Cartman Gets A New Name....

I received a email this afternoon that the ride results are up for Mt. Adams.  That ride secretary is pretty quick this year, as it's not even been two weeks since the ride!

So I clicked on over to the PNER site to see C's name in print for the first time.

I scanned the list of 25 milers, down, down, down- (we were pretty slow in time) until I came to this:

Caveman-Lucky Friday       Karen Weiderman

uh, what?

It sounds like some sick sports bar promo!!! Nooooo!!!!

Now, I can't blame the ride secretary or the points secretary.  I know exactly how this happened.

You see, I have a little penmanship problem.  In fact it once got so bad that my previous boss threatened to make me use a stamp to sign my initials on data at work.

Alas, I will have to wait until Klickitat to hopefully see Cartman's name in print.  Fingers crossed for another completion- and I plan on finding someone to fill out my ride card for me or I will just have to do it in all caps.

Oh, and Lucky Friday is Cartman's registered name- it is a silver mine in Idaho, not some t*tty bar in Ne Portland. :)

Draggin' A@@

It's been hell week at work, I was on OT by Friday morning and spent another 12 hours there after that.  I'm tired to the point of being a bit cranky Friday evening but Saturday morning there was no alarm.  Yeah!

I ended up at work again this morning and was even contemplating not riding today, again.  Then I spent a few minutes of my break today perusing  my blog list and decided if Jonna of  Barbs, etc. can go out, in 40% chance of rain (in Montana, brrrr) then surely I can drag my butt down and do a quick ride in the sand, in the sunshine.

So, C and I headed out about 4:30.  We spent about 20 minutes trotting and loping in the deep sand.  He was breathing pretty hard and asked to stop, so after another small circle I pulled up and we headed for the jogging path. 

I was actually a little concerned as Cartman was unusually doggy.  Thoughts of all trailering stress and all those communal watering troughs at Mt. Adams started flitting through my head.  Its been a week, perfect incubation time.....

I really wasn't a hyprochondriac, before the Thoroughbreds.  They've made me a pretty  efficient one over the last 13 years.

I was really not "into it" either but just kept pointing his nose further down trail.  I decided to loop around on the path by the river and then cut back to the trailer at the road.

But when we got to the road C was wanting to noodle back and forth, not really wanting to go on down the trail.  I didn't think anything was wrong to the point that he couldn't take a walk, so I kept him going, not wanting to let him learn a bad habit.

After a few more minutes he started to perk up and asked to start in at a jog.  Before I knew it we were at the other end of the 5 mile loop.  My normal Cartman had returned, with the forward trot and ears up! 

After we got home I washed C's forelock ( he has a niggling case of dandruff there) did all the chores, turned Cartman and Dazzby out into the hay field, and then spent some time sitting with Certified Girl as she crunched some grain, carrots, and apples.

So, I'm still draggin' a@@ but feeling a lot happier now :)

Dog Related Cross Post

I loved this blog post.  True, it is about dog training and not specfic to horses but I really agree with the sentiment here and think it could easily be applied to the human/horse bond as well.

Farm Fresh Forensics

I really enjoy all the blogs on this site.

Mt Adams: Ride, and Tie

No, I didn't lose my mind (and 30lbs), take up trail running, and do the Ride and Tie!  But I've got a few pictures of Cartman's ears- on the ride, and a few pictures of Cartman tied- to the trailer.

I was particularly nervous for this ride, just not knowing how C was going to behave on his first real ride.  This was somewhat compounded by two things that happened on Friday after we arrived.

First, Cartman proceeded to spook at one of the many trailers that was pulling in, (and rattling, and clunking and clanging over the somewhat bumpy ridecamp road).  I was inside cleaning out the trailer at the time.  I heard the hi-tie stretch, saw him come flying around the back, slam the door shut (with me inside) and completely flip himself over on the high tie.   He jumped up, a little surprised look on his face, and shook off the loose grass and dust.  No harm done, and hopefully a lesson learned.

Second, I learned there were over 70 riders in the LD!  Ack.  How do you find a nice safe "bubble" when starting with 70 horse and riders, especially going across a paved road and bridge to get to the trails!

Ok, so I was nervous.  To the point that I didn't even want to walk around camp and talk.

Later in the afternoon C and I did a short hour-long ride solo on one of the trails that isn't included in the LD.  It was really nice out there.  The forest smells wonderful on the dry side.  I couldn't believe all the downed trees that had been cut from the trail.  Wow, they must have gone through a million chain saw blades just clearing the four miles I rode. 

C was a good boy, leaving camp alone with no problems.  Not really spooky at all and eager to go.  We rode to the top of a long hill and turned around.  On the way back here come three riders at a fast canter.  Right towards us.  C didn't bat an eye as they roared past.  I could have hugged him I was so happy with this. 

I was a little more relaxed after our ride, and could actually enjoy visiting a little when I got back.

I was awoken about 4:45 am by an earthquake.  Well, technically it wasn't really and earthquake (although we do have them sometimes here in the NW).  It was my little darling horse scratching his bum on the side of the trailer.  Sigh.  I wasn't really sleeping anyway!

Saturday morning was clear and beautiful.  We saw the 50s go past camp about 6am.  Around 8 o'clock I started tacking up and getting everything packed into my cantel bag.  C was as calm as a cucumber. Yeah!

I had planned to go out at the back of the pack.  With 70 riders this wasn't easy.  I think a lot of people had the same tactic.  C was calm so I simply followed Glen and Flo up to the start.  As luck would have it the front runners had all cleared out, and every one waiting wasn't quite there yet.  It was a  perfect opportunity and I took it.  We headed across the road and up the pavement towards the trail.

C started getting a little nervous and wanting to jig as Dixie and Hotshot started getting further ahead.  My non-gaited horse simply can't walk as fast as the Walkers, even when they are in the flat walk.  Flo pulled Hotshot back and C calmed right down when he was close by again.  Whew.

We made it to the trail and were off!  He was pretty good, but pretty amped up too.  There was a small group of us hitting the trail together.  Glen and Flo, a nice guy from Spokane (also on a Walker) doing his first ride.  And two nice ladies riding a gaited horse and a QH. 

C started to get a little too animated as we were passed by a few riders and Flo took pity on me and suggested I lead to see if he would settle a little.  It worked beautifully.  We went for about a mile like this and it really took the edge off of my horse.

The trail was beautiful, as always.  I really love this ride.

Cartman got pretty sweaty as we were heading up and up.  Not really steep trail but steady.  We swapped our order up a few times and were passed by quite a few riders during the first three or four miles.  Fellow blogger Ruth and Blue flew past us smiling and waving.  Blue looked like he was all business and they were having fun:)

We stopped for water but C wasn't really thirsty yet.  He was never blowing or even breathing hard, although sweating pretty good.  I was happy to have left the sweatshirt behind and having gone with the t-shirt, it was warm and a tiny bit humid.

One of the ladies riding with us had a GPS watch, that was really cool.  We could gauge how far along we were and before we knew it we'd gone 10 miles.  I didn't really take many pictures as I had a firm grip on my reins for the first half of this loop.

At 12 miles we slowed to a walk and headed back to ridecamp. 

Cartman pulsed in immediately at 56 and we went straight to the vet line.  Cartman chowed grass as we waited for about 10 minutes to vet. 

He got all A's!!!!  And was down to 52 at the vet.

I tried to get him over to our buckets so he could have some beat pulp but he was putting on his best "pony" imitationa and dragging me toward every feed pan  around.  I finally got to my stuff, and got half of it dumped into the feed pan before he stuffed his face in it.  He was like a horse vacuum cleaner,  literally inhaling the carrots, beet pulp and electolyte mush I'd made for him. 

Before long it was time to go out again.  I decided to stay with the group for at least the "up" portion of the last loop.  We were headed up to the horse camp.  Going across the road was a lot more relaxed this time.  I was on a loose rein:)

We stayed in the middle of the pack this time and C settled right in.  We did lead for a portion on the gravel road.  Cartman has a pretty good stride and he can really move out on open ground.  The Walkers are much faster on the single track, twisty trail, and on the downhills. 

Before we knew it we were at the horse camp. 

Last year we did this same loop for the second half of the 25.  I was riding with a friend on a Racking horse that could "fly" downhill.  Dazzby was not quite so good at it and I let her jog down hill more than I should have.  On this loop we almost fell.  It was close enough that I had kicked loose the stirrups as I saw the ground coming up. At the last minute she caught herself but I believe this is when she clobbered her back ankle.  This was the incident that got her pulled, and ultimately retired from Distance Riding.

So, I told the group I would wait a few minutes and let them get a headstart down hill.  I did not want to fight with C about the downhills, or let him go down too fast as I think this is hard on the front legs for a trotting horse.  

Cartman drank a ton of water and then we found a pile of alfalfa.  He was hoovering away at that pile of hay as the other four horses  headed back down trail.  After about five minutes I decided there was no way I'd catch them and drug him away from the hay pile.  More water and we were off solo.

My fears that he would get agitated by passing horses were completely unfounded at this point.  We pulled over for several sets as we ambled down the downhill trails.  When he'd hit flat ground he would pick up that lovely ground covering trot with no urging from me. 

This was SO fun.  I stopped a couple of times to give him cookies as horses passed us.  He was listening well and on a loose rein.

We stopped at a water tank and he drank again:)

For the end of  this 6 mile loop we were completely alone, although I could occasionally hear a horse somewhere behind us.

We were jogging along and all of a sudden there was the road again.  I pulled up and loosened the girth and took C's bridle off.  We walked back to ridecamp and once again he pulsed right in.  

One more thing to do.  I pulled Cartman's saddle and got back in the vet line.  Right behind Glen and Flo! 

This time we were with the same vet.  He got a B on gut sounds and one other thing (cap refill perhaps?) but the rest were A's and we got a "Well done" from the vet.

Hooray!!!!!!

One year, to the day, from Dazzby's pull for lameness her son completes his first ride:)

I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.  C did a lot of hand walking, grazing, and drinking from the troughs for the rest of the evening.  He ate everything in sight and seemed pretty pleased with himself.

Here are a few photos.  I'd love to put the professional ride photos I bought on here, but I'm not sure if that's OK.  I don't know who was taking them to give credit to.

For our STB friends

Check out this gorgeous baby!!!

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/5-14-12/rare-white-standardbred-born.html

Trying to stay Calm

Our first LD is in two days, need I say more???

OK, just one more little thing, if C and I get through this in one piece I will be on my best behavior for at least one week post ride.  Yes, patient and pleasant, even on the freeway.

Ruth- I'm going to try and get a short little ride in on Friday afternoon, do you plan on arriving early?  If so, we could let the boys get acquainted. 

Wicked Sin

Saturday night Todd and I headed down to Kelso to a "biker bar" called Hardtails.  We were there to see one of Todd's friends from high school, Damon.

Todd has mentioned before that Damon plays in a band, but I didn't realized it is a real band, (a professional one).  They're called Wicked Sin.

As we got there I was almost run over by four guys in the parking lot carrying a coffin.  Hmmm.

Anyway, although it was way past my bedtime I managed to have a great time watching the show. 

They did a lot of 80s and 90s songs and at first I thought the music was recorded, it sounded that good.  The male lead singer was wearing a kilt, (I believe it might have been a Utilikilt!).  The female lead singer had on a great outfit with feathers and high black leather boots. 

Damon is the one that looks like the lost Van Halen brother,  heee heee- and yeah its a wig:)

Here are some photos from the show- don't miss the "guest star" appearance that came all the way from California to do a few songs with the band.

                               

Condition, And Make Money on the Side

A friend at work brought this article to show me.   Just think of all the cool things you could power with a distance horse!

http://www.grit.com/animals/horses/horse-progress-days-zmgz12mjzreg.aspx