Tails from the Trail - Thursday, June 26

Well, it's official. My summer horse — same Gem, alter ego — is back (along with the heat, flies and mosquitoes). I love "Summer Gem". He is much slower, more steady, relaxed and more willing than his winter counterpart. We don't have many discussions about what we'll do and when. He pretty much agrees to whatever I ask him to do, but I wouldn't be surprised if he rolls his eyes anyway.
Today I loaded up Gem with what seemed like a half-bottle of flyspray and OFF! mosquito repellent and hit the trail. It was fabulous in the woods, and I made sure to take in the beauty of the foliage and the shadows it cast as far as the eye could see. It almost seemed like Gem was enjoying it too —really — as he trotted jauntily along.
I've seen a big difference in his attitude and willingness since he got his new saddle from Tracy. It's the beautiful Bates and boy it feels wonderful to sit in. I know it lets Gem move more freely and, in return, has made me ride better. I can canter the 137 stretch in a half-seat now, instead of having to remain in a two-point. I also don't have to squeeze him with a vise grip to maintain the canter like I used to. No more sore buns!
The humidity was up today, so we took it easy with just walking and trotting until the 137 stretch. I love the feeling of a nice, flowing canter in the grass, taking in the sights of wild life and flowers as I listen to the sharp crackling of the prairie grass slapping against and under Gem's hooves. We had such a great canter in both directions, not much leg or half-halting needed. His head was low and his shoulders reached freely with every stride.
We wound our way back to the barn with trotting interspersed with walking, however, we were drenched in sweat. Gem seemed to be handling the heat well, but when we got back to the barn it was a different story.
He had walked quite a bit at the end of the trail ride to cool down, but the sun and humidity were difficult. We got inside and I untacked him quickly, and he was comfortable in the breezy aisle. But once he was in the wash rack, he heated up again. His nostrils flared with every breath and his flanks rose and fell quickly. He was panting. I was stifled, too. As I rinsed him, I could feel the once tepid water trapped in his coat under his belly was now HOT. I got him out of there as quickly as possible and took him into the indoor arena where another rider had been walking her older mount for over 20 minutes. That horse, also, was challenged by this heat. The ceiling fans made the arena breezy and comfortable and soon both horses had cooled.
Gem, now about 17, is aging well although he does have arthritis and a daily aspirin regimen. It's becoming ever apparent that aging horses need different care than their younger counterparts. I did some research on-line and not surprisingly, found that in a study older horses heated up twice as fast as the younger horses in the group.
"Thermoregulation involves the ability to transport heat from the body's core to the surface of the skin and blood vessels," said Kenneth H. McKeever, PhD, of the Rutgers University department of animal sciences. "The older horses had substantially higher heart rates during exercise, showing that their hearts had to work harder to pump blood to dissipate the heat. The study suggests that older horses can't handle the combined demand of exercise and heat as well as younger horses," said McKeever.
In the same study, it said that the older horses did cool down at the same rate during a 10-minute rest period.
So I'm definitely going to continue to keep a close watch on him. I am sure he'll be very happy that he won't be asked to work hard this summer!

New website!

Hello everyone!! I'm very excited to announce my brand new photography website - complete with a horse gallery. yay!
www.d2ephotography.com

Fields & Fences Horse Show

I was at the horse show today. I've posted photos on my photography blog: http://d2ephotos.blogspot.com/

A drum roll please....

Tah-dah! My new half chaps are in my possession! woo! They felt awesome during my lesson today as well. My old cheap chaps would always pinch in my knee-pit area and I had an on-going sore from it. Since the new chaps are custom to my legs, they don't touch that area or rub. It's awesome!

My face is really strange here. Not quite sure what was up with that. It's a funny face though. I think it's because Patti had just told me to put my "cups up." :)

Of course the ladies had to try them on and strut around the office. Tina flashed her leg out in the hallway. One girl(Payal) saw her and turned around. Tina's like, "haha! Payal just saw me and turned the other direction!" Then Payal came back and was like, "yeah I didn't know what to say." Tis a strange bunch I work with. And they both wore clothing to match my chaps in honor of this special day!

Here are my new chaps in action! And it was also my first refusal!! I still need to work on keeping my back straight but I was really concentrating on keeping my right leg on. Grace(and you can see it briefly after the second set of poles on the second video) was landing disjointed. He had one lead in front and then his back legs were on the other lead. So we figured out that he needs a ton of support on the right side to ensure he canters off correctly.

Custom Half Chaps

ooooo... aaaaahhhhh... I had my fitting tonight for my new custom half chaps! Very exciting. Erma came out to the barn with all her samples of leather and photos of what she can do, and there was a swarm of people around her wanting their own half chaps. Here are some photos below of my chaps as well as some others she's done. My are the black with green and coral. Erma said they'll be ready on Friday! yay! :)

I bet my money on a bob-tailed nag...

Somebody bet on the grey...Doo-da, Doo-da!
Yeah baby. Bet my money on the bob-tail nag that ran over the bush and won!

On June 6 the MRC + an MRC-to-be celebrated a beautiful, yet windy, day at Arlington Racetrack. Jen was able to get us special box seating from her friend and everyone had a great time with drinks and betting.
There was a lot of cheering and high-fiving coming out of our box. I'm sure we attracted a lot of attention. Dory was a betting fiend...and everyone ended "up" at the end of the day.
After the track, we had dinner at Fuego in Arlington Heights. This place is phenomenal and I highly recommend it. They make your guacamole fresh at the table. The Tamarindo Margarita was fabulous. Shrimp ceviche, Tacos del mar, carne asada...ay yi yi. It is out of this world.

Cross poles baby!!

Today was my first time over cross poles! yay! The first video is of my first attempt. Not the best... I round out my back and hunch. But the next video shows me doing it 3 more times and each time I get better. yay! It was so much fun! Then later tonight I went to visit Erma. She's the custom chaps lady. I'm having a pair of half chaps made for me and I'm so excited about them! They are black, then have a sea green curvy stripe down the outside of my leg. There will be a coral colored piping along the green and following the green curve with be little green rhinestones all the way down. Then there's a horse hair tassel at the top with a little silver button attaching it. I'll have my first fitting on Tuesday. yay!

big sigh.....

Ah yes... another wonderful day at the barn.... had a pretty good lesson.... went back to some basics.... and then, as the past two Wednesday's have foreshadowed, Mario showed up. ::sigh:: We were totally prepared this time. Jen and Nora showed up just in time for the show since neither of them have seen Mario before today. He was riding Rubio and then Valentino. Below is a video of him working with Rubio... I think it speaks for itself.

Sore Tails from the Trail: June 1

Saturdays before Sunday rides are always tough for me. I gotta get all my housecleaning and laundry done, give the kids some individual attention, do the weekly shopping and most importantly, watch the weather for Sunday mornings. And in between all of that, I constantly think about the ride to come.
So all day I'm thinking, "I cannot jog again with that horse. I will die. I've got to ride him bareback. That's it. I have no choice. Lock it in. Get it up on MRC so you can't back out..."
Well, you can see that I didn't post it. I kept my back out window open.
So Sunday morning I had a natural shot of adrenaline that got me up and out to the barn by 7:30am. Patti came out soon thereafter.
Got Gemmy all cleaned up, bareback pad on and as we were leaving the aisle to mount up, Patti offered to forego her stirrups so we'd kinda be "even". I totally took her up on that!
I brought my camera so I could get proof of this bareback/stirrup-less escapade. Especially if I might die. My family would need memories. We mounted up and Gretchen shot the first picture of proof before we left.

Things went well out on the trail. Our first trot was a little ouchy, but soon my butt settled deeply on Gem's back. We trotted along, pretty briskly, and I chuckled listening to Patti's groans and exclamations of pain coming from behind us.
When we emerged from the grove above the lake, Patti asked, "You wanna canter here?"
"Hell no!" I said, but I kinda wanted to. But wasn't gonna.
So we trotted along, Patti in pain, so I believe she picked up a slow canter behind us. We continued on with this charade in between the bridges, me trotting along, my thighs burning from my full-seat britches rubbing on the suede bareback pad as I posted, and Patti holding Grace back and then barreling up behind us at a brisk canter.
Finally, near the second bridge she says, "You're gonna canter 137, right?"
"Hell no," I remind her.
So again. Same painful endeavor to 137. Patti patiently put up with my crap. Finally, she exclaimed, "OH! OW! I can't do this anymore. I have to stop!" So we did. We chatted. We laughed. We took pictures. All a set-up by sneaky Patti.


"OK," Patti says in her down-to-business attitude, "You gotta canter this little stretch further."
I was stuck. It was only maybe 100 yards. I swore in my head. I had to do it. No getting out of it now. If I didn't do it I was the biggest loser. So I did it.
IT WAS AWESOME! I didn't fall. I didn't die. I didn't even get nervous. Patti was so right. I'm glad she made me do it.
So then I wanted more. We turned and walked back to the start of our 137 and then cantered all the way back again. Without falling, dying, crying or stopping. Boy, do I love my horse. He's awesome. I couldn't have done it without him. Or Patti. She knows me so well. Thank you Patti for pushing me and not letting me wimp out of that!
So all the way back to the barn, we chatted, joked and enjoyed the ride. Our butts were pretty sore and Patti found a creative way to ease her pain. Uh no. I'm not gonna do THAT!

...and the horse isn't bad either!

Maybe Wednesday entries should just be named, "Desperate Horsewomen", for the waves of giddiness and the attraction Mario generates is just crazy.
I'm 39 years old...I shouldn't get all kooky and googly-eyed from some guy with crunchy-gelled hair and suspenders riding a horse. But noooo...this is Marioooooo...a rico-suave Caballero, ¿Si? Dios mio!
So today Dory and I rode as usual, and as I was going about my after-care chores, I noticed a crowd had gathered at both doors of the indoor arena. I looked and there was Mario leading into the arena a palomino that I thought was Bob's horse, Bo. Eh, nice, whatever.
But I saw Kate with a video camera, and I looked again, and Bo looked super fabulous. Exquisite, shining gold coat; cresty, arched neck and sparkling white mane and tail to die for. And I thought to myself, "Wow, Mario just touches a horse and it looks gorgeous!"
So on my way back I noticed everyone was dead quiet. You could have heard a pin drop in the arena footing. I stopped to see what they were all staring at with huge, saucer-eyes.
Well! Bob imported from Spain a new perla (palomino) Andalusian stallion, aptly named "Rubio del Oro", or Red Gold.
That was it. I couldn't take my eyes off that horse. I would love to post a picture for you to see, but I can't find one on the 'net that even comes close to how beautiful this horse is. He's not just palomino. He's gold.
Mind you, Dory and I had to get back to work. So I finally tore myself away from the arena door to go back to Dory, Grace and Gem so we could turn the guys out and leave. Just as I'm leaving the aisle, here comes Mario, Rubio and their entourage, which included Mario's photographer, Bob, Bob's woman friend, Kate and a teen girl. Mario gives me the courteous head nod, "How are you.." and then turns — the opposite direction — to Dory, waves and gives her a really friendly, "Hey, how are you?" UH! She turned beet red, giggled and we quickly led the horses out of the aisle and out to pasture.
Of course, we came back to view the Mario Show in the limestone outdoor, and we watched him put Rubio through his paces which included piaffe and spanish walk. We were standing in the doorway, well behind the entourage, but at one point Bob turned around to see who was gasping and breathing so heavily behind him. I waved sheepishly and felt like an idiot. He probably thought we were rehearsing for some bad porno track. Good thing I left my red stilettos at home.
"He's gorgeous," I said breathily.
"...and the horse isn't bad either," Dory gasped.

Rolex 2008

So! I thought I'd share some of the cross country from Rolex this year.
Make sure you turn up the volume.

The first two competitors are The Amazing Turner, and uh... She Who Smacks It(a feisty mare). Then we have The Amazing Turner(check out the nice lead change just before the jump) once again, along with McSlackney. At the end we have a special event for you where The Amazing Turner actually mounts McSlackney for the final jump. This feat has never before been attempted.
It's a close one...