[egrogan]

@PoptartShop, we would definitely welcome someone else helping us eat this cheesecake :grin:

 

[carshon]

I love that Izzy still shows her gorgeous Morgan strut! She looks fantastic! I could watch horse zoomy videos all day - it makes me happy inside (I know - weird)

And I too am sorry about the work drama. I think small organizations or any organization picks a "fall guy" when things are not rosy and unfortunately in my experience it is usually the person whose staff loves them the most and the one person who the company probably truly needs. I hope this straightens out for you.

 

[Spanish Rider]

:loveshower:Such a beautiful video to watch the three of them like that.

 

[SueC]

Sorry about the work situation, @egrogan - it is so frustrating when good management leave. :hug: And I'm sorry about Gus too, but glad it went peacefully and of course you did the right thing. Ir's great to see you riding so confidently all over the countryside on longer and longer trips. You and Fizz have come a long way in your partnership. :charge: And Hugh is a cutie.

I don't know where the time goes. How is it late June already??? (...and 2020...)

 

[egrogan]

Thanks, @SueC . The really scary thing- it's nearly July...not sure how that happened. One thing I've meant to ask you- since you grew up in Europe with Northern Hemisphere seasons, was it hard to adjust (physically and mentally) to the Southern Hemisphere swap? Sometimes when I read your journal, I think how disorienting it would be for July to be cold and December to be warm...

It's been muggy and buggy here, too hot to ride (hopefully the heat breaks later today and I can ride in the morning tomorrow). Yesterday Fizz and Maggie were seen by the equine dentist. This is a different person than our regular vet, who is also a dental specialist. But, she's still not doing dental care at private barns, and Fizz was overdue for some attention to her teeth, manifested in discomfort when being ridden. The sidepull bridle is working out really well for us, so at least she hasn't been carrying a bit, but still, I don't like knowing I'm making her uncomfortable. Fortunately, this dentist that had seen the horses at our last boarding barn has just doing farm calls again this month, and he was able to fit us in. Maggie needed a pretty straightforward float to take care of some sharp edges. Fizz needed a little more work- in addition to taking care of some sharp edges, she had one hook that was causing some issues and needed to be addressed, and also had some unevenness between her right and left molar table that was taken care of. She should be much more comfortable now. Izzy needs some dental surgery on another bad molar, so she'll have to go in to the clinic at some point this summer.

Hugh has been joining me for chores, still tethered to me since I don't completely trust his recall around the horses. But he's a quick learner and I like having a buddy.

Apparently an after-breakfast love-fest is now a part of our regular routine. The bugs are making the horses nuts so some quality grooming time seems to be helping...

 

[egrogan]

Hi @Spanish Rider and @carshon- thanks for the well wishes.



And, I also love watching them running with so much enthusiasm! I stood out there with them for half an hour while they ran and ran. :runninghorse2:

 

[Spanish Rider]

I stood out there with them for half an hour while they ran and ran.

You know the saying, "Take time to smell the roses"? Well, that applies to animals, too.

 

[Avna]

You know the saying, "Take time to smell the roses"? Well, that applies to animals, too.

Take time to pet the noses.

 

[SueC]

Take time to pet the noses.

...take time to nose the pets? :pinkunicorn:

 

[egrogan]

Hmm...a lot of pressure to come up with the next witticism :wink:

Lots of riding the past few days, though the weather has been blah and the bugs have been miserable! Actually, Thursday was the exception. I didn't really have time to ride, but it was like a pretty fall day- around 70*F, light breeze, no humidity and no bugs. We took a quick ride to the overlook and back.

The rest of the weekend was gloomy, but we dodged the raindrops and went out Saturday on our own and Sunday with M and Coalie.

I feel like a jerk, I didn't notice that Fizz had a bad bug bite on her nose when I put her bridle on, and by the time we got back that spot had been rubbed pretty raw. No wonder she kept tossing her head around! :sad: So Sunday when we rode, it was back to the bridle with bit, which has no noseband.

We went nearly 9 miles Sunday with M and Coalie.

I was a little frustrated because the last 2 miles, heading roughly in the direction of home, Fizz was relentlessly pulling to go faster and just wouldn't settle. It's difficult when she gets into power-walk mode because Coalie gets slower as Fizz gets faster, and then I start either asking her to stop and wait or circle behind. Ugh.

So that ride didn't end all that well. We'll likely go to GMHA for an upcoming member day and ride there, so I am hoping that a change of scenery will help a little with this rushing problem.

After our long ride Sunday, gave Fizz a bucket bath and turned her out on the lawn a bit. The bugs were nasty but the nice grass was more important!

Hugh is doing so well with being around the horses. He is fascinated by the horses, particularly when they go into land whale mode :rofl:

He did get zapped by the electric fence for the first time yesterday. He had brushed up against it a few times without it biting, but yesterday he was really wet from running through the fields, and it got him on the ear. Poor guy yelped and tucked his tail running for home, but he survived.

 

[carshon]

Fizz is looking really fit! I have no suggestions for getting Fizz to settle and walk with Coalie. I have owned Tillie almost 4 years now and have given up trying to make her rate her speed to the slowest member of the pack. It was just never worth the struggle. Is there anyway M will meet you in the middle and move Coalie up a notch as you bring Fizz down one?

 

[egrogan]

Thanks @carshon . I think I caught her from a good angle. :wink: Her neck is looking a little flabby in real life. Have to add more miles I guess!

M and I are trying to figure out the best way to keep Coalie and Fizz happy together. They are well matched at the trot. In the woods, their walks are better paced and Coalie even leads a lot. But on the roads, especially the last portion of a ride, is where things go south. M says she's urging him on and he's moving out faster than they usually do, so I don't know. Fizz does get on a mission, and I try to rate her which leads to resentment. Yesterday I tried to work on the quickening towards home while we were alone, by doing lots of circling and doubling back away from home. I definitely got the same sort of reaction I'll get if we're with M and Coalie- a tense back, grabbing the bit in her teeth, trying to bulge her shoulder and turn back the way she wanted to go. That ended up with more repetitions than I really wanted to be doing, so I had to find a moment when she relaxed at least a little and call it a day. At least I know what to keep working on!

Yesterday we were able to go out in the morning, before the rain hit. Lots of trotting, including down some of the hills we usually walk. She felt strong and balanced, which was pretty awesome to experience. It's been raining for days, so the roads are actually really soft and we went out totally barefoot, no boots. It was very satisfying seeing her hoofprints and how well she's overtracking- in most spots where we trotted, there was just a single impression where both feet landed.

And some more shots of them out in their new field. Maggie is being a bit of a pain out there- she'll go walk around for about 5 minutes and then she's standing at the gate whinnying. The other two are happily moseying around the field while she does this. The only thing I can think is that she's frustrated because the bugs are bad and with her grazing muzzle on she can't use her teeth to go after them or itch? I tried putting her back in the regular field and leaving the other two, but predictably that just led to a lot of calling back and forth and more fence pacing. So a little stumped on that one.

Fizzy laying in the tall grass :smile:

 

[carshon]

I am suffering the same with my muzzled mare. It is really hot and humid here even at 5 in the morning when I put them out to pasture. Belle is our lead mare but needs to wear a muzzle. She tries for a little bit but then comes up to the dry lot and stands with her head down. Being the lead mare the other 3 come in too. So NO ONE is getting any pasture. And like you when we leave her in the dry lot everyone congregates waiting for her to go to the pasture. Horses!

 

[phantomhorse13]

How is Fizz with lateral work? Perhaps when she gets on a mission for home, instead of turning her around or constantly asking her to slow, ask for shoulder in or leg yield for a few steps, then a few steps of balanced walk, then lateral work the other way, etc?

 

[egrogan]

Early last week, a neighbor from down the road stopped by to ask if some of her friends could use one of our pastures to camp this weekend. Apparently they do an annual trip with 3 other couples, and the place they usually stay in the next town over had been recently sold. The new owner wouldn't let them use the property, so they didn't have anywhere to stay. Of course we didn't mind, so their trailers rolled in on Thursday. They came with four horses, a dozen dogs, and a ride camp that would make endurance riders jealous :wink:

Unfortunately the weather has been sticky and overcast, but they don't seem to be too bothered. Fizz and I went out to ride with one of the women yesterday, and we had a great time. It was the first time I can remember riding with a horse that could outwalk Fizz. The woman, H, had a cute little pony cross who could walk.

The first couple of miles I could feel Fizz thinking "what the heck is going on here" as Blue left us in the dust.

But, eventually her conditioning won out and he got a little tired on our hills so they were better matched. He's from a flat part of New Hampshire. I forget how challenging these hills are when you're not used to it!

(Yes, we did notice the saddle slipping and fixed it- roly poly pony problems!!)

It's funny how when you ride with someone for the first time, you're sort of conservative in your expectations to make sure it's not going to be someone crazy or awful to their horse or just totally mismatched for you. When I met H and we agreed to ride, she said she was looking to do a short ride, not much more than 5 miles, and mostly walking. But when we got to the place where I planned to turn around, she asked if we could go on to the next trail loop. And when we came to an intersection on that loop where we could turn back or keeping going, she wanted to keep going. So all in all, we did about 9 miles :wink: I think she was probably just uncertain of how the ride would go because her horse has such a quick walk that she is often in the position of having to hold him back, or circle around. She said she usually rides with Tennessee Walkers and they can't keep up with him. So like Fizz, he gets frustrated and resentful, but unlike Fizz, he then starts rearing. But they were both happy on this ride- they got to go at a comfortable pace for them and got to just move along without having to stop and wait for someone else. Overall, it was a quicker pace than we usually go with M and Coalie, but our average walk speed was still only right around 4mph. That's pretty average, isn't it? I don't think she's actually all that fast after all, just has places to go...

It threatened to storm our entire ride, and while we heard a rumble of thunder we only got hit with a few sprinkles. But not exaggerating at all, the second I got Fizz's tack off the skies opened and dumped buckets of rain. Couldn't have planned the timing any better!

I will probably ride with this group at some point again today, and then a long ride with M and Coalie tomorrow morning. And...lovely husband and I took all of next week off to do house stuff, but right now the weather forecast is decent so hope to intersperse the home improvement work with riding.

 

[egrogan]

Yesterday I ended up on another solo ride. It was later in the afternoon, so fairly warm, but there was a nice breeze so I figured I'd go out and back to the overlook quickly.

Bugs were bad so Fizz was happy to trot off right away, and we trotted right along there and back. It's the first ride I recall where we've finally swapped the balance of walk/trot, so that we trotted more than we walked. Also first ride where our average speed was above that elusive 5mph mark. Granted, this was just a 2.5 mile ride, but still felt like a step forward in conditioning. We are now able to trot down our bigger hills in a reasonably balanced way, even going towards home. No feelings of somersaults about to happen (except when Fizz happens to kick a fly on her belly with a hind leg while trotting down hill ). Was very happy with her.

Last night we went to a potluck at "ride camp" and had a nice time visiting with all the folks staying there. Hugh had a great time playing with all the dogs there, particularly a year-old black lab named Surry. He was friendly with all the people and dogs and didn't mess with anyone's horses. All very good to see, since his socialization period has been so weird with the pandemic. I think he's going to turn into a happy, well adjusted pup despite that.

Today met M and Coalie and headed to a new trail system we haven't tried yet. It was in the same direction as Blind Mare Farm, but a couple of miles before that, there's a lefthand turn down a logging road that links you in to miles and miles more logging roads and trails. We set out wanting to go 10-12 miles but not totally sure where we'd end up. Unfortunately, the bugs were just UNBEARABLE and the poor horses coped as well as they could, but were clearly miserable. I had a deerfly get up under the brim of my helmet and have a lovely red bullseye in the middle of my forehead. :icon_rolleyes: But at least now we know where to enter the trails, and the footing was really nice. Hopefully it won't be too many more weeks before the bugs die back a bit. We backtracked the way we came and managed to do about 8 miles total.

Will probably give her tomorrow off, but Tuesday is supposed to be nice as well so we'll get back out then.

 

[egrogan]

Is it fall yet?!

I am really, really not a summer person. Tuesday we went out and sweated our way through a short loop that let us stop at the town spring for a quick drink halfway through.

Yesterday I had time to ride but it was 80*F and 90% humidity while doing morning chores and I just couldn't stand the thought of being out in the sun and bugs. The horses seemed to agree, barely budging from their sheds all day. I hated to waste a day when I had the time, but it just didn't sound fun at all. Today, temps and humidity were about the same, but at least it started out overcast so I thought maybe we could tolerate it. As of right now, the weekend is supposed to be stormy and oppressively hot, so I figured this might be our only chance before next week.

As soon as I got on, we were swarmed with dozens of biting deer flies. There was no escaping them- and she tried, by jumping off the road into a woodsy ditch to try to brush them off with tree branches So we spent most of the ride trying to out trot them where we could, me with reins in left hand and a dressage whip in my right hand acting as a fly swisher, knocking the clouds off her neck and head while she thought about escaping out the right door to head home. We must have been quite a spectacle going down the road! There were sections where they disappeared, though I couldn't find any rhyme or reason to why. And, the fog/overcast burned off as the bright sun came out, so we were dripping with sweat.

We ended up doing 6.5 miles, though it felt like it was twice that it was so unpleasant.

Switched back to bitless bridle today as the nose sore is healed and it has mostly filled back in with hair. But now she has a nasty sore near her mouth and her lips are a little swollen (I think it is buttercup burn maybe?) and she seemed very happy with the bridle set up today.

 

[Avna]

@egrogan, I recommend a couple of things that work moderately well for me for the deer flies. One is a much bigger fly hood. I have a new one I like quite a bit, that covers Brooke from just above her nostrils nearly to the front of the saddle. It's this one: https://www.horsehoodies.org/. They are generously sized; Brooke's is an Arab/Cob size (she is inconveniently sometimes a horse size and sometimes a cob size depending on the item and the manufacturer)

It is hotter, is the main disadvantage.

The other is to invest in a real horsehair fly whisk. Those really work. The flies are still awful, but much more manageable.

 

[bsms]

FWIW, here in southern AZ it has been much hotter than normal - even for a normal Arizona July! I either need to get Bandit out by 6:30 or call it quits!

Anyways...Trooper has a slow walk but a fast trot. Bandit has a faster walk and a slower trot. So my wife lets Trooper lag, then trots him 100 yards or so to close the distance. Then walks / trots. No idea on how to get Trooper to willingly walk fast but it becomes an excuse to work on trotting.

BTW - a really good thing for me about riding solo is I don't have to limit our rides to what my wife can handle. So Bandit & I do a lot more cantering more off-trail cruising around. Another positive is Bandit is learning to trust me more, although our partnership means he has the right of refusal. I think back to my time with Mia and how so many folks here on HF told me to never dismount, NEVER accept her refusing. A big part of our problem, looking back, was rooted in how deep-seated her fears were and the advice to "never let her win"!

I love hearing about the distances you are going. Wish I could match them but with no water and morning temps often breaking 95 by 9 AM....well, I get pooped even if Bandit doesn't! I refuse to take water for me because there is none for him and I need to understand that he gets thirsty too. The flies at least are gone. I think they have all fried and gone to HEdoubleL, and I'm sure your horses will agree that is where they belong!

A couple of sunrise pictures my wife took a couple of days ago. This would be the best time to ride but I'm too lazy to get up, saddle Bandit and head out THIS early:

It looks so beautiful where you are at but maybe for now I'll trade y'alls beauty for the flies being roasted away. I hate flies! Send yours down here and they'll be dead in 60 minutes...their sun-charred bodies dropping to the ground. Your horses might enjoy that mental picture...:smile:

 

[phantomhorse13]

While I am sorry to read of the heat and bugs, I was smiling like mad reading your last ride description.

You casually tell us about trotting down the road in an attempt to flee from bugs with the reins in one hand and the dressage whip beating bugs off her with the other - how far you two have come!! Great teamwork.