Done camped!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm late. I'm worn out!

For those of you who know the area, we didn't make it to Lahontan - we ended up at Washoe Lake. Anticlimactic, but at least we went! S had friends who were going to meet us at Lahontan, and as we pulled out of her driveway, loaded down with horses and food and everything we'd need, they called. Somebody had reserved the equestrian area there, and the friends couldn't find the other horse camping area. They were going to go to Pyramid Lake, because they didn't have horses with them.

We sure weren't going to turn around and unload the horses! But we couldn't go just anywhere, because the trailer water tank had sprung a leak last night. The only place S could think of that had water and was not way far away was Washoe Lake, which is just south of Reno. So we headed from north of Reno, through the city in early rush hour, to south of Reno to camp.

The facility was actually really nice. There was one pipe corral, so we didn't have to set up the hot tape corral - just S's pipe corral. There was plenty of water, some toilets, a fire pit, a bunch of picnic tables, and plenty of horse trails. We unloaded and went for a short ride along the lake.

Here's S, on Tempus, at the lakeshore:


Here's me! Sporting my awesome new Camelbak and my stylin' don't-shoot-me hat.


We rode about halfway up the lakeshore, then cut in behind the dunes and rode back to camp. It was real pretty in that desert-y way that I've grown to like.


Dixie was clearly skeptical of her new living arrangements.


A little dinner settled her down nicely, though. We got the horses settled in for the night, then ate and hung out by the fire pit. We did not, however, have a fire - the other people were bringing the firewood! It was cold, but a flask of Southern Comfort kept us warm for a couple hours. And I got to stare at the stars while we talked! God, there's so many stars out here. Even that close to Reno/Carson City, you could still see the Milky Way.

We got up not too early, let the horses have a couple hours to eat breakfast, and saddled up for a day of riding. S from Cali came out - I think I'll just call him Cali from now on! Here's where we rode in the mountains:


Almost all of it was on gravel roads, with just a little bushwhacking. The highest point was near 6000', up from about 5000' at the lake, so it was a lot of climbing. At least Dixie and I thought so!

DUDE. Nobody really communicated to me how HARD it is, physically, to ride up steep hills. I know to lean forward, and I did not hesitate to grab some mane to help myself stay balanced, but damn, what a core workout. Keeping my legs tucked forward out of the way of her rear legs was a challenge!

Anyway, here's S and Cali. S is sporting her don't-shoot-me t-shirt, and Cali is decked out in his full cowboy gear. Dixie and I were looking scraggly as usual, in our mismatched bits of tack. :)


If we'd kept going 5 or 10 more miles in the direction I'm facing, we could've ridden to Virginia City. There's an active mine in the distance to the right (the black area). We ended up cutting cross-country to my left, then picking up the straight road up the hill on the left.


The world's best graffiti enhanced the view of Washoe. Reno is just over the hills in the distance straight ahead, and if I turned around I could see Carson City to the south. The bright green in the valley is irrigated hayfields, and the dull green is sagey stuff in the Washoe Lake Park.


We wound very gradually down some long switchbacks on a very rocky road and got back to camp about 3.5 hours after we left. Pitiful time to cover 5.5 miles, I know, but the terrain was rough and nobody was in a hurry.

Dixie did quite well. She was not at all sure this was a good idea, and she had to work very hard to get up and down the hills. But she didn't rush, either up or down. I got off and led her 3 separate times, I think - once when we cut off the road through the sagebrush across a steep hill, then twice more headed down when the road got stony. Her feet are getting some concavity already, but she's not comfortable walking on the rocks and I don't blame her. It's easier for her to pick her way following me than carrying me. I might look into booting her, but finding and fitting the right boots is such a can of worms - it's easier to give her a couple months on sand and pebbles, then re-evaluate her need for them.

We came across one guy with his dog quail hunting. He was WAY too far away to blammo us accidentally with birdshot, but we could hear him shoot. None of the horses cared - I didn't think Dixie would mind, and I was pleased that the other two didn't either. And we found a motorcycle frame, all that was left from a stolen stripped bike. Dixie was most intrigued by that and spent several minutes sniffing the whole frame very carefully. No wild stallions appeared to give Ms. In Heat what she thought she wanted, although she stopped to pose like every half mile. Sigh. I smelled like mare pee the rest of the day - thanks, wind!

We watered the horses and let them chill out for a bit, then rode along the lake again til all the humans agreed we were old and sore and ready to go. Cali hauled away home, and S and I decided to head home too. S wasn't happy because she could hear the traffic, when at home she can't hear a bit of traffic, and I missed my husband!

It was a great trip, even if we didn't go very far or stay very long. Wonderful fun. I will definitely go camping again!

Gone campin'

Tomorrow I am going with S and a couple of other people to Lake Lahontan! It's a reservoir about halfway to Fallon, if that means anything to you ;) S has a wee cute little camper shell on her truck, so we shall snooze and eat like civilized people. She's bringing Tempus, her gelding, and of course I'm bringing Dixie. We'll be back Sunday afternoon.

This is the first time I've been camping in any form since I was about 12. The last time I camped, it was me and my best friend Leigh Ellen, in her dad's back 40 in a cow pasture. We had a 30 year old army tent, which was missing some parts but we didn't know how to put it up anyway. I think we brought Pop-Tarts for dinner. It was raining, so we couldn't get a fire lit, and since it was raining, the tent leaked like a sieve. About 10 pm we gave up and trudged back to the house, soaking wet.

Hopefully this camping trip will go better! I don't really see how it could go worse, unless the horses run off and the truck explodes. Knock on wood.

Oh I SEE

Dixie is in heat again. It's been all of 19 days so of course I should have expected it. :rolleyes:

Yesterday she was tremendously spazzy and squirrelly. I practiced all my equestrian skills - preventing a bolt by hollering "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE," staying perfectly centered when the horse leaps 4' to the right to evade a jackdemon, and the emergency dismount. The emergency dismount situation actually was my fault; the rest of it wasn't. I was feeling exceptionally uncharitable toward her yesterday and I didn't even want to write about it til I'd had a better day.

Today I realized she was coming into season and I was much more patient with her. It took us two hours to ride like a mile down the road, but by god I was patient. I let her stare at the scary sagebrush as long as she wanted, and I only corrected her for trying to spin. I did not even lose my temper when she started trying to bite my boots. She was very brave, even though she clearly didn't want to be.

I clicked and treated her every time she'd voluntarily sigh and drop her head a bit. It only happened a few times, so I don't think she's figured out why she got treats. I hope it will be a little more intermittent positive reinforcement for self-calming behavior.

After we got back, I got Dixie moved from the far-away quarantine pen to a small pen near the pasture. She can see the horses in the pasture, but she can't kick them or bite them, and vice versa. In a few days she'll go into a pen inside the pasture, where everybody can sniff noses. Hopefully after that, there won't be any fireworks when she goes out with them!

Dixie did not really care about her new digs, because S was taking Summer out when I got back. Poor Summer. She won't even twitch an ear at him unless she's in heat, but today he's her best friend. Stallions have such a rough life.

Odds and ends

Hey this is my 300th post! I've missed the other big-number posts, so I'm rather impressed that I remembered one.

I actually took some pictures of Dixie's LF the other day. I am notoriously terrible about remembering to take pictures of her feet. They're a bit flared and a bit flat, but my god her frogs look amazing.

Side view:


Here's January '08 for comparison. You can still see a sharp line of flaring from the pads. She was wild as a march hare and very touchy about her feet, so I didn't get any solar shots - her frogs were about 1.5" wide and half-rotted with thrush. I don't mean "half rotted" metaphorically, either - one half of one of her frogs was completely gone, just a stinking black hole.



She's plenty stoic. She stumbled a lot, but she never limped.

Beautiful frogs today:


Pretty well balanced.


*****

Had a lovely ride in the canyon today. We picked the canyon because there's no wind down there - bad in summer, good in winter. Dixie followed some and led some. She was pretty nervous the whole time, just because canyons make horses nervous, but she held it together really well. When she'd gait too far ahead of the others, I'd turn her to face them and wait til she sighed and chewed before we forged off bravely again. The climb back out of the canyon tired her out in a good way. We came back not sweaty but definitely a bit tired. Tomorrow I plan to ride her alone, down the short loop around the adobe house. I'm going to ride her down that loop every chance I get, til she's so bored with it that nothing startles her anymore. Then we'll add a little more distance or another new scary loop.

*****

I don't know why I started thinking about this, but it's been stuck in my head for a couple of days. Have you ever noticed how good horsepeople rarely blame the horse? It's always "she spooked and spun around, but I fell off because I wasn't balanced." Or "he refused the jump but I didn't line him up right." Or "she kicked me but I shouldn't have been standing there."

I don't think that's entirely a good thing. That line of thinking is how people (usually women, statistically) end up victimized. It's a weird double standard, that women who ride are usually so strong and independent, yet we make excuses every time our horses hurt us.

I don't think we should blame or punish our horses for doing things that injure us (with occasional exceptions). I don't really know what to think about this realization. I think I will be more cognizant that I am only making excuses for my horse's bad behavior. I don't need to blame myself when things go wrong in my non-horsey life; it's ok if it's someone else's fault. I guess that's my only conclusion.

A bleg!

My birthday is at the end of October. Should I ask for some insulated tights? I have never ridden in anything other than jeans! It gets windy out here, and I worry that the wind is going to rip straight through my jeans and freeze me to death. But how could fleecy breeches keep me any warmer? Such a dilemma.

Who makes breeches that fit not-skinny girls? I have a small waist and a HUGE butt/thighs, and it's hard for me to find pants that fit. I am leaning toward custom Equissentials but then I'd be spending a hundred friggin dollars on pants and that kind of makes me want to faint. But that's what birthdays are for, right?

PS: I don't think $100 for custom pants is out of line, based on the labor and materials that goes in to them. I just never thought I would spend $100 on pants! I get mad when I have to drop $35 on Wranglers!

Mares are awesome!

I did the same ride again today and she behaved much better! She was still a little sticky and unsure when we headed out, but I stayed really patient and she did just fine. On the way back, on the nice deep trail, I let her gait. Bumped her back when she'd get excited and try to rack or trot, and I got some really nice fast walking. And I forgot a story from yesterday...

When the hay truck showed up, Dixie thought maybe it was a monster. I waited til the guys unloaded the hay, then led her over to see it. The driver was at the house writing up an invoice to leave for S, and the driver's door was open. There was a guy in the passenger seat who leaned over to let Dixie sniff his hand, but she wasn't sure about him. I thought of Haiku Farm's helicopter story and gave him a frosted mini-wheat (from my pocket, of course - doesn't everybody carry crispy cereal treats in their jeans?). Dixie saw it, wasn't quite convinced it wasn't a trap but couldn't resist, and ate the mini-wheat. Then she let him scratch her and relaxed quite a bit about the hay truck. Yay! Perhaps I should hide some mini-wheats in the garbage can next week...

MARES!

First, before I vent about my very own Tennessee Walker, yall should go read this about padded horses:

Padding and its Effect on Walking Horses

Hoof nerds - look at those feet and angles and tell me that's not mechanical founder. Those poor horses. They are amazingly resilient though - I should take pictures of Dixie's feet so you can see how awesome hers look now.


Ok. MARES. Why on earth did I get another mare? Why didn't I get a gelding, or a stallion, or even a mule? Maybe owning a mare is good practice for owning a mule...

I had a couple of great rides with S this week. Dixie has decided that Summer, S's stallion, is an acceptable creature, and she's a-ok with following Summer now, or even riding in front but not going too fast for him. We even got a bit of running walk on a flat sandy bit of trail! She was so sticky last time we set off alone, though, that I knew I needed to ride her solo some more. My husband is bringing home pizza for dinner (YAY PIZZA!) so I rode this afternoon by myself.

Dixie was glad to see me and even let me brush her mane for a while before she got antsy. She lined up beautifully at the mounting block, but that was the last of her good behavior. It took us thirty minutes to get near the entrance of the driveway - today was garbage day, and there were demonic trash cans by the road. I tried everything - when she backed I made her back twice as far. When she refused to go forward I'd spin her in circles then ask for forward again. When I thought she was just being stubborn, I whacked her with the end of the reins, and when I thought she was scared I sat calmly, breathed regularly, and let her stare at the cans. Eventually we were saved, somewhat, by the arrival of the hay truck.

After the hay truck came in past us, I got off and led her up to the garbage cans and let her smell them and nose them. Then I dragged two of the cans (but not the recycling bins) back down by the house, got on, and rode out. Dixie was still not so sure about this nonsense, but she went. Kind of.

We slowly made it down the dirt roads to the start of a trail. When she realized I meant for us to ride down the trail, she started rushing. I got off and led her down the narrow bit of the trail, intending to get back on where the trail widened out. Near the point where the trail widens out, we saw two chipmunks hanging out on a boulder. Well, I saw chipmunks on a boulder; she apparently saw the tentacles of the Boulder Demon. Her head went straight up, her ears locked on to that rock, and her eyes bugged out. She snorted and tossed her head bravely as we walked over to the boulder to investigate.

After we thoroughly checked the rock out, we walked to the wide trail and I went to get on. She started walking in circles as soon as I got a toe in the stirrup - something she hasn't done for months - and I lost it. I whacked her with the end of the reins and yelled "If you don't stand still, I am going to kill and eat you before the wolves ever get here!" She looked at me like "oh shit, my bad" and stood like a statue while I climbed up and got my off foot in the stirrup, and even waited for me to cue her to walk off.

Every juniper potentially contained a monster, so we ricocheted down the trail trying to keep as far away from the trees as possible. She racked a bit but mainly held a nice fast walk. I kept breathing calmly, kept my legs calm, and kept my hands just active enough for her to remember me up there. We made it home safe and sound, and she wasn't even sweaty.

Tomorrow we're supposed to ride again with S, but I think I will go out a few hours early and we'll do that exact same trail again, then go out again with S. I don't want a horse that's only good when she has buddies! I'm very very pleased that she's so good with a companion, but we'll keep working at riding alone.