Karen’s Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff

We’ve been getting a good amount of snow with this storm.  It’s great!  The horses are total characters.  Whenever they see me they come running for the barn.  The funny part is that they are all coated in ice.  Their backs, rumps, manes and faces are layered in ice and icicles!  What if the wind comes up?  I’m such a worry wart.  I finally gave in and decided that I couldn’t let the horses stay coated in ice overnight as it was already 16 degrees at 4 p.m. and will get down to zero or below tonight.  So I took the time to scrape the ice off of all three of them and put blankets with high necks on them.

It’s interesting how each horse responds.  I know that Chief loves his blankies.  He always stands perfectly still when you put one on him and he always seems to give me a look of appreciation after I put one on him.  There have been times at a ride when, during the middle of the night he’ll start running circles on his hi-tie until I go out and put a blanket on him, or put a warmer blanket on him.  Then he is quiet and settles in and stops the circling.  Usually when I get out there he is also shivering so he’s just moving more to keep warm.

Rocky is on the right, Chief on the left slightly behind Rocky.

Rocky and Chief both stood quietly while I brushed them (actually, it was more like scraping ice off of a car windshield, lol) and put their blankets on.  I’ve been doing this with them for years.  I never put halters or ropes on them when I do stuff like this.  They stand perfectly still and don’t try to move or get away so I just go into their paddock or stall with a brush and blanket.  I also don’t halter them when I give them shots or worm them.  They make it so easy!

So then I get to Bo.  I haven’t had him as long, and he obviously hasn’t been handled quite as much.  He’s still a little uneasy so when he saw me coming at him with the metal curry comb and the blanket he backed up out of the stall.  He wasn’t sure what I was going to do but was curious enough to stick his face back in and look at me.  I reached around the corner and grabbed a hay string and put that around his neck and pulled him inside.  It was snowing out so I wanted to be under cover.  Bo then stood still while I scraped the ice off of him.  Then I blanketed him and took the hay string off from around his neck.  I think that after a bit more time he’ll learn to relax a little and trust me more.  He’s definitely easy to handle if you halter and lead him but I would like to spend enough time working with him loose that he’ll became as easy to do anything to as my other horses are.

Check out Bo’s lower legs and feet.  This time of year when the horses are in the snow it balls up and stays frozen on them.  This was a lot like what it was like on their backs and rumps.

There isn’t much point in trying to clean all of the ice and snow-balls off as it’ll just come right back.  One good thing about the snow is that it keeps the horses feet nice and clean.

Temps are currently in the low teens and it should drop down to zero or below tonight.  It looks like the storm will break just in time for me to get down to Coso Junction on Wednesday for next weekends ride.  Even if it’s cold there, it’ll still be warmer than here.

Chief’s eyelid has been healing nicely with no signs of any eyelash irritation.  I’m looking forward to riding him, and Bo both one day (50 miles each day).

We hope to get there on Wednesday so we can help mark trail too.  Trail marking is always a great training experience for the horses.   It’ll be a good chance to get them both out and ready to go for the Death Valley Encounter at the end of the month.  Fingers crossed for good ride weather for both upcoming rides!

Related posts:

1. Grand Canyon Day 1: The Snow Globe Day I had a really nice ride today on Chief.  There...
2. Grand Canyon Wrapup: Good Karma It’s always good to get back home after a long...
3. First album of photos from Grand Canyon XP, 2009 I started my photo albums from the Grand Canyon ride...
4. High Desert & My Horse Should be in Hoof Boot Sales! Heading off tomorrow morning for the High Desert ride near...