Storm Blowing In

I am sitting here in my new office. I get to look out at my south facing pasture to watch the horses munch their breakfast , tails  and manes whipping in the wind as a storm front moves in.

 I get to do that now, that is watch the horses from my office window.

I have managed to change jobs twice in a 3 month period after having worked in one place for nearly 10 years.  In August I chose to leave that 10 years employer . It was difficult to leave the people behind but certainly not the job. It was time for a change. The stress was getting too much. I took a position with another local insurance company , only it was a different insurance industry, and not at all familiar. Chage is good and it was a good job, a good place to work that offered security and decent benefits. It challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and learn something new. All of that was fine,  but I just couldn't get excited about it.
Opportunity fell on my doorstep when a previous aquaintance informed me of a position that came open with another company. They happened to be looking for someone with my knowledge on a sspecific system I was already familiar with. Fortunate for me, there aren't alot of us that have this particular system's knowledge.
So I applied and got the job. It's a good job as well, a better job in my opinion. It offers me the opportunity to work remotely, most of the time with some travel. In time, I suspect it will allow me much more freedom with my schedule. Just the saving on the fuel money might be able to go towards some time to board a horse at a stable this winter. But first thing is first. I have to get up and running.

On Sunday, I  head out for the first week of several for some training. Where I will be going is much warmer. With a winter weather advisory looming as I type, it's not all bad. Yet, it's always hard to leave the farm behind. I worry about the dogs, the horses. We are predicted to have our first signifigant snowfall today through Friday. We have been busy in the last several weeks not only getting my home office ready , which was a serious undertaking and reorganization , but also preparing for the inevitable first snow. It's a list of tasks I always seem to dread because of what it represents. Very little time with the horses. Nonetheless, all of the horseshoes are pulled for the winter allowing the hooves several months to go barefoot again. Last weekend, we finished loading the last of the hay for the year. The garden boxes are dug up and compost added. The tank heaters are in the water troughs, ready to be plugged in (most likely later today considering the temps) The gutters are cleaned out, the wood shed is full and the lawn equipment is winterized and replaced by the snowblower. The horse blankets are within easy reach should we need them. What else is there???

As always, summer and fall come to a close much too quickly and usually with several things left undone on the  "To-do list but the important things have been accomplished. I often find myself complaining about all the work that comes with owning a home, having livestock and keeping a place up. There is always a new addition to the list.
But for now, we will rest a bit and settle into a new chapter. 

Winter can lay down heavy upon us.

We are ready.

 

Fall Frenzy

Ok, the first thing is that I have to make a complaint to Google Blog site.  Something is going on with Google because it will not let me upload a photo.. some sort of server error ... So I will post without a pic .. and try again later... grrrrrr...

The fall frenzy has begun here. We have once again been blessed with an Indian  summer. September and most of October have  been beautiful. So much so that I have been shirking my duties when it comes to work around the farm to get ready for winte and have been spending  my weekends riding (f your on facebook, I have photos to prove it, I swear!)  or otherwise goofing off , rather than working on fall /winter preparations which is now at it’s crucial point. I have been enjoying getting out for easy trail rides with Maggie and JB.  JB is finally getting some concerted work again after two years of really not being ridden and he is doing very well. I forgot how much he enjoys going.

After these last several frenzied weeks ,  I am going to request that weeks are 3 days and weekends are 4 days long.  We seem to be having to cram 4 days of activities  into two days.

Deny it as I may, it’s time to get the  winter readiness stuff done around the place. This is the part about property ownership that kinda drags.

I often dream about what it would be like to  live somewhere that this task is not required. That would be so nice! Not to have to think about winter…have someone to do all your maintenance stuff for you ... hmm... maybe living in a condo isn't so bad.. no lawn care, no fencing, no cold frozen fingers trying to get livestock fed in a storm, no frozen pipes forcing me to haul buckets of  water so the horses can drink, no wood to split, a garage that can actually be used to house my vehicle so I don't have to scrape ice off my windshield at 6:00 in the morning, as opposed to a place that we store EVERYTHING else that doesn't fit in the hay barn or storage container......wouldn't that be the life on easy street..

..but I digress....

I suppose my dislike of all this winter chorse stuff stems from the fact that  it means the long days of being outside in the sun and fresh air in shorts and tank tops  are replaced by long dark days of cold,  having to wear boots and multiple layers , being held captive to our home as winter blows down on us and generally everythiing just being a bit more difficult.  I suppose that is why I procrastinated so long  on getting outside stuff wrapped up and tucked away.

Nonetheless, we reluctantly  managed to finally get some of the garden boxes cleaned up, and plucked the last of the onions out of the dirt, which was totally  cool to still have fresh produce  in October. We put most of the outside furniture away , and  weset the  wood crib up on the back porch and filled it.  We got the horse troughs switched out and stock tank heaters tested and installed, ready to be plugged in at the first sign of nasty weather.  There is still much to do, like fill the garden boxes with compost, put away more patio furniture, coil up a couple more hoses,  mow the yard one last time, get the lawn equipment winterized, and pull the snow blower out from the barn.  I hope we haven’t procrastinated too long!

I even did some heavy duty  indoor work that involved a lot of housecleaning and rearranging,  in preparation for  finally  getting a real home office set up. This was no easy task. It required us to switch what was the guest room downstairs and move it to the upstairs loft, which has been serving as a storage area.

Think tornado and you will understand what my storage area looked like.

 After atleast 250 trips of going up and down the stairs, 3 bags of old paperwork that had to be burned or shredded,  two car loads of goodwill donations , a full vacuum bag and a lot of empty boxes ,  I had a guest room again  and the downstairs  room  was beginning to look like a real office, like it was always intended to !  It will be so nice to have a dedicated work space instead of a desk shoved in the corner.

 After our full day of work on Saturday and most of Sunday morning, we decided we deserved to go for a ride on Sunday afternoon….

ofcourse one did not have to twist my arm too hard on that… housework or ride?? Hmmm, not a hard choice there.

…..and ….since it was opening weekend for hunting, Tom brought along his rifle and JB packed it for him. JB was quite disturbed about that thing bumping against his shoulder, but pretty soon he relaxed and set off at a pace that was on par with Maggie’s walk. 

 The ride was great, other than I nearly froze.  We started out with having to saddle up in a  snow squall and I quickly realized that  I had not dressed appropriate for today’s outing.  Apparently , I have still not made the mental shift that it’s late fall and one has to dress in more than a fleece, vest , jeans and light weight gloves. It didn’t matter, I was just happy to be out of the house and on my horse. I improvised and when I got cold, I just got off and did some  hiking on my own two feet . The hunting wasn’t great, we saw a few deer  and a lot of other hunters. The place was crawling with hunters in fact. We toyed with the idea of heading up to one area that was a bit higher in elevation and about 5  more miles in , where hunters on foot would likely not be, but it was getting too late and JB was at the end of his energy reserves so we opted to head out instead.

 The cooler weather is here and snow is predicted for this week. In spite of the cold, I thoroughly enjoyed the day on the trail .  Hard to say how many more opportunities we will get to ride out there again before there is too much snow and ice.  

I suppose while I am putting patio furniture away, I might as well  pull out the skiis and snowshoes… and the snowshovel..


 

Look Heart ... No Hands..

Well, this one fits too... maybe even better..
Besides, I kinda like ol' Randy.. even if he does drink  a little too much a and decide to walk along the streets completely "neked" and find himself in the slammer..you can't deny his unique sound...

Look Hard folks... No hands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjnCZSEgSu0
 

"Making Gold From Rust"

 That post title should sound familiar... if not... keep reading..

Tomorrow, I will get up early, to go for a ride... just to go for a ride... that's it.. Simple.. and I am more excited about it than I have been for a looonnnngg time...

 I am meeting a friend.. and we are just going to go for a ride... simple, no mileage requirements, no time constraints... no speed minimums.. no heart rate monitor with gooey alove vera gel..

..Just a plain old boring trail ride.....I can't help but hum the old tune from the  Elton John song... Look Ma, No Hands... It just kinda fits my take on the horse thing these days...figuratively speaking...

I'll take a rainy day
To make a champagne shower
Poach some horn and tusk
To build an ivory tower
Been to Philadelphia
The day it was closedI
 walked to New Orleans
Down a Louisiana road
The skeletons they hung
From the bushes and the trees
But not a skull among them said, "Boo" to meIn a time of wine and cheap cigars
I'm on top of the world
Top of the world Ma
Look Ma no hands
Look Ma ain't life grand
I'm a super power, and I'm a handy man
Didn't I turn out, didn't I turn out to be
Everything you wanted
 MaAin't you proud of me
Takes a silver tongue
To have the Midas touch
Not your alchemist
Making gold from rust

Read more: ELTON JOHN - LOOK MA NO HANDS LYRICS
 

Where to go from here?

I went for a bike ride the other day. I love fall bike rides. Almost as much as fall horseback rides. There is something about riding through fallen leaves, horse or bike,  and hearing the leaves crackle and whirl away as you wisk by. The only problem is that I haven't been doing much horseback riding as of late. In fact, myabe only a handful of times since the Camas Creek Canter Endurance Ride.

Regardless, as the summer season begins to come to a close,  I am grateful for what I have to consider a successful seasonfor me and Maggie. We also  just wrapped up Tom’s Horseback Archery season this past weekend. He finished on a high note, scoring an all time high career of 141.00. He trained a lot and it paid off. He has already set his goals for next year and he has set the bar high. I am certain he will achieve it.

For me, it was much the same. I started my training early in the spring readying for the upcoming endurance season.  We slogged through weeks of bad weather, a record  mosquitoes  season, bad footing, saddle fit issues, a couple of close calls with bears and even two lameness issues in preparation for the opportunity to compete in a Limited Distance ride, not really knowing which one but preparing nonetheless.  Honestly, my goal wasn't necessarily to compete this summer. I wasn't totally sure I was going have any nearby opportunities. Instead my plan was to just focus on getting Maggie fit. Work on hills, work on rating, and just see.  I was unwilling to  commit  to anything until I saw how Maggie handled things. In the end, we managed to successfully complete  two Limited distance rides. We even managed to take first in one of those and top tenned in the other. It was like finally pushing a wall out of our way once and for all. 

It was such a huge sense of accomplishment for me.   I experienced a new high I had not had the pleasure of experiencing before.    All those hours of conditioning and training really did pay off. By the end of July,  Maggie was becoming less of a mystery  to me and I was realizing that if she didn't want to eat and drink, she wasn't going to die, atleast in the first 25 miles. 

After those two completions, my plan to was to take 10 days off and then get back to it with the idea in the back of my mind that  I would attend one more ride in September.  That is where the train left the tracks for me. 

In the days after that last race, I experienced a level of exhaustion I cannot even begin to explain. Getting up and functioning at a very basic level felt like the hardest thing in the world to do. I have never suffered from anything I would describe as depression, but what I was experiencing could  have probably been classified as just that. 
How could I be so euphoric only to crash days later? It was a totally foreign experience to me. The initial exhaustion passed within a couple of weeks but I continued to experience a general sense of malaise. That took some time to over come but I finally snapped out of it in mid to late August. During that period of time, I almost sold Maggie and my older gelding.  I wanted to be done with the responsibilities of having horses and all the work that comes with it.
I was done.Finito. Over it.... Mentally and physically. 
Then came a couple of meltdowns . Eventually I got through it.

How? I really don't know. It wasn't drug induced. I suppose the puppy, the  garden, a couple of good books, and some good wine pulled me through.(ok, maybe there were a few mood altering chemicals involved)

Looking back, I suspect it was all the months of training, worry, and work getting myself and Maggie ready.  It was also stress from my employer as there was so much going on with a corporate reorganization. I guess my body and mind finally hit max capacity. I had apparently hit the bottom of my reserve tank. I did take some time in August away from the office to help me refocus. When I returned from vacation, I gave my resignation notice... yep, I left my employer of 10 years and I set off into a new carerr. Let's just say it's been a trip...

 I have started riding Maggie again in the last couple of  weeks. Ofcourse it's only arena work  and it started out pretty rough. Maggie did not want to cooperate with things.  She even reverted back to her days of rearing and being overly reactive to leg pressure.  All she wanted to do was go and go fast…

All I could think was "well,  here we are in the same boat we were a year ago. We have had several sessions since and I think I have started to get Maggie's brain back.. mostly.  Nonetheless, her reversion has made me pause and think about where I am headed with her and this Endurance thing.

Physically,  Maggie  has proven more than being  capable to do the sport but mentally, I don’t think the sport of endurance is doing her any favors. She is pretty "hot" to begin with . She is a lot of horse.  Add a little speed into the mix, and have a few horses pass her??? It's all over.. She will fight to the end, like she did in the Camas Creek ride to catch those front horses.  Some people in the sport are okay with the “hotness” and raciness  but I don’t particularly enjoy it and I really don't like what it does to Maggie.  One year ago, I pulled her back from the conditioning for these same issues. This spring, her mental state seemed improved. She was doing better while riding with other horses  and listening to me while on the trail.  I thought we made it over that bump but it's back an  I am pretty sure this going to be a theme for her.  It's part of her make up.
Lippitt Morgan's can be just as hot as an arab, if not moreso.

So why continue putting so much time into something that is not necessarily the best fit for her?

I still love the sport but I am not sure where to go from here with endurance plans.  I feel like I have put forth every effort to make this sport work for Maggie but it feels like I am fitting a square peg into a round hole.  Our days, before the snow begins to fly, will continue to be spent back working on equitation and dressage. From there??? It's wide open..

 

 

Catching up

Our summer project list is slowing getting checked off. So far , I would say it’s been a very productive and enjoyable summer. At the top of my list is that I successfully completed two LD’s! Both were so unique and both had such great learning opportunities.


I suppose it’s not that big of a deal for most distance riders but it was for me on many levels. It’s been a long road with Maggie. It’s nice when all the planning, training, conditioning finally comes together..It's  nice to know that 3.5 years ago when I first laid eyes on her and thought  " now that little pack of dynamite might have some potential" comes to be true. 

Since the Camas Creek ride, I haven’t done a lick of riding. I haven’t even stressed about it either. For now, I think our endurance season is over. Remember I mentioned Plan C? I have several ideas rolling around in my head about what that is going to be but for now?

For now, I have decided that Plan C is to not have any agenda for my horse. I want to enjoy the rest of the summer with both horse and non horse related activities with NO AGENDA.  Maybe take a few rides into one of the many mountain lakes that we are surrounded by , maybe even pack a fishing pole along, throw out a fly line, see what bites. No conditioning schedule to stick to, no watching the HRM , no worrying about speed , time or distance… just ride and relax. Maybe even take ol’ JB out for a trail cruise… he is long overdue.

Maggie certainly isn’t complaining about that plan. She has been living the life of luxury and getting turned out to pasture for most of her days. I make frequent visits to her paddock to adjust her fly mask , and scratch her numerous bug bites, give her a carrot and reapply bug spray. She’s enjoying her leisure time, maybe a little too much! Her slim and fit self is giving into a good start on a grass belly so, her pasture time will be getting cut back again before she looks too much like a wood tick. Uggh.. Morgans!!! Its only been a little over a week!

I also have plenty of work around the place to keep up on this time of year. Gardening has become a huge theme for us. It's rewarding but still a ton of work. We now have 5 Garden boxes.  One of which is 16 feet long! Two weeks ago, the tomato plants reached a startling height of 4.5 feet tall .I think the organic stinky, make you want to vomit fish fertilizer , combined with the mini greehouse we built for them worked too well and they just kept getting taller and taller and not putting their energy into producing a lot of fruit.. I had to finally break down and strip them of most of their beautiful green healthy leaves that were not blossom producing. I just hate that task.. it seems so so……well…....wrong…!
The rest of garden is looking good. The squash, peppers,cabbage and onions are all doing well , aside from some bug infestations. We have even started on the second planting of cool season veggies like turnip, carrots, and rutabaga. I have already picked and dried several plants from the herb garden. LIke I said, alot of work , but so rewarding! I have 5 bags of spinach and 2 bags of Swiss chard all tucked away in the freezer. The strawberries didn't make it to the freezer. They were so good we were eating them daily!

More than half of our hay is in the hay barn, and almost all of our needed firewood is in the wood shed. That is always a huge relief. The puppy, Duncan McLeod of the Clan McLeod is giving us plenty of extra excitement in our lives along with a whole lot of extra time on poop patrol .

OMG...How can something so small produce so much poop??? I had forgotten how hard it is to keep a well maintained and clean back yard with two dogs…

This week so far has been dedicated to scraping out horse paddocks with a tractor. That’s never a pleasant job. Thank goodness for running water and a hot shower after that dirty chore. It sure smells alot less uuhhh.. horsey  around the place and it should help with the fly season, which has already started..tonight, I hang fly and wasp traps as the wasps are also out and aggressive as ever. I have already been stung by a hobo spider this summer, which has taken for ever to heal.   I certainly don't want a bee sting to match it.
Before I know it, it will be time to harvest the garden in earnest, pick the hops, grapes , plums, apples and cherries, right in time for the fall wine and beer making process! We are not bored people.

As far as endurance goes, there is always next season...

So, If I become a little absent on the blog....well...

Please enjoy the music while your party is being reached!

A Top Ten Finish for Maggie

All week, Maggie gave no indication that she was anything but her normal self so I decided I had no excuse not to attend the Camas Creek Canter Endurance ride this past weekend. So Friday morning, withwhat seemed to take a lifetime, we finally managed to get packed up and on the road by about 2:00. Having a puppy and another full grown German Shepherd only complicates matters of travel, but we managed. We got into camp about 4:30 , I took care of registering and vetting through while "T" set up the tent, the awning(very high class at that) and other matters of camp. Luckily, the predicted heavy rain and severe thunderstorms skirted ride camp.

We finally settled into the tent way too late and completely exhausted. Then, pre -ride anxiety kicked in for me, resulting in a sleepless night..

Ride start time was 7:30 for LD riders, all 17 of us. I decided that I would try putting Maggie in the mid to back part of the pack of riders this time and see how it went. When I have started her in the back before, she just puts up a huge fight because she knows those horses are ahead of her and she wants to chase them down. The joys of a herdbound competitive mare. Well, my plan didn't work. The front runners went out and then a few more and then I decided to take my spot. She started out really good but then 3 horses behind were catching us and the race was on.. she starting pulling pretty hard. I finally pulled out of the frenzy and let them on by so we could be alone. She only had a small meltdown that was manageable and we continued on our way. She kept pulling, the entire 16 mile first loop. She refused to drink, but I kept her wet with water bottles and rode her into the one of the creeks  at one point just to cool her down. Another rider caught up to us, but it was a 50 miler who had gone off course at one tricky part of the trail and had ggone 6 miles out of her way.  Her and I rode together for the last 7 miles which helped Maggie. I wish I could remember her name but she was from the Kellogg area and had a lovely little mare ! I was glad to have the good company. We walked in the last 1/4 mile to start getting the pulse down. We finished our first loop in 2.5 hours. I knew it would take her a few minutes to get to pulse criteria of 60 , given the pace of  6.4 mph ,  which was faster than I wanted to go but Maggie was feeling strong. She scorred A's on everything but cap refill and hydration, which were B's. That wasn't unexpected considering she had refused water and food the entire way.

I put her back in her corral for the one hour hold and served up her beet pulp with Ultium (certain she would never refuse that) and hay. I began to worry when she wouldn't touch any of it or even drink. As a distance rider, my concern was that I would be causing her a metabolic crash by going back out.  As a horse person who knows her horse,  I knew Maggie is still very much in the "figuring this distance riding thing out stage" and that  her breeding and family history have proven that she is no delicate flower. In the few moments of trying to make the right decision,  a good friend who had come to the ride to see me, gave me some great advice. She comes from a long lifetime of ranch and cattle work along with a successful 3 day eventing career. I respect her immensely. She gave me some good advice that she once got from another friend one time. "A horse is a professional at being a horse. We are professionals at only thinking we know what is best for them."

The point was this;  maybe Maggie just wasn't thirsty or hungry yet, if she was, she would likely try to eat or drink something. I knew  Maggie wasn't in any metabolic danger at this point and I knew that given her history, she would likely drink during the second loop sometime. I finally decided that I probably needed to carry on and finish. Maggie proved I made the right decision when I went to get back on her .  I had to get on a moving target and she wanted to trot back out to the start. Ok, well then... here we go...

I had nine more miles which proved the be the prettier loop with a few less hills. The footing on this ride was much better than last week's , but still alot of logging road gravel. We finally made it to the only water on the second loop. I jumped off and pulled Maggie's bridle. She dove her whole nose into the water tanks and drank up....almost exactly as I predicted. We were at about 22.5 miles at this point.. Way longer than she should have gone without water or food. We had just a little further to go to finish and  she showed no evidence of slowing down; she boogied in her big girl trot until we hit the last 1/2 mile in to finish.  I dismounted, loosened her girth and walked her into the water tanks at the finish line. She drank again really well and I kept sponging her while I watched her HR come down...69....65.... and then hung there for a 1 minute of two so I kept sponging. Finally, she was down,  and we made our way over to P&R. We pulsed down to 60 and our final 9 mile loop took us 1.5 hours which was roughly a 6.0 mph pace. I waited in line for final vetting. That was when I found out that we were among the top ten finishers. I decided to go ahead and stand for BC. It was probably unlikely to get BC , considering her lack of drinking or eating, but I was also seeing and hearing that a lot of the horses were coming in looking pretty rough. Crazier things have happened. Maybe we would get lucky.

We did our initial completion vet check and her scores on hydration and cap refill were back up to an A-. Gut sounds were still a B and I think I had another B on something else but I can't remember what. I was slightly dehydrated and little tired.  For the trot out, the vet kind of shook his head. I thought at first it was bad and maybe the left hind thing was showing up again, but to my surprise, he said her impulsion and attitude indicated she wasn't even tired, that  she looked like she could easily keep going. He said she looked incredible. That was music to my ears!

We were to return in one hour for the BC vetting. Maggie drank again on the way back to her corral but still didn't eat in that one hour hold time, just stood quietly and rested and watched the other riders coming in with alert attention.

We went back in an hour for the BC vetting. I can't remember all of them but the cap refill, skin tenting , impulsion and attitude all stayed at an A. Gut sounds were still a B, anal tone was a B. There was probably one or two other B's, but otherwise, she had all A's.  The vet stated she must be a good drinker and eater. I had to fess up. I told him she had not had anything to drink until the second loop and that she hadn't eaten hardly anything since the night before. He looked rather shocked. He said to keep an eye on her and come find him if there was anything that seemed wrong.

We didn't end up taking Best Condition , we finished 7th , in fact I think I tied for 7th with another rider. I was pleased with how incredibly well Maggie did without doing all the things an endurance horse is supposed to do. It's kind of a mystery to me. My  hope is that in time, she learns to drink and eat more often. At the same time, this might just be how she is too.

I let Maggie rest for about 3 hours while we packed up camp. I don't normally like to haul a horse after a ride, but we needed to get home for some other committments. She had eaten her beet pulp and I hand grazed her for a while and she drank again so I felt like she would be ok to manage a 2 hour trailer ride to get her home  where she could get turned out onto some pasture for the night.

Resting up

Here's to another notch in Maggie's distance career.. Thank you my little Bay Morgan wonder!