The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

[FrogInABlender]

WIMP! ;o)

Hell, I don’t like shots either, but one thing I’m pretty fanatical about is keeping my tetanus shots up to date. I got one back in June when I poked that big splinter in my foot. I’m glad I did too because it ended up getting really infected because there was a big piece way down deep that I didn’t manage to get out and they had to cut it out. Ouch! But I’m glad to hear that the arm is better, and I’m really glad that y’all finally got around to hitting the trails again. BladeRider and I and another friend had a nice one over at the Raills-to-Trails on Sunday, but BOY was it hot. The readout on the Jeep’s overhead console said 96* at around 1:30 when we were headed home and it’s supposed to hit 100 today with a heat index of 110. That’s just too dang hot!

[HairOfTheDog]

It’s too dang hot for me, I know that. :~\

[FrogInABlender]

Here's a few pics that BladeRider took. This is me and Ellie going across the first bridge. She was REALLY watching where she was putting her feet...

And here we go through one of the new covered ones. I made her go first this time and she was a bit nervous about it and was trying to hug the wall, but did really well. Very slow and careful...

And here is Ellie and Blade reading a historical marker on the trail, "The Battle of Sulfur Creek Trestle". Ellie was a little leery of it at first but I made her walk up to it and touch it and then Blade had to come investigate too and then it was like they were both trying to read it...in braille. They kept on running their lips over it. Very funny!

And here we are just moseying down the trail. I didn't realize my posture was so horrible. I've really got to work on that!

And here's BladeRider and Blade. I hate it that I caught her face in the shade, but it's the only picture I got or her. I guess I fell down on my picture taking duties. :-/

My other friend Kari and her Spotted Saddle Horse...

It was a good ride, but it's just about too hot to ride in the middle of the day. We're supposed to go again next weekend, up to the place where BladeRider and her husband went a couple of weekends ago, but we'll really have to be careful about getting too hot.

[HairOfTheDog]

Great job Ellie!

I don’t think I’d want her hugging the edge... if she bails, I wouldn’t want her bailing over the side!

To heck with good posture, you look relaxed! Every time I know someone’s taking a picture, I stiffen up so much I look like I have a rod, well... you know.

[BladeRider]

BladeRider and I and another friend had a nice one over at the Raills-to-Trails on Sunday,

It sure was hot. My poor old truck was running hot so I had to stop once and let it sit for a while to cool down after pulling some of those hills headed home. We had a great ride, we went half way up the north end then turned around and headed down the south end. Blade was so concerned about why we rode right past the horse trailers he did not see or smell the dead cat along side the trail and stepped right on it. He must have jumped 10 feet once he realized it was a dead thing. On the way back he stopped 5 feet short of the spot and walked by very carefully giving it the wall eyed look. Phew, it was stinky.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good morning, Thanks:) I’ll have to go back and look at the bay horse, I don’t remember. It will take a while to load that page lots of pictures:)

Harley and I just got in from a ride:). I actually managed to be out of here at 8:30 this morning. We did mostly hills today, it’s been awhile since I concentrated on hills. We also stood in the creek for awhile. It was a nice ride.

I’m going today to buy some round bales from Celia to have for this winter and next spring. Hopefully sometime in the spring I can fertilize, and keeping them off it all winter maybe what is out there will spread some. With all the rain we have had, there is just, at least for here, lots of grass out there, patches every where. Keeping the weeds mowed down helps too, but it needs fertilized, it’s just too late this year I think.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

... if she bails, I wouldn’t want her bailing over the side!...

Yeah, that thought crosses my mind when I'm crossing some of the little trail bridges that have no railings, like that "U" shaped one of yours. But there's not much chance of her bailing off of one of these, especially the covered ones. I was a little afraid she might hang my knee on the wall, but she was stepping so carefully that I quit worrying about it. She didn't even try to rush off of the end of it, just stepped down. I was pleased. And there were some really un-thinking non-horse people on the trail that day too. This jogger lady never even checked up when she met us, just kept on coming, and that really un-nerves some horses, to have something come running at them like that. But all of ours stood there just fine. And then she ran up on us from behind on the way back. Same thing, never checked up. You do that to some horses and you're gonna get your lights kicked out or get run over. Same thing for the bicycle guy. He did stop at the last minute, but only because he wanted to take our picture. Ellie wanted to sniff his camera. Goofy horse! But I guess it never even crosses some people's mind that something they're doing might cause a horse to spook and dump their rider.

[FrogInABlender]

Bummer about the truck! My A/C was really struggling on the way home too. I kept apologizing to Kary about it, but at least we made it home. It would’ve really sucked to have been stuck on the side of the road in that kinda heat!

That was so funny about Blade stepping in the dead cat. I swear his reaction was like “Eeeeewwww!!! Eeeewwwwww!!! I STEPPED in it...I STEPPED in it!!! OHMYGAWD!!!! AACCCCKKK!!” Then he was like on the other side of the trail in about a half a second. So funny!

[FrogInABlender]

Good job on getting out early for a ride. This time of year it’s about the only time you can stand the heat. You were talking about Harley getting porky again, I’m having the same trouble with mine. All of them look like big pigs, and it’s way too hot for them to be carrying around that kinda weight. Too much grass, too little exercise. I gotta do something about that.

[BladeRider]

Bummer about the truck! My A/C was really struggling on the way home too.

I was not running my AC. I was afraid to!

That was so funny about Blade stepping in the dead cat.

One of those time you wished you had your camera out.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL...I love the pictures of the horses reading the map:)...that’s great.

I cannot imagine any horse I have ever had crossing one of those bridges without some sort of a discussion. I continue to be impressed with your horses at how good they do with them.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I bet Harley would do it easier than you think. I’ve seen more horses have trouble crossing the water than those bridges on our trails. Some need to be led across by another horse the first time, but I’ve never seen one hesitate more than a few minutes.

Like Mia... Tiff never rides Capitol forest, she prefers more ‘rustic’ trails. I know Mia’s been there once or twice, when Tiff’s ridden with me, but not for years and probably only those times.

[FrogInABlender]

Yeah, I’m with Hair, I’ll bet Harley’d do better than you think. And even with mine, there’s always some sort of discussion...”OhMyGawdtheresabridge, I’m not going”...”Yes you are”...”No I’m Not”...”Yes you are...{poke poke}...”Oooowwww...no I’m not”...{poke poke}...”Ok, I’m going but I don’t like it”...That kinda thing.

[BladeRider]

And even with mine, there’s always some sort of discussion...”

Blade is usually sleeping so he never knows when we are going over a bridge ;-)

[FrogInABlender]

He just follows the butt in front of him doesn’t he. ;o) Good ol’ Blade, he’s definately a layed-back kinda horse.

[FrogInABlender]

Hey y'all, check this out...

World's largest equestrian bronze installed

Now THAT'S big!

[Beaker]

Frog, nice pictures! You don't look bad, you look relaxed!

The horse show that I went to yesterday was really small, and there were hardly any horses, so I didn't take pictures. We did see a couple of things that bothered us though. The people next to us couldn't get their paint to load back into the trailer, and every time the horse took a step forward to think about getting on, the woman would jerk on the leadrope and start yelling "COME ON!" COME ON!" and the horse would freak out and back up and it escalated into a pulling contest with the horse rearing and then bolting and dragging her. I'm not advocating pussy footing around the horse, but they went from getting the horse half way on the trailer, to having the horse rear and bolt the more angry the woman got. The problem also was that the woman was louder in front than from behind, so of course the horse isn't going to want to go forward...

And then some snooty teenage student totally freaked out on her trainer, and that was entertaining. I wanted to break out the popcorn. Or start shouting "Jerry! Jerry!" but I can be evil like that.

I'm doing another dressage clinic this weekend, and I'm hoping that I can get someone to video tape it. I'm excited to go because I feel that I have improved loads with Levi, and I can't wait to show off. :-) I also think that I'm going to show him anyway, even with the layoff, because I've worked hard, and a lot can still happen between now and then.

[HairOfTheDog]

Shows are at least good spectator events...

Good luck at your upcoming clinic and show! I’m sure you’ll do well :~)

We’d love to watch video if you can get it!

[FrogInABlender]

People can get so crazy when they’re having trailer loading troubles, and I’ll have to admit that I’ve almost gone over the edge myself a time or two. I don’t think there’s much that’s more aggravating than having a horse that won’t load, expecially at a busy location with lots of people watching. And you usually have at least a half a dozen “helpers” and that just makes things worse. You feel the need to make things happen or you’ll be judged as a bad horseman, and you usually end up doing things that you really know better than to do, and wouldn’t ordinarily do, and then you regret it later. It’s just a bad deal all around, for both horse and rider. I feel for them, no matter how stupid they are. People really shouldn’t take a poor loader anyplace until they get them over that problem.

[Beaker]

I don’t think there’s much that’s more aggravating than having a horse that won’t load, expecially at a busy location with lots of people watching.

Oh I agree, and I also know that it's easy to sit on the side lines and be saying that person X should be doing A B or C. Another problem that she had was that her helpers weren't really helping. They were just sitting and watching. I don't think that they wanted to get in the way of a flying horse's back end.