the newest "herd" member

/ Ashley Wingert / 5 Comments
Meet Mimi’s new “little sister”:
Artemis

She’s an 8-week-old Decker Rat Terrier. She’s also officially my first dog. Yes, I’ve grown up with the family dogs since I was two years old, but this is the first one that’s mine that I picked out, bought, and am responsible for being her primary caregiver and turning her into a Good Dog. (No pressure.)

She’s young, and she’s a terrier, so that means she has two modes: Play Hard and Sleep Hard. But she’s also very smart, and although she’s dominant, she’s trying very hard to be a people-pleaser and likes being with me.

For only being here less than 48 hours, she’s settling in well. Our main deal right now is potty-training and crate training, with a side of “I don’t like this, get it off of me” collar introduction.

I eventually intend for her to, at the very least, become a ridecamp dog. Part of the reason I chose a Decker was for their size — small enough to be portable, but very tough for their size and the endurance to go all day long. If I can find a safe place to do so, I would like to eventually start taking her on some short rides, but that will be a ways off before I even have to think about that.

The breeder she came from is also an endurance rider (Global Endurance), so she’s already been exposed to horses, and she’s well-socialized with people and other dogs. So it’s just on me to continue that training, which we will as soon as she has her second round of shots at the end of the month.

Naturally, she has her own blog: Squirrel Patrol. But I’m sure some photos of her will crop up on ehre from time to time. :)

sunshine award

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

Thanks to Gail at The Journey to 100 Miles for the nomination! I’m normally soooo bad about following through on these, but I’ll give it a shot. :)

The Sunshine Award is for people who “positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.” The nominee must do the following: thank the person who nominated her, nominate 10 bloggers of her own (I think my entire blogroll has been nominated at this point), answer the 10 questions given to her, and post them and the Sunshine Award button to their blog.

My answers to the questions:

1. Mares or geldings?
Mares. Maybe it’s because it’s what I’ve started with, but I’ve always gravitated towards mares. Or maybe I’m just a masochist and love a challenge. Once you’ve got a relationship with a good one, they’ll go to the ends of the earth for you. I’ve met just as many moody, attitudinal, cranky geldings as I have mares.

2. English or western? 

English. I learned to ride huntseat, and Western has always felt disconnected and distant to me. I get a lot of security out of the feel and style of an English saddle. Lately, I’ve been gravitating towards more of a centered dressage position than classical huntseat for endurance, but the vast majority of the saddles I’ve owned have been English-style.

3. Do you prefer younger or older horses?
My favorite is a semi-blank slate that someone has started (30-60 days under saddle) but is wide-open for me to fine-tune and finish, then reap the benefits when they’re older and trained exactly how I want. Not a fan of older horses that are set in their ways that vary drastically from what I like to see or how I like to ride.

4. Have you trained a horse from ground zero?
Not yet.

5. Do you prefer groundwork or riding?
Riding, hands (and hooves) down. I recognize groundwork is the necessary basis for all good riding time, but I rarely do groundwork for “fun.”

6. Do you board your horse or keep him at home?

I’ve boarded Mimi since I’ve owned her. It’s been a long-time dream of mine to one day have my pony in my own backyard.

7. Do you do all natural things or just commercial stuff? 

I don’t box myself in to any one particular category. I use the right product for the job. For instance, good luck getting anything natural to knock out our summer mosquitoes here. If a natural option works for something, great. But if I’m spending my money, it’s going to be on whatever works.

8. All tacked up or bareback? 
 The last few times I’ve ridden bareback, I’ve either fallen off or nearly fallen off. You don’t ride bareback on a 55-gallon drum with no mane, no withers, and a low headset. Maybe more when I was a kid, but my Velcro-butt abilities are limited to being in an actual saddle.

9. Equestrian role model?
Julie Suhr. Mark Rashid. Sally Swift. Linda Tellington-Jones.

10. What’s my one, main goal for my equestrian journey?

On the specifically definable goal level? Finish Tevis. On a more cerebral level, to, at the end of it all, be able to say I done right by my horse.

Annual Embarrass-A-Pony Day

/ Ashley Wingert / 1 Comment

Or, “Happy Halloween.”

I have many a fond memory of the October POA shows and annual costume classes, in which my creativity usually overrode common sense and my pony’s good nature was put to the test.

Mimi escaped humiliation this year as I got the decorating urges out of my system this past weekend at the Bill Thornburgh ride with Kaity and her ponies. Kaity supplied the decorations and the ponies; I supplied myself (and my tights).

witch hat tied to his headstall, and little mini-hats clipped to
his mane braids

rear-guard decoration featuring glittery spider
and metallic skull-and-bat garland

thoroughly festooned in seasonal orange
Kaity *almost* has me beat in the “all things orange”
department.

best-laid plans

/ Ashley Wingert / 4 Comments
“No ride plan ever survives first contact with reality.”

It’s a Monday morning, and I’m insufficiently caffeinated to come up with a witty title about best-laid plans going awry and whatnot.
When we last left off, I was getting ready to go to Man Against Horse to ride the 25 on Liberty. Well, long story short: See above about “best laid plans going awry.” I didn’t end up going to the ride, which is a bummer, but part of endurance riding is the ability to be flexible and willing to have plans change at the last minute.
And after yesterday, I am now harboring suspicions that my pony got wind of my plans and jinxed me so that she would have the chance to go out and ride.
And ride we did!
Angie came down and fetched me again, and we went off to Usery Mountain Park. Mimi was super-happy to be out again and has decided Angie’s gelding Patrick is no longer “babysitting charge” but rather “newest and bestest boyfriend” material. 
Normally extremely territorial about her precious space bubble — and woe to any horse who dares even look at her food — she was letting Patrick nuzzle on her, share food out of the same hay net, and in general act like a dopey, lovestruck teenager.
It was hilarious, and slightly disturbing — but better than the alternative of seeing her “hellbitch” face.
the equine equivalent of whispering sweet nothings
It was a perfect day to be out — breezy, temps in about the 80s, clear skies. The park was surprisingly un-busy — I’d figured on having to fend off tons of other trail users since it’s a popular place, especially on weekends. I think we encountered maybe half a dozen other people out there. Go figure. 
a nice clear section of trail
The worst part about Usery is the prolific amounts of cholla that grow not only ridiculously large, but very close together — cholla groves, so to speak. One of these days I will remember to actually pull out my camera and get photos of said impressive cholla groves, but for now, take my word for it — this isn’t an area for horses with questionable steering. A clear grasp on right and left is a very good idea, and leg yielding even more of a plus.
And since even the best horses can’t always avoid the vegetation that bites back, carrying a “desert survival kit” is a saddle pack essential. It can be tough to pull those cholla bobble out — you grab them and they just stick to you. Easiest way to get them off to to flick them off somehow — my weapon of choice is a mane comb that you slide between body and bobble and flick it away. Other people I know carry hemostats, pliers, or even a dinner fork. Cholla are also one of the main reasons I ride with half chaps.

which way?

The Usery trails tend to be shorter mileage, but they interconnect in such a way that its easy to end up with a decent mileage ride. In our case, we pretty much did a loop around the southern perimeter for a total of about 10 miles.

twin cactus

And the footing tends to be a mixed bag. Parts of the trails are super-smooth and very barefoot-friendly.

leaving cool hoof boot tread impressions

And then other sections are quite rough and rocky, necessitating a slow-down in pace, and hoof-protection for the more tender-footed.

enough rocks to make them watch their feet

By the time we were done, Mimi was revved up and ready for more. Her oncoming winter coat had her rather sweaty, but she was bright-eyed and bouncing back at the trailer, including completely forgetting all of her ground manners and trying to run off with me when I did a post-ride in-hand trout out. Gold star for enthusiasm, minus ten gold stars for demonstrating complete lack of grey matter between the ears.

But look at this happy face:

Go Pony loves to go

Despite my normal insistent on excellent ground manners, I couldn’t even get mad at her…I was too busy laughing at her enthusiasm. You wouldn’t know she’s 20 years old…not when we had moments when I was threatening her with a running martingale, or being absurdly grateful for grippy reins when she thought “canter” meant “blast back to the trailer.”

Conventional wisdom says, “20? That’s kind of getting old for a horse…” and then I remember Snappy was still doing all day long shows and lessons (including gymkhana and low jumps) well into his mid-20s, and didn’t go on “lesson lite” duty until he hit his late 20s/early 30s. He too was a half-Quarter Horse POA with a work ethic the size of the western half of the States. So based on that, I should have some good years left with Mimi. Even if we never do a competition again, she’s far from being done as a trail horse who is safe, (mostly) sane, and just a flat-out blast to ride.
After all, what’s a Go Pony to do but go?

pre-ride shakedown cruise…for the rider

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

Today involved a fantastic, 18-mile ride on Khan again with Lancette. Parts of it were entirely new-to-me trail, as well as reinforcement of some trails previously ridden. (It’s an area of criss-crossing and intersecting trails, sand washes, and service roads — keep heading in the general direction of your intended destination and you’ll probably get there in some form or fashion.)

It was good timing, too — one last big ride before next weekend’s Man Against Horse ride. I’ve stayed in good riding shape all summer, so I wasn’t concerned about that part. But I did have some new gear I wanted to thoroughly test out before going into a ride environment, including new stirrup leathers.

new stirrup leathers passed the mileage test

I’ve been riding in Zilco leathers, but the stirrup bars on my saddle make it impossible to ride with the buckle at the bar — the pressure point it creates on my thighs is pretty uncomfortable after a short while. I can get around that by rotating the leathers so that the buckle is at the bottom, on the stirrup top bar. The downside to this is the flopping tail of stirrup leather, solved by covering the whole apparatus with fleece stirrup leather covers. The problems with this set-up: It’s harder to adjust the stirrup length, which I frequently need to do depending on the horse I’m riding, and the fleece adds extra bulk under my leg.

A couple of weeks ago, on a whim, I ordered a pair of stirrup leather from Schneiders Saddlery. They’re the kind with the buckles riveted to the top of the leather, and they’re supposed to be thin and low-profile and not bulky. The price didn’t exactly break the bank, and if they didn’t do exactly as I hoped for log-term use…well, it never hurts to have an extra pair of stirrup leathers around.
They passed last weekend’s arena test, although I recognized that an hour in the arena wasn’t anywhere near the kind of workout a good distance ride will give them. I’m happy to report today’s ride did just that. Ton of trotting and cantering, ups and downs, twisty single-track and wide-open roads. How I feel tomorrow morning will be the ultimate test, but I didn’t feel the buckles under my thigh while riding, and I don’t have any soreness or bruising now. It was kind of nice to be able to ditch the fleece covers — that much less between my leg and the horse now. The leathers are nylon-lined to prevent them from stretching, and they have some nice “give” to them, so I wasn’t feeling any shin pressure either.
I’m definitely comfortable enough to leave them on the saddle and do the ride next weekend in them. I’ll probably bring the fleece covers just in case, but if I did 18 miles without a problem, it’s only 7 more miles for the 25.
wild horses at the trailhead

We saw a number of wild horses today! Apparently there are bands of them that live down by the river. I’d heard of them, but until today, I’d never seen them. We came across them three different times today, and I think it was three different bands. They were vaguely curious about us, but very wary and preferred to move away from us when in doubt. It was fascinating to watch the stallions do their rear-guard duty, and the body language between the herd members.

They all looked healthy, so whatever they’re living on out there, they’re doing okay.

Lancette and “Hot Lips” playing in the river.

We went down to the river as the halfway point and gave the horses and drink and sponging. I never get tired of river-time and it will always remain a novel concept to this desert rat.

The river was running really clear today, clear enough to see to the bottom.

Obligatory response photo for those who say
“hoof boots can’t do water.”

I sank Khan’s Renegades in about 3′ of water for a good 10 minutes, then we turned around and went back up the sand wash, up a very steep, rocky climb (which we trotted the last part), and then took off trotting down a service road. Boots didn’t budge the entire time.

It’s like a “Where’s Waldo?” photo.
Can you find the hidden shoe?

Right about the time I was admiring how crystal-clear the water was, and how it would make for a great “boots in water” shot, I looked over to the side and saw a horseshoe wedged under a river rock. In the photo, it’s below the center of the photo, just above the blobby bits of green underwater vegetation.

One of the more unusual bits of river debris I’ve encountered. Much more typical is beer cans.

Horse ears. Sunshine. River.
Some views never get old.

The river was absolutely gorgeous today. Running a bit higher and faster as a result of monsoon season, but there is a great area to water the horses that is quiet and shallow and sandy. There was a ton of loose water grass being carried with the current, and Khan greatly enjoyed reaching out and snagging the floating grasses. Yummy.

looking downstream on the Salt River

Pony time for me tomorrow, then before I know it, I will be Prescott-bound for Man Against Horse! I started some packing and organizing today when I got home, and will get more done tomorrow in the form of cleaning grubby tack after the pony gets done adding yet another layer of grunge to it.