Lost? Nah. I just don’t know how far it is!

This ride actually took place on Saturday September 26, and it’s taken me this long to write it up!

My friend and fellow MMESAR member, Melissa, brought her TWH mare over so she could ride with Zephyr and me.  She thought she knew what she was getting into, but maybe she should have talked with my friend Kerry first.

First things first… I booted Zephyr on the front feet, and left him barefoot behind.  He’s still wearing Size 2 Gloves on the front, but they’re starting to fit a lot better in the heel now that I’m getting his hoof flares back under control.  Also, now that they’re a little broken in, I’m able to get the gaiters fastened tightly straight across!  Some of you may remember how hard I’ve struggled with that.

See how nice and tight they are?

I was running late and couldn’t find my windbreaker, but it was so sunny and warm that I figured I’d be ok without it.  We headed out on the one trail that leads straight off my property.  The trail is a little rough but I love the two stream crossings, it’s a great chance to get the horses to drink.  And they always do, even though it’s just a few minutes after leaving home.

After a nice uphill stretch on a paved road, a long camp road, and a nice grassy trail, we came to the start of my Orrington trail loop.  It’s part of the 107 snowmobile trail, maintained by the Bucksport snowmobile club.  Unfortunately, a lot of ATV riders use it, so it’s plenty rocky!  Melissa says rocks sure do grow well around these here parts.

The view is worth it, though!

After a short while, we turned right onto the Orrington Snowmobile Club trails, which I don’t know as well as I know my normal loop.  I wanted to finally make it all the way to the top of King’s Mountain… last fall I made it most of the way before having to turn back because it was getting dark.

The trails were much less rocky and much better maintained, but I had forgotten how steep some of the latter part was!  I like this second shot, for some reason it makes me laugh.

Right after this shot was taken, I looked down and realized one of the gaiter screws was missing from the side of Zephyr’s left hoof boot.  Whoops!  I checked the other boot, and one of those was loose, so I tightened it with my nail clippers.  I really must put my multi-tool in my everyday saddle packs!!

The beginning of the steep stuff:

Look how beautiful the trails were!

We popped out on top of King’s Mountain and were treated to a lovely view of Bangor/Brewer/Orrington.

I told Melissa that we had two choices.  First, we could turn around and go back the way we had come, but it was pretty rough and I was already missing one boot screw and was afraid I’d soon be missing more… I just couldn’t tighten them well enough with the end of my nail clippers.  Second, we could continue straight and “connect the dots” between where we were and my (somewhat shorter) existing Orrington loop… that would result in mostly road riding (paved and dirt) and would be easier to go boot-less if I had to.  I confessed that I wasn’t sure exactly how far it was, but insisted that I was sure of the route.  We agreed to continue forward. 

When we came out to the paved road down the other side of King’s Mountain, we got an even nicer view!

Right about this point, I turned to Melissa and said, “Have you ever had a moment where you suddenly thought, I have just made the wrong choice?”  We laughed about it but kept going.  Halfway down the King’s Mountain road I decided to remove the boots, as they were making a weird clunking sound and I was afraid they were affecting his way of going.  Unfortunately my packs were too small to stow the boots, so Melissa was kind enough to make room for them in her pack.

When we got to the bottom of the paved road, it was 3:45pm.  I turned to Melissa and offered one more choice… we could turn right and follow that paved road to my house, or we could turn left and connect the dots to my shorter Orrington loop.  We agreed that the traffic on my road was too fast and that the light would be fading soon enough to make it not safe for riding.  Left we went.

We were only on the busy road for a quarter-mile or so before we turned onto a private dirt road named Swett’s Pond Road.  It crossed under a set of power lines, and although I had planned to continue to Betts Road (the farthest reaches of my previous Orrington loop), I was unable to resist this “shortcut”.  I had looked at my GPS and couldn’t see Betts Road on it, so I didn’t know how far it was, and was starting to get nervous that it was farther away than I’d thought.  The power lines seemed like a safer choice.

We followed it for a while until we crossed a second set of power lines, which seemed to point more directly towards home.  So we went that way until we were stopped by both an un-crossable river and the sound of gunshots!  It would have been ok if it was just one gunshot now and then, but it was obviously someone target-shooting quite nearby.  I don’t know whether Peek/Melissa were reacting to the sound, but I flinched every time and it was making Zephyr nervous.  We might have opted to turn around even without the un-crossable river, and even if we were covered in blaze orange (which we weren’t)!

When we got back to Swett’s Pond Road, we stopped and asked someone in their yard how far it was to Betts Road.  They thought it was about a mile, so off we went. 

The rocks on the dirt road got pretty big, and I stopped to put Zephyr’s boots back on again.  He was then able to trot, and we made up some time.

We rode for a while, then a while longer, then a while after that.  Eventually the road we were on turned to pavement.  We kept riding.  We asked someone how far it was to Betts Road, and they told us “about a mile”.  Oh NO.  We finally did see a light at the end of the tunnel as it became clear that we were riding around the far end of Swett’s Pond.  Surely Betts Road would be on the far side of the pond.

We rode for a while longer before we finally got to turn left onto Betts Road, which in my memory was dirt.

It was paved.  Oh NO.  That’s right, I had forgotten there was a long stretch of pavement before Betts turned to dirt!

We did get to see some nice scenery though. 

Note the towers on the hill in the center of this shot (and the far right on the shot above)… you’ve seen them before… ohhhhh NOOOOO!  Did we really come all that way farther around from there?  It was 5:30pm at this point.  I was starting to get really cold in my T-shirt, and wishing I’d at least opted for my usual long-sleeve polypropylene shirt.  The sun was low in the sky, and would be setting in another 2 hours.  We had been riding since around 1pm.  It was DEFINITELY time to make tracks for home!

Just about that time, I looked down and realized that BOTH hoof boots were now missing their left-side gaiter screw.  Oh darn.  Well, they were staying put for now, so off we went.

We trotted most of the way along Betts Road.  Eventually it DID turn to dirt, and unfortunately I made a couple of wrong turns that cost us probably another 20-30 minutes before we ended up on the right trail home… which AGAIN was longer and rockier than I’d remembered.  I was glad Zephyr still had his boots on.

Finally, we came out on a trail that was familiar from earlier in the day.  It was twilight as we cantered up a long rocky slope.  A short distance up the hill, Zephyr’s hoof boots started making a very odd noise and he started to hop.  When I looked down I realized that the right hoof boot (with the old style gaiter) had come off his hoof, spun around, and was riding on the front of his hoof upside down.  The boot with the new style gaiter, which if you recall had lost one of its screws much earlier in the ride, was still in place.  Interesting test, with interesting results!  I got off and removed both boots, and Melissa stuffed them back in her pack for the rest of the trip home.  Luckily, the rest of the way was going to be along the side of the road, so Zephyr would be fine barefoot.

In fact, he was better than fine.  He boogied down that 2-mile paved road (all downhill) doing a rack or foxtrot the whole time!  He almost never does that for so long at once, and I was thrilled to discover that he had enough energy left.  He really needs to be “up” to do it, and ever since our last endurance ride in July I really haven’t ridden him much at all.  Melissa’s mare was pretty well pooped out, so Zephyr and I would ride ahead, then stop and wait, then ride ahead again.  You should have seen the Gaited Grin on my face!  He was REALLY smooth and pretty fast too!

When we made the turn onto the last paved road before the woods trail to home, it was really getting dark.  I was glad I had the reflective strap around my helmet.  There weren’t many cars, but their headlights were bright enough against the dark to blind us momentarily when they passed.

We knew it would be pitch black in the woods, so as we turned onto the trail for home, Melissa got out her headlamp and put the batteries in it.  (She stores it without batteries to make them last longer.)  I was glad she had it, not to help the horses see the trail, but to alert me to branches in my face!  Zephyr and I were in the lead, and he walked along quickly no matter how twisty/rocky/root-covered the trail got.  He never hesitated, not even for the go-rounds around downed trees.  But there were a lot of low-hanging branches, and the brief flashes of Melissa’s headlamp were enough to keep me ducking at the right times.

We crossed both streams easily, though it turned out that Peek pulled a front shoe as she crossed the second stream right onto my lawn. Bummer!  But at least we were all done then!

When we got home it was 7:30 and full-on dark.  We had ridden for 6.5 hours (30 minutes longer than I took to ride the 2007 Pine Tree 50-mile endurance ride!) and gone a little over 20 miles according to the GPS.  Melissa and I both agreed, though, that despite the cold, the dark, and the beginnings of some real hunger, we had both had a wonderful time and would always remember this unique ride.

Ride/Walk on the Wild Side!

The first annual “Walk on the Wild Side” walk/bike/ride-a-thon at the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands was a huge success! My neighbor Mary and I staffed the Mile Four “aid station” and had a lot of fun with our theme of Maple Syrup.  I cooked all day Saturday… Maple-Mustard Chicken, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Spiced Maple Sauce, New Orleans Maple Coleslaw, Maple Glazed Pumpkin Donuts, Maple Granola, and Mary brought four kinds of quick breads… maple walnut, apple, banana, and something else.  I even had a 2-burner propane stove to keep the hot food hot.  We decorated with brightly-colored maple tree foliage.  Our station was very well received!  (Those are rhythm bead necklaces you see hanging from the corner of the canopy.  More on those later.)

The first visitors were my friends Lysh and Meg.  Meg came all the way from PA for this!  (Just kidding, she’s from PA but was visiting Lysh.)  The palomino mare is Zandy, and the chestnut gelding is Buddy.

Lysh was bound and determined not to get off, so that she wouldn’t have to get back on, but I coaxed her into it by reminding her of all the food I’d brought… and showing her the stepstool I’d brought for re-mounting!  Her excuses disappeared.  Sadly, so did mine… apparently she’s never letting me get away with serving her franks and beans again!

 

The people came in bunches after that, from both the North Gate and the South Gate, at pretty much the same time.  I think over the 2 hours we got over 100 people, but I’ll have to wait and hear the official tally.  This group had 3 horseback riders and probably 6 people on foot/bikes.  The horses dug right into the hay and water.  One of the riders accepted my offer of a tie-rope in a tree.

When they were just settling in, the next group of two riders arrived.   One of these accepted my offer of a halter AND a tie-rope in a tree!  She was pretty surprised I had brought halters to lend.  I just figure that’s good service!

 

I didn’t get any more pictures when the next couple of groups came through, because it was so busy!  No time for a little thing like pictures.  I got LOTS of compliments on the food.

The food was pretty much gone by the time the last group of 3 riders came back through for the second time.  Kamrie shopped from horseback (bought a second set of rhythm beads) while her horse helped tear down the decorations.

After that, I did the drawing for the horseback rider-only prize giveaway.  Kathy Perin won the rhythm beads… too bad she had already bought a set!  She took a second set to give to a friend.

These three horses left with a total of 5 sets of rhythm beads between them.  The walkers could certainly hear THEM coming!!

Thanks, everyone, for coming to see the property and say hello.  I enjoyed our (brief) visit!

Great Pond Mountain Wildlands

On Sunday September 20, Jill and I went to get the boys from the field.  They were as far from the gate as they could get!  Six acres can take a while to cross, when laid out in an L.  Look carefully, they’re both here:

Jill and Ellen hauled their horses over to the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands.  Zephyr and I hitched a ride with Jill.  She bought a pair of Fuzzy Logic Equine riding pants from me… here we are, styling in our Ready 2 Ride pants!

 

 

We headed north on Valley Road, then Flagg Road, then Hillside Trail.  Despite the promising start, we soon lost the trail in the woods, and decided to go check out the scenery first before trying again.  jill had forgotten her breastplate and her saddle was slipping badly, so i gave her mine.  i had to expand it from the smallest setting all the way to the largest!

While checking out the scenery, we got a few really great opportunities to canter, which was excellent for Jill and her greenie, Joe.  We had some great conversations about “finding your seat of power”, and effective equitation versus classically correct equitation.  Eventually we turned back and tried Hillside Trail again.  This time, I led and watched for the gray-blue slashes on the trees.  We made it!  Great trail, with more great views.  I like this trail, it’s the only footpath-type trail that the Trust currently allows horses on.  I think it’s a great way to prove how small an impact horses can make on woods paths. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from that section.

 

(my capital letters just stopped working and i have no idea why.)  here we are back out on valley road, with great pond mountain in the background.

zephyr finished the day in great shape despite all his hooves being bare. 

we had such a wonderful time!  it was only 4 miles or so, and maybe 2 hours if i remember right, but we just really enjoyed ourselves.

The Stone House

On Saturday the 19th, several fellow members of the Mid-Maine Equestrian Search and Rescue (MMESAR) unit visited me for a weekend of pleasure riding.  Jill and Ellen were scheduled to arrive Friday after I got home from work.  Ellen arrived first and we got her Arab mare set up in one half of the paddock in the front yard. Shortly after dark, Jill arrived and we settled her Paint gelding in to the other half of the paddock, with glow sticks on the electric tape because he hadn’t seen it before pitch dark.  Zephyr was in his own paddock in the backyard.  Aided by dinner from the local pizza joint, we had an enjoyable but relatively short evening of visiting and socializing.  The early bedtime was good, because we were woken early Saturday morning!

I think it was around 6:00 a.m. when I heard Ellen come upstairs and go outside to take care of her mare.  Probably 15-20 minutes later, I sat bolt upright in bed, hearing galloping hooves.  Before I could even get up, my husband Louis was setting our boots out.  When we got to the front yard, Ellen had her mare by the halter and Jill’s gelding was galloping circles on our leach field… which is what ALWAYS happens when a horse gets loose on my property!  Crazy.  While I guarded the route to the main road, Louis was able to quietly get close enough to catch Joe.

After we rousted Jill from her warm bed, we debated long and hard, finally deciding to put the two geldings in the 6-acre field a few hundred feet down the road where Zephyr spends most of the summer.  They were VERY happy to go play!

Meanwhile, the mare went in the backyard paddock by herself. Then, starving, the three of us headed to the local diner!  Eggs Benedict for me, blueberry pancakes for Jill and Ellen.  Yummy!

When we got back, it was well past time to tack up.  Jill tied Joe next to Zephyr to keep him company while I gave his front hooves a quick trim prior to putting Easyboot Gloves on.  Even with a fresh trim, I had to go with the size 2s, the largest I have.  Those flares on his hoof walls are really interfering with the fit.  After trimming, we tacked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa arrived with her mare, Peek, while we were tacking up.  When we left the property we rode .3 of a mile up the paved road to the trailhead of the historic Ice Road trail, which was used many years ago to haul ice on horse-drawn sleds from Hancock Pond to local ice houses.

The trail is one of my favorites, but I think I may be the only local horse person who uses it, so in the summer time it gets ragged.  I’m not even sure it’s used for much snowmobiling in the wintertime!  There’s some mud, a couple of short go-arounds for downed trees, and a few downed trees to step over.  I have to be honest, I enjoy the obstacles, it makes for good training on surefootedness.  Zephyr can, and does, trot most of that trail.  The youngest horse in the group, Joe the Paint, got some excellent experience with mud and such.  He started out very nervous about it, and by the end of that trail he was calmly walking through it!  Jill was working on the idea of “one step at a time”.

 

We crossed several paved roads on this trail, then came out on Bald Mountain Road and turned right.  We might have had about a mile of pavement if I had to guess, then a small river with drinking access next to the bridge.  Zephyr sucked down about 3 gallons of water, I think!  Even Joe got in on the action; Jill hadn’t been sure what he’d do when faced with water.  It took him a minute but he got there!  No go on the wading, though, he just wasn’t sure enough of the footing.

^^ Check out Joe’s Cavallo Simple Boots!  Jill is considering switching to Easyboot Gloves, she liked the looks of those gaiters better than the ones on the SBs.  The SBs are rubbing his heels so we spent some time discussing trimming for hoof boots, and the evils of hoof flares.

I had to lead through the next section of trail, it’s a really neat trail but not well known and the owner likes it that way.  To keep it hidden, not much is done in the way of trail trimming.  I hadn’t been through in about a year, so there was more dead wood than usual.  Zephyr got to show off his mad skillz as a chainsaw horse!  Not really, no chainsaws in sight… but when you can grab a dead tree in one hand, grab the breastcollar’s wither strap in the other hand, and, without steering, urge the horse forward while pulling at the dead tree (resulting in the tree breaking in half with a loud CRRACK and falling on the horse’s rump) with the horse staying calm, I think you’re entitled to brag.  No pictures from this section, silly me.

We popped out on a lovely 2-mile stretch of dirt road. For a road with no houses on it, there was a surprising number of vehicles!  All trucks, of course, given how rough the road eventually gets.

Here you can see our eventual destination in the background:

We emerged into the blueberry barrens and were all overcome with the sense of how lucky we were to have such great weather, great company, great horses, and great places to ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa, you ought to recognize these towers… though you most recently saw them from the OTHER side of town… *evil grin*  (Story coming soon!)

This stone house is an old homestead.  I wish I knew more about it than that! All I know is that it’s at the top of the hill, and from the far side, it has a killer view.  You can see all the way to Bangor!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail back included a long uphill on a rocky section of the dirt road.  I was pleased with how comfortable Zephyr was on the rocks, despite being barefoot on his hind hooves.

The background shows the stone house:

This next picture was taken just a moment too late.  The Eating Machine had grabbed one of the bamboo-like plants that you see next to us,and it broke off at the base, leaving him with a mouthful of leaves and the entire 8’ length of stalk/trunk/stem hanging from his face.  He kept walking, which made the stalk/trunk/stem break off and ruined our photo op.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently, somewhere, someone has lots of something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we were almost home, we stopped at Hancock Pond for a drink and a splash.  Joe went in further than any of the other horses!  Jill was so proud!

Got to see some geese on the way home from the pond.

When we got back home, the boots looked great.  New gaiter style on the right hoof, old gaiter style on the left hoof (reversed in photo).  Still not getting the new gaiter as tight as I want, but it’s working.

The boys were thrilled to get back to the field!

All in all, I think we rode about 14 miles, and since we mostly walked, it took us about 4.5 hours.  We got back to the house just in time for the MMESAR business meeting, for which a couple of other members drove up to join us.  After the meeting, Melissa went home and Ellen, Jill, and I watched The Black Stallion Returns and got to bed really late!  Sunday morning came too soon.  See the next entry for that story!

Oh, lucky me!

On Saturday morning I gave Zephyr another fresh trim, with extra attention paid to getting his toes as short as I could. That afternoon we had a great ride with my neighbor Laurie and her gelding Chief.  We rode out on the snowmobile trails behind her house, with Zephyr barefoot so I could see how he was feeling about his fresh trim.  Sadly, he wasn’t very comfortable on pavement or gravel; really he was only ok on grass and pure sand.  Luckily we were able to be on grass/sand for most of the way, and we mostly walked anyway.

Sunday morning I waited around for my neighbor Gary to bring over his two geldings for their introduction to Mrs. Hand (ie to have their sheaths cleaned).  Lucky me!!  I don’t mind though, Gary’s going to put in some new gate posts for me.  It turned out that he couldn’t catch the pony, so just rode his own dun gelding over to my house.  Rocky behaved ok, considering, but didn’t relax at all.  I was glad it was getting done, from the dirt up there it seems as if he’s never had it done before.

After Rocky was all cleaned up, I took the Power Straps off of a pair of Size 2 Easyboot Gloves (half a size larger than the ones I used last time) and put them on Zephyr’s front feet.  I left the hinds bare.  One of them was the old style gaiter on the thin-toe Glove, and the other one was the new style gaiter with the thick toe Glove. I took the power straps off because I recently read a comment from someone who said she thought they made the entire boot about a half size smaller than without the strap. Since I’ve been having heel rubbing issues, I thought removing the straps would help.

We headed out on the old Ice Road trail to see if it was clear all the way to Bald Mountain Road.  I plan to use this trail on Sunday for the second pleasure ride of the Mounted Search and Rescue camp-out weekend.  We didn’t make it all the way because Gary had to head back home to take his daughters apple picking.  Oh well!  It was a nice ride anyway.

The excellent news is that after 5 miles of riding with sand, water, rocks, and mud, Zephyr’s heels did NOT look white and rubbed like they did the last few times! YAHOO!

The good news is that I was able to get the gaiters MUCH tighter this time… both old style and new style. Maybe they just need time to get broken in?

The interesting news is that it seems as if I can’t have it both ways. Either I can have him sound on gravel, or I can have the size 2 boots fit. If I want him sound on gravel, I have to leave him some length to the hoof wall, and therefore I need bigger boots! I’ll be consulting with my farrier as soon as possible, but I may need to order a size or two larger than I have now.

My next report will be next week, after our MMESAR camp-out weekend. If any of those horses are barefoot, I’m hoping to do some fitting and testing on them with my spare boots!

Lost? Nah. We just don’t know where we are.

A good friend came over to pre-ride the trail for next weekend’s pleasure ride with my mounted search and rescue unit (MMESAR).  Kerry got to my house 20 minutes early so she unloaded her Ara-loosa into the front paddock, then enjoyed a cup of coffee while I scarfed down the omelet and bacon that my husband had prepared.  After she got the nickel tour of my house, we were off to the races about an hour later than planned, but there wasn’t really any hurry.

We loaded both horses onto Kerry’s trailer and headed to the trailhead.  Parking was a tighter fit than I’m used to, so I held JB while Kerry backed the rig as far away from the gate as she could without putting it in the road.  We also left my cell phone number on the dash in case emergency vehicles needed us further out of the way.

Note Zephyr’s Easyboot Gloves... the thick-toe version with the latest prototype gaiter, and power straps.  I’m still not getting those front gaiters as tight as they should be, and I don’t know how to get them any tighter!  I’ll keep working on it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We first headed into the Wildlands to check out the two options for MMESAR to use for a camp site, then headed back off the property to scout the pleasure ride trail.  (We’ll be using the Wildlands for our night ride, but the daytime rides will use local snowmobile trails.)  Some of our scouting involved creating go-rounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I knew where the trail went, but we got to a Y and I chose one way... we got out to a wider trail than I thought we should find and I got confused.  We followed it for a while before I decided it must be wrong.  I tried to turn on my GPS but the tree cover was so thick I couldn’t get a signal.  We went back to the Y and turned the other way, but it got too overgrown so we went back AGAIN and took the other fork of the Y AGAIN and then turned the other way on the wide trail. 

The Gloves performed great through several water crossings, rocky sections, and mud, though they did make a loud squelching noise after each water crossing.  Not sure they’re supposed to do that... they may still be too tight in the heels.

Eventually we popped out in a gorgeous blueberry field... which wasn’t where I was trying to go, but at least my GPS started working once we were out of the woods.  The scenery was so nice we just decided to keep going, despite Kerry’s fears that we were going to get shot at. 

I swear we could see the Camden Hills (or something big) and I KNOW we could see the Penobscot Narrows bridge.  Click on these to make them bigger:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just kept heading out and to the right, towards where my GPS said we would find Upper Long Pond Road.  We did have to go around a couple of cable gates, one of which was guarded by a No Trespassing sign, but eventually we did come to a gate onto the road.  It was a little tricky to get around the gate, but we made it.

Not even a quarter mile after we got out onto the road, we passed the entrance to the trail we were SUPPOSED to come out on, so I resolved to go back that way after continuing on for a while longer.

Because getting lost set us so far back on time, we didn’t make it all the way to the field with the abandoned stone house, but that was OK.  At least I know how to get there now!  When we turned around, we took the trail we should have come out on.

Not even 50 feet after we turned onto the trail, I looked down and saw hoof prints heading the other way.  *sigh*  Kerry was a good sport about it, she insisted she saw nothing at all.

When we got back to the trailer, I removed the boots and was sad to see that, indeed, the boots do seem to be rubbing his heels.  I think I need to move him up a size while I’m trying to get his heels under control.  Waiting for official confirmation of that from Garrett at EasyCare.  They’re not rubbing on his pasterns though, just his heels, so that’s good.

Latest Conditioning Rides

I've got some catching up to do!  Here are some pictures from a ride earlier in August.  I took Zephyr out barefoot, thinking he’d do fine, but the local trails are just SOOO rocky.  We had to walk most of the way.  I vowed not to go on those trails again without Gloves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night, I did a fresh ‘mini trim’ in preparation for putting on the new Gloves that Garrett sent with the prototype gaiters. I still think his toes are longer than they were, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to make them shorter without having to pare out dead sole.  I think I need to call the farrier for some help.  (Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, I was starting to lose daylight.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what’s going on here, there’s been a slit in his hoof wall since July.  It’s immediately above where the Glove/Glue-on stops on his hoof wall, but I don’t know how the boot could have caused it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First time I’ve ever seen bot eggs before.  (Got them off with a hoof knife the next day.)

The Gloves went on a little hard with the Power Straps already in place, but for the first one I took the strap off (left the T-nuts in), fitted the boot, walked him around a bit, and screwed the strap on.  Worked great.  The other three boots I was able to just muscle on and then have him walk around.

Here they are (with Zephyr standing very strangely):

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left my property on my woods trail, which has two stream crossings, both with mossy-rock bottoms.  The first stream has a steep uphill right afterward.  This video is from the second crossing, though... I didn’t think to take my camera out for the first one!  If you listen you can hear the squelching sound after we cross.

As soon as I got out onto the paved road I was stunned to see a pair of horsey ears emerging over the crown of the hill in front of me!  We never meet other riders.  As we approached each other I realized it was my new neighbor Laurie from down the road; she’s had her 7yo unregistered gelding for about a month, and we’d only met once but had hoped to get together soon to ride.  She wasn’t on a schedule so I shanghaied her and off we went to do one of my short loops.  It’s plenty rocky, hilly, and there are usually lots of puddles and mud.  Here’s one of the rockiest sections... we started trotting as soon as I put the camera away.

I kept trying to find mud so I could do a new “mudding” demo video, but we’ve had such dry weather for the month of August that even though we got 2” of rain on Saturday we didn’t have any mud on this trail.  Here’s my old mudding video... I think I posted it before but I’m not sure.  You can HEAR the mud!

Here’s Zephyr (left) with his new buddy Chief, and a head-shot of Chief.  Laurie thinks he’s Arab/Morgan.  I can see it, can you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning when I turned Zephyr out in the field, he grazed for a minute and then ran off to look for Rocky and Peyton.  Unfortunately he didn’t find them, they’re still at their owners’ house!  Makes for nice video and pictures, though, and at least there’s still a cow or two out there to chase around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Refitting Gloves/Glue-Ons

On Sunday 8/16, I was horrified to see damage and bruising on the hairless part of the skin on Zephyr’s heels on his hind feet.  I couldn’t take pictures that night, but this is what they looked like the next morning.  I applied Equine Relief as soon as I saw the damage, and it looked SOOO much better in the morning!  Instead of raw soft skin, it looked like a nice dry/hard frog.  That’s what you see in the pictures below.  I couldn’t even see any bruising, even though it was obvious the night before.

I have no idea what caused it, it appeared overnight when he was spending his days hanging out with his cow/horse friends in the pasture down the road.  His last glue-ons were removed two weeks ago (on 8/2), otherwise I would have suspected the heels of the boots had been too tight.

Please forgive/ignore the mud on the bottom of his hooves that makes them look wonky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

EasyCare was about to send me a set of the new EasyBoot Gloves with the prototype gaiters, and I needed to double-check sizes.  He’s been wearing size 1s on his hind feet, but due to the bruising/damage I was considering whether he should bump up to 1.5s instead.  So on 8/19 I trimmed his hind feet in preparation for a fresh fitting.

Here’s both hooves after their trim.  I’m still relatively new at this, so feedback from knowledgeable professionals is welcome!  Looking at these pictures though, YES, I can see that his toes are creeping forward; it’s especially obvious on the left hind.

LEFT HIND: Farrier trim on left (photo taken in early June), and my trim on right (I’ve been trimming him since the June photos).

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIGHT HIND: Farrier trim on left, my trim on right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s his right hind hoof in a size 1.  The left-hand photo is the original version of the Glove, in June after the farrier removed his shoes and trimmed him, and the right-hand photo is the new thick-toe Glove.  (I realize his hair looks brown in the new photo, but it was just the lighting and the dirty leg!)  I don’t know if his hoof got bigger in addition to the toe getting longer, or if the thicker-toe version is also less stretchy, but it definitely fits differently.  His hoof doesn’t go all the way in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s the same hoof in a size 1.5.  Again... farrier trim photo is on the left. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last photo... right front hoof... wish there was more concavity, but I suspect there may be a lot of dead sole there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My conclusion... it’s clear that his hooves are all a little longer than they were when I first did the fit kit.  I keep trying to get the hoof wall even with the sole, but when I do, he’s really ouchy on any kind of rocks or pebbles.  He may just need some hoof wall!  I’ll continue to take pictures and compare them as I go along.

I thought this was supposed to be a SCENIC railroad?

My husband and I went for a ride on a local “scenic railroad”, accompanied by my new coworker Debbie and her husband Kevin.  We started with lunch at Ralph’s Cafe right around the corner... yummy! Excellent food, excellent atmosphere, and good prices.  That was honestly the best part of the day!

When we arrived at the historic railroad station, this is what we saw.  The engine looked nice but the converted boxcar and the exterior of the coach were in sad, sad shape!  The front of the building was ok but the back was in need of some help.   Hopefully this is a good year for donations...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat around in the back yard for a bit, on the only available seating... some “rail bikes” that they use for 4 mile (round trip) excursions on a set of closed tracks.  It was in the 90s and sunny, with high humidity, so after a few minutes I started to feel a little sick and had to move to the shade.  That meant sitting on the platform and leaning back against the building, because there were no benches.

When the conductor called All Aboard, which we were actually a bit surprised he bothered with given that there were only 10 passengers, we optimistically opted for seats in the boxcar so that we could have a good view of the scenery.  Here’s Deb and Kevin, aren’t they cute in their matching shirts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

At every road crossing, this guy had to drive ahead in his little red pick-up truck to stop traffic for us.  Not much traffic in this part of Maine, but it’s the law.  It was fun to watch him run to his truck and speed off, trying hard to make it to the next crossing before us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the engine was right next to us, each road crossing was LOUD.

Remember I mentioned this was a “scenic” railroad?  Well, mostly the scenery was just trees.  Since I was feeling a little sick from the heat, and a little more sick from the motion of the train, watching the trees go by wasn’t a high point of my day.  It seems to make motion sickness worse.  This was actually the only pretty scenery on the whole trip, which lasted somewhere around 1.5 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got to the turn around point, we saw that it wasn’t another station (as we’d thought), it was just a short section of siding track where the engine could disconnect and go around next to us to get to the other end of the train.  Not sure why they didn’t just drive back by pushing the train instead of pulling it, especially since the engine had driven in reverse the whole way.

On the way back, I walked up to the coach to see what that was like.  I wish I’d ridden there the whole way; it was a much smoother ride and with all the windows open it was surprisingly cool.  Still no scenery though!

Anyway... that was our day.  Pretty sure we won’t bother going back!

Trim Photos

I trimmed Zephyr’s hooves before riding last Sunday; these pictures are from after I got back.