is just starting his career and I hope he will get to do many, many more miles.  He’s going to be staying with Dave Rabe for awhile longer, and will hopefully be going to a ride in December.

When it comes to competing in endurance it can and does take a lot of planning to get everything to fall into place.  Especially when trying to achieve something really big like placing in a regional or national awards category, or reaching a special milestone.  In addition to planning, it takes a great deal of support from so many people.  The most important thing, of course - is having a horse that has the potential to achieve your goals.

Even with a good horse, it is very important to have a really good support team behind you.  This includes your spouse, family, veterinarian, farrier/trimmer, employer and friends.  It helps a lot to have as much support and encouragement as possible.  Believe me when I say that I know how lucky I was in ‘04 and ‘05 when I won the AERC Mileage Championship on Chief.  Everything really fell into place for me both of those years.  This last year really went south for me with my health issues and ended up being my least successful ride season in many years.   I hope to remedy that in 2009 since I know I’ve got at least two really good horses.  I’m really looking forward to a new start!

I urge anybody that has the opportunity to plan for this upcoming ride season to do whatever you can to make your goals a reality.  It will NEVER BE EASY.  Don’t wait, because you may never get another opportunity.  Trust me, if you can do it now, do what you can to make it happen and don’t look back!  Besides something happening to you, your family or your horse there is always the risk that some rides may end, so if there is a ride that you have been wanting to do - get to work making plans and GO DO IT!

My goals tend to be based more on lifetime achievement for my horses rather than placing in any particular category in a given year.  I consider any regional or national awards from AERC to be icing on the cake.  Here are my goals for 2009:

1)  Have Chief reach 8,000 miles.  He is at 7,770 right now.

2)  Get myself in good enough shape to start riding more than one day at a time at multiday rides.

3)  Have Bo reach his first 1,000 miles.  He is at 565 now.

4)  I’d like to reach 22,000 and 23,000 lifetime miles myself.

5)  I’d like to have at least two horses reach the Bronze level on XP rides.

What goals do you have for next ride season?

November 9th, 2008 | Tags: AERC, endurance horse, endurance riding, goals, mileage goals, riding goals, XP Rides | Category: Karen's horses, achievement, fun and misc. | Comments (5)

Articles like this one remind me how important it is to keep up to date on our horses health care.  Imagine if you were riding your horse where that jogger was in Arizona and got attacked by a rabied fox - would you be confident that your horse was up to date on his/her rabies vaccinations?  Here is what the AAEP recommendation is, if that were to happen:

Horses exposed* to confirmed rabid animal

Horse currently vaccinated against rabies with one of the USDA-approved rabies vaccines: Immediate revaccination by a licensed veterinarian and observation (as directed by public health officials) for 45 days for development of clinical signs of rabies.

Unvaccinated horse: Euthanatize immediately. If the owner is unwilling to have this done then horse should be closely monitored under veterinary supervision for 6 months. Public health officials may establish requirements and conditions for monitoring of exposed, unvaccinated animals.

Click here for vaccination guidelines for horses in North America.  Core vaccination guidelines from the AAEP can be found here.

If you are an endurance rider and travel to rides anywhere in the United States, you need to know that there is an exposure risk.  Not just for your horse in the areas that you live in, but also for where you travel to.  A couple of years ago a rider was traveling to an endurance ride on his way home from visiting relatives when his horse got sick en route.  He took the horse into a vet clinic to be treated and at first they thought the horse was colicking and subsequently treated the horse for different things.  After the horse got better, he continued on his trip but it got sick again later so ended up at another vet clinic.  In the end, it turned out that the horse did indeed have rabies and all of the vets, vet technicians and the owner (everybody who had been exposed) had to go through the series of rabies shots, and the horse was euthanized.

A great way to keep track of vaccination, worming, trimming or shoeing schedules (or anything else on a schedule) is with Google Calendar.  It is free, and can be set up easily to email updates to you when you’d like.  You can set it up to repeat as well, so each item only needs to be entered once.  It’s a great way to remind you to do anything.

November 6th, 2008 | Tags: aaep, equine vaccinations, google calendar, horse health, rabies, useful tips | Category: education, useful tips | Leave a comment

I love my two dogs. One is perpetually happy all of the time. She is Miss Optimistic! The other dog is shy and reserved but also very happy on a less obnoxious level. She is also very scared of loud noises and hates in the winter when the Heavenly ski resort blasts for avalanche control - that, or lightning and thunder storms really send her shaking into my arms. Both dogs are very obedient and well behaved but as they age can be annoying at times, like when it’s 2:30 a.m. and they insist on running outside through the doggy door and barking at a visiting rabbit. Then again at 3:30 (but hate if we wake THEM up before 10 a.m.!). We just laugh about it and are happy to have them in our lives (and also shut the door on them, lol). I ran across this and thought it was worth sharing.

Here in this house……
I will never know the loneliness I hear in the barks of the other dogs ‘out there’.
I can sleep soundly, assured that when I wake my world will not have changed.
I will never know hunger, or the fear of not knowing if I’ll eat.
I will not shiver in the cold, or grow weary from the heat.
I will feel the sun’s heat, and the rain’s coolness,and be allowed to smell all that can reach my nose.
My fur will shine, and never be dirty or matted.

Here in this house…
There will be an effort to communicate with me on my level.
I will be talked to and, even if I don’t understand, I can enjoy the warmth of the words.
I will be given a name so that I may know who I am among many.
My name will be used in joy, and I will love the sound of it!

Here in this house…
I will never be a substitute for anything I am not.
I will never be used to improve peoples’ images of themselves.
I will be loved because I am who I am, not someone’s idea of who I should be.
I will never suffer for someone’s anger, impatience, or stupidity.
I will be taught all the things I need to know to be loved by all.
If I do not learn my lessons well, they will look to my teacher for blame.

Here in this house…
I can trust arms that hold, hands that touch…knowing that, no matter what they do, they do it for the good of me.
If I am ill, I will be doctored.
If scared, I will be calmed.
If sad, I will be cheered.
No matter what I look like, I will be considered beautiful and thought to be of value.
I will never be cast out because I am too old, too ill, too unruly, or not cute enough.
My life is a responsibility, and not an afterthought.
I will learn that humans can almost, sometimes, be as kind and as fair as dogs.

Here in this house…
I will belong.
I will be home.

~unknown~

Here is the puppy video stream - hope it works.  These littles guys are over four weeks old now and are starting to look like dogs.  They are adorable!

November 6th, 2008 | Tags: dogs, pets, puppy video, quotations | Category: fun and misc., quotation | Comments (1)

Merrill waterproof hiking boots

Ashley asked me what boots do I recommend to use while riding that will keep her feet warm and dry.  Over the years I’ve tried all different types of boots.  In the winter if it’s truly cold, Sorel’s work well but some models can be so big that they are hard to get into a stirrup.

Right now my favorite boots are Merrill’s, they are waterproof and kept my feet plenty warm at the Grand Canyon this year.  I’m really happy with the traction on them, and they aren’t too big and heavy for everyday use.  They also fit well, keeping my foot from sliding into the toe (that happens to me a lot) when I am leading downhill on endurance rides.

Besides having waterproof footwear, there are a couple of things that work during an endurance riding if it is pouring out to keep your feet dry.  The first is to use a pair of rain pants that go down over the top of your boots.  While you are still dry inside take some duct tape and tape them down good just below your ankle.  If you are already wet, it’s hard to get the tape to stick.  If the rain pants move up at all, rain is likely to find it’s way right into your boots or shoes.

Another trick is to take a white plastic grocery bag (double up on them if you have enough) and put your foot into it.  Bring it up above your ankle and duct tape around it.  Then, if you have rain pants put those on over the top of the bag.  Don’t do this if your horse has any fear or aversion to plastic!

One of my favorite places to shop is Sierra Trading post (see banner below).  They have a big outlet store in Reno.  You can also shop online but that can be more difficult if you are footwear shopping — sometimes though they have some really great specials online that you can’t get in the store.  They have really good return policies so if something doesn’t fit, you can return it easily enough.  It pays to check every so often to see what the specials are online.  I bet there will be some really good sales going on leading up to the holiday season.

November 5th, 2008 | Tags: endurance riding tips, hiking boots, Merrill, Sierra Trading Post, trail riding, useful tips | Category: useful tips | Leave a comment

Enjoy the Ride!

You gotta watch this video, it’s great– especially for you cowboys and cowgirls! 

November 4th, 2008 | Tags: enjoy the ride | Category: fun and misc., videos | Comments (1)

One of Bo's newly unshod hooves

Over the weekend we got the stall matts put back into their stalls.   We drilled holes in them and anchored them all together with hay string.  Then, where we could we drove spikes in to really anchor them in good.  We would have liked to have used more spikes but can’t risk having them anywhere that the horses could step on them if they work up.  The ones we used are in safe spots.  Well, ha - is anything really safe with horses???  I’m dying to see what new fun hobby Bo takes up, now that we made it so difficult to maul stall matts.

Bo had his shoes removed so he is now happily running around ‘bare’.  He was running around happily before too, but now I am happy because I don’t have to worry about him catching a shoe on the hay string that was used to keep the matts sewn together!  He has nice feet, and I rode him bare with boots at Washoe in May and he did really well, except that he hadn’t spent enough time getting used to using boots yet and was interfering.  I think I just need to give him more time to acclimate and get used to using boots, and while that happens I’ll use splint and ankle boots on him.

Burgundy Blitz Renegade Hoof Boot

I just ordered him a set of burgundy blitz Renegades.  I think that they’ll look really good on him - he’s bay and I have black and maroon (burgundy) tack for him and an all black saddle.  His feet are just a hair larger than Chief’s so I figured it would be better to not mix and match the boots and I think it’s pretty cool that each horse can have their own colors.

I just recently uploaded several photos of Bo (his registered name is Pro Bono D) to Facebook.  If you are on there, look for them - you can find me by clicking on this link.  Oh yeah, and if you are on Facebook send me stuff for My Farm :).

I wanted to share a really good, sensible post are feeding our horses from Patti and Desert Equine Balance.  Click here to read her post on “High Quality Horse Forage”.  How we feed our barefoot horses has a lot to do with whether or not they will be successful living a barefoot lifestyle.

November 3rd, 2008 | Tags: barefoot horse, equine nutrition, facebook, My Farm, natural hoof care, renegade hoof boots | Category: Karen's horses, education | Comments (5)

Karen & Weaver, July 11, 2001

I became a member of the Long Rider’s Guild in 2001 after riding 1925 miles on the original Pony Express trail on my two horses Dream Weaver and Rocky. I’ve got my entire journal and photos from the journey online at this link.  A similar event is in the planning stages for 2011.

I have since read many books written by equestrian explorers and like to visit the Long Rider’s Guild website.  Here is a link to a list of current and planned expeditions - check it out!

November 3rd, 2008 | Tags: equestrian adventure, horseback riding, long distance horseback riding treks, Long Rider's Guild | Category: Karen's horses, achievement, education, fun and misc., ride photos | Leave a comment

Live Video - Click on photo to watch

This is just too cute! There are 6 Shiba Ainu puppies, about 3 weeks old.  They are fun to watch, sleep a lot but every so often they get moving around.  It’s fun to have it on in the background and see what they are up to.  I don’t know how much longer they’ll be up, so check it out asap!

November 1st, 2008 | Tags: fun | Category: videos | Comments (1)

Here are the rules for the five bloggers I’m going to tag:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
6. Tag five people to do the same.

My book is “The Lighter Side of Endurance Riding” by Angie McGhee.  I actually used page 57, since page 56 was a blank page between chapters.

We were caught totally off guard.  To tell the truth, we hadn’t noticed.  We rechecked the team roster twice, and upon close inspection of all team photos discovered that they were right!  No males!  The PMS Society also pointed out that a disproportionate number of female competitors ride male equines which have been castrated.  They perceive this as a subtle slur against their cause.

Here is the tag list:

1. The Equestrian Vagabond
2. The Barb Wire
3. Go Pony
4. Improving Communication Between Horse & Rider
5. Endurance Granny

October 31st, 2008 | Tags: book tag, fun, Horse Blogs & Websites | Category: fun and misc. | Comments (1)

Karen and Weaver in South Dakota

Here is a link to more information on an upcoming (May ‘09) endurance riding clinic targeted towards new riders.  Dr. Garlinghouse is scheduled to be one of the speakers.  The clinic is going to be held in the Black Hills of South Dakota at the Spirit Horse Escape with Linda and Dr. Barney Fleming as hosts.  Click on the link at the start of this post to learn more.  If you are new to the sport and want to learn more or know others that might be interested let them know about this as it will be extremely educational as well as a lot of fun!

Dr. Fleming has asked me to come and speak on several topics relating to endurance riding.  It’ll be a lot of fun for me because I’ll have the privilege of riding Dream Weaver, my first endurance horse during the riding portions of the clinic.  Last year I was able to visit and ride him and it was like we had never missed a day.

Stay tuned, I”ll be posting more details about the clinic later.

October 30th, 2008 | Tags: Barney Fleming, Black Hills, endurance ride clinic, South Dakota, spirit horse escape | Category: Karen's horses, education | Leave a comment

Chief in the rain at a vetcheck

Been riding in the rain lately?  It seems like every year at least a couple of times I end up riding either at an endurance ride or a conditioning ride in wet weather.  Over time our rain gear becomes less waterproof, and it’s never fun to find out during the middle of a ride that your gear is not doing it’s job.  Now is a good time to plan ahead and re-waterproof it.  I have a pair of Goretex pants that are over 20 years old that still work perfectly.

Here is a link to a couple of products that you can use to re-waterproof your existing Goretex or other waterproof rain gear - pants, jackets, hats, gloves, even shoes.  With a little preventative maintenance, water will bead right off of you next time you are caught out in the rain.  Don’t forget to do the top of your horses rump rug too (if it has a waterproof top).

You could also use the line of Revivex products to re-waterproof your horse blankets too.  I usually use Thompson’s Water Seal because it is less expensive and I usually have it around.  I put it in a spray bottle and spray it on the horses blankets, and that seems to work rather well.  I redo them all every couple of years.  Just be sure to write clearly on the spray bottle what it is.  One time I sprayed Rocky all over his back end with water seal because I thought it was fly spray.  Dang stuff didn’t wash off either, the water just beaded up on him!

October 30th, 2008 | Tags: horse blankets, rain gear, Revivex, waterproof, winter riding | Category: useful tips | Comments (2)

Bo is eying the stall matt standing upright in the doorway!

We thought we had the problem solved.  Bo likes playing with the stall matts in the barn.  Before that he thought pulling the fence apart was fun, but hooking the hot-wire back up solved that problem.  These photos show what I found this morning.  Most mornings the stall matts might be moved a little bit, or else pulled up inside the stall into a teepee shape.  Well, today it looks like he was even more obnoxious about pulling on the matts and has started to get them outside the barn doors again.  They are all tied together with haystring so pulling them out is extremely difficult.  These things are heavy!

To make matters even worse, when I got him back from Kay (she was keeping him in condition for me over the summer) he had shoes on.  So you guessed it, he had to somehow manage to pull the matts around and then catch his hind shoe on the haystring that was tying two of the matts together.  Pulled the string completely out of both matts and wedgied it good and tight a few inches up under the shoe.  Fortunately, the shoes are coming off today.  Now we can wait and see what trouble he can get into barefoot…..ha ha.

Stall Matts - Center Stall

It’s supposed to rain later this week, so we’ll have to get the matts put back and resewn back together.  They are pretty old, so the edges have bite marks (chomp, chomp) where Bo has grabbed them and pulled them up.  One of these days we’ll have to pour concrete floors in the stalls and put the mats on top of that, but for now it’s just dirt.  The center stall is short the feeder that it had, as Bo pulled that all apart.  I figure that they don’t really need the feeders anyway since they throw the hay all around over the stall matts anyway.  That’s why they are in there, for the horses to eat off of rather than the dirt.  Maybe I should put a couple of matts out in the paddocks for him to play with.  He has plenty of balls and stall toys already.  Wouldn’t hurt to ride him more often either.

So what annoying or mischievous thing has your horse done today? 

I may need to go ride Bo just to be reminded again of some of his finer points.

October 29th, 2008 | Tags: Karen's horses, stall matts | Category: Karen's horses | Comments (3)