Melissa and I had another good trail ride this week. Tonka got nervous about crossing the creek in the first spot he refused at last time, so we went to the other spot, and he couldn't cross fast enough. Then we crossed from the other side at the first crossing and went back and forth a couple times. He did fine there and at a third crossing we tried later. Here he's a little peeved that I didn't tie him where he could eat grass.
We sat in the shade by the creek and went through our trail maps of the area and planned some future rides. We're going to do an all day ride starting at one point and ending at horse camp, then staying overnight with my family. That will be fun. We also want to ride out at the old mining camp at Gold Hill, and a couple other places. After our long planning session I had to hurry home.

We headed out to go spend some time with my family at a friend's lake house. Liam was the first to get into the frigid water. He loves water.

Just missed him:
On the way home today I scouted out our trail head for this week's ride. It's at McCroskey State Park. Here are some informational photos if anyone is interested (click to enlarge)

The trails we plan to ride aren't even on the map, but we have a hand drawn map from a Forest Service employee who rides out there all the time. There's a neat old log building at the trail head - the first saloon in the area. I love stuff like that. I'll get a photo when we go.

This is the entrance to the horse parking trailhead at Heyburn State park where I'll be riding with the Mustang Club on Sunday. I can't wait. The trail we're riding is called the Appaloosa Trail.

They have kindly supplied a livestock watering tank, but I'm afraid of germs, so I'll be bringing my own water. You can see how there's no way to fill your own bucket without getting it in the communal water.

As an aside, if you do ride there, there is a $5 day use fee. Totally worth it for the work they do to keep up the trails for us to enjoy.

Sorry for the bad pictures, it was getting dark. I've been using my cell phone for pictures because I can't find my camera. I misplace things too often...

Speaking of dark, it is a beautiful moonlit night here tonight. I went out pretty late to feed Tonka his good stuff, and he was way out over the hill. I called for him and pretty soon heard hooves in the darkness. I can't even describe the peaceful beauty of it when my good horse came over the hill to me in the moonlight, relaxed and happy. Those are the moments that make life sweet.

He rides again! To be honest, I wasn't sure if he'd be willing after falling off. He puts up a brave front but he really is worried about her spooking again.


We borrowed a couple youth saddles from my sister. He wanted to try the English first. Soxy looks cute in an English saddle!

He didn't want me to take pictures, but I insisted.

And he really didn't want to carry his saddle back, but again, I insisted. ;)

The saying, "I'll try anything once," keeps popping into my head. And now that I've tried gathering hay by hand, I'm done. Once is enough.

I cut grass the other day with the sickle bar mower, until I broke the pitman, which is a wooden part, and I had to quit. It's not an expensive part, but John says it's a pain in the butt to fix. Sorry honey.

He wants to cut the rest of this and pick it up by hand. I dare him. And he has to do it wearing a bra, because hay in the bra is so wonderful.

I made the kids help me, and they were surprisingly good workers. Katia is stretching her back here, after raking the hay to one side.

The beginning of a stack.

Liam pushing the hay to the back.

We can't afford to have someone bale our hay, considering the nutritional value of this grass (considered a weed) isn't great and we don't get good yield, so we'd be buying hay and this would just be something to chew on. So we thought why not try hand gathering, this once? It was an educational experience, and fun for a little while. In all reality it's not worth the energy and it takes up too much space. We spent as much time on it as we would have spent stacking several tons of baled hay, and it takes up as much space as about a ton, but I bet it's only several bales worth. We got two truckloads.

So, if I had to gather my hay this way every year, I'd have ONE equine, and it would be a nice big donkey that didn't require much hay to feed through the winter.

Today my sister and I went on a trail ride to celebrate her birthday. It was her horse's first outing being ridden out in the big woods. He did really, really well.

Tonka was a looky-loo snorty fella, but that's him these days. And the views were worth looking at.

This was the end of the trail, and he finally held still for a nice picture.

Lakota. Isn't he adorable?
This tree really struck me on the way in, there's something special about it. It looks dead but it isn't. There's Amy and Lakota on the way back, and he didn't even fall down going over the uneven ground (he's an arena baby).

Now, to digress from the horses - I love this hammock! I got it for John a couple years ago but he hasn't used it much. Liam is in it all the time, and occasionally I shoo him out of it so I can enjoy it. It's peaceful. In fact, I usually fall asleep.

In the hammock:

Above the hammock:
Below the hammock
Beside the hammock:

Life truly is good.

We had a lovely 4th of July weekend. Hope you all did too.

My little friend got to ride. Here's Tonka meditating while she smiles for the camera.

My boy is getting so big! And I am so glad to see him on his horse.

Riding by herself, with nobody holding the ropes.

I have to tell you, that old mare was not herself this weekend. The night before this picture was taken we got her and Tonka out for a ride. She was a total spaz! I got on to see if she was going to misbehave and she trotted all over the place. Not out of control, mind you, but too much for a little girl. I wasn't even sure if she could carry me anymore, and boy did she show me! She's such a nice comfy ride, I wish she was younger. She mellowed out the next day. I guess she just had too much time off, and too much rich grass giving her energy.

Liam rode with me again today! Shocking! And he wants to go again tomorrow, despite the fact that Soxy spooked ("I think it was a panther mom.") and he fell off. He cried, and his legs were shaky, but I made him get back on once we'd caught the old beast, and we rode around some more, just not in the area where she spooked. I need a youth saddle. If he'd had stirrups and a narrower seat (maybe suede) he wouldn't have just toppled off. Heck, he might be better off bareback than in my slick seated saddle.

"No pictures!"

Tonka went through some thistles and they bothered his legs. I thought he was tougher skinned than that, I'll have to be more careful around the thistles. Here he's rubbing his legs together like a cricket.That's my new saddle on him. He still seems very happy in it. We had a really great ride after Liam went in. Trotted a lot, and I gently insisted that he pay attention to the work and relax rather than eyeballing scary things and arcing his body away from them. He ended very relaxed and happy, and I did too.


Grace finally went out to pasture today! She is such a neat horse. Not spooky. She does get worried, and kind of mildly spook, but it's all reasonable. She mostly just follows along like an obedient puppy, very curious about her world. I was worried we might not be able to catch her again (she's only given me trouble once lately, and that was after I wormed her) but she wanted to be near us, and hung out with us even when we were working outside the fence. She went back to the round pen tonight with no fuss, except when a mosquito poked her in the eye and she stepped on John's foot.

I spent a lot of the day today mowing weeds. We have a thistle problem and I wanted to get them before they flower. I got a nice sunburn.

This evening I got Cisco out, intending to ride him so I can think about selling him, and his hooves were so long I didn't ride. I trimmed him and then hosed him off. He was totally fine with me sticking the hose in his sheath, which needs cleaning, but he was kind of iffy about his body being sprayed. Not bad, he just moved around a bit.

While I worked in the yard, watering my flowers and picking up firework debris, I got about a billion and one mosquito bites. They're thick this year. I told John I'm just a big mosquito bite with a sunburn. But really it's not that bad.

Now, onward to tomorrow! Busy, busy, busy...

I haven't been riding but I've got to start working Tonka every day again. The Mustang Club is having a ride on the 17th that is supposed to be 3 hours long and have some changes in elevation. It may not be any harder than what Melissa and I have been doing but I want to have him ready just in case.

If anyone wants to join us, the ride is at Heyburn State Park and is supposed to have some beautiful views. No mustang required, any horse will do. :)

I wormed the boys and Grace yesterday. For some reason I hadn't bought enough wormer so Bella and Soxy will have to wait. Maybe I was thinking we'd be down a couple horses by now.

Tomorrow I hope to move Grace to a different area for a while. She's still in the round pen. Poor thing is bored out of her mind and begs me to take her out every time I pass by. I don't want to put her in with any of the others because she has warts. Do older horses get warts, or just young ones? Maybe she could live with Soxy if she'll be nice. I know the warts don't hurt them any but they are a little ugly.

Speaking of unsightly skin problems, I finally got a product that works! My sister suggested it several times for the horses' skin problem but I kept forgetting about it. It's called Fungasol. I love it! Just spray it on once a day. I rub it in but I'm not sure that's part of the instructions. I don't spray the whole body like the instructions say, just the affected area. It's a little spendy at $18 a bottle, and I have 3 horses to treat... Scout is just about cleared up, Tonka is improving slowly, and Bella is improving but not at an amazing rate. The results seem to correlate with how bad it was to begin with. Bella had it worst. I'm starting to worry that she might not be clear of it by the time she's supposed to go to Keith for training... That wouldn't be good. I might haul her to a different vet next week, or at least call him and see what he suggests.

I let my little Ameraucana girls out of the coop today. They were afraid to come out, but they eventually did. I found them this evening roosting in strange spots outside the coop. They don't seem to be as smart as other chickens. Or maybe they're more primitive? They don't behave in the same way, that's all I know.

I accidentally found the new nest the hens have been using. With the mower. Scrambled field eggs...

Tomorrow I have to run to the feed store and the grocery store, then I'm going to fix fence and move horses around. Then some horseplay. Then my friend Allegra is coming with her horse crazy daughter and we're going to have so much fun!

I'm worried about the 4th, as always. Mostly worried about Grace this time, since I know our others have weathered the storm before. I hope she doesn't hurt herself or get loose and run for the hills. I'll be very glad when it's over.

Oh, and Alisa asked how the new saddle fits me. Not real great so far, to be honest. The horn is a bit high for trail riding. The stirrups are uneven from being mounted from the same side too much, but I've been playing with that and might have found a solution. I think the seat was made for someone with a narrower pelvis. Probably a man's saddle. I might try a tush cushion, as lame as that is. But I really ought to just give it time. I'll probably get used to it. Another weird thing is that sometimes the seat seems way too big, other times it's just right. I'm sure it's just that I need to get used to it. But I wish my good saddle fit him, it's perfect for me!

I haven't ordered my EZ Fit saddle yet. Waiting to hear back on a demo saddle they might sell me for less, but I don't want it if it's the wrong color. I should email them and see what the status is on that.

This week's trail ride had a lot of interesting moments. Tonka rode in a different trailer. We tried loading him behind Rosie but she kicked at him just after I'd tied him in and I was still standing next to him. He panicked, stepped on my foot which pinned me in place, and pulled back, smashing me rather gently against the wall of the trailer. Luckily his cotton rope broke and he backed out and stood there (we were loading up on the road, I am glad he is sensible and didn't even think of running off). So we loaded him in front, and Rosie in back, which worked better but he did skin his hocks on the way there so he must have kicked at her. Luckily there is a divider between them.
I felt bad when I saw his hocks, one of them was bleeding enough to drip. I don't normally dress minor wounds but I was wishing I had something to wrap it with to keep it from rubbing on the way home. Melissa loaned me a handkerchief. I need to put my first aid stuff back in my saddle bags.

Trust my puddle puppy to find every bit of muddy water to sprawl out in. He gets hot so easily. Dixie isn't so fond of being wet but she did get a drink.

We found the other trail head at the other side of the property we've been riding on. All these years I never turned down that trail and it is very pretty over there.
Rosie has pretty ears, and Huck got wet again:

Tonka didn't want to cross the creek in a new spot. He didn't like that the ground gave under his hooves right at the edge and he wouldn't believe me when I said the creek bed was solid. After a long time I finally got off and insisted he go in.

Here he gets a reward - grass on the bank and a head rub and a great big "GOOD BOY."

Then I climbed back on and we played in the water for a while.

We were both really hot by that point and enjoyed a lay-down and some lunch in the shade.

Here's Melissa (the blue spot in the grass) taking a break with Rosie, and Huck trying to claim her from Dixie. Those dogs are funny. Tonka was getting his fill.
A lovely picture of Melissa and her very willing Rosie, with Huck and Dixie too:

We both crossed the creek a couple extra times for good measure. Tonka had no qualms now that he knew it wasn't a bog.

I think this new saddle (my sister's) might fit. Looks like a good sweat pattern anyway...

A little Grace update: She's halterless and still living in the round pen. I've been taking her out for short walk and graze sessions and now she loves to see me coming. She still does the tail swishing and stuff, but it's all insecurity so I ignore it. I did have to clearly tell her she was not leading our expedition today though. She was surprised but learned pretty quick that she shouldn't try to pass me. This is an awkward picture of her but it's all I've got.

I'm going to worm her tomorrow and then move her to a bigger area with no wood to chew. She's eating my round pen and I don't like it!

I've been riding, just not taking pictures. Yesterday we had a good trail ride, Melissa and I and my dad. The horses were very well behaved, but Rosie did not like Sox. She was still flirting with Tonka but not quite so desperately. It is interesting how they have their own social agendas while we humans are socializing in our own way.

Today I took Tonka along to a barbeque at my sister's. He was calm, happy, and pleased to be there. A completely different horse than the one I've been riding all year so far. And I think, maybe, the reason might be saddle fit.

Yesterday when I picked up my dad and Sox for our ride, I also traded saddles with my sister. Not my really nice saddle, just my other pretty nice saddle, a Diamond C I'm trying to sell. I put hers on Tonka at the trail head and I was skeptical about the fit but rode anyway. I made sure to stay on the whole ride, not get off on the steep down hill parts to save his back. He seemed fine. Toward the end of the ride my butt was tired of the saddle, and my knees and hips weren't happy when I dismounted. So it's not perfect for me but sometimes it takes time to get used to a new saddle. When we got back to the trailer I took it off and the sweat pattern was even. Which I've experienced before even with a saddle that didn't fit, so I was still skeptical.

Tonight he was so calm and relaxed, and my sister took some video of us. His back wasn't sunken the way it often is in other pictures I've seen of us riding. So I'm hopeful. I admit I'm still totally confused about saddle fit, so I'm not going to claim it fits. But it seems to make him happy so far.

I also tried out one of my new Myler bits. It's a shanked bit with a port but each side moves independently. It's extremely similar to the Dutton bit that Tonka prefers over any others, but it's smooth metal, not black rusty sweet iron. . I noticed Tonka itching his face a lot during our last ride with the Dutton, and thought maybe the rough texture or something about the metal was irritating the corner of his mouth, so maybe a change was in order. It did seem to work somewhat differently, judging by his behavior, but he seemed to like it. I'm going to keep riding in it and see if it's a good thing for him.

This is the Dutton bit he prefers, but his isn't a 7 shank:

This is the Myler bit, but I think mine has a wider port:
Both swivel in the center.

I'm "this close" to getting my EZ Fit treeless saddle. Just have to sell a few items first. How many bits, pads, and breast collars does a person really need anyway? I counted 12 bits today, and I have at least 5 breast collars. I put some on Craigslist today (but couldn't bring myself to part with any breast collars just yet). Here are some pics in case anyone is interested.