Dewey and Highboy Trailride

To show Jasi around our local trails we headed to Staunton River State Park this morning with Dewey and Highboy. Owen was on foot, and after the significant rain this week parts of the trail were pretty muddy.  The horses are getting acclimated to having more water around and did great through the mud, puddles, over culverts and bridges.

Jasi Comes To Visit

Jasi is here for the week visiting, and we've been having a great time hacking around the property with Daisy and Raven.

I'm still waiting on arena footing, it's proved challenging to get a stretch of dry enough weather that the big trucks can get into the arena without ripping up the pasture grass.  So in the meantime I'm working on trails on the property and riding those.  I have an app on my phone that will map out where I'm riding, and this is what it currently looks like.  I have a couple short loops, and a couple out-and-back trails. 

 

 

It's been kind of drizzly and rainy here this week, which works out well for hacking around since it's not too hot.  Poor Daisy is really struggling with the tick population here, she seems to be a favorite for those little bugs.  I spoke with a local veterinarian who recommended making a few changes in addition to the dietary support and bug repellent I've been using.  I've got fipronil/Frontline spray now, and we have the option to put Daisy on an antihistamine if she needs it after trying the spray for a couple weeks.  Hopefully in succeeding years she won't have as pronounced a reaction, the vet said often the first year is the hardest until the horse's body acclimates to new insects.

 

With her hair tied up, a black Bit of Honey jacket, and black helmet, Jasi's almost ready for a game of "is this photo Kim or Jasi?"

 

Comfortable Cats and Disturbing Deer

Blu, one of my garage cats, has adjusted remarkably well to life here. In addition to scouting in the woods behind the house and capturing salamanders he has recently discovered the joys of outdoor furniture, and experimented with being a lap cat.  With very little wind here we actually can have and enjoy furniture on the porch without it blowing away!

 

We have lots of wildlife here, too.  We appear to be living along some sort of turtle thoroughfare, there is a big snapping turtle that is around the pond, with many many fist sized box turtles cruising around in the grass and between the ponds. There is a herd of deer that lurk ominously along the edge of the woods, occasionally the horses get super wound up if they think the deer are nearby. Oddly, the horses don’t seem to mind if we’re riding and see them, it’s just when they are in turnout and the deer approach it is definitely an emergency.  

This small young deer was the source of much excitement one evening.  Highboy and Note insisted that it was NOT safe to be haltered and go through the gate to come in for the night, because LOOK what was waiting to get them!

Rizzo and Pascal enjoy going with me into the woods on the days when I’m cutting trails. We usually do a quick walk through the trails each evening too.  I mapped it out with my phone’s tracking app, and the two sections closest to the house are 0.67 miles of trail. It sure takes a long time to create a short distance!  If I include the 1/2 mile walk to the front of the property and the loop in the woods there I have about a mile of trails so far. I want to make the trails connect so I can do large loops, but it may end up being more of a winter project as the bugs come out in the heat and humidity. 

We’re supposed to have 90s this weekend here in VA, when I looked at the CO weather they have crazy heat in the upper 80s today and snow tomorrow. People say that the weather here is erratic and this spring has been uncharacteristically windy, but it very seldom gets up to 20mph.  Compared to CO this is downright balmy.

Highboy Trailrides With a New Friend

Several weeks ago I was invited by a friend of our realtor's to go to a local 4H meeting.  While there I met some very welcoming and friendly people, and one of the invited me to come trail ride at her place.  So this morning we got together in this near perfect weather for a hack!

I took Highboy since he's my most experienced trail horse.  I have to smile as I note this, remembering his younger sillier days when he was quite dramatic and I only had one or two people who were willing to ride with me if I took him!  Today he was my choice since I had no idea what this ride might be like.  It turned out to be the loveliest walk through woods, fields, around old tobacco wagons and sheds, and by gorgeous fields.  

I'm hoping to get similar fencing installed here, it's a bit of a challenge to get people to actually come out and do things.  They answer the phone or text and say they'll be happy to do the project, then I hear nothing for weeks until I think I've been ghosted.  If I can catch them again on the phone they are very friendly and say they're planning on the job, but won't give me a timeline.  I mentioned this to Lena and she said that's pretty typical for this area, people are very friendly but there is little follow-through.

We had a nice chat while we rode, she moved here from New Jersey a few years ago where she had been running a large riding lesson school with summer camps for kids and everything.  My 20-ish horse program was similarly exhausting, so it's nice that we're both now at a place in our lives and careers where it's wonderful to have essentially private barns! 

 

There were a couple spots with water as large ponds.  Highboy really loves the water, and in as sly a way as he could muster he sidled up to the edge as close as he could get...  I was aware of his intentions and I was able to catch him before he actually stepped off the ledge into the water.  He did this at home last week when we were hacking around so I was somewhat prepared.  There he actually did manage to get his feet into the water of our pond.  It was warmer and more humid so he was a bit sweaty.  He splashed around a bit, and then began to fold his knees and hocks....  I hustled to get him up and out of the water as I did not need him to lie down in the pond fully tacked up with a rider!  He had similar intentions this morning so we did chuckle at him but stopped him from getting into the water.

Highboy was great otherwise, marching along as he does, looking around and taking in the scenery, but never put a foot wrong and behaved himself in a gentlemanly way the whole time.  When we got back to the fields closer to the barn and he caught a view of the horse trailer he did slow down considerably and began to dawdle.  This is pretty typical for him, he's like a little kid at the pool, "Awww come on, I don't want to be done, just FIVE more minutes!"  Typical Highboy.

 

 

There was a section of trail where we ended up looking at a giant railroad bridge going over the water.  Apparently local kids go there to swim, it was a cute little cove protected in the trees.  Highboy did ask nicely if he could go in the water there too but I had to decline.

Smartpak recently had a good sale on their riding clothes, so I splurged a little.  I got this striped shirt in honor of Kimberly (who loves stripes and never hesitates to get a new striped shirt).  When I put on my reddish helmet to ride I realized my appearance was quite reminiscent of Where's Waldo with the stripes, navy, glasses, and a red hat! 

This was a fantastic ride.  Highboy and I greatly enjoyed ourselves.  This area is stunning with so many options to trail ride, and my barefoot mountain thoroughbreds are adapting quite well!  As an added bonus, it was a less than ten minute drive to get to Lena's, so I felt really good without having to do a long drive both ways!