Wimberley Wayfarer

I always mean to blog about my rides and I never manage to actually get it done till it's kind of over with.  I will start with the end of the story where I talk about how sore I am, but not tired this time and wish that I could figure out a way not to be so muscle sore. Please send suggestions! I'm not miserable like I was last fall at Robber's Route, but I still need to figure out what I need to do about the muscle soreness. I think the answer may be working out at the gym and trying to take some equitation lessons. More on this later.

I had the pleasure of getting to ride with Jennifer Masters this weekend. She had said that she wanted to ride alone earlier in the week so I was going to go out in the back by myself. But, after a series of trail mishaps which kept bringing us back together, she decided that riding together was OK. I let her go first on all the obstacles because she said her horse does better that way. It was fine with me. I need to practice going second, or last or whatever, since Liberty isn't very patient.  This didn't go well the first day, but the second day he was more attentive while we waited.  we had lots of opportunity to trot fast and canter. I can tell that his recent adjustment has put the sparkle back in Liberty as he never offered to buck or spook or misbehave in any way.  I could not have had a better weekend.  At the end of the weekend we were second in Horsemanship and First in Horse.  We had respectable scores with some stupidity points for restlessness that would have been  a killer in a bigger class...but at the end of the day, I'll take it. Management did a great job of taking care of everything. the food was great, the company fine! Well done!

Real Life NATRC skills

Maggie and I rode to the park from our pasture where the horses live today.  It's a little under a mile to get there, but I have a serious phobia about riding on the street so we have never done it.  Today I walked Liberty in hand down the street, which gave us both a nice walk. I found that I walked faster on the ground than we do sometimes with me on him. In the park we made several winding trips on many different trails, but I'm sure we didn't ride many miles. It was challenging terrain however. Several steep, washed out downhills and some places we had to back out of because there was nowhere to go and nowhere to turn around. I even had to dismount and move some debris so we could get through in a few spots. It was actually quite challenging.  On the way home, we found another way out and I managed to keep my nerves of asphalt and city streets under control. I was able to ride all the way home. I discovered that Liberty will sidepass off the rode nicely and he doesn't spook at cars...just people in the bushes and weedeaters, lol.

Long day

I had a great plan for my day. I had one client to see and then the farrier was coming and maggie and I were going to go riding. But then I had to take the suburban to the shop and the afternoon floated by in a stream of lunch and goodwill shopping and them more waiting for the truck. In retrospect we should have worked in a pedicure in the hour we spent waiting in Milt's for the truck.

The news is mixed. The Immediate problem is fixed but we have a couple thousand dollars in repairs for oil leaks to fix over the next six months. Nothing is immediate but it all has to be done. The parts aren't expensive but labor is high. The truck is leaking from the front and rear main seals, the oil pan, the valve cover gaskets, the rear pinion and then a separate repair to the transfer case. Fortunately it's an older truck and my mechanic says he can rebuild it himself rather than sending it to a transmission shop.

I asked the question of whether or not i should just buy a new truck but the realization that I would have to spend a lot money to get a truck nice enough to avoid the repairs I'm going through makes me realize that paid for is better. And I don't have to fix it this minute so I have time to prepare for the inevitable.

The day has been topped off with a repair to a flat trailer tire. End result no work out and no riding. Unless trimming fiera's back feet counts as my work out.

Alice Yovich
Sent from my iPhone

Playing with Ponies

Tonight, I decided to play in the field with the horses. Oly has some serious water issues, and since we had a ton of rain yesterday, I thought it was a good day to practice ponds and water stuff. He started out jumping huge jumps over the water and ended up walking through puddles that frightened him in the beginning. It wasn't perfect, but he was sending through the water by the end of about 20 minutes.  I did it with treats.  Every time he would step in the water, he got a treat. He caught on fast.  And like everything he does, he's so sensible and reasonable.  He never got upset and he was happy to try with the water over and over until he figured out what I wanted. What a good boy. 

Then we went into the pasture and practiced trot out. He was so awesome to jog with. I practiced jogging and stopping and jogging some more.  I finally turned him loose and he jogged and stopped with him, even though he wasn't in a halter or lead rope. It was so cute. He seems to really like being with me and I'm happy b/c I love being with him.

So, then I took Fiera out into the pasture to the same spot to work on the same thing. I know that she is a baby, but she is NOT as reasonable as he is.  She is bossy and witchy when you push her to do something that she doesn't want to do. She is NOT scared of water, but she sure doesn't want to go through it. And when I use a whip, she is not OK with it. She gets mad!  She did finally go through a short, shallow bit of water, but it took a lot of work and she was really pissed.  I took her jogging in the pasture after the training too, and she really moves out.  She is so smart, but I think she uses her intelligence for evil. she's not quite three, so I know part of it is just how old she is, but I'm not sure I'm tough enough to make this work...but I'm going to keep doing the work and pushing her to be the good girl I know that she can be.

Liberty had a free pass tonight. I fed him and groomed him and loved him a lot, but he didn't have to do any work.  I love that horse!