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 Chief and Bo are playing and having a good time!   I think the horses like their new haircuts! It has been nice enough to take their blankets off during the day.
Tomorrow we are heading to Perris, CA for the Bar H ride where the horses will get to enjoy sunny and 70′ish degree weather.
It looks like there will be a good turnout for the ride this weekend, especially if the weather turns out to be as nice as is being predicted.
The Bar H ride is a 25/50 on both Saturday and Sunday. Annie said she’ll be barbequing cheeseburgers on Saturday for lunch! On Sunday there will be sandwiches. If anybody out there is available to help with the ride on Saturday and Sunday that would be great. Or, if somebody is coming to the ride anyway and has time available to volunteer please let Ann or I know. We could use pulse checkers, timers and food prep help. Thanks!
So far (knocking on wood), Bo has been moving beautifully with no sign of anything being wrong. He’s coming along on the trip and we’ll see how it goes. I’ll mark some trail and do some other work with him before deciding when I’ll try him on an e-ride.
Both horses have good weight. There are definitely no ribs showing on those two! I think they are probably sporting a few extra pounds but that is okay. I’d rather go into spring and summer with a good healthy weight rather than have a horse on the thinner side. These two make it easy for me because all I feed them between rides is hay, and their Horseguard vitamins.
   I took a couple photos of Chief’s feet today. It’ll take a few months still for his hooves to grow the rest of the way out and fully recover. In the first two photos you can make out the stress rings. Basically it was a mild laminitis caused by medication (antibiotics) and stress from the eyelid injury. Six surgeries. (sigh)
I’d still like for there to be more frog expansion. But that will come when the rest of the hoof capsule heals.
You may be able to tell that there is a good amount of sole callous (see the cracks up in the toe area of the sole?). It is interesting how we go from a muddy swampy mess to being dry and now look at how dry the feet look already, and the heels? I wiped off one side of one hoof with a wet hand, so that photo may look a little distorted because of that. I’ve been trying to keep the hoof wall rounded to relieve the pressure. Looks like there is some flaring to work on as well. Some of the funky coloring you see in the sole area is from using Durasole.
Here are some photos of my horses from today. I body clipped both Chief and Bo. Next week I’ll be going down to Bar H in Perris, Ca. My horses will hardly need their heavy winter coats. I like to clip a week ahead of time, that way their coats have some time to grow back in a bit. My clippers don’t cut real short to begin with, so it works out really nice. By the time the horses do an endurance ride their coats should be just about perfect. I’ll ride Chief at Bar H and Cuyama and also maybe Bo at Cuyama. We’ll see how things go.
There are photos of Bo showing before, during and after his body clip. I only have “after” of Chief since I forgot to bring the camera out to the barn with me, and I clipped Chief first. I took a break inbetween so got the camera when I went back out to do the final touches on Chief and to work on Bo. I wanted to get photos of Chief’s hooves too, but failed at that today. I’ll try again another time. Check out the difference in the colors on Bo from his winter coat to the clipped coat color. He is normally a dark mahogany bay color. Once clipped though, he looks so “mousey” to me. I hate that! Chief on the other hand, just shows off his beautiful (to me) fleabitten specks even more. I never liked the look of grey horses, or fleabitten horses before I got Chief…now of course, I am definitely partial as I love what is inside so can’t help but also love the outside.
Chief and Bo are both wearing high neck blankets now. It was great that I had time to clip them both on a day with decent weather and NO WIND! I will keep them blanketed at night and on any days where it’s cold. They were both sooo happy and frisky after their clips boy were they playful! I know that I will enjoy having them clipped because I won’t be inhaling so much shedding horse hair over the next few weeks. Some years I clip earlier or not at all. I’m glad I waited until now to clip because of our weather so far this year. It’s tough living in one climate and then traveling and competing in another. Clipping helps a lot, though they really need to have their coats so they can be comfortable here at home. I think I timed it just about perfectly.
 Pro Bono before being body clipped  Bo's hind end during the body clip  Bo after being clipped - he looks "mousey"  I forgot the camera when I clipped Chief (he was 1st), so only got an after photo of him. He was such a good boy for the clipping...I just love how wonderful he is!
  This is the third of three articles that I wrote for Endurance News after the 2001 XP ride. This one was about the accomplishments of the horses and riders. It was pretty amazing when you think about it. Here is an excerpt:
230 horses were ridden 67,400 AERC miles by 104 riders in eight weeks. That works out to 1,348 fifty mile rides. This in itself is quite amazing, given that there are a few regions in the AERC that don’t contribute this much mileage over an entire year.
Continue reading The Twenty Eleven Ride, Part 7
 Anybody planning on going on the 2011 XP ride should read this (click on link below) to get an idea of what to expect. Also, because this stuff is a decade old take it with a grain of salt and realize that while some of it still applies there may be parts that don’t. I’m just posting this to give people an idea of what to expect.
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to have a good relationship with your crew. My advice for anybody going on the 2011 XP is to work out all of the fine details ahead of time. Start out with apologizing in advance for anything that you might do that’ll irritate your crew…because you will no doubt do that. They will probably irritate you as well. Figuring out how to get along will go a long way towards making the trip a lot more enjoyable for everyone.
I will post some thoughts later on planning and preparing for this event based upon what I learned from doing it in 2001. I’ve posted a lot so far that should help. I will also do some reviews and recommendations of GPS’s, map software and other techno type gadgets that will be both useful AND necessary for riders to have. btw – if you get Trail Blazer magazine look in an upcoming issue for my review on the Garmin 550t.
For those that want to enter simply send me an email and I’ll tell you how to do that! Hopefully within the next month I’ll have a bulletin board set up on the XP site where people can go to advertise that they are looking for a crew, or that they want to be a crew, or share an entry, etc.
Continue reading The Twenty Eleven Ride, Part 6
 Sunrise in Estabrook, Wyoming A FEW WORDS FROM A ‘76 XP RIDER TO THE ‘01 XP RIDERS
By Lori Stewart
I won’t bore you with why, but in ‘76 I rode the entire XP trail with barely the minimums. My husband and I slept under the stars or in the back of a stock trailer when it rained. We survived mostly on Velveeta cheese, Triscuits, Salami, apples and tangerine Lifesavers (no refrigeration needed). The occasional dinner at a local cafe was heaven. We bathed quite irregularly with no ill effects. The horses lived tied to the trailer at night and in a portable electric fence before dark. Supplies included two hay nets, two five-gallon jugs, two buckets, and one brush. First aid amounted to little more than Desitine, cotton and tape. My saddle had a flexible tree, i.e. an old Argentine saddle with a broken tree. No sore backs resulted. Both horses were unfit and overweight in St. Joseph, Mo., but the almost 2000 miles of XP trail transformed them into lean mean endurance machines. I always thought about the XP trail in its entirety and not by the trail or events of any one day. The ups and downs fell into perspective. I never got overconfident but never gave up. I won the award for most miles AND high point. The ‘76 XP was my first endurance ride.
 The same gorgeous sunrise at Estabrook, Wyoming! Take the Duck’s words to heart. They speak volumes. I will give you my perspective on his key points. Let two principles guide you as you prepare – Respect and the KISS Theory
Respect that this is not an “E” ride at Disney Land. Fun and safety cannot be guaranteed. Rely on your common sense and good judgement as your safety net and your off-beat sense of humor for fun.
Respect the folks who make the land along this trail their home. They are the salt of the earth and possess wealth beyond the material in their kindness and pride in their heritage.
Respect your fellow XP club members no matter the seemingly stupid things they may do. When the summer is over you will have lived the old sayings “No man is an island” “But for the grace of God go I” and “What goes around comes around”.
 The KISS Theory – Keep It Simple Stupid:
1) The trail is tougher on rigs than horses.
Rigs move from camp to camp via lovely but narrow back roads that are paved or good gravel – few interstates are used. Services out West are few and far between. Set-up as the Duck recommends plus have at least two spare tires.
The smaller your rig, the less you will have to worry about the ground you camp on, plus the more choices you will have. If you want the comforts of home – stay home. Remember this is only a little over two months out of your life.
2) All the frills that come with living-quarters are nice but vulnerable to break down. Lay a low-tech foundation with respect to you gear. Lantern, simple camp stove, 5 gal jug with a spout, Porta-potty, ice chest – you get the idea. This way if trouble strikes, you won’t miss a beat.
3) The XP trail was the 1860’s equine equivalent of the “truck route”. It was laid out for speed (get the mail through fast) and accessibility to water and grazing. I found real beauty in the immensity and remoteness of the landscape, especially in this day and age of suburbanization.
Here are just a few things I learned on the ‘76 XP:
Horses like getting up and going to work every day. The schedule the Duck offers is a good one and will work.
On any given day, if you have a horse that is good to go – ride. Don’t permit the weather or problems with your rig, crew, and you to factor in.
Don’t worry and not ride a horse good to go because it might be too much. It won’t be.
If your horse’s attitude is bad but his body is good – don’t ride him. Attitude is everything.
Horses can change hay often with no ill effect. Horses enjoy the variety.
Never ride without chapstick. Cracked lips and fingertips will wear you down.
Stuff and stress are directly proportional. Don’t become a slave to non-essentials.
Be kind and compassionate to your crew, no matter how tired you are and irritable they may be. Your crew is your horse’s lifeline.
Most important of all, revere the Duck and you will have a friend for life.
****
Next I will post comments from the Duck regarding the ‘01 ride. That will help new riders to see what to expect.
 When I ran across this photo earlier while looking at photos to add to the previous posts about the 2011 ride I had to laugh.
I rode with juniors a lot on the ride and this day resulted in us coming up with a new rule.
No more Pony Express running mounts! Dave Rabe was always showing off how he could run alongside his horse and then hop up into the saddle and keep going.
Well, the kids decided they wanted to learn how to do that too. Sometimes they did pretty good. Other times, they fell on their faces. Usually….but not always, their horses would stop and wait for them to get back up, dust themselves off and try again!
Can you guess what happened in this photo? Here is a hint: The chestnut horse next to me….I’m ponying! Two miles….yep….that’s how far he went when his rider didn’t quite make her running mount. It’s pretty funny NOW but at the time I was less than thrilled. Hence the new rule for the rest of the ride – no running mounts! Right next to rules like: no whining, no blocking water from other horses if your horse isn’t drinking and if you want to ride with me, you gotta be ready on time….I know there were a lot more. We made them up as we went. I think the best one was if any of us exceeded the 10 mph self-imposed speed limit with our horses, we owed the others an ice cream, that was the speeding fine. Darnit if we didn’t often exceed that speed limit every so often!
 I’ve got an update on my horse Bo. He has a sore neck!
We think he wrenched it while rolling on Thursday before I left for 20 Mule Team. He knocked the gate open and may have got twisted up like a pretzel in the process. I heard it but didn’t see it, so I don’t really know what happened.
Bo is going to have a chiropractor work on him. I rubbed some Surpass into his neck, gave him a gram of bute and am alternating icing the sore swollen muscle on his neck (left side) and using heat packs. Hopefully he will recover fully and quickly from this. He’s already sound again. I’m relieved that it’s not something in his leg, that had me really worried.
I’ve still got more stuff to share on the topic of the Twenty Eleven ride. Stay tuned!
KD – is this the photo that you are talking about? That is my horse Rocky. He still has that blue halter, the same reins and S-hack and b/c too! That stuff just NEVER wears out! Unfortunately back then I was using a much lower resolution camera. The shots come out great for looking at on the computer, or for power point presentations but can’t really be printed much larger than 4×6.
 This was the 2nd of 3 articles I wrote for Endurance News following the 2001 XP.
XP’loring the Trail, 2000 Miles of Memories. Be sure to click on the link to read the entire thing! If you want to read my diary from the ride and see photos from all 8 weeks, click here. Karen
Talk about anticipation! Most of the riders had waited months, years even…for the start of this ride and it was quite a spectacular one. The horses were loaded into trailers in St. Joseph, Missouri and hauled across the river to Elwood, Kansas. The morning was dark, humid, and dark clouds loomed menacingly overhead. Baseball sized butterflies fluttered around inside my stomach on the short trip to the start. We unloaded our already tacked up horses and just like that, we were off. After all the months spent dreaming about the ride here we were actually embarking on the adventure of a lifetime…
Continue reading The Twenty Eleven Ride, Part 4
  This is an article I wrote for endurance news about preparing for the 2001 XP. “Preparing for the 2001 XP”.
I surveyed and interviewed many if not most of the riders that went on the ‘01 XP and got a lot of varied responses.
This may help some of you that are planning for the 2011 event. I’ve got lots more to post, so keep checking back.
Enjoy! Karen
Continue reading The Twenty Eleven Ride, Part 3
  Here is more basic information on the 2011 XP ride. This is also posted on the xprides.com website.
If you are interested in attending this event be sure to read a lot of the information that is on the XP website about the 2001 and 2004 XP rides.
The 2011 ride will be essentially the same as the 2001 ride was. This one will definitely be the last time it’s done by XP/The Duck.
Continue reading The Twenty Eleven Ride, Part 2
  There is going to be another epic endurance ride on the Pony Express trail in 2011.
The ride will start in St. Joseph, MO on Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 and finish in Virginia City, Nevada. The route will follow the original Pony Express trail as closely as possible and will be 2,000 miles. Riders will ride 50 miles per day, five days a week for eight weeks, Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday and Monday will be rest days.
The entry fee is $5,000.00 if you enter and pay your $500.00 deposit by June 1st. After that entries will go up and if the ride fills up (there is a limit) then you run the risk of not getting in.
I will post a series of posts with more information on this ride as well as some stuff on the 2001 XP. It will be a great adventure and is truly is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. When I did the 2001 ride I thought it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I haven’t done anything since that has been anywhere near that much of a challenge. It was also a tremendous life changing event that really made me learn to appreciate how lucky I am (we all are). It was a great way to learn about the human condition. I came away really appreciating what my ancestors went through moving West on the Oregon Trail (which is the same in many parts as the Pony Express Trail).
It’s now ten years later, can we all do this again? We’re older and wiser and will know what to expect. I like that we are wiser, but the older part might make it harder on us. I had a great adventure last time. I rode my two horses, Dream Weaver and Rocky every day except for one and a half out of the forty. My horses did 1925 miles between them. It was quite a thrill to be able to start and finish with the same two horses. They were incredible and I had the adventure of a lifetime. I also rode sponsoring juniors most of the way and we had a great time. I hope there will be a few kids along on this trip. It was such a great experience for them.
Stay tuned for more, lots more on the 2011 ride!
   
Here are a few photos from the ride Saturday. I’ve got lots more still to download and will post more later.
According to my GPS, I made it 17.3 miles which was basically to the first vet check. Bo was off when I went to leave and as soon as I felt him trot not quite right I turned around and came back and pulled.
Bo saved me from another 17 hours of riding in the rain. I really wanted to ride the entire ride but this year it wasn’t meant to be. Even though I could have continued I would have probably really messed up my horse. This was his first pull.
I’ll post more after I get my vet to look at Bo. He’ll call if he can make it today and if not it’ll be tomorrow. Then I’ll be able to find out for sure what the problem was. I’m glad that we were able to stop as soon as the problem developed. Bo never took an off step that first three hours, there was nothing even subtly that I felt.
There were 22 riders on the 100 and 13 finished. First was Tammy Robinson and Alan Horn got BC. The other three riders from Nevada in the 100 all finished – Suzanne, Dave and Connie. We were all on a team and finished 1st in the team competition. That was cool!
Only a couple of riders canceled out due to the weather. It’s kind of a bummer to see the # of 100′ mile riders continue to decline. There were 28 on this ride last year and a handful of years ago I remember there being as many as 60.
This year for some reason we were getting run over by the 65 milers really early on. Some of the faster 65 mile riders galloped by us in the mud (did I mention that it rained?), and were really getting some of the 100 mile horses amped up.
The weather really wasn’t that bad to ride in since it wasn’t really windy or even all that cold. If you had the right rain gear it was fine. The muddy footing was hard on the horses though. The wet sand was okay but the sections with the goopy four inch deep mud was certainly tough for them to slog through. Nobody could remember it ever being like that before on this ride. I sure have never seen it rain that much in Ridgecrest before.
I hope to give it another try next year! Will post more later along with more photos.
 This is a photo that my husband Dave took recently of the Flame Nebula.
It was taken with five fifteen-minute exposures stacked on top of each other.
The Flame Nebula is an emission nebula in the Constellation Orion. It is 900 to 1500 light years away.
The ring of light on the right side is from the nearby star Alnitak, which is just out of frame.
 20 Mule Team 100, 2009 I have a feeling that for this upcoming ride I’ll be the weak link. I managed to get through four days of the Mojave ride, but just barely. I made it home then went to the orthopedist right away. The xrays showed that I have calcified tendonitis in my shoulder. So I got a steroid shot and some prescriptions. It’s better, but still not good. I want to try though.
I’m pretty confident that Bo will be able to do the 100 at 20 Mule Team. He hasn’t had any issues or problems (unless him wanting to be a Toyota counts?) and finished looking great both days that I rode him at Mojave. I would have preferred to have ridden him only one day at Mojave since I think that riding a horse 100 miles (alternating days of 50 miles each) only two weeks before doing a 100 in one day is not the best thing to do. It would have been more optimum to have just done one day (50 miles) this close to a one day 100.
I felt that everything went well at EMS and that Bo certainly seemed to handle the two days quite well. The next day and day after each ride he had tight, cool legs and a frisky attitude with a healthy appetite along with everything else seeming to be good. Still, I’m questioning whether or not doing two days versus one at Mojave was the best thing for Bo. It’s not really whether or not he can do it but whether or not it’s in his best interest (long term) when you factor in everything else that I have been doing with Bo this year. I know that most of the time you don’t know that you are over-doing it until it is too late. I kind of feel like I’m pushing things a bit, or at the very least asking a lot out of Bo. He’s a pretty capable horse but that doesn’t stop me from at least thinking about this and worrying somewhat.
I was able to use one of the $10 off coupons I got from Purina at the AERC convention today when I stocked up on horse feed. I picked up two bags of beet pulp pellets, two bags of Omolene, and one bag of complete horse 10. That should do me for the next few rides. I also keep a container of plain oats in the trailer. Sometimes the horses like oats instead of Omolene, and other times they don’t. Usually if one horse doesn’t eat something I give it to the other one and it’s gone by the time I get back from riding when I’m at a multiday and alternating horses.
 Bo rubbing on buddy Tigger at the 20 Mule Team 100 in 2009 I’ll only be taking Bo to the ride this weekend. That will seem weird, as I get so used to having two horses along. Having only one horse sure makes things seem easy. Less hay to pack, no worries about running out of water…especially for a one day ride. Less cleanup. I have all of the aforementioned feed that’ll fill up my bins in the trailer that are empty or nearly empty plus a ten pound bag of Costco carrots. Bo won’t go hungry!
I have plenty of batteries for my flashlights, headlamps and the new GPS. I need to make sure my camera is recharged too in case I want to use it. So far the camera on the GPS has been working quite well. I’ve got plenty of gear in the trailer for me so I’ll be ready to deal with whatever the weather conditions throw at us. I don’t think it’ll be too bad – chance of rain with a high of 60. I probably won’t even clip Bo’s neck like I did last year.
I know that what happens with my shoulder will have a lot to do with whether or not I am able to make it through the ride and how difficult it will seem. I hate to be the weak link.
Bo has been doing so well with the regular strap on Renegades, that I’ll use those on him for his hoof protection at the 100 this weekend. I haven’t glued a hoof boot on him since last May and I am SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT!! This is working out well especially right now because I’m not in physical shape right now to be messing around with prepping and gluing boots, or removing them.
Kind of funny when I think thoughts like “what am I forgetting?”, then I remind myself that I’m just going to a one day ride and whatever I may have forgotten I can live without for a day, or else find somebody to borrow it from if it’s something really necessary.
 The Lost Padres ride in California has a lot of rolling hills among oak trees I get a lot of people asking me “how hard is _______ ride?” Sometime I answer pretty vaguely with something like “it’s as hard as you make it”. Meaning that some rides can seem harder depending upon how you ride them….and they can also seem much easier as well…depending upon how you ride them. There are so many things to consider. If you as a rider are having a bad day such as feeling ill or experiencing some kind of physical pain or discomfort than almost any ride will seem like a bear to get through. If on the other hand you are feeling great and so is your horse even the most difficult rides will seem like a breeze.
If you are going to be going to a ride that you haven’t done before there are a couple of ways to find out how difficult or challenging the ride is. The first way is to ask your friends that have done it. There are lots of lists and forums online where you can ask these kinds of questions. The other way is to look up the previous years ride results from the ride. This is also a way to look at the list of riders who have done it so that you can contact them individually to see what they thought of the ride.
 I find the previous years results extremely useful. I like to look at the winning times as well as the slowest times. In addition to that I like to look at how many riders started, how many finished, how many did not finish and the reasons for the pulls. If a ride has a very high percentage of pulls I will ask friends that attended why that was. Could it have been poor trail markings (people got lost, etc.), the footing was exceptionally difficult (super deep sand, or very rocky, etc.) or maybe the vets were extremely critical. By combining the information I took from previous years’ results along with individual reports from riders that attended I can usually put together a pretty good picture and decide if that particular ride is one that I want to attend, and also how to prepare for it.
 Questions that are good to ask: What is the camp like? Are the vet checks in or out of camp? How many vet checks are there, at what intervals and how much hold time? Was there enough water on the trail? How were the trail markings? Are there a lot of gates? What was the footing, trail and scenery like? What meals are provided and what were the awards like? Vetting and vetcheck setup? Some items outweigh others in terms of importance. It’s nice to know ahead of time on a multiday for example, if I am going to need to bring enough food for lunches and dinners. I usually bring a couple of hundred gallons of horse water so water in camp is usually not an issue for me but for others it might be.
Most of the rides that I attend require weed free certified hay and have for years. This isn’t a problem for me since all of my hay is certified weed free and I carry a current certificate with me. The hay itself has a striped string in the center so that also shows any inspectors that it is free of noxious weeds, though they are free to cut it open and inspect it if they’d like. The last time I entered California (last week for the Mojave ride) my hay was checked. For those that have a hard time finding certified weed free hay this is another question you can ask. Lots of the XP rides for example, have Crockett’s certified weed free hay available for purchase. Usually you just have to let us know in advance how many bales you’ll need.
Let’s figure out one ride as an example. I’ll do Lost Padres, since it’s a ride I’ve been getting a lot of questions about recently. The ride is a Sunrise Ranch ride. First, check out the website: http://www.sunriseranchrides.com to get the basic information on the ride. Now go to the AERC ride calendar and look up the results from last year: http://www.doublejoy.com/erol/Calendar/RideDetails.asp?rideID=4664 Looks like on day one there were 68 starters with 62 finishers. Of the pulls, five were lame with one rider option. That is in the average range for number of pulls so nothing really stands out there. I get more curious anytime the pull rate is higher than 10 or 15%.
Looking at the ride times I see that the winner finished with a 5:18 ride time. Most 50’s are won in around five hours so this tells me that it isn’t an extremely difficult ride. If the winning time is 4 hours for example, I would know that the ride was super easy and if it were 6 or more hours I know it will be on the more difficult side. Now I look at the last place finishers. They took 9:59. Once you add in the hour hold time that this ride has you know that the last finishers came in with about an hour to spare. This also tells me that it’s not an incredibly difficult ride even for the slower riders. If that were the case they would be finishing closer to the cutoff time. If more than half of the ride were to take nine, ten, or more hours of ride time then I would also know that the ride was going to be an extremely difficult one.
   The next thing I will often do especially when checking out a ride that is out of my region or that I’ve never done before is to check out the weather conditions. I usually use wunderground.com because they are good at providing historical data.
From Wunderground I type in “Santa Margarita, CA” which is where the ride is. Then I scroll down and on the left I see the spot for History and Almanac data. I change the date to last years ride date and come up with this: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KSMX/2009/4/25/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA Now I can look up the low and high temps for the day as well as see how much wind and precipitation there was. Click on the thumbnails to see more detail.
 You often can’t get a full picture from analyzing just one year of ride results and weather conditions. It’s a good idea to check two or more years of results and weather in addition to asking other riders what they think. Be sure to get input from more than one rider. Often different people come away from rides with completely different opinions and experiences. You definitely should keep an open mind when doing this so that you aren’t swayed by somebody that is overly negative or overly positive.
Often doing this kind of homework ahead of time will help me decide which horse to take to a ride and also help me pre-determine how I plan to ride. It will also help me figure out in advance what I need to pack and the kind of food (for me) that I need to bring. How many waterproof horse blankets I’ll need and so many other little things.
My trailer stays pretty well equipped so I am usually good to go no matter what but sometimes what I learn from checking into a ride in more detail can help me at least arrive even more prepared.
  Here are a couple more photos of Dave. These were taken by Steve Bradley. The first photo is of Dave and Dave at the AERC awards. The other photo was taken at the Eastern Mojave Scenic ride last weekend. Dave is riding White Cloud.
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I think the horses like their new haircuts! It has been nice enough to take their blankets off during the day.
I took a couple photos of Chief’s feet today. It’ll take a few months still for his hooves to grow the rest of the way out and fully recover. In the first two photos you can make out the stress rings. Basically it was a mild laminitis caused by medication (antibiotics) and stress from the eyelid injury. Six surgeries. (sigh)
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