Freight Train!

Jetta and I covered some good miles today, but she was a bit of a freight train this time! We started out from the trailer with the Bandos saddle, but she was really wiggly and unhappy about something. Three hundred yards down the trail I turned around and headed back to switch saddles thinking she was uncomfortable with something. The only thing different was her saddle pad; I was experimenting with a Suberpad. I got back to the trailer and switched saddles--back to the Black Forest Shasta. We headed out again, this time Jetta was all over the trail, not straight, and even a little resistant to going forward. I felt perched on the saddle. The Suberpad is quite thick, but the cork granules settle a bit in the first few minutes. A hundred yards down the trail I turned around and went back to the trailer again. I switched back to the Bandos, still keeping the Suberpad in place. (That's a lot of saddle-switching!) This time I carried my dressage whip, and AH HA! That's all it took. Jetta was paying attention and going forward again! I am very comfortable in the Bandos and I think she is, too, but she just may not have been happy about going out alone again. I'm not sure but at least our third start was great.

She doesn't LOOK like a freight train!

Jetta walked out happily this time. I had the GPS on my saddle and made some interesting observations as we rode along; her easy, natural walk (not super smooth but very active!) was about 3.8-4 mph, her easy relaxed trot was about 8 mph, and the biggest trot we did today (before the GPS batteries died) was around 10-12 mph. (keep in mind we were alone today....) I am trying to do Long Slow Distance training, but there is nothing slow about it! Jetta was raring to go! We trotted most of the time except where it was too rocky or downhill. We also cantered and galloped a few stretches, and I was happy she stayed fairly relaxed. Relaxed being relative, of course! She actually went like a freight train and she even got to pulling on me. Twice I stopped and we worked on bending and doing a few circles to relax and remind her that this is just easy work, no hurry. It's a new experience for me to ride such a forward horse; I have to get used to the speed! I love it, though! And my little girl is getting fit!

Jetta looked good when we returned to the trailer. She wasn't breathing hard, and she didn't seem tired. She still had plenty of energy, that's for sure! Her boots were perfect again. Her back looked good; I'm going to experiment with the Suberpad some more and play with a few things, but I think it's a great protection pad-provides a panel-like pad under the treeless saddle.

Tomorrow morning Jetta gets to go on a short trail ride with Keno and a lesson pony named Lily--a student's first trail ride and the mom is going along, too.

Short and Sweet

Today's ride was short and very sweet!! Jetta and I trotted up a dirt road near the cattle pens in our canyon. It's a long six miles to the top; we didn't go all the way up since I had company coming for lunch. We trotted half-way up and then took a cut-off road and trotted that one, too. This was a lot of hill work, but Jetta was not working all that hard. She's forward and strong and mostly quite relaxed. She marched all the way down  in an energetic walk.

I'm going to play around with shimming the Grandeur pad since her saddle seems to be sitting pretty low; there's not a lot of room for her withers. She did seem comfortable however, and I was as well. But the boot fit--though not perfect, is certainly working for us. I did take the breakover back just a bit, but that's the only adjustment I've made and we are four-for-four now. Four successful rides with no boot issues at all--no twisting, no failures, and no rubs at all. This is good!

Things are getting busy around here with wedding preparations, my hoof trimming business growing, my school job starting up again soon, and the county fair jumper show to organize and run in a couple of weeks. Whew! But keeping Jetta's fitness program going and growing is high on my list so that we'll be ready for 25 miles by October!

Cruising Through The Miles

Jetta and I had a fabulous ride in Dog Valley this morning. The smile wrinkles on my face haven't even relaxed yet!  I took her out alone and we did a quick seven miles in an hour and a half. I realize, of course, that doesn't sound all that fast, but you must take into account the fact that my phone rang FOUR times! And I answered it! One phone call was OK. I gave Jetta a short walk break while I discussed a couple of plans for my daughter's upcoming wedding. The rest of the calls I should have let go to voice mail! In any case, about 20-25 minutes of the hour and a half was walking, but the rest was flying! I did keep Jetta to a reasonable speed since we are doing long, slow, distances (sort of), but I felt like I was flying. We also had another good canter. (See where the smile lines come from?)

Jetta did have a bit of attitude going this morning. Nothing obnoxious, just a little spit and vinegar. Her nose was in the air a bit the first couple of miles, but toward the last couple she started reaching for the (bitless) contact and relaxing her back. This made me very happy. (I tried the Kimberwick bit in the arena yesterday and it's a no-go. Mouth open, tongue sucked back, lack of forwardness, etc. Sigh.) Today she had a lot of go and was not the least bit winded or tired when we arrived back at the trailer. I, on the other hand, had rather rubbery legs due to the amount of two-point I rode! I realize Jetta is getting in shape quicker than I am. A year of green horses and no actual endurance rides (or any ride longer than 10 miles!) has made me soft. Better get my rear in gear and fix that problem!

A great day for the boots!

Jetta's boots were stellar again--lots of speed, lots of rocks, and solid boots all the way! I love it! I also rode her in a different saddle than her norm. I put Keno's Bandos Trail saddle with a Grandeur pad on her and we were both super comfy. This saddle actually fits me better than the Black Forest Shasta I've been riding her in, so I'll try it for a few weeks to determine if we are both comfortable  for longer rides before deciding if it's a permanent switch.

Booted Speed

I started the morning in the arena with Jetta doing lots of ground work--then under saddle suppling, serpentines, transitions, etc. She was good, quite soft and bendy at the walk and trot. The canter was not great, however. Pinned ears, braced body, tension everywhere. Hmmmm. It seems she is very anxious at the canter in the arena still. We worked on it for a while, then went back to more successful work before calling it good. (I've been riding her in the bitless bridle for a while now, but I still think I'll try the Kimberwick to see how she like it.)

I unsaddled, loaded her up and headed for Dog Valley to meet Tammy. We rode a six mile loop, 70% trotting, 5% cantering, and the rest walking. Jetta can really move out. Her big trot is huge! I've got to get out my GPS and clock this girl. She has lots of gears---an easy slow (slow for her!) trot, a great forward relaxed working trot, and then today for the first time I got a fabulous taste of her big extended trot. Holy cow. I could hardly post to that movement and finally just went to a two point and flew along the trail. Tammy's horse hand galloped alongside. She remained easy to rate, but her nose was up in the air more than I'd like. She never got too strong or pulling to go faster. We had a wonderful long canter up a low hill where Jetta actually stayed relatively relaxed and smooth. Her ears were twitching back and forth, and she was a little anxious about Chevy coming up behind us, but it was by far the best canter stretch we've had. We did several more shorter canters with good results so I'm thinking she just has a lot of residual race-track anxiety. She needs to canter lots and lots and just learn that it's not a race, nobody's going to whip her, or crowd her, or scare her.

The best part of the day, though, was the booting success! Just to feel the increase in Jetta's confidence is amazing. She moves out big and forward and unworried about her feet. She hasn't ever been particularly tender on the rocks, but now she isn't even thinking she needs to be so cautious. She has protection and she likes it. She had the EasyBoot Glove Wides with Power Straps on her front hooves and we had NO problems at all through the rocks, with the speed, or anything. WooHoo! I may put some bell boots over the gaiters because she does occasionally catch a the back of the boot with a hind, but it hasn't caused her to trip or anything. We are looking good for competition. I know it's early days yet, but we are most definitely on the right track. I need to order Epic 00's for her hind feet. I don't really want Epics, but according to the size chart, they are the only boots that might fit. (I'll remeasure before ordering in hopes that her hooves are changing!)

I was having WAY too much fun riding to worry about taking pictures, so maybe next time!

Jetta Gets Booted!

After consulting via email and phone with the good folks at EasyCare, I got out the Power Straps and the Glove Wides size 0 boots and decided I had to give it a good effort despite the fact the the boots are not an optimum fit. (See our post from 6/14/12.) This morning I gave Jetta a somewhat creative trim, I'll admit. Now, I already know that reason says you don't trim the hoof to fit the boot, but rather fit a well-trimmed and carefully measured hoof with the proper size boot. But that said, I also already know that the well-trimmed hoof Jetta normally wears has a very short toe with a wide, round hoof that does not measure a good fit in any of the EasyCare boots. So it was time to experiment. 

A month had passed since Jetta's last trim so this morning I used the grinder to trim her front hooves. I lowered the heel back to where it needed to be. I trimmed the rest of the hoof as usual, except I didn't bring her toe back as far as it probably wants to be naturally. I did put on a good mustang roll, but I didn't bring the toe back quite to the white line. I could have brought it back another 3/16", but I am kind of hoping to  fill in the toe gap without messing with her natural breakover. I took care of the quarters and bars as usual and basically her hooves looked great. I drilled holes in the boots and screwed on the Power Straps. I decided to save the athletic tape for round two if the boots didn't stay on today, so with a couple of solid whacks with a rubber mallet, the boots were in place and we were ready to roll.

I headed out to pick up a friend and we drove to the west hills we call the Roller Coaster Hills for obvious reasons. Short, steep, ROCKY, desert hills covered with sage brush, silver cedar skeletons, and boulders. And rocks. Did I mention them already? Lots of rocks! Sharon's horse Mikey has ridden out there for years barefoot and he has the world's toughest feet. My horses, however, like their boots, and this is a great boot-testing ride.

We saddled up and headed out. Normally this time of year it's too hot out here, but with the recent rain it wasn't too bad. We power-walked up the steep hills and cruised down the downhill sides. These are "blind summit" trails, meaning you can't see down the other side till you get right up on top of each hill--great for building strength and muscle in the hindquarters! Jetta felt fabulous and it didn't take long for her to gain confidence on the rocky trail knowing her feet were protected. She stumbled once or twice at first, but seemed to get used to the fact that she had boots on within the first quarter mile or so.

We walked and trotted the two mile stretch of hills till we came to the Scum Tank. Jetta met cows for the first time at the tank and still proceeded to walk up to the water and check out the scum! She even took a sip! The cows, calves, and one big bull watched us warily.  We carried on and passed a few more stragglers on their way to water; Jetta was totally cool with the cows which was a relief to me as I used to be not so cool with them!

See why I call it the Scum Tank?

Then came the weird part of the ride. Helicopters close overhead, passing repeatedly above us on their way to who knows where, carrying something on long cables. A power plant is being built south of where we were so we assumed it had something to do with that project. My gelding, Keno, would have been jumping out of his silly spotted skin, but Jetta was not even worried. This baby girl has a good mind!

When we turned to head back we took the low road so we could get in some more serious trotting. Jetta was forward, fast, and controlled. Mikey (an old guy at 23) was working up a sweat to keep up. A few times Sharon cantered Mikey past Jetta to see how she'd handle a horse passing her. She glared at him, but let him by and didn't get upset when I asked her to stay at a trot. The hard packed gravel/rock road was easy traveling for the most part, and the boots were great. I could tell a big difference in her comfort level as well as her mental comfort. She was moving out confidently rather than cautiously. No twisting of the boots, either, which I was worried about due to her very round hoof. I did feel her catch her front boot with a hind hoof once, but it caused no trouble.

We came to another cattle tank as we neared the trailer and this time there was also a small, muddy-almost- boggy pond. I decided the ultimate test would be to ride through the slick mud to see if it would suck her boots off. Not a chance! We rode through the pond twice and the boots were tight! So maybe, just maybe, we're going to be able to boot this girl from now on. I have used Easyboots for years with great success, but Jetta has different issues than I've dealt with before. We're definitely on the right track though. I'll watch her hooves and play with her trim and make adjustments as needed, but today was a great day on our journey toward getting Jetta ready for competition!

Endurance Blog (and Other Stuff)

I know this blog is about Jetta's journey toward becoming an endurance athlete, and that of course will remain my focus. However, about six months ago (after trimming my own horses and only the occasional extra for the past seven years,) I finally went "pro-trimmer" and started taking regular clients. It's been a great learning experience and something I truly enjoy. But my newest case is the saddest thing I've seen in a long time. It's a good thing I don't know who this pony's original owner is or I'd be pushing for prosecution. Take a look at the photos below:

This is Cinnamon, a sweet soul who wants to live.

Front left hoof

Hinds

Cinnamon has recently been rescued from the severe abuse and neglect she has suffered. A veterinarian sawed 12" of over-grown "slipper-foot" off each of her hooves, and she spent a couple of weeks on bute. I have been working with her, offering oils and other plant extracts, which she has been reluctant to accept so far, although she did chose a couple of "emotional" oils the first time I was out. She is also having weekly visits from a massage therapist to address the atrophied muscles and all over braces. Cinnamon has begun to walk around (it was impossible for her to move at all for who knows how long!) and she can now lower her head to eat and drink. Her eyes are bright and she wants to live.

On Monday, I will begin her hoof care. Her hind feet are fixable, I'm not too worried about them at this point. Her fronts will be more difficult to manage. She has knuckled over at the fetlock joint and I don't know how much permanent damage there may be to the actual joint or ligaments. Her right front is bandaged to protect the sore spot created when the vet cut off the excess toe; I haven't seen the hoof yet. 

The new owner has asked for my help and I am willing to try. I have dealt with a few pathological deformities before, but nothing as bad as this. It's going to be challenging because Cinnamon can't support herself on three legs for trimming at the moment, so we are going to rig a support sling for her so that I can work on her hooves. Hopefully she will accept the grinder to make things quicker and easier on her. I will chronicle her progress in this blog along with all the endurance training for Jetta.

Speaking of Jetta, she has had the week off due to some medical stuff I was dealing with, but tomorrow she and Keno get to trail ride in the canyon. My son-in-law is going to ride Keno, and we'll be taking it slow since poor Keno's going to croak when he has to climb the mountain. Poor guy has been turned into an arena horse the last few months!

Ponderosa Trail

Not too worried about her buddies or the trailer up ahead!

I met up with my friend Judy and her husband yesterday morning to ride around the Ponderosa Loop. We ended up doing an "eye-of-the-needle" loop and coming back down the same way we went up due to the heat. We still rode about five miles but the McCune Canyon side of the loop would have been really hot--we should have gotten out there at 7am instead of 9am!

Jetta was ready to go, but this was a walk ride due to Glen's bad back. It doesn't do Jetta any harm to have to walk up those steep slopes--she's developing some good muscle. She was bitless again today and was perfectly fine. She got a little anxious a couple of times when Glen's horse got a little close behind her, but other than that she did great. She can walk waaaay out in front or drop waaaay behind, but she doesn't stress about her buddies. This is a great trait!

Five days ago Jetta banged her face and got a cut. It looks a lot worse now than it did at the time because she keeps bumping it. I sent the vet a text picture and he said to just keep it clean and doctor it. It is too old to stitch, but it's a bad place to stitch anyway because horses usually rub the stitches out right there. I have put Blue Yarrow essential oil and antibiotic ointment on it and have it covered with a fly mask. It really is in a difficult place. She'll have some time to heal because I'm going to be out of commission for a few days due to some minor surgery, and then I have some family coming down to visit toward the end of next week. A week off won't hurt her, but I'd rather be riding!

This Girl Can Go!

I was going to head down to the arena again today to try out one more bitting option on Jetta (a low port solid mouth Kimberwicke) but instead I headed up the canyon with a friend. It turns out I made the right choice since I had a super fun ride on Jetta.

We decided after all the rain yesterday, we'd try the Corral Road. Normally it's a rocky hard-packed dirt road which I avoid this time of year, but today the footing was great! Still rocky in places, but damp enough to give a little. The road climbs two thousand feet in about two and a half miles-so it's a pretty tough climb, but let me tell you, Jetta trotted out like it was nothing. NOTHING. She made it seem easy. My friend's quarter horse Toby told the truth, though, and the truth was it was hard. We walked when we needed to let him catch his breath! It was cool and breezy, and Jetta was loving it and felt like she could have trotted all the way! It was a great feeling to know that her conditioning is really coming along even though we are still "just" trail riding. Our trails are in the mountains and that gives her a workout!

We walked all the way back down (Tammy jogged because she is a self-punishing type! Haha!) and I did get off and walk a little, too. Jetta was relaxed and comfortable in the bitless bridle all the way! I still love this girl!

I took her home, hosed her down, turned her loose with a couple of flakes of hay, and loaded Keno to head out to Dog Valley for a short ride in the desert. He felt great--we trotted a couple of miles, galloped a long stretch, and did some "dressage-on-the-trail" training all the way back to the trailer. He is always a good boy and a fun ride!

Schooling Day

This morning I got up extra early thinking I would head to the arena before it got too hot. But nooooo, today was a rainy day. I had forgotten what rain was and certainly didn't expect it after 8 weeks without a drop! I kept thinking it would stop soon. Nope. It rained softly for several hours--great for our fires!

I finally headed to the arena at 3:00 in the afternoon; it was sunny again, but not hot. I first rode Jetta in the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle and did lots of suppling, serpentines, backing, walking and trotting. We did some leg yielding, too. She was very good even though there was lots of activity around the arena. (Rodeo horses in the pens, and the skid loader cleaning stalls.) She was distracted a few times but stuck with me pretty well for the most part.

After half an hour's work, I switched her to the loose ring snaffle I originally used on her. Not so good. She walked around with her mouth gaping, leaning on the bit with her head cocked to the side. Hmmm. Backing up was definitely not good. Jetta was no longer forward and even seemed to get "stuck," loosing her rhythm because she was so preoccupied (or uncomfortable?) with the bit. After ten minutes I switched bits to a French link snaffle. Still no good--same kind of behavior--going around with her mouth open and neck very stiff. (I had her teeth done by the equine dentist in April, so her teeth are good I assume.) I just don't get it.

I finally put the bitless bridle back on her and off we went. More suppling exercises and large and small trot circles (with trot poles!) Jetta was back to being forward and "bendy" again. Not perfect, but much better without the bit. Sigh. I am certainly not opposed to riding bitless--I always ride Keno bitless because he is so good and doesn't need a bit even for jumping in competition. But I can't figure out why Jetta seems so uncomfortable with something in her mouth. For now I will continue schooling with the bitless, but will have the dentist check her again next time she's around.

Tomorrow I may be back in the arena. Or maybe out on trail. Or maybe both! Keno is feeling left out, so he needs some work, too.

Bitless Trail Time

Jetta made her bitless trail debut yesterday as we took a turn around the Ponderosa Loop again. She was relaxed, forward, and easy to manage even when she got a little spooky about the gate up on top. That gate gave her cause to pause a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday she remembered the gate before we could even see it even though we were approaching from a different direction! All she did was get a little "looky" though, and she kept right on going. She led the way willingly the first half of the ride, then we dropped back and let Sharon and Mikey take the lead. The trail is incredibly dry and dusty and it's only fair that everyone take a turn eating dust!

I am still wondering what to do about boots for Jetta. No word from Easycare and the Glove Wides (size 0) are just too big. I will look at other boot options today, although I thing Easycare offers the only boots designed for rounder feet. Sigh. Glue-on shoes maybe the next best option.

The fires in our area have made the air smokey and nasty and quite eerie at times. We have been covered in ash for several days and yesterday I found this "ash leaf" in the corral. Scary. The canyon was closed for a few days and the bad air has made us stay inside at times. We really need some rain!

Ash leaf

Eerie light in the afternoon

Ash on Jetta's rump