Grounded

After five wonderful years boarding my horses in the same place where I (and the horses) have enjoyed: 28 acres of beautiful pasture, a field for my jumps, an area for my small dressage court, two round pens, an enclosed area for riding, a large back field to enjoy both gallop sets and hill sprints, rail trail access, and 20+ miles of wooded trail access without needing a trailer - things are changing. And not for the good.

Back in February, I noticed many downed saplings over one of our main access trails. I agreed that they needed cleared, but I was perturbed someone had done it in a way that left them lying across the trail. That's just poor stewardship. Still, they were relatively easy to step over, so we did it. Finally, last month, I took the incentive to throw them off the side of the trail. In the back of my mind I worried someone was trying to "block" us, but not wanting to see zebras in a herd of horses, I dismissed the thought.

But then, last weekend my BO and friends went on a trail ride and reported that there are now sizeable trees that have been dropped all willy nilly over our main access trail. They're still passable, but it's not something you can do from horseback and it really takes some minced steps. As a result of this, my  BO was forced to the realization that someone really is trying to block access. This is surprising because for years the property has been a shared lease for a dozen or more folks and we've all shared the area with zero issue.

Northern part of the image is my BO's property; blue polygon encompasses all prohibited areas; southern part of image has even more trails
not shown that I also ride, but now I have no way to access them.

But now, a new guy is in town and he's somehow garnered the lease to the lands that contain ~75% of the trails I typically enjoy. In particular, his lease is situated in such a way that my access to any other developed, known trails is wholly blocked. Because not only does this guy have the lease, he's claiming that the lease "prohibits ATVs and horses" and he is not willing to negotiate. He doesn't want us back there at all.

And thus, I'm grounded. No trail riding until I move the horses to Canaan.

It's incredibly disappointing and very poor neighborly behavior, in my opinion. There are a lot of very negative things I'd love to get off my chest in relation to this, but I'm going to choose to keep them to myself. The situation sucks, no way around it. I hate being grounded to one area with fewer options after so many years of beautiful trail access.

While I will be moving the horses in the semi-near future (hopefully), I'm sad I didn't get to say goodbye to my trails in my own way on my own time. I'm also sad that I won't have the luxury of being able to haul down and train on the trails ever again. I've got a lot of history and a lot of miles on those trails. It was already bittersweet to move on to something else, but now even moreso.

Looking into the future, literally. This is the only thing we'll be riding until we move!

Birds Eye View of My Trails

Okay, so I had WAY too much fun with Google Earth and put together this ridiculous post for y'all to see the kind of terrain I ride on every day.

I use ArcGIS at work and don't spend much time on Google Earth ever. I'd forgotten how fun it could be to alter my POV on the landscape and get to see in 3D vs. 2D.

The following screenshots with my awesome Paint skillz help narrate the trails I ride and have discussed with you before. Descriptions of each screenshot will be below each photo. Enjoy!

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Beginning with the above image, you can see the pasture access the horses have, the barn, and several trails I use on the norm. It's kind of an overview of the property and its access to trails.

The haul road trail is wide enough to drive a car on. It's tougher footing because of the gravel that was laid years back when they logged the area. The top trail is wooded, wide enough for ATVs and the like. The footing is soft, though there are intermittent rocks.

The haul road has a very moderate to easy incline; no crazy up/down, just a steady incline as you travel to the right across the photo or steady down as you travel to the left across the photo. DEFINITELY a *safely* trottable incline.

The top trail has a steady, steep climb up the mountain, then some moderate ups and downs once you're on top. It slopes down at the log landing to meet the haul road, which climbs slowly and steadily to that intersection.

I use both the haul road trail and that top wooded trail to access trails further out. I like riding the wooded one more in the summer because it is much cooler due to being almost 100% shaded while the haul road is almost 100% exposure to sun.

While not shown in this image, the top trail and the haul road do intersect what used to be the main log landing area. To ride from the farm and make a loop out of these two trails is about a 3.5 mile ride. This is the loop I'll go out and do at speed no matter the weather because it is so fun.

So now, before going into the trails in more depth, let's rewind and take a better look at the pasture.

The horses have around 40 acres of pasture and they are on 24/7 turnout. There is stream access for them to drink from, though we have two troughs, too. The dotted line shows the fenceline that has a gate so we can close the horses off from being able to access the upper pasture.

The upper pasture is a ~100' elevation change and that change happens in almost as many feet. To march yourself up that hill is like climbing stairs if you do it straight up without meandering.

When I talk about "riding in the barnyard", I'm talking about riding in the grassy area to the right of the barn that is contained within that big U of yellow. It's fenced on three sides and the barn provides a good visual to create an imaginary fenceline on the fourth side. If you were to round that square area off into a circle, the circle's diameter measures almost perfectly at 100' (I've paced it out several times).

 The above is an altered view looking at the haul road and top trail. (Note that north is now located in the lower left hand corner of this image - circle in top right corner with the white dot demonstrates where north is in all photos.)

You can really see the terrain in this image! The top trail through the woods climbs up up up and levels off while the haul road winds along only a few contour lines as it weaves itself across the mountainside.

I love having the horses canter the haul road stretch if I'm traveling in the "climb" direction. Additionally, when we climb the top trail, I have them travel as fast as they can. Booty power!

The descent of the top trail is the area where I am getting off and running down with reins in hand and horse behind. Its a great little area for that.

Where the valley terminates in the upper left third of the photo is where I end up riding to after the haul road trail and top trail combine into one. That one trail meanders UP the mountain to the top of that vally. The bridge of mountain that connects the two mountains that makes the valley has phenomenal footing. Additionally, that area is where the forest makes a drastic change from successional (thick understory) to mature (open understory). I love galloping through there! It is so open and beautiful.

Where the haul road and the top trail meet at the log landing intersection, they combine and form the trail that I then climb up the mountain. This is that trail in one of its "less climby" parts. It'll climb up, level off, climb up, level off. Never very steep. It has much more incline than the haul road does, definitely, but it isn't *quite* as sustained as the climb up the top trail.

I typically have my horses trot this whole trail at a minimum. Lately we've been cantering and galloping it! Serious booty power.

The black area in the above image is the pond that accompanies the cabin we go by when we do the 10 mile loop. (The cabin is there, too, the pond is just easier to note.) 

This basin area has about a 600' elevation change from the top of the mountains down to the cabin. There are three trails that travel over that elevation change: one is VERY steep and does the elevation change in a hurry; one is steep, but not wicked; and the third is much more moderate. The middle of these options is the trail I use the most to ascend and descend. You can trot down the large majority of it, and it is a GREAT trail to make the horses canter up. Phenomenal workout as it is about 0.75 mile long with a relatively sustained incline (Saiph this is the one we ran up when you and Charles were in recently)!

All of the trails in this area are very well established, wide, have great footing, and are in mature forest with a pretty open understory. The basin area down by the cabin used to be an elk farm, though the farm died out when the economy crashed. My BO's husband's uncle owns the land now.

The whole area around this cabin is great hill training. I love it.

And finally, here is an overview shot of the terrain once I've left the barn and set out on a ride. 

You can see the haul road (the top trail is*just* out of view), the climbing trail, the cabin basin, the area right before the river valley, and the river I hope to reach. 

Remember, the elevation change from tops of mountains to cabin is ~600'. The elevation change from the high point Saiph and Charles and I reached to the bottom of the river valley is ~700'! And the area I'm going to try to find trail to get down to the river so I can play and swim with the horses descends that 700' in under a mile! Eep.

So while my Appalachians aren't as extreme as the Rockies, they're still quite steep! I do a LOT of climbing on my rides. 

I am BEYOND fortunate to have this kind of trail access from the barn. (Not to mention the rail trail, too!) It is an AMAZING training ground for endurance. AMAZING. I have all of the climbing that you'd encounter at the Old Dominion rides or any other ride in the mountainous east. I just lack the technical rocky/bouldery sections.

I hope you've enjoyed gaining a glimpse into my trail system and my horses' weekly workout realm!

Griffin: Superstar

Mike and I did a short 2-mile jaunt that was mostly walk yesterday afternoon.

Griffin. Was. A. Superstar.

He led the whole first half of the ride like a champ. Forward walk. Alert ears. Eager to be out, but 110% respectable about his excitement. He just snorted and blew air, but there was zero tenseness in his body.

The depth of the snow hit him about mid-cannon bone. No problems for the little guy!

We even did the short, steep stretch of hill I usually avoid because it is exceptionally tricky footing. Griffin had zero issues! He actually faired better than Q did on it -  much more precise and deliberate with his footfalls. This from a horse who in the past has fallen down from tripping over trot poles as we WALKED over them (after a lengthy session where he'd been w/t/c on the lunge over them...) last summer! I was so impressed.

By and large though, the best part about the 2-mile jaunt through the woods was his willingness to trust and listen to me through tricky, sticky places.

I absolutely LOVE that he is A-OK with me leaning down onto his neck to pass under low branches. Even when we have to weave between low branches, which involves me leaning down over his neck and steering him around. He was SO responsive. Q struggled with me leaning down in this manner when we first started exploring new, messy trails together. The fact that Griffin is completely accepting of it thrills me beyond words.

Looking toward their field and the barn; standing atop the hill I do sprint workouts on

Happy horses in their halter-bridles I tied.

When we turned to come home, Q led until we'd reached the main property. Griffin was happy to follow along for a bit. He was much more gentlemanly about things for once, making very few attempts to playfully nip at Q to incite play. This was really encouraging as the distinction between play time and riding time has been blurred for him. His play-tactics under saddle aren't aggressive or over-strong, so I've never really noted them or been greatly concerned. It is nice, however, to observe him moving beyond this.

We trotted and cantered up the big hill as we returned. Griffin led the way down it, not jigging at all after the short speed session we had. Q always jigs. And after we crossed the creek there is another very short hill that I always canter Q up (about 4-5 strides of canter and you're at the top); I asked Griffin to canter it this time. He executed the hill with a very nice, balanced canter, slowing appropriately at the top to walk the remaining 100 yards to the barn. GOOD BOY.

I am so happy with this little guy. SO happy.

"No big deal," says Griffin.

Little Grey Horse Rides 5 Miles

I've been struck with a little bit of fortune lately. Mike, my ski patrol coworker who helped to assess Gunner (who by the way is now sporting the new name Tempest), and I have similar days off scheduled in the future. A confident rider who is also local and also willing to ride in all weather = riding buddy for Liz! Which means...Griffin AND Q can be ridden at the same time!

I know I previously stated I'd only ride Griffin in the round pen throughout the month of December and potentially January, too, but these goals were made with the assumption I would be working alone without a riding buddy. The option of a confident, capable rider on an experienced horse to help lead Griffin along (and fix me up if I get banged up from coming off) changes things considerably!

Sunday was a beautiful dreary, rainy, windy, and cold day for our first outing. My buddy Matt was stateside from Germany and was able to come, too.

Once we'd brought the horses inside, Griffin began pitching one of his royal little fits. He'd been kind of punchy while Mike led him in from the field, too, but it escalated to a whole new level in the barn. Kid wanted his grain and he wanted it NOW. He was bouncing up and down where he was tied in a very collected crow hop. He reared some, bounced some more, and grunted as he did it all.

This was not what I wanted to see on a day I planned to ride him outside of a confined area! I held off giving him his grain and took him immediately into the round pen and sent him to work. I asked for a trot and he gave the most collected of canters around me. I worked with what he offered and asked him for a lot of directional changes. He eventually settled into a trot, calming considerably once in this gait. He tried hard within the 5 minute session, so I ended on a good note and then gave him his grain. Night and day difference in his behavior before and after that little session.

Mike and I got all three horses tacked up. I put both Q and Griffin in rope halter-bridle rigs since they're both calmer in them and then three of us, Matt, Mike and I, headed out on Little Bit, Q, and Griffin, respectively.

Mike rode Q in his Australian stock saddle and she was a doll for him. I requested that they lead the bulk of the ride because Q is so experienced. I had a lot of fun watching her go under Mike's direction. It was really nice to be able to watch her way of going on the trail. She's such a good girl.

Grffin was stellar almost the whole ride. He had one borderline angsty moment when we had to cross under the first low branches, but beyond that, he was great! A little suspicious of the color contrast of light bouncing off puddles, but always forward and willing.

The biggest "issue" I encountered with Griffin on trail was when he became a bit spooky over a hunting shack in the woods. It is situated above the trail, which does give it a kind of ominous, looming presence. Griffin was convinced this structure might attack him and became very alert about it, picking up pace as he tried to motor on by while giving it his undivided attention. I talked to him and we got by without a problem.

By the end of the ride, all the horses had taken a turn at leading the ride. Griffin led the tail end of the ride very confidently, and I only had to dismount one time to walk him around an upturned tree that had him bothered. I was really pleased with him for this. He was observant of suspicious things, but he reasoned through everything and kept a nice forward pace. The only thing that earned a spook out of him was a grouse that flushed out of the brush and flew off. Even this earned only the smallest of spooks in comparison to what Q would have done! I'm loving this little grey horse!

While my GPS didn't work for the ride (clouds causing issue, I suspect), I've done this route prior and am fairly confident that we did right around 5 miles. I have no idea how long it took us, but it was probably about an hour. I'd say 75% of the ride was at a walk, 20% at a trot, and 5% at a canter (all cantering was done in short bursts on uphill sections).

I think one of the biggest keys to Griffin's stellar behavior on this ride was the rope halter-bridle. The bosal/side-pull action of this doesn't trigger any sort of outburst from him like the bit does. He understand pressure from this much better than the bit/bridle. I think future trail riding with our chaperone Mike will be done with this set up. I'll continue to work with Griffin in the bridle in confined areas, with hope of extending this work to the trail in the spring.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Griffin's behavior on the trail. Having an experienced horse and rider to chaperone is a huge luxury and a great training opportunity for the little grey horse. Its just what we need to get started on work away from home.

Little man also got to sport the brand new Zilco breastplate on his first outing on our trails!

Product and Gear Review from Fort Valley

I was able to put several things into use for realz at this ride that I'd only been using in practice prior. And, because nothing can ever go as planned, I did use a couple things *for the first time ever* at this ride - very blasphemous to the usual endurance rider motto of "nothing new on race/ride day!"


Equine Aid

Well, I FINALLY got to put this stuff to the test. Numerous bloggers have had contests for this stuff over the past several months. I never outright won a contest, but Equine Aid did send me a small sample to try despite not winning! A rather wonderful thing to do, in my opinion.

I had two packets of the stuff to try and had been awaiting my ride to use it. I never stall my horses unless its some requirement for rehab of an injury. They're turned out 24/7 on 20 or 40 acres depending upon if we close off the top pasture, so not an ideal situation with which to test the product.

I set up a tub of water for Q with the Equine Aid and a bucket of regular water at the ride. This little mare doesn't drink a lot in camp and never has. I hoped to rectify this considering we had 50 miles to complete!

Unfortunately, for Q at least, this product just didn't cut it. She actually stayed away from the tub with the Equine Aid until it was her only option. As soon as she was presented with a bucket of "clean" water she went back to it as her first option. I guess if its not a muddy puddle or stream in the woods, this little mare just isn't interested. Bummer because I still need to figure out how to get her to drink better in camp!

Wearing the boots here.

Dublin Pinnacle boots
I've lusted after some sort of fall riding boot (I have a boot obsession) for awhile. At the No Frills ride in April Jen had these on. I'd previously seen them worn in some of Karen Chaton's photos of endurance friends on Facebook and thought, If these ladies who ride 1000s of miles in a season are wearing these boots they've got to be pretty kickass. Seeing them in person on Jen had me completely convinced I needed them!

The $200 price tag wasn't too steep either. They were reputed to be waterproof, too. Sounded great to me! A perfect fall/spring boot at the barn.

I finally bought them (for $178 instead of $200 thankyouverymuch) in September. The smallest size they make is a 6 and they're still big on me! I had to get an insole to help out with the little bit of roominess in these boots. Perfect for thicker socks though, I reckon!

I. Love. Them.

I'd tested them a little here and there during the month prior to the ride, but I really got to test that waterproof claim out on the ride when we crossed that stream that I had to walk across! My feet were only wet from the water that sloshed OVER my boot top. Other than that? Dry! I'd call that a success.

Kerrits Flo-rise Performance riding tight
A rider at the Ride Between the Rivers ride this year was wearing a pair of these at dinner. I was smitten right then and there. They looked SO comfortable and breathable and happy. The perfect summer riding tight around here. She couldn't recall which ones they were when I asked other than "Kerrits".

I set to searching the internet to try to figure out which ones they were and decided they were likely the Flo-rise tight. Shopping with Saiph at the end of September I FOUND THEM. And they were really affordable at ~$55. I was very excited.

They're SO COMFORTABLE. I could probably sleep in them. I tend to walk around town in my riding stuff as is, so its sort of bad that I now have a part of tights I don't want to take off...like ever.

Equipedic Pad
Well, this was a bit of a last minute ohshitIneedapad decision.Catherine had a spare and it was similar to my Toklat pad in that it had inserts along the horse's spine.

It worked wonderfully. No weird rubbing. No back soreness. Nothing. Just as if we'd ridden with the pad we were used to! I'm definitely filing this information away for next time I go shopping for a pad.

Sponge leash
As opposed to the retractable dog leash I had been using (the size that a toy-sized dog would have).

A sponge leash?! you ask. Yes. This was my first time dealing with something non-retractable. It got caught under my knee a lot as we moved out and I constantly had to fix it. Not the end of the world, no, but definitely annoying. I may have to find a different place on my saddle for it in the future.

Electrolyting
Well, I elyted Q. And honestly, I'm not sure it made a huge difference. Granted, this was a cooler temp ride, so I'll have to try this again in hotter weather.

Mary is the queen of elyting and her horses drink like camels all the time. I've never witnessed horses who drink so well! I figured I had to try.

Next season I'm going to use the same mixture she does and see how things go.

Overall, not a bad go of it for some first timers!

Boots, pad, and tights featured in this photo.
Go, Q, Go!

a last hurrah

Our riding club got together the past weekend for one last hurrah trail ride before winter sinks in. About 20 of us set out on the trail Saturday morning. We started at the river and climbed the mountain to the almost-top, stopped for lunch, and then descended back to the campground we were basing out of.

Seeing folks I hadn’t seen lately, and riding with folks I hadn’t ridden with in weeks/months/years was really a treat. The day was overcast and a little breezy, but the chances of rain were minimal. The trees weren’t quite at peak, but a lot of rusts and golds still cling to the trees. It was still beautiful. West Virginia autumns always are.

I was exceptionally excited for this ride because it was in an area that I have always dreamed of riding. The time I’ve owned Q has really opened a lot of doors for riding places I’d always dreamed about. Its been such a treat finally getting to experience these places on horseback. Many of them are places I’m familiar with through hiking and various work through the years. This mountain was no exception.

I’d spent the entire summer of 2009 working on the mountain we rode last weekend. It’s close to home, too, and I’d grown up playing and hiking most of the trails. I know most of the Forest Service roads up there rather intimately from my summer 2008 job with the Forest Service (that job is the biggest reason I have an intimate understanding of so many FS roads and the trail systems within the Mon. Forest).

The trails we road were a mix of FS roads, old logging roads (circa early 1900s), and a few game trails to link adjacent roads. Steep and rocky, beautiful and fun. No more of a challenge than the trails on the endurance ride, really. Q was more than up for it.

I booted her all around in anticipation of the rocks. I think we slid a little more than she would have barefoot on the leaves due to the boot plastic, but nothing too crazy. The leaves were very thick on the forest floor. I’d reckon to say that ~75% of them have fallen.

Overall, I was very proud of Q through the whole ride. She’s still a bit mare-ish about horses running up her butt, but nothing crazy. She had a few moments where she became exceedingly worried about all activity around her and had a little skitter-fest. One of my good friends, the area’s equine vet, even noticed and we laughed at Q for being a spazz.  Truly though, I hope to figure out what triggers her concern and remedy the problem for her. She never put me in danger by behaving in such a manner, but I’d like for her to be able to work through and overcome things better so she doesn’t have to be distressed.

She took care of me through the whole ride though and out-performed all my expectations for her.

• When bush-wacking (minor) up a hill to link two trail-roads, she took my cue to move away from the other horses and skillfully navigated through the trees at a canter, breaking through onto the road above like it was nothing. She promptly dropped her head to eat, totally unconcerned with all the crashing going on as people plowed through the woods behind us.
• We deviated from the beaten path to drop off a short, steep incline as the terrain below appeared better. She tucked her hind legs underneath and slid down the short incline per Man From Snowy River. I was nearly lying on her back due to the steepness! Upon reaching the bottom we found it to be quite rocky under all those leaves. Soccer ball-sized stones. Tricky, tricky footing. I gave her her head and let her work her way back up the slope a little further down. She stumbled a moment into the side of the hill; I took this moment to step off and let her take the last three or four tricky steps on her own.
• At the very end of the ride we had yet another short, steep incline to reach the point of crossing on the river. She took this slower, and more precisely than the former hill. This resulted in my saddle slipping forward onto her neck and putting me immediately in a very tricky position. I didn’t know HOW to get off safely without spooking Q or hurting one of us. It was NOT a good place for this to happen! Apparently, Q’s back leg was also caught up in a stick (per the account of a friend behind me). She’d lifted the leg high, high, high to get it over the stick. She didn’t spook over that sensation coupled with me + saddle on her neck. She situated her feet, got stable, and then turned uphill into a safer position so I could dismount and fix everything. GOOD GIRL, Q!!!!!
  
• Finally, at the river crossing our biggest yet, she was a super star. She let me guide her to the least-deep section that still came up to her belly. I had to take my feet out of the stirrups to avoid wet boots! The bottom was cobbled river stone and a likely a little slick in places. She picked her way carefully and I giggled the whole time. It was just a too cool ending to the day.
• And then, all through the night she stood stoically tied to the trailer like a champ. Even with a small crowd of rowdy drunks and a campfire being ~20 feet from her location, she was unbothered and relaxed. Such a good girl!!

You can see where her belly and chest are wet from the deeper water!

A great end ride to the season. We had a blast. I’m so happy with my little horse and grateful that she stumbled into my life when she did.

Summer Equine Fun

The prodigal son has returned!  Or rather, my brother is finally home from Europe.  More understanding and tolerant of other nations and people, more cultured, more respecting of the world, and a little more sad upon having to leave his first girlfriend on the other side of the ocean.  Buts its okay, the internet and phones make it easy to keep in contact.

To get his mind off things I took him horseback riding with Carly and I last night.  He had a lot of fun.  So horses are healing for boys too it seems!  Haha.  It was exciting for me to see him enjoy it so much, and yesterday was the first time Orion nickered in greeting when he saw me!

This afternoon I went to Angie's to watch/help Doc Cromer with some teeth floating and a minor surgery to a horse's stifle.  It was educational and I had fun.

Later Carly and I spent several hours clearing trail while we rode.  It took forever - and kind of sucked to be quite frank - but it'll be awesome to fly through the trails later on.  I also learned that Orion's teeth are every bit as awful as the horse we floated earlier in the day.  He's going to be seven in August and he's never had his teeth done.  It needs done - badly and soon.  He's in a lot of pain when he eats and its why he can't put on the weight he should - or at least the only reason we've figured out thus far.  I'm excited to get it fixed and get his weight where it should be.

Tomorrow and Wednesday Orion and I will be taking some solo rides with some music since I got a speaker for my ipod.  Makes it even more fun to have music to jam out to.  So peaceful getting out there with my boy.

 Thursday we're riding the horses to my house to bathe them and may spend the night and just ride back the next day.  Its going to be fun to bathe the horses and a dream come true since I was really little to ride a horse to my house/around my neighborhood.  I'm really looking forward to it!