Weekend activities

This weekend had 2 rides.

Saturday I got to go out with 3 other horses.  It was fun.  All the horses had their good and bad moments but we all dealt with it fine.  It isn't often I get to go out with 3 horses.  Zoe was good at first, not so good during the middle of the ride, and better towards the end.  I think she was excited to be out with so many horses that sometimes she wasn't listening very well (head tossing, getting too close to the horse ahead of her, not slowing down) and I found myself being heavy on her head-just at the trot.  Then after walking a ways we trotted again and I guess I was expecting her to be the same, but she didn't want to be.  I discovered that she was starting to toss her head again and I found myself heavy on the reins again...but as I let up on the reins-the head tossing stopped and she followed  the horse ahead of us at a good distance and she was listening.  Maybe this time the head tossing was because I automatically went to being heavy on the reins.  I didn't really get a chance to play with this idea alot on this ride but will try it again sometime.   It's funny how sometimes those reins can play such an important part of the ride (lightness-I can hear my old instructor now) and how sometimes they just don't listen to them or to your seat or to your words....and you have to get heavy on the reins or do circles or stop or walk or...whatever works at the time.  Zoe also got to go out with Major.  She doesn't get  to see Major that often.  At first she didn't like him behind her but she had to deal with it.  Towards the end of the ride they were able to walk side by side-and Zoe didn't make mean faces at him.  Progress.   Zoe did stop to eat at odd times-sometimes stopping from a trot-suddenly.  I'm sure the horses behind us were crowded at times.  Today she seemed to be eating alot on the ride.  I haven't had her do that in quite a while.

We all went out to lunch afterwards to celebrate a riding friend's birthday.  It was great fun to get together with all these people.  It's so encouraging to hear everyones stories-horsey stories or life stories.

Sunday's ride was also good.  Zoe went out with Skippy.  I wanted Skippy in front most of the ride so that I could try to practice some of the things I mentioned about Saturday's ride.  But no practice, Zoe did none of the things that she did on the Saturday ride.  Zoe was good...almost too good.  I guess I need more than 1 other horse to practice.  A couple of weeks ago Zoe went out with Dune and Sky, but I don't remember any head tossing.  I sound like I'm complaining about Zoe being good today.  I should be glad, she has come a long way.
The only exciting thing about Sunday's ride was on the way out.  Zoe was in front.  A horse trailer went by us going towards Sterling Pt.  As it went by it went over the manhole cover, at the same time it went over the cover (making thatthump, thump sound) the horse inside whinnied loudly.  It sounded like the horse was in our ears literally.  The combination made Zoe jump forward a few steps.  Zoe can handle the manhole cover sound fine, but I guess the combo and loudness of the horse scared her.I did run 2 GPS apps on my phone at the same time- they were close.  Endomondo said 5 mi in 1:39, avg speed 3.02 mph  and Strava said 5.4 mi in 1:37, avg speed 3.3 mph.  Hmmmmm.

Midweek rides

These midweek rides were just me and Zoe.  Wednesday was interesting because it was our first ride after the rains.  The trails were nice.  It was nice to have some puddles to work with.  Zoe walks thru them just fine.  She didn't care about the tree we walked thru on the trotting trail.

        Finally got a picture of this...thank you trail cleaning angels!

What made this ride interesting was on the way back.  As we were walking back, on the road, corner of Lomida and Auburn Folsom we met Sky and Skippy going out.  (I have leased Skippy out on a per ride basis only to 1 person).  Skippy and Zoe are mother and daughter and pasture mates.  We stopped to talk a few minutes then each party proceeded to their destinations.  As we continued our walk home Zoe kept looking back in the direction Skippy was going.  She even called out to her twice.  We were able to keep walking home.  I think this was a good place for this to happen seeing we were so close to home.  Apparently Skippy called out one time, but that was it.  When we got back to the barn, Zoe would call out every once in a while.  Finally she stopped.  She wasn't frantic, dancing, or extremely emotional...she just would call out once in a while.  Having these 2 horses pass each other on the trail has only happened 1 other time that I can remember.  It was about 5 years ago, my trainer was riding Zoe back to the barn and I was riding Skippy out to the trail...we passed each other on Lomida.  It wasn't a big deal back then.  I would say Zoe did pretty good, she didn't get frantic and would still listen to my directions.

I just barely beat the rain on Thursday's ride.  I like having the weather on my phone.  I can check it to see if rain is close and today it was close.  So I wore my oil skin coat on the ride and of course it didn't rain on my ride.  When I got back to the barn and took it off...then it rained.  I love the way the rain moves the dirt around on the trail.  The colors are amazing, this picture doesn't do it justice but it's a try.

We had a deer jump out in front of us.  I like how Zoe isn't afraid of them since they do this frequently.  She just slowed down, lifted her head and stared at it.  I made her stop and look at it for a while.  She seems to do better with moving objects if she can study them for a moment.
This time Skippy was at the barn when we got back.  Zoe called out and Skippy answered and all was good.  I got all 3 horses tied to the arena fence when it started raining so we moved to the barn.  It stopped after they ate their supplements and I ate my lunch.  So back out they went.

       2 happy horses

When I take Zoe out Skippy gets the rest of the food.  She gets to munch without the Zoepig scarfing down the food.  Zoe could easily eat too much.  When we get back Skippy has eaten most of the rest of it and there is just a few nibbles left-of course they need to check it out.

Spoiled

We have been very spoiled here in California lately.  Nice winter weather, warm with no rain.  However that has changed.  It is now raining.  We need the rain...so I should be glad it is wet and nasty.  However it changes many things.  One is the grooming challenges that come with the rain.   Once they roll in the mud......

I didn't get a picture of Skippy.  The dirt just didn't show up too well on a palamino horse.  However I can see it pretty good on these 2.  

I need to get used to riding in the rain again.   Last Thursday I rode wearing my oilskin coat.  Zoe was fine with the flapping of the coat.  It didn't rain on us...probably because I was prepared for it.  

I'm used to riding with a heavy coat...since sometimes I ride at 5:30 in the morning-it has been cold out at that time.  I like my heavy carhartt jacket, it has a double zipper-so I can unzip it some at the bottom and it makes for a nice riding jacket.  

We will see how the trails are.  Zoe did pretty good last year on the wet trails-and boy did we ever have a wet winter last year.  

 

Ride before the rain...maybe

"Maybe" because it never seems to rain when they say it will...but since it might I wanted to do the canal trail.  We took the trotting trail.  It was Zoe's first time going thru the sawed thru log by herself.  She wasn't too sure, hesitated, stopped for a brief second-but I urged her on and she went forward.  ( I need to take a picture of it)  Once on the canal trail she gave the rocks "the ear" to make sure they didn't move.  I heard some riders on the Pioneer Express Trail-above and behind me.  We trotted on, I was hoping that we would be able to get ahead of them.  That part of the Pioneer Trail can be rocky and I was hoping it would slow them down some.  I guess it did because I didn't see them again the whole ride.  On the way back she heard a deer before I could see it.  It was around a corner, she stopped but we didn't see anything so I urged her on and there around the corner was a buck-antlers just coming in.  It jumped, Zoe stared, then we moved on.  I guess I don't mind her stopping to look, especially if it makes her feel comfortable.  At least she doesn't spook and spin or bolt.

               The balancing rock WAY out of the water.

Today I tried my old saddle pad.  It seemed to work fine.  I wanted to try something different, I've noticed some spots on Zoe's back that look worn.  I figure if the pad works I should be able to change pads sometimes and maybe the spots won't be so noticeable.  Or maybe it's because she is a hairy monster right now with her winter coat so I notice those spots more.  

It has been cold the last 2 mornings.  I rode one of them before work and the other I pulled all 3 horses in the barn and they shared a flake of hay-they didn't mind.  No blankets, altho I was tempted to put them on Monday night.  They seemed to do fine.  But as the other 2 get older, blankets will be important.  Zoe-she has enough fat and is young-she seems to do well in the cold.

Colds and windy days

Colds aren't fun.  This past week I had a cold, started Monday afternoon and I still have it on Sunday.  Monday and Tuesday were the worst.  So the ride time for this past week has been less.  I didn't take my solo ride on Zoe on Wednesday, but did go out Thursday some friends.  Saturday we were out of town so my next ride was today-Sunday.  It was windy today and Zoe decided to be spooky.  I could tell when I was saddling her up that she was going to be on edge.  Since Jim had a cold today (wonder where he got that from) he stayed at home.  My riding partner today was on Sky.  We set out with Zoe in the lead.  I decided she could be up front to keep herself busy and to deal with her "spookiness".  Then 1/2 way thru we switched and put Sky up front.  Zoe was sure there was a monster trying to get us from behind.  She kept looking back, sometimes took a few trot steps to "get away from it".  She finally settled down.  Funny how some days the wind really affects them.  It was a shorter ride and we went on familiar roads/trails.

Sometimes I wonder about the horses when they are spooky.  I could trot more, we would pass the "scary" spots faster, give them less time to think about those spots.  Or we could walk-deal with the "scary" objects, learn that they aren't going to hurt them.   Somedays I do the first option and somedays I do the second option.  Today I chose the second one.  Zoe seemed to calm down.  I think which option I choose depends on the day, the horse, the rider, and any companions on the ride.

On my way home I counted 12 4-wheelers heading up Auburn/Folsom.  They weren't packed for camping,  seemed like a day trip to me.  Hopefully our 600 acres was not their playground today.

Happy Birthday Zoe

Yesterday was my birthday!  My mom remembered but forgot the carrots!!!!! So I got them today.

She usually takes a picture of me wearing my very first horse blanket.  When I put it on it now looks like a funky saddle pad.  However she didn't put it on me today. Said she had enough pictures of that. 

Yesterday we went on a nice ride.  Not too hard and not too slow.  Just right for a birthday.  We got to on a trail that she calls the trotting trail.  It was closed for a while but now it's open.  It does have this weird tree cut up in the middle of it.  I felt like I was walking thru a tree.  

So here I am 10 years old.  My mom says she has lots of memories of me being born and the days that followed.  

Got to give some birthday credits to my horse mom - Skippy.  Mom says she'll be 18 years old this year. 

I like birthdays AND carrots.  

Up and down and up and down and....

Today was a different kind of ride.  I went out with Dottie and Sky.  Our goal was to go to Dottie"s Hill (which I found out has the name Vinnie's Hill-seems like every rider names it after their horse) and trot up it without a horse charging out of control up the hill.  The last few times the horses have had speed issues going up the hill.
We went straight there.  On the way we came across someone running a chainsaw on the old trotting trail.  Hopefully someone is clearing it.  They could not see us coming and we could not see them - and I wasn't sure if they were falling a tree or cutting up something that had already fallen.  So just in case something was going to go crashing down we got off and walked past the sawing.  The horses did fine.  The sawing never stopped, we got back on.
At the hill we decided to put Zoe in front seeing she is the slower of the two.  The hill basically has 3 levels.  We walked up the first 2 and were doing fine so I asked for a trot up the last 3rd and everyone did fine.  We walked all the way back down.  We walked up 1/3 of it and trotted 2/3 and did fine.  We walked back down.  We took a few walking steps and trotted up the whole thing...and the horses did fine.  We rested for a bit, then...we walked back down, changed the horse in the lead to Sky took a few walking steps and nicely trotted up the whole thing.  We decided that was enough for the day.  No need to keep at it...a horse might say "enough" and do something naughty.  Then we would feel like we would have to correct that and we would be at it longer and it might not turn out so well.  Finishing on a good note seemed like a good idea.  Each time we walked down the hill, Zoe would question me by flicking an ear in the go home direction.  She didn't balk or refuse to go...which is a good thing.  She probably sighed inside and said do we really have to do this?  Maybe yesterday's ride helped because we did many direction changes that lead away from home.
We figured they worked hard for us and we walked home.  It was a nice ride.  Such nice weather for January.  

Another Loopy Ride

When I rode Zoe last Sunday, I could tell that she would have liked to just run.  So today before I saddled her up, I put her in the arena to lunge her.  Well, today she was self lunging...at a lope, fast lope, very fast lope with lots of bucks and kicks and head tossing.  She was feeling good.  I didn't have to do anything to get her to go.  I just stood there in the middle, turning to watch her as she zoomed around the arena.  I was thinking "and I ride that thing".  Eventually she calmed down and would listen to my directions.  We even ended up with her following me walking, trotting, backing, sidepassing.

After running around Zoe's cowlicks were starting to show.  This is only part of them.

So we saddled up.  I also decided that we have been doing alot of "point A to point B" rides lately so it was time for another loopy ride.  This is where we go out, seem like we are going home then turn away from home.  Sometimes this results in going in loops (circles).  Today we did 5.44 miles and 7 loops and a few turns away from home.  Sometimes Zoe would turn an ear towards the path that lead to home...that was about it for a reaction.  I was glad.
It was a good day.  Zoe got alot of energy out and she did good on a loopy ride.  We even saw a young buck and 3 turkey hens.  She didn't spook, she was just curious.
When we got back she got a complete rinse off.  Wow what a winter so far.  No rain and it's warm enough to wash off your horse in January.

            I'm tired, running around in the arena, loopy trail ride, bath...I'm tired

                        I just want to sleep

Wait, if you're going to take a picture-this is my best side. 

New Years Day Ride

Happy New Year!  Our barn has a new years ride every year and some years I go and some years I don't go.  This year I went, just me-Jim stayed at home with a foot injury.   The riders at the barn decided to split up into groups, I had 3 in my group and it changed to just 2.  That was fine with me.  The other horse was Sky and I go out with Sky and rider all the time.
Today Zoe was in a hurry and didn't like following Sky at a trot.  She thought he was going too slow.  Sky's rider suggested putting Zoe in front, but I wanted Zoe to deal with it-so I opted to stay in back.   (This is weird-Zoe wanting to go faster than the horse in front-usually Zoe is the slow one of the group) We tried trotting several different times and as each time went by, Zoe got better.  She also spooked at a few things, not sure what that was about.  We met another rider from the barn on the way out.  Willie's rider waited for us and fell in line behind us.  Zoe didn't mind the horse behind her.  She really doesn't know that horse.  When we split from Willie, Zoe was worried about the horse that left.  She got over it.  I finally put Zoe in front, now she was in no hurry-and by this time it was obvious that we were headed home.  She was cautious.   On the way home we met a nice mountain bike rider.  He wanted to know the quickest way to the lake.  We gave him directions.  He said his wife was out riding her horse so he wanted to ride his bike.  They are from Santa Cruz.  He knew he had to give the right of way to the horses.  In fact he was the leader of a mountain bike group in Santa Cruz and regularly set up workshops for mountain bikers and equestrians so that the horses would get used to bikers and encourage communication between the 2 groups.  It was nice to meet such a knowledgeable and courteous mountain biker.  Zoe was fine to stop and talk for a while.  Sky...well he had seen 2 horses on the trail ahead of him and thought he should catch up with them.  So he didn't stand still, but his rider just put him to work...circles and figure 8's are wonderful.   He calmed down when we got going, the other horses were out of site by then.  Nice ride-a few things to work thru and both horses ended up listening to the riders.