In Which I Didn't Die

I got Gemmie out on the barn trails again Tuesday night. The last time she was a complete nut job, so my expectations weren't so high this time. It usually will take her about a month or so to calm down at a new barn even though she seems nice and content in her pasture. I have to remind myself sometimes where we came from (like taking 45 minutes to walk down the lane which was maybe 0.2 miles long) and not be so surprised when new things like this pop up.

Anyway...

It was another perfect evening down here. I really am the most content here than any other place we have lived. The scenery, the people, the weather. Just perfect.

I tend to groom her next to the trailer outside since all my grooming supplies are nicely hung on the trailer door. I don't feel like moving them, so she gets her body care out there and then taken inside for tacking up. She actually went into the barn without a temper tantrum and only snorted at the wild beasts rabbits in their cage and she stood nicely in the cross ties. The BO was there and Gem even propped up a hoof and took a snooze while we chatted!

I decided to head up the pond hill again to give her something to focus on. It took a little bit to convince her that turning around to charge back up to her pasture wasn't going to happen, but once we got through that she actually walked up the hill. It was a little rushy and tense, but it was a walk so I was very happy. We also managed to go down the back side without crashing through the trees as badly. Progress.

The Garmin read 0.47 miles back at the barn. Not the greatest hill, but definitely a decent one to do hill sets on if I was ever inclined to do so.

We then made our way behind the barn through the arena and into the hay field. I pointed her to the woods and up the next hill to end up in front of her pasture. She recognized this part and decided to gallop up the hill. It was one of only 2 moments where the panic began to rise in me. Not too shabby. I slowed her down before we got to the large, flat, slick rock that crosses the entire path about half way up and then we plopped back out into the field on top of the hill. She decided we were finished, but we weren't so I forced her back down the hill.

Garmin read just over 1 mile.

Back out of the woods we made our way down the outer perimeter of the hay field to the trial in the back right corner and took this to the road, down the road a titch and back along a parallel trail to the field again. We then followed the field back up, over to the arena and to the barn.

Garmin rad 2.16 miles in 36 minutes.

I was a tad disappointed that the trails were longer and with how short each segment is, it is difficult to pick up and maintain any speed. But it is better than riding in a circle during the week, so I will make the best of it. I still need to find the power lines which are said to run for many miles. If that is the case and it is safely passable, that may be our best bet.

All in all I was pleased with the mare. She only protested a few times and I was even able to have her on a lose rein for some of it. Speed will come eventually, but she has settled in better here than places in the past.

I forgot to bring the boots with me and the new size 13 for the fronts wont get here until Saturday, so no report on how they continue to do. I had plans to ride with S this weekend to try out all 4 and she is interested in what they are and how they perform, but a storm has blown in and chances of rain are high until Wed of next week. I admit to being a fair weather rider. I don't mind heat or cold and ride my best rides in the winter (I would ride down to -5 up north without a second thought, but lower than that and I didn't bother), but rain? Nope. Been there, done that and it was unpleasant.

Boots and Saddles Blog Hop: 5 Questions

One of my all time favorite bloggers (Mel over at Boots and Saddles) posted her first blog hop and I am very game to join in (well...actually she posted 5 Q&As on her blog and I commented that she should make it a blog hop because I enjoy them a lot).

Here it is!

Name: Sara

Age: 32

Location: South Carolina

Family Situation: Hubby, 2 year old son, 2 horses (the Dynamic Duo), 3 cats and 2 dogs

1) How long have you been riding? Endurance?

I've been riding since I can remember. My aunt had a farm and horses and my mom let me go spend time there during the summers since I was itty bitty. I started just hanging around and then got ponied around and eventually was graduated to riding. My time spent there was magical and my aunt and uncle took me on literally thousands of miles of trails. We went to Gettysburg to ride on the battle fields, WV mountains, Acadia Maine and so many local trails. I was hooked and give thanks to them for showing me the way!

I started endurance in 2011 with Gem and rode 2 rides that season (not as an AERC member since they were in October and the season was over so it was cheaper to pay the $15 fee than sign up) followed by a Ride and Tie the next spring. I had terrible experiences in ride camp at both, so I gave it up until moving to the South and now have done my first ride here in July.

2) What does a normal training week look like for you?

Sporadic at best. What I would love to do is get 3 rides in a week with two 5-7 mile rides on weeknights and a 10+ mile ride on the weekend. This has happened a hand full of times. What happens in reality is either a hand jog of around 2 miles or a shorter 3-4 mile ride once a week on the weeknight and then a 6-10 mile ride on the weekend. That's just my reality working full time with a toddler.

If an event is looming in the near future, I like to do a 15ish mile ride about 2 weeks out, but don't see the point in pushing her much farther.

I used to run as well about 2-3 nights a week, but then it got really hot and humid and I got really lazy so that stopped. I hope to do that again. Usually 2 miles.

3) Any advice for endurance spouses?

I'm a bit spoiled with this. The hubby is an ultra runner and I have been up at the crack of dawn to crew for him and take pics and such so he fully understands what is needed. But my advice would be to try to get involved somehow. Whether it is helping to crew, take pictures or just being there to hear the same ride story for the umpteenth time and still pretend to find it interesting. Think of your own hobby that your spouse doesn't do and how much you appreciate their small involvement.

4) Where will this sport be in 10 years?

I see it going one of two ways:

a) AERC dissolves and it goes back to local clubs running local events with more old school rules and regulations. Why? Due to internal fighting and elitism which doesn't allow the sport to grow and instead causes the rise of costs and the decline of participants.

OR

b) More and more divisions of distances. 100 still remains that gold standard, but in an attempt to grow the membership more "intro" type rides of 10-15 miles pop up and become more popular. I think this is a good thing and you can see this happening every day in the running world. Runs are becoming more family friendly and offering 1 mile fun runs, 5ks etc...which don't detract from the 50 milers, but instead allows more people to enjoy it.

I also see the use of better maps for trails including GPS markers, more criteria added to the riders card for vetting and lots and lots of miles of trails to be enjoyed.

Personally I would love to see the addition of more "man versus horse" type rides like the Vermont 100 and Prescott AZ.

5) What was your best race and why?

I've only done 3 endurance rides and two RnTs, so my choices are limited, but I'd still say my first was my best. I was so nervous and ill prepared, but the feeling of elation of completing has never been matched to date at another ride. I think having no clue made it al the sweeter. I learned a ton in just one ride and my riders high lasted for over a week afterward.

My 2nd ride was cold, rainy and miserable and the attitude of the fellow riders was so terrible it scared me off.

My last ride I just did was fun and a great re-introduction but I didn't "ride my own ride" and it caused added stress to the entire thing making it not as much fun as it should have been.

Bonus Question: What is you favorite beer?

Sorry, but I don't actually drink beer. The few times I have I found Alaskan Amber to be the least displeasing. If I'm going to drink, you will find a vodka martini of some sort in my hand.

An InLinkz Link-up

Fusion Jogging Boots: The Ride

Ok...I'm going to assume you either read the details on the boots or don't care, so this will focus mostly on the trial.

I had two concerns going in:

1) Fit: they seemed way too large for her feet
2) Stickability: would they stay on?

Sunday morning I headed out to the barn with the intention of trying them on her and if they fit well enough going to Clemson to try them out. I had permission to ride on two separate one hour long trail rides to check form and function. I wanted it to be on familiar territory to rule out her tripping or being weird because of the new location versus the new boots.

I cleaned her feet super well and then reached for her front left. I opened the boot all the way up and slid her foot into it, but it was pretty tight. I tried to close it up, but I couldn't get the Velcro sides even half way together and when I tried to snug it up it just wouldn't budge. So I left it in place and moved to the right front, but had a similar situation. Hmmm...perhaps if I walk her around they will settle in place? So I did and they didn't. I took them back off and looked inside at her foot print. It was off the back of the boot. Hmmm..

I then took the dampening pad out and held it against her sole and low and behold the monster, massive boot was too small!!

When aligned with the toe, her entire heel is off the back. Way too small.



 I have no clue what I was smoking when I measured her, but apparently I measured an entire size too small. No wonder they wouldn't go on and tighten up. Darn.

I moved to her rear and held up the pad to check the fit. Going in I was worried about the width being too much for her narrow hoof, so I paid extra close attention to this. There is about a 1/4" overhang of pad on each hoof, but that didn't seem too bad to me.

Back left. A much better fit.

Looking snazzy in her boots

 Knowing these would at least go on, I loaded her up and made our way to the trail head.

The hubby met us there to hike and I started the process of getting her hind boots on. I wanted a boot that wouldn't require either a mallet or messing with a ton of cables to get on and these definitely fit that bill. Even being the first time I tried, I was able to easily slip her hoof into the boot. It opens up very wide and is simple to do. I pulled upward on it to make sure the toe was well seated and then let her put the hoof down on the ground.

Once there I fiddled with the back strap, pulling that as tight as I could and then went to the front. All in all is took me maybe 5 minutes to get them on. I figure after a while it will only take 2-3 minutes. It was that easy!




Everything seemed to fit nice and snug except there was a fingers width gap in the back. I'm not sure if this is and issue or not. I have tried to email the owner about it and even posted the picture and question to their facebook page without a response. I made a mental note to check this area well afterward for rubbing, but the more I thought about the function of the hoof and lower leg, the leg must rock back to push off so maybe a little room to move isn't so bad. Time will tell on that.

Up close look at her running shoes





 I hand walked her to the trail head to see how she moved and look for any obvious looseness or issues. She took some very high, odd steps but quickly got used to them. They are super light weight so I wasn't too concerned about them.

Once on the trail I decided to go out 30 minutes and turn around. I know she hates out and back rides, but I didn't want to go over the limit and I had no where to hold them if I wanted to go out longer and just take them off. This also gave me some ability to perhaps find one on the way back if it came off on the way out.

During the ride I tried to maintain as much trotting as possible. Unfortunately, without the fronts being on I couldn't push it too much on gravel. We did cross two creeks, go through deep sticky mud, slick mud over some trees and down the gravel access road. She moved out just fine and was forward and happy the whole time. Now this probably isn't due to having boots in the back, but at least they were not causing any issues.

Unfortunately, what I didn't do is take after shots, but that was because there was nothing to see. No rubs, no twists, no nothing. They stayed right on through it all and came off in 30 seconds. The sole showed no signs of wear even after all the gravel work and her feet looked perfect.

I was very, very pleased with them. I need to return the fronts and get the next size up and then I can try all 4 to see how she does. If the fronts fit as well as the back, then we are in business!

I know they are a completely different concept and not everyone will like them, but I can really stand behind the logic of the boot and Gem rode great in them.

Fusion Horse Jogging Boots: The Facts

Warning!!! This post may be very dry and boring. There is a method to my madness though. I have received my order for Gem's new foot gear and I have tried in vain to write up the experience I had with them out on the trail, but without explaining what the boots are and why I chose them the story of the use makes no sense. If I add all that information in one post, it gets bogged down and absurdly long. So...on my 4th attempt to write this post I am giving you all the gory details up front. Tomorrow will be about the actual use with pictures, so feel free to wait until then to read. Otherwise, hang on tight and be prepared to fall asleep!

Gemmie needs hoof protection for the rides down here and yet I was slow to pull the trigger. For starters her hoof shape doesn't really match well with either the Renegade/Viper or Easy lines. For seconds: the boots make no sense to me. I am going to briefly step up on my pedestal here:

I love her being barefoot and I am a big proponent that the less we monkey with the better. If you need shoes or boots or whatever that is fine and a personal choice. Who knows? I may someday put shoes back on her or have a horse that needs them.  But....I am very proud of her incredibly tough hooves and ability to crunch over rocky terrain without an issue. When you go putting a super rigid, thick hunk of plastic all around your horse's hooves you are no longer riding anything anywhere near barefoot and quit claiming you do! The plastic boots completely take away any natural function of the hoof, do not stimulate the hoof at all and are basically just a temporary way to shoe your horse minus the nails. So when people who boot for every single ride they ever take look down on those who shoe, I want to poke my eyes out with my pencil. You are doing the same thing!

Ok....back down now.

So...I was hesitant to purchase boots. I finally ruled out both versions due to trying them and the fit being suboptimal given her hoof structure. My last resort was glue on shoes, but man what a pain in the butt they seem to be. The gluing on seems like only half the battle since getting them off is even more annoying. I would do it if I had to, but I fervently hoped I wouldn't.

In a last ditch hail mary attempt to find something I could live with I googled one final time. And found the Fusion Jogging boot. This boot is completely different in every way, shape (well...maybe not shape it is still going on the same hoof) and form. And I was thrilled.

How is this so different??

FLEXIBILITY!

The whole entire concept of this boot is to allow the hoof to still function as if barefoot while providing some protection from rocks and some shock absorption. The entire boot is so flexible you can (supposedly) roll it into a ball. Nothing rigid, nothing static. As the hoof hits the ground, the heels are allowed to expand, the ground comes into contact with the hoof sole thus providing stimulation and then glory of all things...the boot flexes in the toe to allow the break over to occur at any time and along any point of the hoof. No more forced break over points where the boot is trimmed down.

Think about it like this:

You hurt yourself in the foot and are put into a stiff soled boot (or if you can't picture that think of walking in wooden soled shoes). You lose all proprioception with the ground. The sole of the shoe/boot is rigid and therefore when you step on a rock or root the entire thing must tilt around it putting more stresses on your ankle joint. But you also lose any sharpness from rocks or roots etc...

But walk around in your tennis shoes and while you can now still feel all the lumps and bumps, you are still able to get some support while the entire shoe flexes and bends along with the terrain.

That is what these do. The sole is rubber and concave like a hoof and therefore when you step on a rock it will still put pressure into the sole of the hoof thus creating stimulus for growth and function, but the sharpness and potential for a bruise is limited. The hoof can move and break over at any region thus allowing the whole extremity to function normally.

I was sold.

They are made in Norway and the website has some fantastic graphs and pictures and the physics behind fulcrums and strains and stresses along tendons to prove the point. I will let you check it out here if interested. It is really worth a look and even the most skeptical should come away from all the information scratching their heads a little bit. They are used a lot as everyday turnout boots, trail riding, and I see plenty of pictures of jumping and dressage.

There are some other great features including how easy it is supposed to be to put them on (unlike other boots that either require a mallet or large rock to force it on or playing with cables and wires and pulleys) and they are completely machine washable. Throw them in the washer and dryer and they come out good as new.

There are three models and I was confused as to the purpose of each. From what I could gather the Ultras were first (I think) and then improved on in the Performance with a sturdier upper material and stronger tread. Then the Ultimates came out with different uppers and lost the straps for just Velcro closer, but kept the same sole as the Performance.

I really wanted the Ultras because they are red and black, but given the high mileage and terrain the Performance were recommended. They also suggest the dampening pads to increase the life of the boot.

They come in sizes per length of hoof and after measuring Gem like 20 times I got size 12 all around. The only hiccup was the fact that her rear feet are so narrow. The company was concerned that she was too narrow and the boots would spin. So I ordered 2 pairs of size 12 Performance boots and hoped for the best, but entered into it a little worried about those hind feet of hers.

There are a few things I am concerned about:

1) Durability. The plastic boots are pretty darn durable. The other companies claim upwards of 500+ miles out of a boot. And that makes sense. It is a rigid plastic so you'd have to go pretty hard on pretty rough terrain to wear that down. But this is rubber. A specially formulated tough rubber, but rubber nonetheless. I asked the company this and they came back with 300-600 miles depending on terrain. Since I am only planning on using these to get her used to them and then for the longer races we do, I think I am ok with this. If I can't get at least 400 miles out of them, they won't be worth the price tag.

2) Stickability. Yup, that's now a word :) Everyone who uses boots loses boots. Its a given. The question is how often, in what terrain and what happens to the boot when you lose it? I like the way it attaches because in my mind if it does come off it is coming off in one unit. There isn't anything for it to get stuck on her leg and flop around freaking her.

That's about it. I know I am losing some things by going with these versus the normal plastic boots such as complete protection. The rubber, flexible sole allows pressure to still occur which is the entire point, but that still allows pressure to occur which may be harmful in the end at 50+ miles. We will just have to wait and see.

The company sent me the boots and gave me the ability to ride in them on two 1 hour long trail rides with a full money back guarantee if they don't work out.

Welcoming Einstein to the Hoarde

Last fall a puppy ended up on our doorstep. Actually, she ended up on our neighbor's doorstep but they didn't want to take her inside and we couldn't leave her out, so we took her in. Hero was still in good form back then and W was just trying to take some steps so the timing was horrible and we found her a great home.

 

It did get us thinking about what we would want in a dog if we got a new dog at some point. We both wanted similar things: a dog who could stay at home during the week without going crazy, tolerant of the baby, and yet active enough to go horseback riding with me and running with the hubs on top of our usual hikes.

 

We debated and debated and I came up with a Basset Hound and the Hubby countered with a Boykin Spaniel (the state dog of SC).  Actually, I really wanted an adult dog who was already housebroken and didn't nip or chew and could go from day 1, but the hubby was adamant about getting a puppy. So when we caught word of a litter of Boykin pups ready to go home we went out and looked. The hubby wanted a male, so we chose the best of the three and then waited two weeks to go get him.

 

Last weekend was two weeks and in the drizzly rain Saturday morning we went and got him. The litter was raised completely outside and he was underweight, smelled bad and had some skin funk going on. A medicated shampoo, a bath with W and some good food later and he is looking much, much better.

 

He is adorable. He weighed in at 6 1/4 pounds which makes the big Bones look like a monster. He is a rich, chocolate brown with curly ears that flop down and golden eyes. He should grow up into a generally curly coat with wild spikey hair on his forehead (hence the name Einstein). A lot of the older ones get golden tips to the curls too from the sun which looks nice. Apparently, he should also grow into a dog who loves sitting on the couch snuggling, but is up and ready for activity at the drop of the hat.

 

 

 

Playing with the hubs

Time for a puppy nap!



Currently, he chews. And chews and chews and chews. On everything. Hands, toes, pants, shoes, remote controls, cords, the carpet, the cats, toys, everything. I was spoiled with my man Hero. Even as a pup he never chewed, never destroyed anything at all. Einstein? He chews.



Chewing. He chews on everything.

But he also loves W a ton. He follows him around everywhere and is always ready for hugs and kisses. In fact, he is way more tolerant than either Hero or Bones ever were, even as puppies. Wyatt picks him up and carries him around and even threw him across the room once (yes, we told him that wasn't so good) and the puppy just keeps coming back for more. They should grow into best buds as long as W doesn't squash him first. 

 



W leading Einstein around the house on his leash

 He also cuddles. He is a supreme grade A cuddler. Mostly on top of you, but sometimes beside you and always touching you. He goes into full on crazy puppy mode for 10 minutes and then falls asleep. He does sleep with us at night, much to the hubby's annoyance. He would prefer him in his kennel, but he loves snuggling so much and it is easier to tell when he has to pee when he wakes you up licking your face. Otherwise we would need to set the alarm which could potentially wake up W.

Wednesday night, though, I think he ran out of his good fortune on the bed thing. At about 2:30 in the morning we heard a loud thump and then Einstein started screaming. He fell off the bed. He wasn't hurt, but he was scared. The hubby checked him out and put him back on the bed and he ran straight up to me, climbed on the pillow and wrapped his body around my head. He stayed there until 5:30am. Poor little guy. The hubby said it would be the crate from then on. We will see.

I like him. I'm not madly in love with him mainly because his puppy-ness is driving me crazy. He isn't house trained and won't be for a while. He nips a ton. He barks at everything. And he is generally always under foot and a big pain in the rear. I wanted an older dog to avoid this stage. But...hopefully he will grow into a fine dog. He is such a little tyke and is only 7 weeks old, so I am giving him space to grow. I do believe though that our next dog will be older.

First Ride at Serenity Haven

Ahhh...a lovely evening in late July in the South. A beautiful setting with big fluffy white clouds dotting the bright blue sky and a just beginning to set sun. A peaceful farm nestled in the hills with no road in sight and no sounds of civilization to be heard. Horses happily grazing in their fields. The whole place is energizing, refreshing and yet calming to the soul at the same time. I am anxious to get on my beautiful and athletic mare and explore the trails together as the summer sun sets behind us. Having just finished 25 miles together, the bond has obviously grown between us and we are now of one and the same mind.

I park the van and hike up the hill from the barn to gather my big bay mare out of her new pasture and begin the stress reducing ritual that is grooming and tacking her up. She walks serenely up to me saying hello. We walk back to the trailer parked outside the barn to groom and she calmly looks around her taking in the beauty that is a summer evening.

We walk, side by side breathing as one entity, into the barn with thoughts of the wondrous adventure ahead of us dancing through both our brains. And then we spy the cage of pet rabbits off to the right of the barn aisle. I see them as cute, slightly smelly, fluffy creatures chillaxing in front of their specially placed fan. Gem sees them as blood crazed ware rabbits snarling and gunning for her jugular and jumps out of her skin slamming on the brakes and trying to spin as fast as she can to get the heck out of there. Huh... Interesting...

We finally make our way past that death defying cage and I snap her into the cross ties. I pat her lovingly and walk to the tack room to get her gear. She flips out, rears, throws her head and tries to lunge forward only to hit the end of the ropes and flip out again as she flies backwards. Huh...Interesting...

Finally able to tack her up all thoughts of a lovely and serene ride on new trails as the sun sets begin to fade way and are replaced by the remembrance of how much of a tool she gets when riding at a new barn. Trailer her out to the middle of nowhere? No problem. Ride her out of the barn on familiar territory or even God forbid in a fenced in and completely safe arena on property? Total melt down.

As I throw my leg up over her back, she prances, neck arched and tense, back hollow, chewing on the bit and ready for any excuse to speed off. My brain has now completely destroyed any thoughts of even a barely passably decent trail ride and is now in "don't die, don't die, don't die" mode which it has gotten pretty good at over the last 5 years with Gem. Hmmm.....where to go? Off to the right is a fishing pond and then a big, steep hill. Sounds like a good idea and a way to slow her down a bit.

We head off over the pond and hit the uphill trail. Gem takes off in a brisk trot dodging tree limbs and basically not paying any attention to anything but her own skin. There goes that wonderful bond and thinking the same. We make it to the top in one piece and then head back down the other side. The trail is narrow, twisting and turning around trees and the limbs desperately need trimming as my head bounces off of them as we go spinning down the hill in a barely contained trot. We slam back into the main trail again and Gem decides to go right. Which goes back up the same hill. Fine. Run yourself up and down that hill all night for all I care. Up we go again and about half way up the light bulb in her brain flickers on and she realizes what she did. I manage to get her back to a better trot until we hit the downhill side again when she picks up a huge canter and flies down between the trees. Thankfully my knees are still attached to my legs.

We make it out of there alive and this time I go left back to the barn to avoid another near collision with the trees. We head past the barn and up the hill toward her pasture where another set of trails begin. Gem thinks we are going back to the pasture, so she isn't too pleased when I ask her to go left and into the woods away from Pete. She eventually defers to my wishes and we head into the woods.

She finally is going at a reasonable pace and I let my breath go. Then we come across the inconceivable: a flat rock across the trail! Oh my!! What are we going to do? I know!! Walk across it like the big girls we are. Nope. Instead we slam on the breaks, duck down and spin like the best cow pony in the world and try to gallop back out of the woods. Good try mare, but not going to happen. Eventually we cross the rock of death and head deeper in the woods. We hit a T and since things have been going...well... not good but at least a little less badly I head left to get to the big 20 acre hay field. I know there is a trail in the back right corner that goes to a big creek, but the sun is setting, my brain needs a break from panic mode, and Gem is dripping with sweat so I follow the upper portion of the field to the arena and back to the barn.

Back at the barn, I hop off glad to feel solid ground under me again and glare at my stupid pony who just acted like she had never been on a trail ride ever in her life before even though we spent the last year  trailering out to different places and going on hunter paces and an endurance ride. Or the last 4 years preceding those out trail riding.

I lead her back to the barn, but those darn ware rabbits were still there trying to entice her closer and closer so they could infect her with their diseases. Once we manage to slither past them, we are back in the cross ties and acting like a complete moron. Spinning, rearing, pawing, snorting. Oh come on now! You are 15 years old and have been exposed to trails, arenas, jumping, cross country, dressage, hunter paces, endurance, camping. Why are you such an idiot?!?!

I do forgive her just enough to take her out and sponge her down before going back to pasture. I let her go and head back to clean up our mess and put things away.

On the positive side, even with not doing the 20 acre pasture and the trails off of it and going at a break neck speed that I wouldn't choose to ever do again, we managed to be out for 20 minutes. Not much, I know, but...if you add in going down the field and those two trails, even at that pace we would have been out for probably close to or just over 30 minutes. Slow it down and it would definitely be 30 minutes if not 35 or 40, but lets keep 30. Do the loop twice (which wouldn't make me slowly want to die inside. Anything over twice and I get antsy) and that would be an hour long trail ride with hills without having to trailer anywhere. Plus...there are still the power lines to explore. That's a heck of a lot better than going in a circle in an arena and better than the nothing I was doing at FS Farms, so that made me happy.

Dynamic Duo Gets New Digs

I swear I put way more thought and research into finding my horses a new home than I have ever done with finding us a new one. If only they gave a crap  :)

My list is simple:

 - Pasture board with this amazing thing called grass and not just dirt and weeds
 - Ability to keep the Dynamic Duo together
 - An arena with lights for weeknight night riding
 - Trails would be great
 - Good quality hay, water and grain
 - Trailer parking
 - In my price range which is admittedly limited

After searching for months and months (since April) we finally found a place that had the majority of those things and decided to give it a try. I wanted to wait until after Biltmore to move them, so last weekend we packed the horses up in the trailer and amidst intermittent pouring rain we moved them over to their new digs...lets call it Serenity Haven (not its real name, but pretty nifty and so far accurate).

Lets see how it stacks up to my list:

- Pasture board with grass....check! The pasture they are in is mostly grass. The recent drought has taken its toll on it, but fortunately it hasn't had any horses in it so while the grass wasn't growing, it wasn't getting trampled and eaten down to nothing either.

Looking up the hill to their pasture
 

 - Ability to keep the Dynamic Duo together....check! They are in their own 4 acre pasture with some woods and 3 nice next door neighbors. It is on top of a hill

House and barn are behind me, they are up the hill
 and that is the drive way to the right

Looking down the driveway



They are behind me and that is the barn

so the drainage even in all this rain we have been getting is awesome. Hopefully no thrushy feet.

- An arena with lights...nope :( They have an arena of sorts...basically a flattened section of the back hay field, but no lights and it isn't fenced in or anything like an official arena. But...

- Trails would be great...check! I'm always a little cautious when a BO tells me there are trails on property since most of the time it ends up just being the pasture you can ride in or a 5 minute walk around the property. But the hubby and I took W and Bones out for a hike on Sunday and we logged about 3-4 miles of actual real trails with some pretty nice hills in there and mixed footing. Plus the BO said you can ride the power lines from the end of the driveway for miles. I haven't been on those yet to see if the footing is decent or if it is all straight up and down and rocks. So the trails aren't extensive or varied enough to get all my conditioning done, but it does allow for me to not ride in a circle a hundred times. The downside is obviously there are no lights (although that would be impressive) so in the winter I won't get any riding in during the week, but in reality last winter when it was dark before I even got out of work I wasn't going to ride anyway.

Gem throwing a hissy fit in the airy barn

- Good quality hay, water and grain....mostly check! The hay looks about as nice as hay around here gets. I still miss the hay up north which was much nicer over all, but this hay looks pretty good. My only concern is quantity, but I am going to watch closely and see before I jump to conclusions. Water is clean and fresh. Grain we supply, so it can be of whatever quality we choose.

- Trailer parking....check!

- In my price range....check!



Gem in the cross ties

So all in all it is looking pretty good. In addition to the above, there is a fishing pond and we can bring our dogs out to trail ride with us whenever we want which is extremely hard to find. The BO is amazingly nice and really wants to learn about endurance and start going. Who knows? Maybe we can ride together and get to be pretty good friends. There is another boarder there who is also interested in endurance as well. I might get some nice riding friends out of this.

I really only have 2 current concerns:

1) Quantity of hay as mentioned above. They were getting about 3/4 of a bale for the two of them a day at FS Farms with grass and grain. Here they don't appear to be getting anywhere near that much. I am going to wait and see if she starts to look too lean and then ask for it to be increased. Hopefully that won't be an issue.

2) Distance. It is 30 minutes from our house which is a bit too far by 10-15 minutes. But if it limits my need to trailer out and gives me decent mileage during the week, it will be worth it. We will see what the winter brings.

So far I am pretty happy with it. They are a small place with eager and happy trail riders. Bones and Einstein can come along and ride with me which is awesome. The whole barn atmosphere is calm and the scenery is breath taking. Lets hope it works for the long term!


Looking down toward the barn

Gems big butt blocking some of the view