Summer is here to stay

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

A much more productive weekend this weekend, horse-wise. Beamer really had his head together this weekend, even on Saturday, which is normally his rather weebly day. Both ponies were in total ride-mode – Beamer was very bold and forward, so much that he wanted to lead the entire ride. None of us were complaining. And Mimi shocked me – instead of being in ultra-competitive mode, she was instead in “conserve and naturally rate thyself” mode, meaning she was a total push-button (well, for the pony) blast to ride. Soft, light, not pulling at all…t’was very unnatural. She must be lulling me into a false sense of security.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics…I’m still futzing around with my saddle packs, trying to figure out how to balance minimalist with function. Always tougher in the summer when the need to carry pony water arises. However, I don’t want to carry too much stuff, I feel bad enough making the pony pack my butt around.

We got our heat conditioning in this weekend, that’s for sure. Say it all together now: “Good Tevis training!” Saturday we did the bigger loop, which is a great mix-up of trail with sand washes, trottable singletracks, some technical ups and downs and rocks, and climing – both longer and fairly short and intense. It’s one of my favorite trails in the park, as it’s very interesting and there are about half a dozen variations you can do: make it longer or shorter, run it in both directions (we usually start east, go west, then loop back around to the east in a clockwise direction), take different trails out to the back loop, take different trails back to the trailhead from the back loop…it keeps thing interesting for us and the horses.

It was warm yesterday, but I actually wasn’t feeling it until today. I did really well – over about 3-1/2 hours, I drank my entire 70oz Camelbak of water, as well as a 16oz waterbottle of a half Gatorade/half water mix…as well as remembered to take electrolyte caps and even nibble on half an energy bar. The heat kills my appetite, and when I’m hot, there’s so much that is unappealing for me to eat. Must explore options for that.

The ponies got a water break halfway through…they both drank – yay! This is the first time Beamer has actually drank on one of our training ride mid-trail breaks. He drinks brilliantly at rides and in camp, but he doesn’t see the point in standing around for a break on a little “training ride.” Well, when the weather is up around 90*, apparently he sees the point.

Today was a bit of wash, however. I think the heat caught up with all of us, as Dad reported that Beamer felt a lot more tired today. Mimi was still perky, although she was kind of miserable from some kind of bugs that were chewing on her last night…she had a good dozen lumps all over her body today, about half the size of my palm. Fortunately nothing in the saddle or girth area, but she was really itchy on them.

That, and yesterday, her ears were really itchy, too, and kind of dry and scaly inside. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but I’m not really sure what it’s all about. I’m hoping it’s not something like ear mites that will require a vet visit. However, doing some research has lead me to be more inclinded to believe that it’s just the nasty little black gnats that are biting her ears. She was a good girl and let me wipe her ears out with a dry cloth, and then put fly stuff her her.

So today’s ride was shorter, about 5 miles, although it did have a good hill climb to it. Mimi still blitzed up the hill. She’s such a crazy go-pony. Yesterday’s heat wiped me out though; I’m definitely not conditioned for it yet. Today I pretty much felt like a wet noodle, and came home and slept for a couple hours this afternoon, and am still ready to go to bed early. Wimp. Time to break out the CoolMedics vest and see how well it’s working.

Unseasonal Memorial Day

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

Well, the last 5 days have certainly been an unseasonal but most welcome break. It started raining Thursday, and rained all day Thursday and Friday and Saturday morning, which took the tmeperatures down into the seventies. Unnatural. The only unfortunate aspect to this weather is the fact that the ponies have to stay indoors, which they are not amused by.

We braved the elements on Saturday and went out – it was worth it, as we never got rained on, and it was lovely and cloudy and overcast and 65* out. Kelly finally got to go out again, and she was a happy girl! It was what we call “Kelly weather” – she prefers anything under 80*. Didn’t go far, maybe 6 miles or so, since she’s not in that great of shape. But it was fun for Mimi, too, as it meant she didn’t have to babysit her uber-annoying brother.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bring the camera, as I didn’t trust the still-overhead clouds not to start dumping rain on us. It would have been a pretty day for pics, but I also had my hands too full of fired up pony to risk the camera. She was quite cheerful about being out…she literally trotted out of the barn over to the trailer.

Yesterday the weather was perfect…unfortunately, Beamer wasn’t. He’s been stuck in his stall since Wednesday (irrigation + rain) and he was really pissed about it and throwing a temper tantrum. Which meant that he was acting like he had never seen a trail before. *sigh* Dad ended up walking the first mile. Sometimes, I think that horse gets worse as time goes along, instead of getting better. Some things he’s better about, such as not having a meltdown in the parking lot when he and Mimi are the only horses there, but it’s taken us three years to get to that point…if he takes that long to get his head together, trail-wise, he’ll be retired before that happens! I don’t understand…he’s great in competition, or whenever we go to a new trail. But take him to the San Tans, and he just melts down. And we condition a lot more than we compete, so if he doesn’t enjoy the training/conditioning part, maybe he’s not cut out for this sport.

Mimi got her heebie-jeebies out on Saturday, though, and she was an angel. I got a ton of pics – the ironwoods are blooming right now – and I greatly enjoyed riding her yesterday. She was soft, forward, enthusiastic…in short, all the things her brother wasn’t. :( Dealing with him was the only downer to the ride, which makes it a pretty big thing, since it meant that Dad wasn’t really enjoying himself, either.

Because of Beamer’s brainlessness, I really couldn’t handle dealing with him, even from a distance (since I don’t actually ride that horse), so we elected to stay home today. Mom’s monthly kits are going out Tuesday, so we stayed home and packed kits. Opened all the doors and enjoyed the 75* weather. It’s almost obscene how much I’m enjoying this reprieve from 110*.

Pics from yesterday:

Looking uber-cheerful and ready to go
Ironwoods in full bloom
Nice, sorta packed-down sandwash, best after a rain!
The kind of trail you don’t want to look down…
The rest of the pictures can be found in my photobucket album here.

The game of catch-up

/ Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

Life jsut gets in the way sometimes, and when that happens, my blogging is the first thing that goes. School is keeping me super-busy right now, with trying to make some semblance of income as a second priority. (Got to be able to afford the horse in order to go to rides…) Major highlights from February – April:

  • Mimi’s now got Renegades all around! Kirt and Gina, after much harassment on my part :) came out with 00 boots, which fit Mimi’s hind feet (actually better than the fronts!). So look for her sparkly-gold feet out on the trail! Although if she’s in pony-power-trot mode, it might just be a goldish blur.
  • We unfortunately had to miss Sonoita in March. The timing was such that Mimi, rather unexpectedly, decided that she needed her hocks injected about a week before the ride, and the fact was, I didn’t have the money to be able to take care of it that soon and still afford the ride, etc.
  • I’m going to Tevis this year!!! Not riding…crewing! Jim and Cindy Brown agreed to put up with me and my overabundance of enthusiasm for all things Tevis :) after I found out Jim decided to ride Tevis this year and promptly offered my crewing services.
  • It’s hot here in AZ…low to mid 90s already. my new mantra is “Good Tevis Training.” I think my father is going to throw something at me next time he hears it. :) Hey, like I said, I’m obsessed. I have a year and three months to be ready for Tevis 2009. As long as I have my 300 qualifying miles and a sound pony, we’re going next year. Anyone up for robbing a bank with me so I can acquire the funds? Thank goodness for kind offers of friends’ properties to stay at ahead of time.
  • Found a lovely new trailhead to ride up in Pine. There’s a trail that goes all the way to the top of the Rim, about 2000′ in 5 miles. Now that is what I call good Tevis training! *ducks*
  • Next ride is in Williams in June. *Please* don’t let it get cancelled. however, entry forms are online this year, which they weren’t last year, so that makes me hopeful. AZ fire season, please hold off until July. Please? Williams promises to be a good ride…and GTT (hey, I warned you I am obsessed). Apparently elevations are from 6500′-10000′!!! Wow!!! That’s a whole stinkin’ lot of climbing…I may regret my enthusiasm. Maybe even I will be getting off to lead. Ack. I need to find someone who has done the Devil Dog ride in the past and find out what the trail is like?!?! Last time this ride was held was back in 1990! And apparently they’re goign to be using the majority of the same trails. Previous rides have been won in about a 6 hour ride time, so maybe it’s not as hard as I’m thinking? Of course, that was 18 years ago…a lot has changed since then in terms of vet criteria and ride speeds. Hmmm.

If I think of anything else critical, I’ll post, but for now, I think those are all the major highlights.