[Knave]

I’m pretty sure my horses would jump the fence. Those that couldn’t make the jump would end up rather torn up from the suicidal effort…

 

[carshon]

Just so you know - there is nothing more beautiful then a well loved older horse. Whose eyes are still bright and whose coat is still shiny.

 

[gottatrot]

Just so you know - there is nothing more beautiful then a well loved older horse. Whose eyes are still bright and whose coat is still shiny.

I agree! It makes me a little sad when you talk about Izzy getting older, but I know you'll cherish the time you have with her, and I hope you have at least until age 30 like I had with Amore.

 

[egrogan]

All my fingers and toes crossed, it looks like we will be getting hay tomorrow. It’s far from ideal, as it’s coming off a damp field and right into our barn, so I’m sure we’ll have moldly bales as the year goes on, but I’m just hoping that most of it makes it through. Hay guy stopped this morning to make sure we were ready for it (umm…we will be ready at any time you tell us to be!!) and said he was 7,000 bales behind on first cut and didn’t think there would be a second. I feel lucky to be getting anything.

Good thing it’s coming too, I’ve been skimping on the little bit of yucky stuff I had left, trying to ration out what I’m feeding, and last night the horses apparently staged a revolt. I looked out the window when I got up this morning, and saw that the door to the tack/feed room was wide open. I couldn’t decide if I was more worried that someone had gone in to steal all my tack, or that the horses had busted in and eaten two garbage cans half full of pelleted food.

Clearly the perpetrators were of the equine variety 😆

They made a bit of a mess, and one of the lids on a can of feed had been pulled off, but it didn’t look like much had been eaten. Fizz was standing fully in the feed room when I got down there, but she was just nibbling on the little bit of hay they had spread everywhere and didn’t seem to be that interested in the feed. She didn’t even look guilty 🙄 I’m just feeling very lucky no one gorged themselves. As you can tell, this isn’t the first time someone has mouthed at the handle, but I never thought they’d be able to pull the door open! Will have to make sure the handle is harder to turn.

Tomorrow we head off to a pleasure ride weekend at GMHA-planning on 30ish miles for the weekend.

 

[bsms]

She didn’t even look guilty 🙄

They never do! "What? WHAT? You're fussing over....THAT?"

 

[egrogan]

Well, we had a great riding weekend! We met M and Coalie on Friday afternoon to hack over to GMHA. It was really hot and muggy so we weren't in any hurry. It took us about 3 hours to go the 10 miles.

It's going to be a fabulous apple year - all the trees are loaded. The horses are like truffle-sniffing dogs. They know when we're riding past one and ask to stop and sniff the ground to find windfalls. They were not disappointed.

With all the rain we've had, even the Jeep roads are full of the awful pointy gravel. Usually on this route, which has lots of long, relatively flat stretches, we can do a lot of trotting or cantering, but with this footing we do a lot more walking, even with boots on both of them. It's just too sharp.

There were lots of big bear footprints in the muddy spots along this trail, but I didn't manage to get any pictures of them this time...

This is what counts as a "cliff" for us, though it's hard to get a sense of perspective. It was a pretty steep dropoff. Trying to take some pictures for our virtual Tevis landmarks 😉

We rode into GMHA around dinner time. I think we've done this enough now that the horses know they are "home" when we get here.

There are lots of streams that run through the cross country course, so we stopped to stand in the water and take a good drink before heading into the stable area.

I made a few changes to Fizz's food this time, after our bad gut sounds when we did the intro ride a few weeks ago. I added in 1 cup of Purina Outlast, and also some basic electrolytes (we're using the Summer Games powder). She didn't love the electrolytes when I started adding them in this week, so I had to play around with the quantity. Adding the Outlast pellets gives a little more substance to mix the powder into, so that seemed to make it palatable enough for her to eat it. Given the humidity of the weekend, I was glad that she had them on board. And it really seemed to pay off- she drank two buckets of water in her stall between dinner and night check, and then another 1.5 buckets over night. And she cleaned up all her hay (she only picked at it overnight last time she was there). Hopefully we're on the right track!

And the best surprise of all, when I got home, the hay delivery had come! They left me a giant mess to cleanup, but who cares when the loft is FULL. Should be about 500+ bales in there. I've got another 50 coming from someone else, and about 30 left from last year, so if I'm careful that will get us through next spring. We'll just think good thoughts for an early spring and early first cut in 2022. But it was such a relief that it worked out.

To be continued with our ride Saturday...

 

[egrogan]

We planned on doing the pleasure ride Saturday, which gave us a couple of options to choose from- they always offer a short route (6-7 miles) and a long route (10-14 miles). We had planned to do a long route, leave the horses there Saturday, and then ride or trailer home Sunday morning depending on how tired they were. However, the Sunday forecast was looking unsettled, with thunderstorms expected starting mid-morning and going all afternoon. We didn't really want to get caught in a downpour riding home, nor have to trailer in that, so we changed our plans a bit and decided we'd just ride them home Saturday. That worked well because the Saturday long pleasure ride option basically went right to our house, but using different trails than we had ridden over on Friday night. The Sunday 25-mile competitive trail ride was using this same red loop, with the vet check right down the road from my house. It gave us a 12.5 mile ride home on trails we had never been on before, which was really exciting. And also ideal because we passed two water stops, which the horses appreciated. For all intents and purposes, we basically did our own "unofficial" intro ride.

When I got there Saturday morning, Fizz, as usual, was a bit wired from having been in the stall all night. Although she ate and drank well, it's still not her favorite thing to be in there. After I fed her her breakfast, I took her out for a walk to stretch her legs.
I don't think this one is meant for horses Fizz... 😉

After we had walked and grazed around a bit, I tied her out on the tie rail while I got her stuff together.

I had ducked into her stall to pee quickly 😳 when I heard M shouting from the next stall "Fizz is leaving! Fizz is leaving!" She had been standing there fine while I was in sight, but when she found herself "alone" I guess she realized that she could throw her head up and unloop the lead rope. She didn't take off anywhere, she just wanted more grass. M grabbed her and I stuck her back in the stall to finish tacking up, which she found highly offensive. She was squirrely getting tacked up, and on her toes as we headed over to a mounting block to get on. There were several horses being unloaded from trailers, all screaming, and that amped her up more. I decided I was going to walk her out of the barn area and get on over by the warm-up ring where the trailhead starts. She was still wide eyed there, so I walked her a bit farther until we got into the woods and she stopped trying to run me over. I was very happy that the trail quickly turned uphill, and we had a good climb ahead of us. She was still tense, but it got her breathing hard right away so she was manageable. I think the ferns have absolutely loved this wet summer- it looks almost prehistoric in the woods, the ferns are huge this year!

The trail flattened out for a bit, and she was on her toes but not threatening to do anything silly. We were all sticky and sweaty with the heat and did a lot of walking. One of the nicest spots on this trail is coming into Dexter's grove, which is a beautiful birch stand in the hills up above GMHA...

What comes up must come down, and eventually the trail brought us down the hill and across a paved road crossing- then back into the woods, through the sap lines...

...and past the iconic Jenne Farm, one of the prettiest views around.

There are a couple of old draft horses in the pasture behind the farm, and Coalie found them a bit spooky as they talked to us while we passed. Fizz spooked hard at a tarp flapping in the breeze covering the door to an old shed, but that was the only spot these two got worked up about anything. And they were fine after they got it out of their system.

At this point, Fizz knew we were headed home, and she started to want to pick up speed. After Jenne Farm, there's a 2 mile stretch of downhill road, of course with the icky gravel footing, and she started to get really obnoxious pulling on me to go faster. We were most definitely not about to do a Morgan road trot down the hill with that bad footing, so we had a 2 mile argument about walking. There was a water stop at the bottom of the hill, and she took a short drink but was impatient to get going, which was also not ok because Coalie was taking full advantage of the fresh water and drinking well. So again, more circling and tossing her head around, which was really annoying. From the water stop, the road headed back uphill again, and the footing was a little more forgiving, so at least we could let them trot. She was like a freight train pulling me along, with poor Coalie cantering behind us to keep up (I apologized). That section seemed agonizingly long because she was being so uncooperative, but soon enough we ducked back into the woods. This is the portion of the trail we had never done before, and without sounding too cheesy, it was like an enchanted forest. The trail was along an old set of bridle paths that I didn't even know existed, even though it's just a couple of miles from my house. The footing was pristine, and it was probably 10* cooler in the woods. We were able to let the horses trot along at a very comfortable pace, and being in a new place Fizz finally stopped pulling and just floated along. I think M and I were both grinning from ear to ear, it was such a nice section of trail.

The trail wound along and suddenly we found ourselves at a pretty serious stream crossing. I know people out west have much more technical rivers than this, but I have to say this is the biggest crossing Fizz and I have done. The water was really moving along, and they had to step down into a really rocky streambed with water halfway up their cannon bones. Coalie took a quick drink and crossed, and Fizz wanted to stand there for a minute and have a longer drink. She has hesitated at water crossings in the past, so I wasn't sure how this would go. But after she had enough to drink, I squeezed her forward, and on she went- just like a real trail horse! I was so proud of her! If we had come to this crossing a couple of years ago, I know she wouldn't have done it without me leading her through it, so this just really made my day.

On we went, weaving through single track switchbacks climbing back up through rocky sections. And eventually we connected back with the Rich Trail, which is one we ride frequently. At that point, we were in the homestretch and the horses definitely knew where we were heading.

We eventually turned off the marked trail to head on home. It had been a great ride, and we were so happy with how the horses did across two very hot, humid days on challenging trails. Fizz was happy to be home, and rolled and rolled in all her favorite spots. She ate everything in sight for dinner and seemed like she was feeling great.

All in, it was 22.5 miles for the weekend.

 

[gottatrot]

Gorgeous trails! So glad you were able to get hay too.

Amore always thought streams that wide (couple horse lengths) were no more than a water jump, and she'd try to go across without getting her hooves wet. That didn't always work out so well if it was slippery on the other side.

 

[carshon]

I love the pictures/ Again so very jealous of the beautiful area you ride in

 

[egrogan]

Yesterday we went out for the first time since the weekend. Humidity is through the roof, close to 90%, so even though it was a bit overcast we were still drenched in sweat. Despite the stickiness, Fizz felt happy and forward, and we trotted and cantered where we could to avoid the deerflies.

We headed out past the overlook and down the big Cavendish hill, which we haven't done in awhile. As usual, she was noodly going down the hill. In some sort of Murphy's law of riding, we always have problems on this hill, and they are always compounded by a truck coming up behind us while we're arguing. Yesterday was no different, so we went most of the way down the hill in the grassy ditch on the side of the road. Fortunately it had been recently mowed, so at least I could see that there weren't any holes or things to trip us up. We made it to the bottom in one piece.

That was the worst part of the ride, but after that her happy demeanor was back and we again moved out in the spots we could, even trotting some of the easier downhills.

I was pretty glad to have the cloud cover for most of the ride.

Of course, coming back up the Cavendish hill, the sun came back out blazing and we sweated our way up it. I don't know what it is about this hill, but it is an experience!

It's going to be 90*F with 90% humidity today through Friday, so we won't do much. Maybe try to sneak in something very short in the morning before it gets too bad, but we'll see. Temps over the weekend are supposed to be much more reasonable though, so looking forward to that.

 

[knightrider]

Where are you in the virtual Tevis? I love your Tevis reports and your photographs of the places that are sort of similar to what we'd be doing if we were riding the Tevis.

 

[egrogan]

Where are you in the virtual Tevis? I love your Tevis reports and your photographs of the places that are sort of similar to what we'd be doing if we were riding the Tevis.

I was just going to make a post in the trail riding thread. We are over 50 miles now, just passed swinging bridge. I'll put some pictures over there

How about you?

 

[knightrider]

I am still behind you by 25 miles. I climbed up Cougar Rock. I managed to get breaththrough covid, which was pretty no-fun. At least I am back riding again, if a bit shaky and woozy. I like your photographs and comparisons so much, I told one of the teens that used to be on Horse Forum to follow you. I knew she would get such a kick out of it.

 

[egrogan]

Oh no, @knightrider! It's hard for me to like your post. Very glad to hear you're feeling better, but not that you had to go through that! I've been growing increasingly concerned about breakthrough because I had a single dose vaccine, but am relatively confident that even if I did get sick, I'd likely not be sick enough to be hospitalized. I am hoping recommendations for boosters are released soon. And fortunately we are in a very low transmission area.

Glad the trail posts are entertaining. It makes me feel justified in the ten billionmillion (technical term) photos I have stored on my phone 🤣

 

[knightrider]

At the risk of being boring in the trail section . . . and @egrogan , you showed a little interest, so may I write about my continuing fly experiment in your journal? I know that many riders are simply not interested or say I'm wrong, so I don't want to keep talking about it. Hopefully you are mildly interested?

Today I was nervous about riding near the Anatolians, and that is the only few-fly solo trail I have. (My riding buddy is very sick.) I could just imagine that mentally unstable couple charging out of their horse accusing me of killing their dog and threatening to sue me. Today was Chorro's turn, and Chorro is extremely reactive about flies. In fact, I have decided the reason why he seems to get me off every June or July for 15 years is because of flies. He just can't stand them another second!

This morning I took Chorro on the dirt road, which is normally pretty bad for flies . . . and it was. I chose my 1 1/2 mile track, part-way into the ride, and started counting. I got 67 flies going out and 50 flies coming back. Am I doing the math correctly if I get 43% fewer flies coming home? How statistically significant is that? If it is correct? I added 67 and 50 and then divided 50 by 117.

It didn't seem like much of a difference to me and 43% does seem like a difference. I do all the counting at a walk only. Yesterday I rode Aci in an area with few flies and got 85% fewer flies. Aci is much more tolerant of flies than Chorro. So the horse temperament also skews the experiment. I should probably ride 100 horses on the same day at the same time on the same trail, shouldn't I?

I had a lot of fun making up counting rules. Head bumps or quick nods don't count. Snapping at flies with the teeth don't count. A part of a second between headshakes counts as only one headshake. More than a second between counts as two. Snaking the head around to get one off a flank does not count, nor does swiping at the chest.

Isabeau is my least reactive horse to flies. As a queen, it is far beneath her dignity to shake and dance and jump around. Chorro is my most reactive with Windy coming in a close second. Aci rarely shakes his head; he belly kicks constantly. Chorro rarely belly kicks.

One comment about the death of the Anatolian. In Florida, people seem completely pre-occupied with maintaining their freedom at all costs. Live free or die, which is ironically New Hampshire's motto, but should certainly be Florida's motto. Actually more like "Live free AND die" is what is going on currently. The Anatolian owners insisted their dogs have total freedom to stand in the road, nip at horses and bike riders, and stop traffic. And I guess they got what they demanded--to live free and/or die. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the driver of the white van that hit that dog did it on purpose. There was NO squeal of brakes, just WHAM! I'll bet they never imagined the destruction to their vehicle. Very expensive explosion of temper, if it was that. I can't imagine they didn't SEE the dog--very huge, fluffy, white on a black tar road.

 

[phantomhorse13]

I am not sure there is really any way to accurately count flies from horse back, because if you are only counting head shakes, that would only be counting flies near/on their heads. I know when I ride, the flies are biting them all over as I find blood spots on their heads, necks, chests, sides, legs, and belly. I would need to count basically any time their head moved!

I would also think what pace you are going would change the count, as some of the flies give up when I trot or canter. Walking, its like someone is ringing a dinner bell.

Do you find what is biting you changes by your location? Here, the deer flies seem to hang out in the woods whereas the bomber flies and the greenheads seem to prefer the fields. The gnats and black flies are everywhere.

@egrogan some of those new to you trails looked lovely! will you be able to access them for training rides?

 

[knightrider]

Many people in Florida struggle with horrible yellow deer flies, but we have very few where I live. Most of our flies are big, gray, and slow. We kill them with one finger or thumb, just mash slowly, no need to slap. Woods, roads, or fields, we just have big gray nasty blood drawing monsters. And a very few greenheads and even fewer deerflies.

@phantomhorse13 , if you have any ideas on how to improve or refine my experiment, I am all ears! This whole idea of fewer flies on return lines of riding was taught to me by a lady in PA near Gettysburg. She took me up a mountain with 50 deerflies around each horse and none coming down the mountain. She told me that's the way it does there, and she was right!

 

[Knave]

That’s all interesting! I never thought to count flies. Cashman is bad about them, as was the General. It drives me crazy that a giant plow horse looking mustang is so sensitive about bugs. I roll my eyes at him as he loses his mind.

Just now I had him, Bones, Queen and Zeus on pasture. I imagine a bot fly was bothering him, but he started running my horses like crazy. He lost his temper and went to taking it out on mostly Bones. It was big drama trying to catch horses and get them out.

General once ran me over a fence in the same circumstance. It just blew my mind. He was a bred horse and more athletic, but still a big horse. Queen seems to tolerate bugs better than most. What she does not tolerate is fly spray.

Here if someone’s dogs cause trouble they disappear. No one cares what someone’s dogs do on their own place, but the second they step out they are public. You are allowed to kill any dog on your property, so there are no repercussions either.

 

[knightrider]

Hopefully, @egrogan , you are having a wonderful weekend of riding, and hopefully my silly experiment is not super annoying to clog up your journal.

This morning was Windy's turn to go riding. She is generally not too terrible about flies, although she really minds them. Today she did not want to go riding AT ALL, and especially not solo. I think that is why I got so many belly kicks. "I DON'T want to be here. I DON'T like this ride. I DON'T like you on me." Kick. Kick. Kick. I decided to count both belly kicks and headshakes because the flies were horrendous and Windy was miserable. I even thought about just turning back because I wasn't having any fun anyway.

But I reminded myself that Windy will never become a decent riding horse if she doesn't get ridden. "Ain't gonna get done lookin' at it." So I rode on. Which was good, because once we got past the pigs (which Windy passed mounted for the first time this summer. I did not have to dismount today to get her past the pigs), she turned into a pleasant fun riding buddy.

My daughter explained how I was doing the math wrong to get my percentages. Hopefully I am doing it correctly now. I got 35 headshakes heading out and 55 belly kicks. I got 25 headshakes coming home and 16 belly kicks. If I did the math correctly this time, it means I got 16% fewer flies counting headshakes and 42% fewer flies if I count belly kicks. I attribute the much fewer belly kicks coming home because I think Windy kicks her belly in annoyance, like a child might kick a rock on the way to school. "These flies are HORRIBLE. I HATE this."

In any case, there were fewer flies coming home. Belly kicks while riding are certainly unpleasant, so fewer belly kicks on the way home certainly makes for a more pleasant ride. My daughter explained that now I have to count head shakes or belly kicks or both in a circle as a control, coming and going. Sigh. She's right, isn't she?

 

[Knave]

I don’t know @knightrider… I am a nervous driver. Seriously panic attack pass out nervous. It is always easier coming home. Going out is hard.

To me I think that is what you are seeing. The bit of anxiety of going out. Maybe the horses are even happy, but touchier still…