Pete Winward Loop Trail

 Fall is (almost) in the air! The maple leaves are beginning to change up on the mountain, so my friend Sharon and I headed up to check it out. We rode a loop near the Pete Winward reservoir. The trail we rode is not an official forestry service trail so they don't maintain it which makes it fun to ride because of all the dead fall! Jetta led the way and trotted easily over the fallen logs and she actually jumped a couple of them! What a fun ride she is! I may end up having to take her over to Zephyr Ranch to play on the cross country course one day. She might just like jumping! We've got lots of basic schooling left to do first, but eventually we may get around to doing some grid work and cross rails; she is forward and gaining confidence and is certainly athletic enough to jump.

She went well today and trotted up some big hills. She seems to be energy efficient and when we come back down to a walk, she recovers quickly. I need to get out my stethoscope and actually find out her resting heart rate and do some real P&R's. She seems to be pretty fit. Fit enough to be showing a little feisty attitude once in a while!

I had fun playing with the helmet cam again today. I'll post a couple of clips when they are uploaded. It's a great trail winding through the quakies and pines with good footing and lots of logs to pop over. Riding such an enthusiastic horse on a trail like this is a blast!

This evening I logged onto the EasyCare blog to read the daily post, and low and behold, there was Jetta's hoof! (Yes, even though I trim almost 50 horses each month, I still recognize her hooves!) Actually one of the customer care consultants wrote a post about my boot fitting dilemmas with Jetta a few months ago. I am very happy to report that her boots are still performing perfectly which I credit to a proper fit, power straps to fine-tune the fit, and a correctly and regularly maintained hoof. Zero boot failures and NOT counting! Gotta love it! See their August 27 post at:

 http://blog.easycareinc.com/

Cruising!

Dirt bikes! 

And what goes up, must come down...

Canyon Fun With The Girl

Jetta and I headed out alone again this morning to get a hill climbing workout. This time we headed onto the Ponderosa Trail loop in a counter-clockwise direction--going up the way we usually come down. This gave us an entirely different view and Jetta was taking in that new view with caution! She looked at logs, stumps, and rocks like they might come after us! She got over the spookiness quickly, though, and got to work. She climbed steadily and quickly, and she recovered quickly also. She's in pretty good shape I think and should be ready to try a 25-miler in October.

I used the helmet cam again and got several good clips! No problems with filming today. I'm still figuring out the editing software, but I'll get there eventually. I'm super-excited to be able to show off some of my favorite trails especially as fall is just around the corner; I have already seen red maples up here in the canyon!

At the top of the loop, I ran into Tammy and Helen as they rode the clock-wise direction. They turned around and rode the rest of the trail with Jetta and me. Jetta was very forward and seemed to really be enjoying herself today. I definitely enjoy riding her, but I'm sure that's been pretty obvious!

Crossing the creek

 

No passing room!

Trotting The Trail With The Helmet Cam

I headed up to the Ponderosa Trail this morning with Jetta to do some hill work and play with the helmet camera my husband gave me last Christmas. I know, I know, Christmas was a long time ago, but I am just now getting around to figuring out how to use it! Riding Flyboy was a full-time, two-handed operation and I didn't feel like it was worth complicating our ride by trying to video. Jetta however is so forward and fun that I need to record these times, so I read the instruction and tried it out! The unedited video is below. I thought I took several short videos instead of a long piece, but something was wrong and I only got the one clip, but hey, it's a start!

I don't normally ride this trail alone anymore because I got scared about the bears, but it's a great trail and there were no bears out today!

Around We Go Again

Jetta and I rode around the whole Ponderosa Trail loop this morning--six miles at a bit quicker pace this time. It's a great trail, not too rocky, but steep and mountainous with a few technical questions. In other words, it's a great training and conditioning trail. Jetta is getting fit and seems to really enjoy being out on the trail. She led most of the way. We had a little spook when a deer jumped out of the gully below us, and again when the wild turkeys we were chasing flew into some low trees, but nothing very exciting. She's a pretty cool cookie, that's for sure.

Our first 25 miler will hopefully be the Quichipa Lake ride near Cedar City a mere six weeks away! There a still a few things I want to work on with her training-wise, and I MUST get her back boots ordered and in place to see if they'll even work. Other than those "minor" issues, I think we'll be ready!

Just Follow The Ears

Jetta is turning into such a big girl! I took my ten-year-old riding student on a trail ride this morning--she rode Keno. Jetta and I took the lead and Jetta powered up the mountain, through the creeks, over the ledgy sections, past the wild turkeys running through the oak brush, and everywhere I pointed her. She is a hill-climbing machine! Keno had to really get his rear in gear to keep up. Olivia thought it was a lot of fun; she especially liked quick-trotting up the trail through the rabbit brush. She's been taking weekly lessons for nearly a year now, so she's getting fairly proficient. Keno is an excellent experienced trail horse and takes good care of his riders. We only rode part of the trail, but it was a good workout for Keno and a lot of fun.

Check out the photos:

Follow the ears wherever they lead....

At the Frog Pond

Keno and his girlfriend

Tomorrow Jetta and I are going back to the same to the same trail, this time to cover some territory at a quicker pace. She'll love it!

Arena Time

Today I had to teach a lesson so I decided both horses could use a good arena schooling session. I turned Jetta and Keno loose to run first, and did they ever! Jetta ran and ran and ran! Keno was valiant in his efforts to keep up. It seemed quite humid this morning, so they were sweaty within a short time. I rode Keno first. The other week I took him to an equine massage therapist to see if his stiffness/hock soreness could be addressed. I have taken him to the chiropractor and the vet already. He had his hocks injected with negligible results. This has been ongoing for nine months; he has been unable to even trot over ground poles without stumbling. Since I have been wanting to take a course and get certified as a message therapist, I decided to try it out and see if it could help my boy, and let me watch a therapist in action at the same time. He had three visits and holy cow! Keno is MUCH improved. Flexible, forward, light, bendy. We trotted over poles for the first time this year and he was fine! Yay! I have my guy back!

Keno then gave a new beginner rider a lesson--horsemanship/ground skills as well as walk/trot under saddle.   Big improvement all the way around. I was already a believer in massage therapy, but this dramatic improvement was unexpected!

Jetta waited at the trailer through all of this with no fussing. I then rode her for about 30 minutes. She started out being a little snotty actually. By this I mean making faces and pinning her ears when I asked her to bend and move off my leg. She got over it quickly though. I think this is defensive behavior she came with. I never see it on the trail, only in the arena. We went on to work on bending, turning, softening, small steps toward self-carriage, and transitions. I lost the softness at the trot, though, so we went back to working at the walk. Later things improved so we worked at the trot again. Jetta trotted through the ground poles perfectly, too. She's a fun girl. I wish I knew what they did to her in her initial training to make her so defensive, though. She'll outgrow it, I'm sure, but she's obviously afraid someone or something is going to hurt her. I asked her to back up a few times, met some resistance, but kept asking until she gave me a few good steps. Then I hopped off and told her what a good girl she is.

Out To Beat Pete

Jetta and I headed out alone this morning to do a solo journey around the seven or eight mile loop trail we call Pete Winward. Our goal was to ride the loop in an hour and a half as opposed to the two and a quarter hours we rode it in last week. Last week we were with trail riding friends and trotted some, but today we trotted everywhere the footing was good (and not too downhill!) which is almost all of the first half and some of the last half.

Jetta started out a little insecure, looking at downed trees and funny-shaped logs and acting a little silly, but it didn't take long for her to settle and move out. We had a blast! We climbed steep hills and trotted over roots and logs and cow patties. Yes, the cows were out and we even had to tell one to get out of our way! Jetta was a big girl and handled all the questions well. She didn't drink at the three or four creek crossings, but she played in the water and nibbled some grass. The Rock Springs Trail is rocky, so we mostly walked there. Her Easyboot Gloves continue to perform flawlessly. We walked the steep downhills and trotted the relatively level, good footing areas. No other riders, hikers, mountain bikers were out on this glorious morning. Unbelievable. Well they missed out, but Jetta and I didn't complain about having the trail to ourselves!

Congratulations to me for not getting us lost; that was the first time I've done that trail alone, and I didn't miss any of the turns. (OK, fine. So I had to backtrack twenty yards at one point, but at least I recognized my mistake immediately!) There are many connecting trails, and I've been on all of them--behind friends who have ridden up there for years. I felt quite pleased with myself when we arrived back at the trailer! Of course, I was even more pleased with Jetta! We did the loop in one hour and thirty-three minutes! So yeah, we beat Pete in a not too shabby way!

UPDATE: Cinnamon, the foundered, neglected, and now rescued pony has had her forth trim. I visit her each week and work on her feet. Her back feet are looking good; new growth shows a good hoof wall attachment. Her fronts, however, are still not great. Cinnamon's front fetlock joints are still knuckled over although we are starting to see some improved flexibility. I would like to see more. The owner wanted to get x-rays, but has put that on hold due to financial reasons. Cinnamon hobbles around and once got out of the field and ran when the owner tried to catch her! She actually doesn't appear to be in pain; she's bright-eyed, feisty, and getting spoiled. So she seems to be "happily" getting along, but the question remains: will she ever be "normal?" On the top below is the photo from the July 12 post. On the bottom is today's photo.

High Mountain Trails Again

I headed up the canyon to the Pete Winward trailhead to meet a friend and her son. We did an 8 mile loop and it was a blast! Jetta led the whole way and was a BIG girl; we passed cows, other riders (one large group of ten or so horses), trail runners with dogs, etc. Busy trails today, that's for sure! But this girl handled all of it. We did a fair amount of trotting, too. She is definitely getting stronger and  is developing some good  trail savvy. She also LOVES standing in creeks. Yes, she drinks, but she just loves standing in the water. Such a kid! No pics unfortunately, but trust me on this--those mountains are gorgeous right now!

I then headed down to a barn full of dressage/jumpers where I trimmed four new horses. Jetta hung out at the trailer in the parking lot with her hay net and a bucket of water for three hours. No pawing or fretting at all. She drank the water, but man was she thirsty when we got home! She's easy to be around which makes it all so fun!

Jetta Goes Camping

Jetta and I finally got to go camping with a great bunch of my friends and their horses! They all camped two nights; I only camped for one due to other commitments, but we got some fabulous riding time--a four hour ride yesterday and another two hours this morning. And the scenery--wow! Mountains, creeks, boulders, rocks, deer, turkeys, cows, steep climbs, quaking aspen, tall pines--what more could one ask? Gorgeous mountain riding at it's most spectacular! Not to mention good friends and a great horse, too!

Camped out!

We pulled into the Blackhawk campground at 8:00 am yesterday. I drove an hour on a winding mountain road which I shared only with deer and the ever-present cows. I backed into the campsite and had Jetta unloaded and set up on the HiTie within two minutes. Literally. That includes hanging the haynet and a bucket of water. Wow! Camping is so fun with no corral to set up!

We were in the saddle an hour later--five horses headed down the trail all wearing boots except Sharon's mare, Janie, who goes through anything--no boots needed. Jetta was completely relaxed and level headed. No worries about the group ride, the camp setup or anything. She is just a chillin' kind of gal. Gotta love it!
We rode around 12-14 miles in four hours. Not a fast pace, but we did do a fair bit of trotting. We climbed some steep hills and wound our way through the mountains. Check out these photos:

Up, up,up!

Boots all around

Chinese Fire Drill????

Yesterday Jetta and I spilt from the group to trot the last mile in to camp. She showed absolutely no hesitation striking out on our own and she took off in a BIG moving out trot. Of course, when we arrived at the camp she then looked around and missed her friends! Overall, she had a great day--energetic, forward, easy going. Back in camp she drank and chowed down on her hay. She had an easy, stress-free night even though we were tucked back away from her buddies. No whinnying, pawing, or fretting. These are all signs of a horse that will handle the travel and stress of endurance really well. I'm excited. (Was that the biggest understatement of the year, or what?)

Today we broke camp and headed to another trailhead where we tacked up and rode for two hours. Everyone (well, almost everyone!) wanted to walk, so Jetta and I hung out in the back of the pack where we did some schooling-on-the-trail. Somewhere along the way, something changed for us. I'm not sure what brought about the change, but suddenly I was getting some vertical flexion and some great moments of self-carriage! This was huge. I have been working toward this all along, but it has been difficult partially due to Jetta's "race track training" as well as her lack of strength and conditioning. Her "bracey-ness" is fading, I believe!! Today I asked her to soften and she gave me glimpses of lightness and "feel." We kept playing with this and within a mile or so we could hold the self carriage as we transitioned to the trot. Wow. Uphill and down, walking and trotting. I'm talking about small moments here, not perfection, but major, major PROGRESS!

Back at the trailer she got cookies, a bath, and hay. I soon headed down to trim appointments where she had to practice her new-found camping skills at the trailer while I worked for a few hours, then we headed home. What a great training trip. And fun friends to keep us company!! I want to go again!