Winter Trail Ride

Well thanks to rain and the holiday season, I've not been able to ride nearly as much as I'd like.  But that is just how life goes in the winter time.  There is always another Christmas party to attend, another gift to buy, etc.  Now, I try to schedule these types of activities on rainy days but it just doesn't work out that way sometimes.  So this past week I had to ride in less than ideal conditions, but beggars can't be choosy right?

It was rainy though not raining, the ground was pretty wet though not soaked, and it was cold but not that cold. And it had been nearly two weeks since I'd gotten in a good ride so I decided to venture out.  Chief was a little hesitant at first (he typically is).  There is a certain creek crossing that he often refuses to cross.  Now folks this horse is not scared of the water, he is just plain lazy and we've had "discussions" at this location before and why not break tradition right?  This day he may have crossed it, but I had to stop and take a picture because I couldn't believe how high the water was.

And since I stopped, Chief decided our lack of momentum was a great reason to stop and refuse to go forward.  Now, if you have a horse like this, my way of dealing with it is simple.  I very nicely squeeze with my legs, put my hands forward, and ask him to move on.  If he backs up, I let him back up.  If there is something behind him to run into that is really nice because he typically scares himself forward.  In this instance, I was not so lucky.  So once he stops, I ask again with digging my heels into his sides, hands forward again.  If he still doesn't listen, I smack him on the butt which usually causes him to do a crow hop.  He thinks this will scare me.  However, I immediately whack his butt again to show that a crow hop gets a smack.  I call it the double tap.  This usually gets him moving forward as he doesn't like getting smacked with a crop. If the crow hops continue, the smacks continue.  It didn't go this far this time, but it has in the past.  As soon as he stops crow hopping and moves forward, the punishment stops.  It has to be immediate.  Clinton Anderson always says make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy so I do my best to follow this saying.  Also, you will notice that I always ask nicely first, a little firm the next time, and if you don't listen by the third time, then I'm showing additional force.

So we continued on the trail also known as the workout trail.  Maybe this is why Chief hates this creek crossing, he knows there's lots of work on the other side of that creek...  But once we got over that hurdle Chief found some spunk.  I've had him on grain now for about three weeks.  In the winter Chief looses weight so I put him on grain to keep the weight on.  Well this also puts a little fire into him so once we got rolling it was hard to get him to stop.  This is what you get for not riding for nearly two weeks!  We galloped up the hills and I just hang on.  Luckily I was wearing my chaps, love those things!  There is a really pretty little spot on this trail that I just love.  You come down a steep hill into a creek crossing and go right back up, but its a pretty little area.

The sound of the water and being out on the trail in the cold alone was great.  We (I) complain about the cold but in no time at all it'll be summer again and the creeks will be dry.  So I must remember to enjoy the winter because it is wetter.  The footing on the trail was less than ideal but it didn't seem to bother Chief as he continued to tear up the hills.  We winded our way back down to the creek trail and headed toward the barn. By the end of it, Chief had finally wore himself out so that was a good thing.  I made a mental note to myself to make sure I get up to the barn a little more often so I don't have such a crazy horse.  But we had a great time, and the weekend is already within site again!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Recently, East Tennessee has experienced quite a bit of rain.  Where there's rain there is often rain rot and thrush.  These two lovely conditions affect different parts of the horse but can be equally annoying.  We'll start with the rain rot.

For those unfamiliar with rain rot, it is a bacteria that lives in the skin of horses and causes little scabs over a broad area.  The scabs will come out with tufts of hair.  Sometimes it affects a small area, sometimes all over... Chief is especially prone to rain rot, he's just a sensitive guy.  So I am forever trying to get rid of it so I have tried a lot of different products to cure it.  MSM is a favorite of many, I tired that, apparently Chief is allergic to it (see...sensitive).  So then I tried some Cowboy Magic products as a friend swore by them.  Yeah, didn't do much.  Then I heard about a great cheap alternative... Pine Power.  Yes, it is a floor cleaner found at your local grocery store.  Please note, this is not Pine Sol, but Pine Power.  You take a cap full, put it in a bucket with some water and sponge it on.  I like to rub it into the coat really well in the affected area.  Then, you leave it on, and just sweat scape them down.  This solution is gentle enough to use every day and gets rid of the rain rot quickly.  And best of all its super cheap since you only use a cap full at a time.  Try it out the next time you run into some rain rot.

That brings us to thrush.  Thrush is another bacteria that grows in areas of your horses hoof that doesn't get a lot of air.  This happens especially when its wet because the all the mud gets shoved into the hoof and no air gets to the hoof.  This is exacerbated if your horse wears shoes.  The shoe helps hold all the mud and manure next to the hoof and then of course creates thrush.  This smelly black spot on your horses foot can be easily cured with one of my favorite products, Kopertox.  It is a green stinky, sticky product itself, but it helps immensely.  I prefer it in its aerosol form so it is less messy, it is a little more expensive this way, but is totally worth it.  Farnam also makes a clear gel but it really doesn't work as well at least in my little humble opinion. 

So next time the rain won't go away, if your horse develops some lovely rain rot or thrush, try these products out and see if they help for you.  In the mean time, Chief and I will keep dodging rain storms and ride on the nice days in between. 

It's officially Winter...

Well Chief's fur is getting long and the days are getting shorter so in my little world its officially winter.  Chief is also starting to loose a little weight, you can tell around his withers and in his hindquarters.  My other favorite way to check weight is with the back strap, when we're on the second hole, he's lost some weight.  In the height of the summer, that back strap will barely fit the first hole!  Chief is a super easy keeper in the summer and by the end of the summer, he's down right pudgey.  However, when the nights start getting cold he starts dropping weight.  In the winter they get hay on top of the grass all day but it just isn't enough for my guy.  So starting next month, he'll go on grain.    And when the days stay cool, I'll start blanketing him.  I wait as long as I can to put the blanket on because I like for him to grow his own natural coat.  This is his best insulator, but since Chief lives on top of a mountain where the wind blows most of the time, he needs a little help to keep him warm.  So today I asked the barn to put him in the grain pasture next month.  Hopefully, this will keep him from loosing too much weight too quickly. 

After noticing my fat old boy was getting a little skinny, we saddled up and hit the trail.  You can also tell its winter because of the hunters.  My husband had given me an orange hunting vest to wear but of course I left that in the car so we just listened as the guns went off all around us.  None of them sounded that close and no one is allowed to hunt on that land, so I figured we'd be okay.  Today we took the Work Out trail named so because you go up and down quite a few hills.  This trail meets up with the pumpkin field (though there weren't pumkins on this field this year, its typically what is on that field) and then takes you down to the big pond and Big'ns cabin.  As I was rounding the pond, I heard a gun shot, CLOSE.  It made me jump.  I looked around and of course didn't see anything.  So I kept on my way.  But as I was approaching the cabin those gun shots got loud.  Since I couldn't see them, I stopped and started waving my arms above my head so if they saw me, I would hope they weren't shooting at me...  As I walked a little further, I could see the shooters, they were doing target practice.  Whooo!  Thank goodness.  I might add here that Chief was not at all bothered by the gunshots.  My husband said he wanted to try shooting off of him, I don't think this would be a problem for him.  Love, this horse...  After that, we continued on our way up the gravel road to the peach trees.  We then kept on the gravel road where I couldn't decide if I wanted to go left toward the Submarine trail or right back to the Creek trail.  I opted for the Submarine trail because its a little longer and we had time.  This trail goes by some great rock outcroppings then heads down a steep hill or two.. and then meets up with what is truly some old piece of equipment but really looks like a submarine.  So, its the Submarine trail.  Really looks like a submarine huh?

Once you get down to this part of the trail, it gets a solid 3 or 4 degrees cooler because it is next to the creek and it sits in a hollow and not much sunlight gets in during the day.  So we cantered our way through.  We then met up with the Creek trail as you can see is my favorite way to head back to the barn.  And today the creeks were super full because we had quite a bit of rain this week. 

We then headed back up to the barn.  We took the route that hits the gravel road before turning home.  I love this route because there is a nice flat spot to canter and Chief likes it because he knows he's nearly home so sometimes he gets a little carried away through here.  Not much gets him excited so I like this route too.  Today it was controlled chaos through this flat spot as we cantered toward home.  Other days its more pure chaos and I have to hold him back.  This is the best way I can think to explain this feeling and other riders will agree, sometimes you can just feel them about to explode and then they do.  Other times, they get a little excited and you know you can give them their head and they'll canter nicely on.  It's just a feeling.  All in all it was a great way to start winter.  I hope this nice weather holds! 



Its beginning to look like winter...

S. and I decided to hit the trails yesterday.  It was nice weather but it is definitely starting to get colder.  I decided to wear my Underarmor cold gear and my Patagonia Better Sweater, but no shell was needed.  The Underarmor makes for a great base layer and the Better Sweater just keeps you nice and warm. 

We hadn't been on the New Trail in awhile because they've been logging up there.  I wasn't sure where on the trail they were logging but I thought I did and I thought that I knew how to avoid that area.  Well, I was wrong about the location of the logging so sure enough, it wasn't avoidable. So we did a little bushwacking...  It wasn't too bad until we had to go through a pretty big holly bush.  Luckily, we were dressed warmly so we survived without any scratches.  Once we got through the logging it was a great ride.  There are a couple of nice flat spots to canter through on that trail and those were still in tact so that worked out great.  The New Trail connects to the Creek Trail so we used it to get back to the barn.  We took a couple of pictures on the creek trail.  You can barely tell its a creek with all the leaves in it. 

S. is on Buckshot and I am on Chief.  We make a good team.  Chief decided this day would be the day he wanted to be lazy so we had a couple of moments of "you will go forward no matter how many times I have to hit your rear with the crop."  Aside from that Chief was good.  Buckshot, always the gentleman, was sure enough a gentleman.  Til next time.. 

Just Chief and Me

Yesterday was some of the most beautiful weather!  It was sunny and 65 degrees, can't beat that with a stick.  So even though I had to work most of the day, I decided that such good weather couldn't be wasted and headed to the barn.  Since I work such variable hours, it is often hard to find a riding partner.  This is why I love Chief.  He will go out on his own with no problems.  A lot of horses don't have this kind of confidence so I am grateful that mine doesn't have this fear.  We decided to head out to the cow pasture trail.  This one is a good hour long ride perfect for when you have some time but not a lot of time.  This trail has been dubbed cow pasture trail because it goes by the cow pasture, easy enough right?  Last time we went out there one of the calves was weary of us, but then he decided to get brave and started following us down the fence line.  He was an awful cute little critter so I started jogging to see if he would continue to follow.  Sure enough he did!  Followed us right up to the next fence line.  Too cute.  Our little calf friend wasn't visible this time when we went through so we cantered on down towards the woods.  This trail is great because it goes through open fields, tomato fields, and woods.  So there is lots to see in a fairly short trip.  The cow pasture trail also links up to the creek trail which is how we headed home.  The picture this time is from the creek trail, dubbed so because you cross the creek several times.  You see how these trails get named right?

The fall color is also still out so I included a picture of the leaves as well.

I dread the time change as it signals winter is on its way.  I just hope we continue to have a couple more weekends of gorgeous weather.  Fingers crossed!

Fall Trail Riding

Fall is one of my favorite seasons for trail riding.  The summer sun no longer beats down on you, there is a chill in the air, and the leaves are falling on your head.  It is wonderful.  This past Sunday, I went riding with my good friend S. and her borrowed mount Buckshot.  Buckshot is a good old Quarter Horse with a little bit of spunk, and is the exact opposite of my steady mount, Chief.  When the air is cool most horses, like Buckshot get a little extra energy, not Chief, he is always lazy.  So we headed out to see the pond, it had been awhile since S. had been out there so I figured we should go check it out.  We headed out via the Creek Trail, named so because it crosses so many creeks, and then headed up to the old pumpkin field and down to the pond.  It was pretty stunning in the afternoon sun, so I thought I'd include a picture.  I suddenly remembered a trail that went through the strawberry field and with a little effort found it (it had been awhile).  This trail has a super steep hill and Chief being the lazy horse he is, needed some extra encouragement to make it up.  But we crested the hill into the strawberry field and back down to the woods to head back to the barn.  It was a great ride.  You can't beat the trail on a gorgeous fall day with a great friend.