wrapping things up ~ 5th and final in the winter trail course series

After four days of rain, the final trail course day came - and so did the sun! Thank goodness for well-draining outdoor arena's!! It was a gorgeous day to be outside!

Altho Koda's heel bruise is much better, I did not take him to the competition. We've barely ridden at the trot, and not loped for weeks. It wouldn't be fair to ask him to ride for hours, and risk setting him back. The kind hosts offered sharing their accomplished seasoned horse Chance, but I even turned riding that beautiful boy down. My lower back is in bad shape after trying to get the borrowed Back on Track boot off Koda. Sigh. My back woe's have come and gone for years, I should have known better...however, I turned my lemons into lemonade and shot photos of the event!!  

Chance

Beautiful Friesian cross

April Trail Course:
Start: Gate, left hand push, Walk through gate and close
Back through L poles, walk out over pole
Jog through serpentine, over four poles (small letter h shape)
Lope over wagon wheel poles (four poles) right lead
Lope to side pass pole, stop, side pass right over pole
Walk to pole, side pass left over pole
Jog to and over poles (one single pole, turn over three)
Walk over bridge and over poles
Lope over two poles in left lead and into house
Perform a 360 turn either direction, walk out of house
Walk to and over four elevated criss cross logs
Exit arena

Brad & Cierra over the criss cross logs

Jogging over the h shaped poles

Chance stopping in the house

Getting ready to side pass

Snapshot of how our horses did:

Cierra: She was quiet, but uncharacteristically distracted and unfocused. Our trainer thought Cierra was coming into heat. Somehow when it came time to ride the scored course, she pulled her focus together and took first with our trainer!

Patty & Cierra loping the wagon wheel

Nemo: What can I say but he was very Nemo, nothing out of the wonderful ordinary to share. He placed third with Brad!

Brad & Nemo practicing

It was a very different experience to be an observer. I really don't have a good sense of how the course was, altho I heard it was tough. Saw a lot of improvement, but no super clean courses. Chance competes (and wins) in trail, and even he had trouble spots. Attending numbers were down, only eight course's competed (hosts scores don't count). With six places, every rider went home with a goodie bag - which is nice. Altho we all felt kinda bad about the turn-out for the hosts, and can't figure out why there aren't more people attending?! It is such a welcoming friendly learning environment, with all different levels of riding capabilities and disciplines. It's fun to see how much every horse & rider improves! They mentioned starting the trail competition up again in November. You can bet we will be there! 

These cuties didn't compete, but they stole the show

High Point winners
(Cierra) Kris, Brad, and Patty (on Nemo)

Our trainer Patty took home Highpoint, a pretty embroidered halter. Brad tied for second, and gave the embroidered Reserve hay bag to Kris. He opted for a nice set of polo wraps! Well-deserved congrats goes out to these three great riders!! We wrapped up the series with a potluck, and headed home with forever kinda memories. 

tick tock tick tock

Time. It's guaranteed in life to move on, doesn't matter if you want it to or not. Typically allowing for both good and not so good things. This year Spring finds me in a holding pattern, watching the calendar more then ever.

A lot has to do with waiting for Koda's bruise to heal. I can't really ride, or work on the things we were beginning to make progress on...one step forward, two steps back. Sigh. Last week he did show improvement, and wasn't nearly as sore. A good thing.

The last trail challenge is Saturday. I really wanted to compete - one last time - together with my boy. It didn't help that the organizer sent me a message letting me know I have a chance at a high point prize, if I place higher then Brad again. They are also a riding couple, who can relate to our fun. Koda & I aren't doing any show circuits, so this is likely it for us this year. The competition is not remotely about prizes, or even winning. I wanted to see if Koda & I could succeed together again as a team, or if it was just luck. I really enjoyed the camaraderie, and growth the trail series fostered. I learned a ton, and even surpassed my goals. Who wouldn't want more?

The real show season begins in May. Watching everyone else ride is not nearly as much fun. I love supporting others, shooting pictures, and helping with stall duty - but being a bystander is not the same. Missing out on our last trail competition is a not so good thing.

WI high point winner

Midwest Horse Fair is 9 days away, but who's counting. I'm always anxious what we will find, learn, see and experience. This year we are looking forward to what Jim Anderson (a new clinician to us) is all about. I would also be interested in learning from Jim Masterson, but doubt my other half will agree to lectures, but maybe his hands-on presentation? We will try to catch more of what Double Dan has to share, and probably sit in on one of Pat Parelli's performances clinics, among many others. Our daughters friend is participating in the eventing clinics, hoping to watch her. We try to attend Fair with a plan, but with so many things going on at the same time, plans inevitably change.

Jessica Blair

The Friday night rodeo is always a highlight for us! We enjoy watching the brave cowboys, in suspense. My favorite trick riders are back, as well as the funny clown from last year. Click, click, click, click, click. It's the only time I tote my big camera at Fair. We gave up on the lame-o Saturday night performances a long time ago. We have several planned stops to make throughout the exhibition. By far the most exciting is, my new custom saddle should be done! I'm anxious to see and feel it. All good things.

In addition to horse this & that, my gardens are springing into action and begging for attention, it's outdoor photo time again and I have never ending behind the scenes work in progress, there is a baby boom happening around me, our search for a new place to call home continues etc...somewhere in between the madness, I'm hopeful a lot of peaceful trail riding occurs...a mix of good and not so good things. In other words life.

Time is like a river.

You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.

Enjoy every passing moment of life! 

~ author unknown

Easy Boot quick recommendation needed

Anyone out there have an Easy Boot (or other) recommendation to share?

I need to order a pair of boots for Koda asap. I'm hoping the boots can be used for light arena riding while his bruise heals up, and later on for trail riding on rocky terrain.

These are the two I am considering:

TRANSITION: https://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/easyboot_transition/easyboot_transition.aspx

BACK COUNTRY: https://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/easyboot_glove_backcountry/easyboot_glove_backcountry.aspx

If you use boots, what kind do you use for your horses? Thanks in advance!

teachings of a bruise

Towards the end of a long sunny arena ride, more layers of understanding were revealed. The kind you wish you knew all along, but apparently weren't ready for in the learning process...I thought I felt it. Was Koda short striding? Nah. Just my imagination. 

Several days passed before we rode again. Early on in our ride I felt it, altho once again very subtle. I asked Brad if he could see that Koda was off. Nope. Then I asked our trainer to watch us before riding Cierra. After a hard look, she wasn't sure and asked to ride Koda. I watched them go intently, hmmm...you couldn't see it, but I know what I felt. Subtle or not. It wasn't long after I began riding again, it became obvious. Koda was short striding. I hopped off to untack. We would start by having the farrier check Koda's left front. 

To make a long story shorter, after some stretch testing etc it was determined that Koda has a bruise on the heel of his frog (more on the outer, then inner). The farrier didn't think it was an abscess, but suggested treating it similar for a couple days and continue light riding with no tight circles.

I am so glad I was able to be at the barn, to learn first hand from the farrier. You see, this is my first time dealing with lameness on my own horse. Koda has rock solid Appy feet, but even those can have problems too. Apparently this type of bruise is common. It can happen from their back foot kicking the front foot, while running across the field or simply from getting up from a roll.

Instead of soaking, we wrapped poultice. I learned to wrap Koda's foot. My husband and daughter have always done the foot care on our other horses. They know much more about horse care then I do. I've always been a bystander, guess I'm fortunate to be surrounded by knowledgeable people. Koda pulled the wrap off on more then one occasion, so I'm not sure how effective the treatment was. I was pretty proud of myself that the couple times I wrapped, they stayed on! 

Our rides were very short and consisted of walking, and a little trotting. With the added flexion he would begin short striding again, which ended our rides. I'm more inclined to give him time off, but all the powers that be suggest continued light riding. He is getting a mix of both. His foot certainly doesn't bother him when he's tearing across the field!

Four days passed, and the farrier checked Koda again. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be at the barn this time, so we discussed his findings on the phone. He still thinks it's a bruise, that will just take time to heal. No more wrapping. We talked about giving Koda complete time off. Instead he suggested even lighter riding with more frequency, and to try using a boot while riding. I borrowed one last night, and Koda seemed a little better. If needed, we will reevaluate in 10 days.  

Pretty bummed that I most likely will not be able to ride in the last Trail Competition. Oh well, I'm more concerned that Koda heals up in time for the trail riding season that is rapidly approaching. Hoping this is a minor setback...that among other things is teaching me patience. 

Trail Riding, 2014