Gotland Endurance

We're getting there!

2011-12-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

I'll start off by apologizing for not taking any pics (was a little busy), but promise that despite the lack of pictures, it did actually happen! Here are some pics from earlier in the year.

I have been feeling like we are floundering in my training of Red. I felt like I was not communicating effectively what I wanted from him, not progressing greatly, etc... So I called out my old riding instructor (also starts, trains and finishes horses) to come out and help me with the getting Red going on the longeline.

I will admit, I have only put about 7 training sessions into Red since I got him. The rest was just messing around while moving him here to there, a bit of trailer training (after taking him to a hoof clinic off site and having difficulties with the trailering). But only 7 real sessions with goals in mind. He is coming 4 in March.

Anyway, she came out today and started by her putting him on the longeline. I told her my goals for him, and what I'd already worked on. Walk/ trot in hand, head down (has high head set), yield on fore and hind, back, accustom to lunge whip (once), turn on the long line with it down far side of his body, and beginning hobble training (2 sessions). So she attached my 30 ft line and started longing him. Took a few minutes, but she got him doing a circle (my attempts yielded a square, hexagon and an isosceles triangle before I gave up and called an expert!). Walk and trot, transitions up and down. Then handed him over, saying I did a great job of putting a stop on him. I basked in her praise, not wanting to tell her it took 2 sessions to teach him that. And I achieved it by teaching him like I do the show dogs to free stack. LOL. I can now whoa him and walk 10-15 ft away to grab the whip, etc. And it is due to his innate awesomeness, not any skills on my part. But I let her believe it was my great skills for a while.

So I longed him for another 10 minutes or so, working on getting a round circle. He tends to collapse in to stand with me when he is uncertain. Walk, trot, transitions; he was doing beautiful.

Then she asked if I had a second cotton line. I ran to get it. We attached a line on either side knot of my rope halter (a home made one with rings it the side knots) and she walked in ground driving position while I led off the side to get him used to it. We wandered around like this for a while before she took over, running both lines through the surcingle. Took him a bit to understand since he didn't like the pressure on his nose AT ALL! But he REALLY hates the cavesson, so halter works better. She got him going pretty good, but we found out he would absolutely ROCK at twister! Man, that horse is flexible!

Then she passed him over to me to ground drive. Whee!!! She suggested he would do better at this with a bit in as he did not like the twisting the halter did. The bit would clear up the signals. So I'll be bit shopping sooner than expected!

Then she casually asked if I had a helmet handy. I ran to go get it. Thinking; she can't mean to...

But she did! Said he was doing so well and is so calm and accepting that we could try if I was comfortable. I decided it would be better with her there than with my inexperienced husband! So she boosted me up to lay over his back. Then I hopped down and we did on the other side. Rinse, repeat. Then the same but with a few steps. Then a few more times with me sitting like I was side saddle. Then she asked me if I was comfortable with astride. I thought, well, we've gone this far! So we did that too! When he stood completely relaxed with me fully upright we quit for the day.

She came in for hot chocolate (we had been outside for an hour in the minus 5 with 35 km/h wind) and we chatted for a bit. She was impressed with his mind and willingness. I told her how much work (or how little) I had actually done with him. She was even more impressed with him. And in her opinion, she feels I am doing fine by myself. Whew! I'm not ruining him like I thought! But I will be asking her back often to keep us progressing!

I am feeling great about this horse again! Because I totally credit him with ALL his great progress. I have never dealt with a horse who tried so incredibly hard to please me and was so careful around me.

Breeder Report

2011-09-30T12:53:00.001-07:00

This September, I finally went on a vacation with the whole family. First one in over 9 years! We borrowed my parents 40 ft RV and packed up the Sqwid and the Kuvs (dogs) and set off for Alberta and beyond. Boy, was it hard to come home.

But on our travels, I managed to squeeze in a trip to Red's breeder! That was a highlight of the trip for me! Bold Vantage Farm has one of the largest herds of purebred Akhal Tekes in North America. Cynthia very graciously came and picked me up at the RV park in High River and drove me around to the 3 sites with her horses. I had a blast with her. She is funny and loves to talk about Tekes. Me too! But I don't know near as much as she does!

We started at the old farm site, near town. Right away I met Murgab, in a paddock with a leased bay mare and her buckskin filly. The mare was of heavier build (not quite massive type – she did have a German? mare of MASSIVE type. She called her Cookie). Fun thing about Cynthia; she names all her horses funny barn names. The magnificent Murgab is Murray, there is also Cookie, Potato, Dinnerplate (Potato's part bred colt), Smootches, Covergirl, Cabbage, etc...

I liked the leased bay mare and her buckskin filly. Substantial girls! I think the filly will grow into a very nice mare! They may not be super “typey” but they are correct and will be sound! I'd rather that. I hate those Teke breeders that compromise proper conformation for typeyness. Another thing that struck me is Murgab has TONS of bone! I drooled. I would post pics of him, but he was INCREDIBLY uncooperative for photos.

Unfortunately, Mr. Murray was feeling lazy in the warm fall sun and he WOULD NOT MOVE FOR ME!!! I was really looking forward to seeing his awesome movement in person. No such luck. In fact, we saw 6 more PB (pureblood) Tekes at the old farm site before we came across one that would move out for me! More on her later.

We visited the broodmare pen. There were several of her broodmares in this pen, of all breeds. These were all the pregnant or without foal mares, most of them of other breeds. She had a lovely Welsh pony mare, cannot wait to see that foal! Bahilana was there (Red's dam). She has a really soft eye and while a little fat (hence the name Potato) she was very nicely built. She was bred to Kopeli last year, before his gelding, but did not take. (Not to worry, she did a collection on the old guy – 18 years – and has about 50 frozen tubes) So I am curious to see how his future foals come out!

Next pen over was a lovely, stereotypical golden buckskin Teke mare. At heel was her cremello (too bad) 2011 colt. He is a lovely boy and a stallion prospect. He was sold to Australia and about to be shipped when the prospective new owner has a reversal of circumstances and said she couldn't pay for him. So we loaded him and his mom to go out to the broodies herd a few miles away.

Last horse I looked at the yard site was another Murray filly, a coming 3 yo. They call her Smootch. She is stunning! And she actually moved when asked! Here are some pics... I am very eagerly awaiting news of her in the future, as I think she is very special. She is also Cynthia only filly of her favourite and foundation mare that she just lost this spring.

She is very bright and hot, and lovely to watch. She is very typey, but displays great conformation. For Murgab getting only a 7.5 for type, he sure throws typey foals!

We also put Kogan on the trailer, he was going to another site.

The next stop was the broodie herd a few miles away. Here I met Olimpic Gul, the mare that was for sale in foal to Murgab last winter. I looked at the foal and said... DAMN, shoulda bought her! While she is not hot stuff to me (though high marks in inspection) she makes REALLY nice foals! She improves very nicely. Unfortunately this was also a herd of slow pokes that day and they only moved a little, even when we let out the mare and foal off the trailer. But I did get some pics of what, to me, is a huge Teke herd!

Out in that field, I didn't spend time with her, was a PB Teke mare that sounds ideal for endurance. She is trained, but does not like going English. But put her out on the trail on a loose rein and she goes anywhere, anytime. She is forward, easygoing and confidant. Sounds perfect to me! Forgot her name though! Oops!

Our final stop was the new farm site. It is about 25 kms out of High River, on a GORGEOUS ¼ section of rolling land. I want to live there. They had just purchased it a few months ago and there was lots of work to do before moving themselves and all the horses on.

On the west side was her gelding pasture. It was gorgeous, with hills and gulleys and a nice big pond. There were 3 boys in there; a he-doesn't-count-because-he's-just-a-QH, SwiftSure (Red's full younger brother) and a very lovely flashy black yearling PB gelding. He was very typey (another Murray foal), but very conformationally correct. He was one of the top rated colts (if not THE top rated colt) in North America in the 2011 evaluation tour. I liked him, he was pretty, but also personable and friendly. AND A MOVER! Sorry no pics of him. Some are apparently angry Cynthia gelded him, but I think he will be an EXCELLENT ambassador to the breed. I hope someone with dreams of competition swoops him up!

Now SwiftSure, AKA Dinnerplate, named for the dishy head when born.

By the end of our little visit with him, I was ready to stuff him in my back pocket and try to smuggle him home with me. He has Red's (and their sire's, Murgab) wonderful temperament. They are really easygoing, but very responsive. Lovey, huggy boys. SwiftSure is more Arab-ish, rounder and less dry, than Red, and just a smidgen shorter (but a year younger, so...). SwiftSure takes after his dam, while Red really takes after his Teke sire.

We let out Kogan to play with the other geldings, and then drove over to the east side pasture with the mares. This had 2 older mares. One of which is not used because, while she is a very nice mare, she is the unfortunate colour of cremello! Lol. Cynthia is not fond of cremellos. And when bred to Murgab she has a 50% chance of another cremello foal. (She actually has 3 cremellos on farm presently)

I also got a tour of the buildings, one of which is an ancient old barn. It used to be the livery stable in High River, and was moved out to the farm decades ago. I cannot wait to see what they do to this place. It will be a stunning farm for them, I think!

I went inside to have tea and meet JK. I finally understood why he sold Red. He is well over 6 foot. I just sticked Red, he is 14.2 h @ 3 ½ years old. However, apparently he is working on an oil rig and claims when they strike it he is buying Red back. I said it had better be a gusher if you want to afford him! We enjoyed a delicious tea and a great chat about dogs (she has the shaggiest Springer EVER) and Tekes, before she drove me back to the RV camp.

Next year I am coming back for a ride in the mountains though!!!

My Afternoon Project

2011-08-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, when Sqwid went down for a nap, I felt like being outside. So I grabbed my camera and baby monitor and went to hassle the horses. I rarely have had time for this. My two 3 1/2 year olds are virtually untouched. I have not done half the groundwork I really should be doing. OK, I've done none of it. In the past year or so, since I got fat with baby and caring for newborn, I have just managed to feed and move the horses around for pasture once a day. Trim feet as needed. Oh, and build a home made automatic waterer because I am cheap. But that's it. Bad me!

So I go out with big intentions! lol

I halter and tie the two up. Give them both a swipe with grooming tools. Hmm. No crying baby yet. So I dug deep in the horse shed. Crawled over used feed bags, mountains of folded sheets and rugs (a bit obsessive about these). And I pull out the old saddle. This could be interesting. I have not done anything since putting the surcingle on that one time in the fall.

I grab a cavesson for Red. I plan to do a bit of work on our hit and miss lunging program. I do this about once every 3 weeks (or months). I do a bit, then haul over the saddle. He inspects it thoroughly. He could probably tell you the name of the sheep the pad came from. I pulled off the heavy stirrups and tossed the saddle over. Hmm. Nothing. So I go grab the cinch, do him up. Still nothing. I tighten it up. Is he alive? OK. Back out on the line. Backing, bending, disengage the hind end; on both the near and far side. All good, very responsive. I take it all off and let him go.

Still no crying baby. Must have been tired. Maybe it was stealing and eating all my ripe cherry tomatoes. (Grrr!) Over to Evil Poneh. Same treatment. Zero reaction to the saddle being tossed on. Same lead work (she HATES off side work - ears were pined the entire time). Always gives me giggles. But gives me lots of try, so I let her go too.

Now, I wasn't expecting fireworks. But I at least expected their feet to move a little. Red had the biggest reaction, he turned his head to watch me cinch up. I even tried to get a reaction by moving them around, letting them feel the saddle move with them. But no worries. He trusts me. I love that horse.

I even had time to scrub out the waterer before Sqwid woke up!

Oh, and pics of Oh-so-impressed ponies...

Saddle fit sucks. I need to make some adjustment to the saddle. I was planning to buy an industrial machine to sew tack, so I can "fix" the saddle later.

And yes, feet are in desperate need of a trim. Haven't done in a month, man are they ever growing this summer! Hubby comes home next week and can watch Sqwid while I trim. Yeah?

Clinics CAN be good

2011-04-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

So, in the past I've been to a few clinics, and walked away shaking my head. It drives me nuts, the fanatics who say you MUST do it like their hero (this clinician or that one) or you are a terrible and abusive horseman. And you need to buy this fancy gimmicky piece of equipment or another.

It's usually not the fault of the clinician. Usually they are good people, out to help you develop a better relationship with your horse. But we've all met the Fanatic Followers. Oy.

I am a Fanatic Fan. I do admit it. But of a horse blogger, not of a trainer. http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/ Well, she is a trainer, but it is her musing on horses, training and living with horses that really sticks with me. It is from her that I have learned to take what I like from various training methods and incorporating them to what I am comfortable with. And I didn't even realize it until this weekend!

I audited a demo night of a trainer that came to Manitoba on Friday. At first it seemed kinda nuts what he was doing. And I'll admit it, I just stuck around to watch his exhibition of his gorgeous Andalusian stallion. But then I went home and thought about it. What he was actually doing and why; I think it was a gold mine of information! I may not buy his "fancy" Endo-whip. But I will think of a way to incorporate his theories into my training. Can't argue with the amazing results he got! And he doesn't insist you buy expensive whips, sticks or halters!

Check out his articles. I can see how I can use his theories to benefit me in what I want to accomplish with the horses...

http://www.pkequestrian.com/articles.html

And his his dog was ADORABLE! Next time he is in, you should check it out, just to watch the exibition at the end!

Gotta love horses

2011-04-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up real cranky this morning.

The Sqwid kept waking up last night (he is teething AND just getting over a nasty cold). Each time he was up at least an hour. So not much sleep... again.

My wrist aches; I have DeQuervins Tenosynovitis, AKA "the Sqwid is a heavy lump that refuses to let me put him down".

Then I look outside. Despite the Almanac saying that it is now Spring, I see no sign that Winter is leaving. It is sleeting. Big, nasty, wet flakes. Mother Nature obviously hates me (Yes, I am taking it a bit personal). The horses are standing at the fence, wet, filthy and glaring at the house. They are PISSED! Good, I'm not the only one!

I sigh and start to bundle myself up against the cold and wet. I had best go out and feed and blanket them.

Evil Poneh is not too bad off, her coat is thick and long and fluffy; the wet rarely penetrates to her skin. But she hates rain. I know, she's a mustang that thinks she's a TB! I can practically hear her plotting nasty things to do to me.

Big Red is not as well off, while his coat is thick and plush it does not seem to repel water. He gets soaked to the bone quickly. And while it is amusing to watch him get pissed and beat up the Evil Poneh, I should blanket him against the cold.

I trudge out and pour their warm slop into their bowls and toss them plenty of hay to keep them distracted. I feed Red first, just to watch EP stomp around thrashing her head. And she does stomp. All four feet. I giggle. I'm mean. Bwahaha. I'm starting to feel a little better.

I pull out Red's shoulder slinky and fancy turnout shell. Swearing as I wrestle the slinky over his wet shoulders. It's like trying to pull off slim fit jeans while wet. Then I toss on the shell... then I chase after him to try and get it done up since I was to lazy to also pull out the halter and lead. More swearing.

Finally Red stands still and lets me do it up and yank on it to try and get it sitting right. Good boy, he gets a pat.

Then it's EP's turn. I pull out the old quilted blanket I got for $5 at a used tack sale and had to do major repairs on. It kinda fits. (See my priorities?) EP is very good and stands still while I toss it on, understanding that it keeps off the rain and is a good thing. I am almost bucked up when I hear a snort behind me.

It's Red. He has just spotted the "new" horse. He prances over to meet this pretty new burgundy coloured mare. She sidles nervously away. After all, she is at "his" hay pile. I flap my arm at him to keep him off until it get her safely done up. Then I stand back to enjoy the show. It goes something like this:

"Hellooo. My name is Redoubtable. I am a big, handsome boy. See my prancing side pass?"

"Uh, Mom?! What wrong with Red?!"

"Spring is in the air, pretty lady. Heh heh heh."

"MOOOOM! Save me! He's gone crazy!"

"I am strong and fast and have a pretty arching neck. See?"

"Ahh! He's chasing me!"

"Come back, mon cherie! It is love at first sight, no?!" (been watching lots of Loony Tunes lately)

I love horses. I walked away laughing. Beautiful day out.

My babies are growing up!

2010-10-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. I have finally found the time to do some work with the horses. Jake is being pretty good to me, we are getting into a pattern. The new hay shed is almost done, so I can do a bit of the training I keep saying I will get around to.

The Buckskin Kids are starting to look more grown up…

So, yesterday I brought them in and tied them up. Patience, kids. Get some.

I groomed the Big Guy all over, including his feet. Neither of which he is fond of. I had to trim off his wind blown dreads in the mane. Which made his mane look positively dreadful (dreadless?), since he had also rubbed out great big patches. So I pulled out the scissors and evened it up in my version of a Teke roached mane. Here he is sporting his modified mo…

Does he look a bit embarrassed to you?? I’ll even it up again later once the hair settles.

Then I tried on my various cavessons and surcingles. I’d like to begin lounging him soon, just to get things started. He was very good for cinching up for the first time. Just turned to look at it.

I like this surcingle better, but it is a bit big for them. I will have to get out my leather punch and make a few more holes.

Then I moved on to Narra. She loves being groomed, so that part went very well. Then I put on the serreta type cavesson on her. I liked that one better, though the nose piece is a bit stronger (it has a jointed metal nosepiece).
But the jowl strap is attached lower, and will prevent the cheek piece from moving and pressing on the eye. I figure this will be Narra’s, as she is duller, and can take stronger cues to get her to listen. For example, a tree branch across her rump when she kicked me this spring.

She was fine with the cavesson. So I backed her up from the fence and cinched up the surcingle slowly. She didn’t care. I think they will be nice horses to play with as things rarely bother them.

They are even easy to worm! Narra tries to steal the wormer from other horses, she likes it so much. Yup, she nuckin’ futz!

Sorry no pics of Narra. I’ll try to get some tomorrow.

Jake’s First Endurance Ride

2010-09-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

August 22, 2010

Well to be truthful, he’s already done 30 competition miles… in utero! But this is the first ride we made it to this year.

Actually we packed up and got on the road on Saturday, but halfway to Bel Air Provincial Forest the timing belt on the car shredded and the vehicle died. Jake and I were stuck on the side of the road for an hour, in 30 degree heat. By the time we made it home, I did not feel like packing into the van and trying again.

The next day we packed into the van and started up to arrive just before people would be coming in for the 25s. I set up chairs for Jake and me, and settled down to chat with friends I have not seen in months. Tanya was there with her daughter, and she delighted in telling me how boys are NUTS as they get older. She has a big boy who will sleep one hour in a 24 hour period. I still have nightmares.

Then the five 25s all came in in a pack. I was pleased to see Rachel on Beamer. It was a very exciting few minutes as they all raced to pulse down and present.

I was quietly rooting for Rachel and her Walker. I really like that horse, have ever since riding with them on that CT ride last September. He is so mellow and businesslike about the rides, yet is very forward and you can tell he enjoys it. He looks like a joy to ride, and is so smooth. See, doesn’t he look great?!

I had lots of time to visit afterwards. Jake was great, just sitting in his chair, and watching the trees waving in the breeze. He really likes watching trees.

But I can’t wait to get back into competing! Unfortunately, mine won’t be old enough for two years. Maybe someone will lend me a horse?...

Who'd a thunk?

2010-07-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, things have definitely changed in my world. Four weeks ago today I gave birth to a baby boy, Jake. Hubby and I still look at each other and say; “I can’t believe we’re parents!” Many of my friends say the same, they would have sooner believed I’d cut off my left leg. I was always the dog or horse girl, depending on which crowd I was hanging with at the moment, the horsaii or the serious dog people.

But here I am with a baby. I stand rocking little Jake in the upstairs dormer window right now and point out the window. “That pale dun pony is yours, and the big buckskin over there… he’s mine. We are going to have so much fun together as you grow.”

A few years back now I started doing endurance with a leased Gotland mare. I met the breed when I moved in next to Canada’s biggest Russ breeder. Some of the other Gotland owners had wanted to try Endurance for years and so I went along. I got hooked immediately. I worked really hard and used Willow for two seasons, until it really became an exercise in endurance for me. I had to endure her mare-ish behaviour just to try to complete a ride.

During this time, I received an excellent xmas present from hubby; he would pay for stud fee and all associated costs to breed a Gotland foal. I decided that I wanted a more usable horse and so I talked it over with the Gotland owner, and she agreed to breed to a stallion of another breed. I was hoping for more size and improve some conformational weaknesses. We found a beautiful Spanish Colonial Horse Stud (ranch-bred Spanish Mustang), Silvertip.

Luckily, things turned out well. She has all the good points of both parents. But I have learned my lesson; I will never breed again, hoping to get a certain outcome. It is too much of a crapshoot. I had hoped for a colt, maturing around 14h, darkish in colour. Instead I got a short (likely top out at 13.2h), pale (silver dunskin), FILLY! Not more mares!! Horrors!

But it turned out ok. I became pregnant. And right away hubby said “you’re gonna need a different horse, Narra is going to be the kid’s pony”

I said OK. Isn’t he amazing?

But the timetable for getting the new horse was sped up, as Willow went back home to the breeder and Narra was living alone. She became a real handful! And I couldn’t correct her properly as I was too cautious around the horses in my pregnant state. She took shameless advantage.

So I began looking for a new horse. My criteria list was long. I wanted a youngish gelding, 14.2h to 15.3h max, even tempered; kind, willing, calm. I wanted a very forward horse that I wouldn’t have to push all the time for Endurance and Competitive Trail. I wanted good clean legs and well kept, hard feet (I do endurance without shoes). He needed to have great conformation, in that I wanted him to hold up for years at my chosen sport. I wanted a lighter build horse, so he would cool easier and not tire as quickly. After meeting Rachel’s Walkers, I was looking for a Tennessee Walker. They had the temperament and as I saw could do the sport.

Then I got an email from a woman in Alberta. And I fell in love with my dream horse. He is a gelding. But he is just turned two (two years before I can ride and compete on him). And he is an Akhal Teke Sporthorse (crossed with Arab). He was a really great price. Heck, I could probably put a bit of training into him and sell him for MORE than he cost me (training included). Unheard of! But I won’t. I love him already.

He plays with the filly, and has gotten her straightened out already.

I like her again. And I just stand there to watch him move. He is exquisite. I like the cross with the Arab, makes him better looking. While I am one of the few who actually likes the look of a purebred Teke (the equine greyhound/ snake look), the Arab blood does make him more appealing to the average person. I cannot wait to begin riding him… in a year. Sigh. He still looks so immature. I have many dreams of our future riding career together. I want to get serious about the endurance. I want to make it on the Manitoba team for the Nationals one year. I want to compete in at least one low level dressage show with him, just for fun.

But right now, right now, I am dreaming other things. As I hold Jake, I see a beautiful spring morning. Bright green spring grass and flowers on the wild cranberry bushes along the trail. And me and young Jake, riding The Big Guy and Narra on the trail, just enjoying the spring air.

The future is looking great.

Times are changing!

2010-01-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

A lot has changed since the last time I wrote. I decided to retire Willow; she did not enjoy her last ride. And so we both decided to both just enjoy riding together occasionally; for a fun ride in the back woods. She stayed living with me for a few more months, but she moved back to her owners for the winter. Now they are talking of selling her to a new home. She will likely be bred this spring too! This is exciting to me as I LOVE her babies. So, I am looking for a new endurance prospect!

I love horse shopping!

I am looking at a really awesome prospect right now (not a Gotland though!) He has a lot of the great things I liked about Willow, but is built better to suit the sport I want to advance in now. I will have to go out and see him, make sure he has the spunk and willingness to suit the level I want to move up to in endurance. It's not that I have suddenly turned cometitive, but I would love to occasionally try a 50 miler, and I now know that would never happen on a Gotland. They just don't cool as well and they have to take twice as many steps! Too bad!

But I am not in a hurry to get a horse for this riding season, as I am pregnant! Hubby and I are so excited, we are already looking forward to all the fun kid stuff. But my second though was... well, there goes my riding plans for 2010!

Well, I'll just have to make other horsey plans.

So my horsaii goals for 2010:

* Work more on Narra, my half Gotland filly! She needs more work on...
* Her leading manners - bossy filly!
* Getting off the property
* Get her used to roads

* Work on my lounging skills, with Narra. A few short sessions just to get her started. She will be 2 in June, so good time to start then. I'll have "dropped" my own kidlet by then. I'll do this in all my spare time!

* Buy my next endurance horse! Fun!

* Volunteer more with my two long distance riding clubs on ride days.

* Get involved in fundraising for the two clubs to keep them going!

* Work on adding fencing to make more tracks for the horses.

* Get back in the saddle by fall!

* Figure out the great mystery of long-lining to get the young horse (horses if I buy the second horse!) ready for the trainer next spring.

I'll have to take some pictures of Nara in her winter woolies, she looks liek a yak right now. A yak with a beard.

Hope you guys are not freezing where you are!

Best Intentions...

2009-08-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

If anyone is wondering where I went this summer and what happened to my big plans for more competitive rides...

I was riding on Willow, with Jill and Debbie and Jill's two guests from Switzerland. All of us were on Gotlands, it was quite fun! Jill borrowed Belle, Camelia's daughter that lives with Kit.

Willow decided to be a knob, and spook at a duck that flew up out of the grass under her nose. I mean, really, was that necessary? Actually, I think it startled me more than her! But she spooked down into the ditch, then spun and lunged back up it. I got tangled in one stirrup as I went to kick loose. There was nothing to hold onto on a Torsion, so I just slid off her butt. SPLAT!!! With my legs out in front of me.

Of course, I got back on the horse and rode for another 6 miles. This may be been the root of my problem. Or maybe it was the ride I snuck in a week later...

I visited the doc at the insistance of my hubby and friends. She said I didn't break anything. So I can go riding right?, I say. She says NO! you need to take 4-6 weeks off for the muscles and ligaments to heal (I buggered up ligaments and they can take longer to heal). I am going to do this right and not risk future pain by returning to riding too soon. My back is bad enough already!

So I have been good and not riding. I am pretty cranky. This week is week 4. I might last to the end of the week.

Willow is maintaining condition pretty good. I'll just start riding her slow again and work up her wind again and we should be ready for the fall ride in Bel Air! Woohoo!

Not as many rides as I might have wished, but we did pretty good this year. And I am deterimined to do my first 20 mile CT at Bel Air this year!

They're Here! They're here!

2009-08-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long wait. But the horses are finally here!

I did all the fencing myself, so it took much longer than if I had hired someone! And there was that never-ending wait for the fencer to come in! I finished up the fencing on Friday morning, but didn't have the electric fence tester and I was too busy to finish after work (up to 1am baking for the Saturday Farmer's Market). On Saturday it poured all day. I don't know that much about electrical, but it seemed unsafe to play with it in the pouring rain. We also didn't have the riding mower to do one last trim before the horses move in. There is WAAY too much grass for Willow in here.

So early Sunday morning Mark and I woke up, I sent him the 1+ hour drive up to pick up the mower (friend fixing it for free). While I went over next door and loaded all my horse stuff that had accumulated into the quad and trailer (and borrowed Bill?s fence tester!). Wow, you sure accumulate fast! I filled my trailer! It began to rain? for the third day! I didn't care; they were coming home today, no matter what. I brought the stuff back to my place, and cleaned out an area in my gardening shed. I began moving things in. I built shelves, carried buckets of sand in to level the floor, made a saddle rack, hung hooks. I have a nice little area now. This small blue shed has two doors, one beside a big window that acts as my greenhouse and faces the middle yard (no horses) and the back door that leads out into the Paddock Paradise setup for the horses.

As I was finishing up, I heard Mark return home. It seemed like he had been gone forever! We unloaded the riding mower from the back of the van (yes, we did just drive it up inside the van! It was an awesome van - it kicked the bucket on that drive home - RIP). Mark didn't care that it was still raining, he started the mower up and mowed the grass on the tracks in the rain. Then he pestered me unmercifully until I put down what I was trying to finish, and we went over to get the horses. The rain stopped as we walked over, and the beginning of a beautiful evening appeared.

Pat came out to meet us as we brought the horses in and put the halters on them. My two were the only ones who willingly left the pasture to come stand by the gate to be haltered. The rest knew they weren't included on this trip. Mark took Willow while I led Narra, Pat followed along behind. Narra led nicely for once and we went down the road in a direction she had never been before. We passed our front yard with no event, as we had locked the dogs I the house. Then we were leading the horses into their new yard. We took them the whole circuit of their new tracks to see all the fencing.

Along the west edge near the pond.

In the Trees.

Then we put the grazing muzzle on Willow and turned them loose to explore.

Narra walking over the two jumps I put in the tracks for interest.

I took them over to the loose salt and mineral feeder I had built them, to make sure they knew where it was.

I took the muzzle off Willow so she could graze and relax for a while. The evening was perfect. Mark and I sat there, with a cooler in hand and just watched the horses on that perfect evening.

The next day dawned wet and dreary, but that was OK. I woke up at 6:30, just to go out and look at the horses. I took the muzzle off again to let Willow have her breakfast. 30 minutes later when I put it back on, she was actually enthusiastic about wearing it (may have been the special cookies I had in there...)

Later that day, just before Mark left for work, we took it off again for her to graze and this time we brought Enten in to see them.

Everyone is adjusting fine, and seems pretty happy. There are tracks already worn into the muddy ground and they are using ALL the trails we made. Awesome!

As I write this, the girls are out under the big oak tree. Narra lying down and Willow standing over her, both relaxing in the brief morning sun. Will it never stop raining?

Jen

We did it!

2009-06-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

I achieved my goal, and finished in less time than last ride! I placed 9th... out of nine... but only 2 minutes after the 8th place finisher!

Summer is finally heating up here. And last weekend's ride was on the first real warm day we've had. So even though I groaned when I realized I would have to wake up at 6am, I was happy we were scheduled to start an hour earlier than normal.

It was a nice relaxing morning for me. I got to the barn by 7 and was on the road by 7:30. I actually arrived on time for once - no rushing! I got signed up, tacked up and was actually waiting around for the ride to start. Unheard of!

It was overcast and breezy, but you could feel the heat coming, so we were all anxious to get started. I stood around with all the experienced endurance horses at the start line. They were all anxious to get going... Willow was more anxious to get as much grass in her stomach as possible.

The time keeper finally said it was a go and we were all off quickly. Willow and I stretched out in a nice trot, but we were quickly outdistanced by the others. That was OK, I had one person behind me; he had a young horse and wanted to teach her to not gallop like a mad thing at the start. Willow was too sensible to do something like that... that would be too much like work!

We maintained a good trot for about a mile and a half before we were passed by the rider behind us. But that didn't last long as I called him back from the wrong trail. We continued on.

All of a sudden, a pack came up from behind us. I was confused! These people had long outdistanced me! They had taken the wrong trail.

Willow and I had a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)... this meant we were in the lead! We'd NEVER been in the lead before! Now she got excited! I asked if they (six of them) wanted to pass. But they said Willow was setting a good pace. This surprised me as Willow was 2-3 hands shorter than all of them. And she wasn't even doing her power trot!

Willow was determined to stay in the lead, even though I could feel that she wanted to slow to a walk. She realized that they would then pass her. So she started playing her passive-aggressive/ psychological games. She would suddenly swerve, with no warning to me or the horse behind her, from one side of the trail to the other; like a car in movie chase scene. She would spook at nothing, as if to say "ahhh! It's gonna eat us! Turn around and run away! I'll distract it while you escape! (hehe)". And turning to give the evil eye while dancing around and casting a voodoo hex. OK, so the last was an exaggeration! BUT SHE WOULD IF SHE COULD!!!

Finally, after a mile, I pulled her back and let them pass. I didn't want her to blow her wad, all at the beginning. I got off and walked for a bit, let her cool down. Then I got back on and we began motoring again.

Around mile 6, the rider with the young horse came up behind us. Luckily it was a mare, so Willow wasn't tempted to kick her head of. The ONLY gelding she tolerates seems to be her son. Interesting.

My riding partner had done lots of endurance rides in the past, competing at the Nationals last year, so I took the opportunity to learn. He set the pace, but very soon his young mare refused to pass Willow. She was quite happy being second. And that's how Will liked it!

It started to heat up. We got off and walked a mile or so, trying to get them to drink at the many puddles. I was just hoping Will wouldn't get down and roll like she had last year here. I brought extra shoes this year.

We got back on and tried to finish the loop quicker to give us more time for the second one. We ended up pulsing down in the same time as last ride - 2h 53m. But this time we had already done 15+ miles. I was satisfied.

I ran Willow through her vet check - well actually she ran me! I practically had to sprint to keep up with her. The vet said she looked great. She had actually improved on a few of her scores and her slight limp from vet-in had gone away.

We wandered over to the trailer to get some food into Will. I had made up a bowl of soaked alfalfa cubes before I left. I added some ground flax and another 1/2 litre of water and pushed it in front of her. She slurped it up double time and then went over to her hay. I mixed her up a second bowl; 3/4 lbs Grow N' Win pellets, 1+ litre of water and a dose of electrolytes (safe to give her now that I got some water into her). This too disappeared in short order. I scarfed down a sandwich, then started brushing her off.

We were ready ahead of time at the end of our hold, so I let her have some more grass. She needed the water and electrolytes in it for the second loop - it was heating up. I set out with my riding companion of the first loop.

Neither horse was feeling really excited to be leaving camp. By five miles into the second loop, my legs were killing me from constantly urging her on. My companion had given up even any pretense of trying to pass me and set a quicker pace. The young, inexperienced mare wasn't prepared for this type of work and wasn't really feeling like moving very fast.

If I had been alone I could have probably completed faster, as Willow wouldn't have been constantly waiting for the mare behind her. We could have cantered more and made things interesting for her.

While I did cross the finish line before him, I had problems with my HRM and so we pulsed down 2 minutes after the young mare. Oh, well. I had still obtained my goal for the day and was very satisfied with Willow's performance.

Willow once again raced me up and down for the trot-out and got great marks for the day. Actually prompting the vet and the scribe to say that this was the best they've ever seen her at a finish, even though she did complete it faster. Awesome!

My goal for the next ride is to keep her in shape over summer and at the August Spruce Woods ride, to complete it another 15 minutes faster. ... now I just need to get hubby to stay home and watch the other animals for the weekend!

First ride of the Season! Bird's Hills Park

2009-06-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

June 1st

Wheww!!! Tiring but AWESOME!

The trails in Bird's Hills were perfect. The trees were finally greening up, the sun was out and there was a nice breeze. It was warm enough to please me and with the cool breeze and sun dappled trails Willow was pretty pleased too. I spent the whole day in the trees, listening to bird song and smelling the cherry blossoms. It was the perfect day for a ride.

Hmm, that might have been part of my problem... too much time stopping to smell the flowers!

Willow was the fittest I had ever seen her. She has gone from ~850 lbs this winter to a fit 720lbs. She has so much more energy. The past two weeks I've been riding her around home.

She is pretty herd bound so I tried a new program with her. I took her out alone, so the others didn't have to try and keep up with us. We WALK down the road to the highway, dance over to the dike, and trot the full length (1 mile). Slowing only to cross the road and turning onto the other dike. We canter a half mile down there, cross back onto the road beside us and I try to contain her in a power trot down the road - paved or gravel; she ain't slowing! Then we make another turn into a wide grassy ditch and canter again (slow down; I said CANTER!) another half mile, walk a hundred feet or so back up to the road and trot the rest of the mile. Then in the turn to home, she has expended enough energy I can now walk. Whew!

At the barn I quickly switch to a halter and lunge her like crazy - no breaks and no treats! My GPS says this is another mile. Then I snap on the reins to my sidepull and remount and off we go to the highway, the whole time convincing her, yes, we really DO have to leave the yard! At the highway, as close as she will let me get to the whizzing by cars and trucks; I hop off, loosen the cinch and let her eat. Five minutes of that and then we walk home.

Every time, it gets easier to leave the yard. But man, it is taking more and more to tire her out! Remind me again why conditioning is a good thing?!

On Saturday, May 30 we did the full 25 miles and in the time allowed so we got our completion, but not a placing. We were considerably behind the leaders.

The first loop went well. Mostly trotting and the occasional canter and walk. We did 13.4 miles in 2 hours 53 minutes. She vetted in very well with only a few B's - a bit of dehydration. We wandered over to get lunch. Mark had joined me and helped us both get fed. I gave Will lots of soaked concentrated feed and a shot of electrolytes. I gave her a few bowl fulls to be sure she got enough to eat for the second loop. The second loop felt a lot faster. It wasn't much shorter at 11.3 miles but we did it in 2 hours.

About 3 miles into the second loop Will was getting very bored with all the trotting, and didn't want to go anymore. We were walking about 1.5mph, with her head turned back in the direction of camp. So finally I thumped her into a canter. She perked up a bit, so I urged her on, and on; soon we were tearing down the trails at 20mph. She had woken up. But then I though; no way we were going to finish in this amount of time! But I wasn't going to repeat my mistake of last year, so we went for it! I really pushed her. And we got back before max time. Whoot!

She pulsed down real quick and vetted pretty good. A little thirsty and STARVING, but that's it.

As I stood there letting her eat I chatted with the vet. I was getting to know this vet better, and realizing what a wealth of information he could be. He asked me what my goals were with Willow and the sport. He had been the Canadian team's assistant vet when they went to Malaysia last year, and was at the Nationals in Alberta last year - he knows his stuff!

I replied, in order of priority; I want to have fun, I want Willow and I to do it healthy, and I want to improve every time out! I know we will never be competitive with the others, she has to take twice as many steps, but it won't stop me from riding!

He said it is all achievable; he thought Willow still had lots of gas in the tank at the end of this ride. So now I have a better game plan and next time I will push her harder!

My goal for the Mars Hills ride in 2 weeks is to finish 15 minutes quicker.

Better late than never...

2009-05-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally getting started on my conditioning for the 2009 ride season. I know, very late! But I got delayed with health reasons, and doctor said I couldn't ride! Hubby insisted I listen to doctor. Pshhht! What do they know?!

We have been staying in the saddle all winter with awesome lessons with Ashley Fudge, a coach in Centered Riding principals. It's amazing how that arena work has improved our trail riding! We even dabbled a bit in Dressage, and were talking about an all-Gotland drill team. I feel so much better out there!

It's finally spring here in Manitoba (if you don't count today in Selkirk - it's snowing!). Bird's Hill Park is drying out nicely, and there are several trails that are dry enough for riding already. Some have small pools of water over the grass, but the ponies hooves don't sink deep.

Here is the Blue Kiln trail on our first ride on April 27th. It was a beautiful day! The sun was warm and bright and there was a light breeze, just enough to keep our still shaggy ponies cool.

I set out with friends Michele and Ilonka, who were riding Willow's two offspring, Huckleberry and Mayberry. They are 4 and 5 years old, respectively. And it was Huck's first trail ride! Michele and Ilonka have been taking lessons with the same coach as me all winter, and have taken huge strides forward with their young horses. I am a little (OK, a lot!) in love with Huck. He is as handsome as his sire and very athletic! So they actually were all in decent shape to begin with. We did lots of trotting in the sand in lessons and so they were pretty well built up legs.

Just look at how relaxed Michele and Huck are for their first trail ride... though he was convinced the huge rocks at the side of the trail were out to eat him... He spent much of the ride out in front, leading. She has a very brave horse and they should have a great time as they settle in.

I wore my Garmin 401, the heart rate monitor and GPS unit, all on a small wrist monitor. My newest toy!!! Hubby got it for me for Xmas. Love that man; he always knows what to get me! So I hooked it up to Willow for the ride, here are our results...

We rode about 4.5 miles in about 1 hour 15 minutes. This gives us an average pace of 3.7 mph, not enough to complete a Limited Distance ride, but a good start for our training. As you can see Willow was pretty anxious, with a high heart rate much of the time. I kept looking down and being surprised to see she was at 200+ bpm, and yet felt and looked completely relaxed.

Here is a better caption of the speed graph. I love this program it is so fun to check out your workout! I was surprised to see some of the speeds we reached, as we were just trotting; and Willow is under 13hh. There were times where her kids couldn't keep up with her power trot, and had to canter to keep up. I can never tell when we go too fast; Willow has such a big stride and feels effortless that I don't notice our speed.

We didn't go far and we didn't go fast but at least we finally got out there! There have been two more such rides in the last week, and I will try to post more pictures as we go!

What a Ride!!!

2009-02-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

Well, this morning started out amazing! It was only -6*C, and nice and sunny. There was a very light breeze. I've been having an absolutely abysmal week, so I had to get out riding before I yanked someone's head off! I called all my Gotland friends to see if someone would come out with me. It was too nice a day to waste. One friend couldn't come; she had to go get her hair done???!!! My hair could bloody well fall out! I mean, look at these trails...

I talked one friend into coming out, even though there was going to be a party at her place tonight (hardcore rider!). She is having a party for the opening of a movie that was filmed in her house. Another friend decided to walk with us (too much back problems to ride anymore). She was going to lead her mare along (the dam of my little filly).

So I got Willow dressed up in her treeless saddle (biggest winter advantage of these is the horse's warmth transfers well!) and the new Lindell-like sidepull I made her. She was eager to go, shoving her head into the bridle. We trooped around the ring for a few minutes as the others got organized. And then we were off!

The sun was out; in fact, by the time we got going I was actually sweating lightly! Course, that may have had to do with the excitement we had at the start of the ride... as we rode down the back trail into the woods, my little nutcase, affectionately called Dayanarra the Husband Slayer, decided that enough was enough! First we had separated her from her mom (she still hasn't gotten over being weaned form her mom - three months later!), and now mom was even leaving the yard (which she never does), but I was leaving, and on her only other friend! And she was left in the field with only the two cranky mares that don't like her! What was she to do???

... the little nutbar "was to" jump the bloody fence! Right over the electric fence, and through the next one (thank god it was off) to come join us. Oh, boy. Not something I wanted her to learn. Got the riding horses all hepped up. Pat, on the ground with the dam (who still allows her to nurse, grr!), got real nervous and started back to the barn to put baby away. Narra went to see mom, but at that moment Willow got very excited that her little buddy was there and ploughed through everyone to get to her, and off to the barn we jigged. Narra followed us, abandoning her mom (which makes me happy - she will be easy to pony off Willow next time).

We plunked Narra in the small pen – with the taller wooden fence! – with Sage. Sage was not happy to be a baby sitter! And we started out. And I prayed Narra would stay put!

Now where was I? …oh yeah …the breeze was warm and gentle through the trees, the sun dappled upon the ground. We had quite the ride. We went for almost 3 miles before returning to the barn. It was a perfect morning.

Now it’s miserable! The sun is still shinning, but the wind has now kicked up to 80, gusting to 100km/h. So if I suddenly go offline… look outside, that may be my house tumbling by!

Wanted to share pics, as much of the trails are now lost to a fire!

2009-01-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Last May we went on a Competitive Trail ride, I didn't blog about it as I got so busy. But now I feel compelled to share, as there has been a big forest fire that has destroyed a big chunk of the provincial forest. It was started by a quader, during a quad poker derby two weekends later. Here are some pictures of the fire that was in the news...

But I prefer to remember our ride. It was amazing! We weren't sure about going on this ride, as it was a 2 hour drive south east of us. I decided to just do a 10 mile ride, as I didn't want to get up and out of the farm by 6:30am to make it to a longer ride! Ick, early riser I am NOT! So we all packed up, except for Michele's horse Cici (Michele injured herself) and made the trip out to Sandilands Provincial Forest.

It was a very brisk day, staying below 10 degrees C, and having a cool wind. But it was sunny and had great scenery! The four of us set out; me on Willow, Jill on Sage, Debbie on Meg and Ilonka on Mayberry. The trails were very interesting, with lots of hills (many with danger signs - eek!)

There were lots of hill and thick, gnarly roots sticking up in the trails, with tall pines waving softly overhead. We spent much of the 10 miles in the Gotland’s comfortable, ground-covering trot. I can still close my eyes now, almost a year later and remember the feel of the ride. It just seemed to flow.

We had so much fun on this ride, and it was I think my favourite trail of the year. There is a ride tentatively scheduled for October 2009 (if the trails get marked after the fire). It is definitely worth the 1 ½ drive to go again!

The worst Farrier… ever!

2009-01-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

Just as Willow was beginning to recover from the Leg Sucking Mud Incident, we had a run in with a newbie farrier. The regular farrier (who is great!) was training an apprentice farrier. They can get the 7 horses done in record time! So I trotted out Willow for the new guy. I should have known things were not going to work when Willow tried to stomp him and chew his hide off. I was so busy trying to save him, I couldn’t watch what he was doing. I know, it’s no excuse… I know better now!

He put no roll on the front of the hooves (or breakover, whatever you call it), he pared out a bunch of sole and then completely took out her bars. There was nothing left to hold her feet together, and she was very tender until her sole grew back! She had massive flare very quickly. I was bad in so many ways.

Not even two weeks later, Will had horrible chips in all her hooves, and then long quarter cracks! Of course these showed up just as the Gotland people (Pat’s Gotland breeding friends from Denmark) were visiting. They just shook their heads at the trim and said should never see that with the Russ. So all the men trouped out to the barn and trimmed her up, and showed Bill the best way to trim a Gotland. I took a few trimmings from Bill, but she has the best feet out there now, and I have decided to learn how to barefoot trim myself! But it took several more weeks before I was confident to ride her.

So a few great things came from the visit, including meeting the Danes and going on some fun rides with them! But now I think: sure, I can trim myself - I couldn't possibly be any worse than that farrier we actually paid to do it!

Ride season is over sob

2009-01-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well, the endurance season is over here in Manitoba, and mine didn’t go so well. Best laid plans… It started out great with a beautiful ride in Mars Hills, followed by the Sandilands Competitive Trail ride. At Sandilands, I rode with the other Gotlands Girls; Jill, Debbie and Ilonka (Michele was out with a bad back), so I just decided to have fun and do the 10 mile ride. It was amazing, beautiful and a total blast! (I’ll post the story with pictures later!).

And then we started to have problems! At the next ride, an endurance ride in Bird’s Hill Park, Willow and I decided we could do another 25 miler. So off we went. We were doing great, improving our time over previous rides by completing the first 15 mile loop in only 2 ¼ hours. Now, this may not seem like a great feat to more experienced riders, but remember Willow is only 13h, with short little legs and chunky monkey me on her back!

We enjoyed our 1 hour break, where they offered me a delicious stew. As I was leaving the camp site, Debbie and Jill rode in on their horses. I waved as I set out to enjoy the second loop, and hopefully my first completion of a 25 miler!

But 5 miles into the second loop, we came across mud. Great, big pools of leg sucking mud. The trees were tight and there was no way to avoid it. But I had been warned about this mud at the ride meeting this morning, told it wasn’t too bad, and that others had made it through fine yesterday. Unfortunately it had rained overnight, and I was the last horse through in a pack of 30+. We got through the first few patches OK, but then we kept running into more, and they just kept getting worse and worse. It was too late to turn back, and I just hoped they would end soon. I had to push Willow through them, but she was a trouper, always willing when I asked her to go on.

But at the last bog, she got tired halfway through and paused. She started to sink! We desperately thrashed our way out, and came to a shaking stop at the other end. I got off to check her out. No cuts or soreness yet, but even her belly was cake din mud. It may have only been up to the knees of the other horses, but we sank to her belly. Hmm, guess it was a good thing it was so big, it spread out our weight and stopped us from sinking further!

I hopped back on and we continued our ride. She was fine for a mile or two, but then I started to notice irregularities in her trot. Obviously she was sore from the mud. So I got off and walked her. Unfortunately, we didn’t know the trail in BHP yet and we didn’t know any shortcuts back to camp. We were forced to complete the ride.
We got back to camp around 6. The vet checked her out and we were obviously disqualified for lameness issues. He recommended a mud pack, and Maura was great at tracking down someone who gave me one, and she lent me her leg wraps to apply it. But she was off work for the next few weeks to recover. *sigh*

Our first ride

2008-04-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, Willow is now officially an Endurance horse! We completed our first ride in the Mars Sandhills Wildlife Management area here in Manitoba, this Saturday. We signed up for (and made it through) the limited distance, 25 mile ride. The first of the season here in Manitoba, and one of many we now plan on going to! I am hooked!

We had some great moments (and some not-so-great-kinda-embarrassing moments). Warning; this could take a while. I am normally long winded, and I'm still excited about it.

The morning started kind of slow. I didn't get to sleep until late (getting my trucker husband out of the house for his midnight load), and woke up a little late. I managed to get the animals fed and over to the barn next door only 15 minutes late. I picked up Debbie to run over to pick up her mare at the driving trainer, only 2 miles away. Loading didn't go so well. We got back to the barn for the other horses, now 1/2 hour behind schedule, where they had more loading issues.

Meanwhile I was in the barn, doing a quick first aid on Willow. She had managed to bang herself on the rear left coronet band sometime during the night. My first response was "Noooo! I wanna go on the ride!" (Luckily it was nothing serious and the vet said it would be fine to go on with). We left the barn 1 hour behind schedule. Luckily the roads were great, and directions to the ride was clear (on tiny pie plates). Finally we arrived, and I pulled into the campsite. Then I looked up and noticed I had parked in the middle of the trail. Oops! Hope no one noticed!

Luckily due to a few late arrivals (not just us!) the ride was delayed a bit. The ride meeting was very clear: great job Maura and Tanya! As a first time rider, this helped me a lot. The two horses is this picture are my friends' Ilonka (not seen) with Mayberry, a 4 year-old bay Gotland and Michele with Cici, the sorrel Gotland broodmare (her substitute mount as her gelding is too young). The two young women in the front are two very nice young women I ended up riding with in the first loop.

Unfortunately, I got a late start (I know, big surprise!); I left 10-15 minutes behind everyone else in the 25 mile pack. Willow proceeded to continually ask me, "are you sure we are supposed to be leaving without the others???" She dragged her heels and tried to turn back every few feet. I didn't warm her up so we did an easy walk for the irst mile or so. This resulted in the 15 miler pack catching up to me. That was fine, as I enjoyed riding with them!

The trails were gorgeous, and it was a beautiful day. The sun was out, only a few clouds, and the temperature was in the high teens. The footing was great, a nice sandy soil without too many rocks. Most of the snow was gone, only patches of snow and a bit of ice was left. Tanya did a GREAT job marking the trails (I didn't get lost this time, like I did at last year's Competitive Trail ride!) The only problem was the low hanging branches. Course, having such a short horse, I didn't have near the problems with this issue that others did (hehe!). Well, other than that one pine cone in the mouth that I swear Willow deliberately steered towards for giggles!

A few miles down the road, two women caught up with me. I decided to ride with them, as Willow was desperate for company, and was much more comfortable with others along. I really enjoyed riding with them, and they were very useful to help me establish a great pace (for it being my first time out). I never did get their names, but I know the chestnut was a QH/ Arab named Flicka and the palomino was a Mustang cross named Dove. They were also Fugly fans like me. Flicka had a great ground covering trot and set the pace. Dove was kind of absentminded and tended to trip over everything!

**Note to Dove's Rider: if you are interested in checking out that synthetic english saddle my friend has for sale please contact me. I forgot to give you my number! It's a really reasonable price.**

I got lots of questions and comments about Gotlands on the ride. Everyone seemed kind of surprised we were trying to compete on these short little horses. But once they saw more, they got to understanding. Flicka's rider kept looking over while we were trotting, and saying "It's just so effortless!" Meanwhile I'm thinking, "It's even more effortless to ride it!". Willow has great movement, it's very smooth at all gaits. But her jog is something else. She has this long, easy, fluid stride, that she seems to keeps the rhythm of by swinging her chin side to side. It's very workman-like; she keeps her head low, ears alert, and motors along.

We did lots of trotting, with Willow breaking into a canter every once in a while to catch up to the other two. She refused to be left behind by the bigger horses. Man, she can be opinionated! I had a "run away" a few times when she decided to catch up... well more like a trot- or lope-away. She just refused to listen when I said we would catch up eventually. That's something I think we need to work on!

We were getting pretty sweated up, but I though it was more due to anxiety for Willow. We met up with a few quaders, but they were mostly well behaved. Except for one bunch I met on a curve in the trail; I didn't think they were going to stop! Willow just kept on jogging along, not batting an eyelash. Then I looked back to see the others jumping around. Hmm.. another advantage of the Gotland! I'm sure Willow thought: "That would be like work, and it's not like I could get rid her, so why bother being silly??!!"

Course, right after that she ruined her "good-horse" image. We had ridden through a few puddles, but then we went by a nice one, that no one had stirred up yet! So we turned off the trail and waded in. Dove's rider laughed because Willow put her head down right away, right up to her eyes. As I was beginning to tell a story about how the Gotlands just luuv the water, you guessed it, the little snot layed down in the water!!! It was so subtle. On minute we were standing there up to her knees in the water; next thing I knew it, I was wet up to the knee. Dove's rider was yelling "Kick her!!", and I'm thinking "I can't, she laying on my leg!". I looked down, Willow is submerged on her side completely up to her mane. I was wet to my waist on the right side. Finally I pulled my leg free and kicked her. She popped up and looked back at me as if to say "Oh, sorry, were you still there?!" with a very surprised look on her face. Ha! She can't fool me... twice. Meanwhile, Dove and Flicka's riders were laughing like loons. I didn't finish the story of Camelia's foal who used to lay underwater and look up at her mom. I felt we had already demonstrated just fine that Gotlands like water.

I squished the last 1 1/2 miles into camp.

As we got closer to camp, Willow seemed to sense we were almost there and sped up. Camp kinda snuck up on us, and I cantered the last 1/2 mile. Oops! Nevertheless, she pulsed down quickly. Faster than anyone expected, since she was so soaking wet! *said in a sarcastic voice* Gave Pat (Willow's owner) a bit of concern; thinking I had pushed her too hard. Pfft! We soaked her down, (as I stood there shaking my head - "WHY?!!!") and she pulsed down at 1:16, just less than 3 hours after we went out. I trotted her through the vet check (or should I say; she dragged me through the trot). Still lots of pep in her stride! We scored strait A's and went to take a lunch break.

She earned her lunch... I guess... In the lower right corner you can see my saddle, sitting in the sun to dry. All I could think was "thank god I decided to buy the synthetic Torsion, not the leather!" It was dry almost before I got back to camp. I was doing quite well too. I had gone out to purchase a pair of seamless running pants (read: tights. Eek!) to wear under my chaps. I know, sorry; lovely mental image, eh!! I'm just glad no photos have showed up yet of me in my outfit (and I hope they never do!!!) Tanya was a peach, and offered me her dry Ariats to wear for the rest of the ride, as she was not riding.

As we sat there, Willow frantically calling for the others every few minutes (in between huge mouthfuls of hay - nothing interferes with a Gotland's appetite!), the rest of the Gotland riders came in from their 15 mile fun ride. They had lost their way, and came in the wrong direction. So they snuck up on me a bit. They did a little less than the 15 miles, but did a good pace. Mayberry, Willow's 4-year-old daughter barely broke a sweat. Here they are, Cici in the lead, with Sage, Meg and Mayberry bringing up the rear (Ilonka walking). The next picture is Mayberry as she came in, and Meg; all cooled out and dried off.

I chatted with some of the long time riders in the club, trying to get a feel for how to ride the last 10 miles of the ride, as I would be alone. Unfortunately, many of them had heard the story of the submariner Gotland and had trouble hiding their giggles. Well, at least they'll remember us!!

The rest of the 25 milers started out for the second loop of the ride halfway through my lunch. I was way behind! So I set out (again 5 minutes late), at about 2:25pm on my own. Again, Willow wasn't too sure of this, but we straitened this out eventually. She gave up on going back to camp, and seemed to realize, the best way to get to the other horses is to go forward!

It was a gorgeous ride! Quiet, sun dappled trails and not too hot. The trail was so easy to follow.

I decided to let Willow chose her pace. She's got the pony's self-preservation instincts, and wouldn't push further than she can manage. I'm just glad she doesn't have the pony build, because she was moving!!! She would pick up a jog, utterly relaxed, and covering lots of ground. I also noticed, while she was moving at the same speed trot as in the first loop, her HR was lower doing it. She was a lot calmer, and less stressed. She would jog for a mile or so then slow to a walk for a few minutes, then pick up the jog again. We had no incidents, except for when a little garter snake slithered out form underfoot. She jumped strait up, and forward about 6 feet. Then stopped, and pretended nothing had happened. Embarrased she had been scared by that itty bitty little snake I guess.

We were doing pretty good, she was pacing herself well. But about 3 miles before the finish I had to get off. I had fallen going up the stairs (WTF??) the day before and landed with my kneecap on the riser. My knee was killing me. I got off, and almost collapsed. We limped along for about a mile before my knee started to work again. So I heaved myself back up into the saddle. By this point I was pretty sure we wouldn' t make it in in time. By my clock, we had 8 minutes to complete the 1 1/2 or so miles. So I made her walk quite a bit. BIG MISTAKE!!! As we got closer, she started calling (Well, not really "started", as she had called occasionally throughout the entire 10 miles). Suddenly the two Gotlands left in camp answered, and I had another trot-away! I was laughing as I came over the hill. Jill and Debbie, said before they could tell it was me, they knew by the distinctive Gotland Trot! She was motoring as fast as her legs would carry her.

As I stopped beside the trailer to drop my saddle and pick up the sweat scraper, I heard someone yell "Bring her over here, you can still complete!" WHAT?! We took off to the water troughs, and several people came over to dump buckets over Willow and scrape the warm water off. Maura was there with her HRM, and Willow pulsed down VERY fast. Unfortunately, not fast enough. We missed by minutes. We got a complete, and the mileage, but no points.

That's OK. To me Willow did amazingly well, competing FAR above what I trained her for, and beautifully as well! We must have trotted 70-80% of that last 10 miles (except for the mile where I was on foot). Several people mentioned they were impressed by how well Willow did for her first long distance ride, and how quickly she pulses down.

Her vet out was great too. All A's except for the gut sounds, which were down to a B (goes A to D). She dragged me through the soundness check, and still was full of piss and vinegar! She got an hour rest, and more munchies while we waited for the final vet check.

Everyone was so great, saying how too bad I had missed it by minutes. Well next time I won't, because I won't give up!

Everyone was great, and so generous. A few gave me important pointers. One nice lady lent me her extra syringe and another gave me some electrolytes for Willow and showed me how to administer them. I liked the atmosphere, and the camaraderie the people displayed.

The ride vet seemed very curious about the breed. Asking me many questions. Like how smooth thay were to ride. I said probably the smoothest horse I've ever riden (and I've riden many horses while working at riding stables, and over 12 different breeds). He replied with "Even though they have to move their legs twice as fast?" Ha ha, such a comedian. *rolls eyes*

Can't wait for the next ride!