Mom....I told you I didn't like getting my face wet

Running I Ranch obstacles

Sunday Dottie and I took the horses to Dunnigan to the Running I Ranch.  It's a place to practice many obstacles that they have set up all over their ranch.  I was there about 2 years ago, it was fun then and it's still fun.  We were specifically looking for water obstacles because at the Folsom Mounted Patrol Challenge that was our most difficult obstacle.  We also found some more obstacles that we encountered at the Challenge here at Running I...some were easy and some were not so easy.  Besides the water we found there were a few more things that we will be working on...for us they were very challenging.  

We started out in the arena.  Everything in the arena was easy for the horses.  There were plain tarps to walk over, and tarps with poles, branches and pool noodles on them, mattresses to walk over, things to drag, barrels to go around.  It's a very large arena and we could canter in just 1/4 of it, leaving plenty of room for others to work in the arena.  And a large ball to push around. 

                                                                                                  

You never know when we'll run into a ball or mattress on the trail!

There was the trail hills to go over.  It had ups and downs with logs to go over.  At the side of it was the plastic bottle pit.  Zoe didn't mind the plastic bottles, but Sky minded.  He had to be walked thru then he could be ridden thru. 

The pully pole was still there...had a bag of tin cans on the end of the pully that you could drop to the ground.  The horses didn't mind that. 

Everywhere there were real animal skins attached to obstacles or to the fences to get in and out of places.  The horses didn't seem to mind them.  They even sniffed them.  Some of the skins were very old, but some were more recent-however none of the skins were fresh.  There were some dead animals around-on purpose.  There were 2 dead ducks next to 2 obstacles, and there was a dried up fish on the antlers of one of the fake deers.  Last time we were there, there was no animal skins.  

We found 3 goats tied to trees next to the walk thru burlaps and hanging pool noodles.  The horses didn't seem to worried about the goats however I didn't trust them-they had horns and seemed agitated...so we didn't get to close to them.  

Then we found our first water obstacle.  This was a new one to us-wasn't there last time.  3 large pipes that had water flowing out of them into a pool of water.   The pool had a creek flowing out of it into the very large pond.  The point was to go thru the pool of water next to the "water falls".  The small creek was no problem to go over, but the pool-different story.  The water from the "water fall" was about 1 foot from your horse as you went thru the pool.  The pool didn't have a nice flat bottom, it was cone shaped-started shallow, then went steeper quickly, but only up to my knees.  I say that because I ended up leading Zoe thru the pool, she and Sky wouldn't go thru and wouldn't follow the other nice people that offered to lead us thru on their horses.  Sigh.  Finally we were able to ride them thru and I could get Zoe to go thru in the opposite direction too.  The picture shows a different way to operate the obstacle-the water is changed to go thru the top pipe and the water goes over the pool so you would have to walk under the water fall.  You would also get wet because it still had some "rain" over the pool.                             

We didn't do the obstacle with the water flowing like this.  I was just happy we got thru the first set of waterfalls. 

 The next obstacle proved to be quite a challenge.  I had never worked a teeter-totter with Zoe.  I was advised to hand walk her thru it slowly.  Just before it would teeter to the other side I was to stop my horse and REALLY praise her.  We were able to do that.  Then we were to slowly walk down the other side, but we weren't slow.  She got scared.  We were able to do it one more time, but it wasn't done any calmer.  So then it was difficult to just get her front feet on the board.  I finally was able to get that done in hand and also riding her.  Sky did better.  Dottie was able to lead him over and ride him over, but he wasn't happy.  He didn't like the board coming up behind him.  So eventually he didn't want to do it either.  So this an obstacle we will be practicing.  

The next section had things that we had done before, a nice break in the obstacles.  An elevated pole -from the ground to about 1 foot high- to have the horse walk with left feet on one side and right feet on the other side.  We almost made it to the top of it.  An "L" to work, ditches to work, bridges to work.  The thing that  was another challenge was the board to walk on.  It was about 18 inches wide to start for about 12 feet, then narrowed to 9 inches wide for about 12 feet.  After trying to work the teeter-totter,  Zoe wasn't sure about putting her feet on any boards.  So I just worked on getting her to put her front feet on the boards and we could do that.  Another thing to practice at home.  

There was a mud pit here.  A square made of rail road ties about 5 x 5.  Filled with water, mud on the bottom.  It had a board with holes drilled into it floating on the top.  You were supposed to ride your horse over it and as they stepped on the board the water would flow into the pit and it would feel a little unstable to them because now the board was on top of squishy mud.  I got off to try this one, she didn't like it when I tried to ride her over it.  It took some patience, but eventually I got her to walk over it, then we were done.  Sky didn't want to try.  

There was a bear skin on a zip line that you could pull back and forth.  The horses didn't seem to mine that .  

There was an archway to walk thru.  The pole at the bottom was made of metal.  Sky usually doesn't like to deal with metal poles but he walked thru this one just fine.  Zoe was a little hesitant when her feet hit the pole and made a nice loud sound.  There was also a dead duck next to you as you walked thru this obstacle 

We stopped for lunch and gave the horses a break.  It wasn't too hot that day.  They did a good job of drinking water.  

After lunch we found 2 more water obstacles to do.  The first was to walk into the pond.  You could go into the pond 2 different ways.  One of the ways you had to walk past a row boat.  Zoe didn't like the row boat and wouldn't go past it.  I was just glad that she got into the water to start with.  So we just stopped and stared at the boat.  Sky said no way.  The other direction we both could get into the water and ride out-we made a small circle doing this many times.  The other water obstacle reminded us of the water obstacle at the Folsom Lake Patrol Challenge.  It was a long wide muddy pool of water to walk thru.  Zoe didn't want to do it and neither did Sky.  So I said we were going to work small circles and figure 8s and keep their feet moving-they could only stop and rest with feet in the water.  With that Zoe was able to stop with her front feet in the water.  I asked her to go forward but got resistance-so we worked circles and 8s some more.  Then I was able to get all her feet in the water.  We just stood there for a few minutes.  Then I asked her to walk forward and she did it!  I was so happy.  Sky still wasn't convinced and wouldn't even follow Zoe thru as we did it again.  So Dottie got off and walked him thru it a few times.  Then he could be ridden thru it following Zoe, then he did it by himself.  Yay!  It was a good way to end the day.  

Nice separation ride

This week has been an interesting week at the barn.  Tuesday horses came for a stay while the owner was on vacation.  These horses have been here before but were not calm and happy with their "new digs".  So there was much calling, alot of extra energy.  One of the barn horses was "talking" to one of the visitors and managed to get her foot caught in the fence, pulled a shoe and took off part of her hoof.  Then one of the visitors got a laceration on his shoulder and had to have the vet stitch it up.  While that was happening 2 of the horses in the turn out got into a tiff and one ended up with kicks to her legs and now is a bit lame...so she is in the barn, while her pasture mate, the one who kicked her, is by herself in her pasture-and she is not happy about it.  She is calling all the time...only her call sounds more like an elephant call.  So all this to say things are not as calm as usual.  When I went out with Zoe on Wednesday she was okay, but seemed a bit in a hurry to get home and started calling while we were in the cow pasture.  She hasn't done that in a long time.  Maybe it was the events back at home, maybe not.

Anyway I decided that on Thursday our ride would be really different.  I originally thought another ride just by myself was in order, but then I got a different idea!  Dottie and I were going to go out and I decided to make it a separation ride.   I mean ALOT of separation.  We got our horses ready at the same time, but I left the barn first, and Dottie/Sky came 5 minutes later.  We decided to meet at the bottom of the hill going into the 2nd cow pasture.  While I was waiting for them I decided to practice loping up the wide road and try to get on the left lead.  Didn't do it the first try, turned around to try again.  I needed just a little more bend and then we got it.  So we met at the bottom of the hill.  Sky took the road and I took a smaller trail and we met again at the bottom of beginners hill.  Then Sky went back down to the road went past "grand central station" to the top of  the rise while I went up beginners hill down and to the right and we met up again at the bottom of the hill.  We rode together for a little ways then Sky took the big road, veered right and down the other rutty side while I took a side trail and met them at the bottom.  Then we rode together for a little ways.  Sky took the small trail that winds to alligator rock and I took the big road to alligator rock.  Then Sky took the big trail to just past bread rock and I took a small trail over the hill to get to alligator rock.  Then we stayed together for a while.  We ended up on one of the trails at the KBB hills.  Sky took the big road to the top and I took a smaller trail-where the "naked ladies" are blooming nicely-to the top.  When we met at the top we switched and Sky took the smaller trail back down and I took the big road back down.  Then decided that the horses were doing so good that we would stay together for awhile.  We headed back home.  The last separation was the opposite of our first separation.  Sky took the small trail to the bottom of the hill in the second cow pasture and I took the big road and met them.

Each time we separated the horses were willing to go but also kept an "ear" out for the other horse.  There was no calling, no "hurry up to met the other horse", no impatience while waiting for the other horse to show up-just an awareness that we were playing a game and they waited patiently-looking in the direction that the other horse was coming and eventually the other horse would show up.  There was even one time that Dottie took a wrong turn, realized it, got back on track and took longer to met us than I thought she would.  We just waited patiently for her to show up.  So we did 5+ miles today, most of it practicing separation.  It turned out to be fun and a good alternative to trying to go out again by myself.  

Saddle adjustment

Today I had an appointment with my saddle fitter.  I really like my 17" Frank Baines Wide LDR Enduro saddle.  But I noticed that my horse was getting white hairs on her back, first on the left side and then on the right side, just under my stirrup bars-I seem to be "falling" to the right when I ride so pressure on the left occurs as the left side "holds" on.   Zoe has no back pain from these marks.  So before I obsessed about saddle pads I thought I'd get the saddle looked at.  

Good thing because my saddle needed a flock adjustment.  Susan from Saddles that Fit said that the flocking had settled in alot.  And under the stirrup bars was too much pressure.  So she added more flocking to pick up the front again.  (She originally added more to the front because my horse is "down hill to the withers" so that would help alleviate pressure on the shoulders.)  She also added more on the left to even out the saddle.  That seemed strange because I thought it would make me fall even more to the right, but it didn't.  It really helped even out my riding.  AND I learned that Zoe likes to push me over to the right.  All theses years I thought the whole leaning to the right thing was all my fault, but maybe it is a combination of me and Zoe-what a thought!!!   Susan also added more flocking to the back and up high on the seat.  But she left flocking "holes" where the white hairs were to relieve the pressure in that area.    

Reflocking saddle-what a job!

We also talked about saddle pads and decided that the work on the saddle should fix the problem therefore the 2 different pads I was using were just fine.  She said that I might not need the scrim pads underneath the saddle pads.  I will try riding without and see what happens.  She also thought that I might not even need a crupper.  We'll see.  Apparently white hairs occur when a horse had been ridden for 2+ hours with "something wrong" going on.   Sometimes it is from just 1 ride or can be an ongoing "something wrong" going on as you are on shorter rides.  Hopefully this will help.  I probably won't notice the white hairs going away until the next shedding occurs in the spring.  I hopefully won't notice white hairs increasing-that would mean I still have a problem.
Well I feel like I got a "tune up" done on my horse...the feet issue was taken care of and now the saddle problem fixed.  Hopefully all done now and off and riding....