White Oak Canyon ride.

Wow, a week gone already since the LD. Where does the time fly!

Last night I hooked up the horse trailer and took Falcon to it. He stopped 6 ft from the trailer and wouldnt budge. I climbed on and put steady pressure on his lead rope and asked him to "load up" or "step" Finally he stepped and nosed the trailer.

More rebellion, more pressure, then step, step, one foot on the trailer. Finally, up he came. I made him stand there for about 5 min. then backed him off. He was tenative and hung balancing on the edge of the trailer before finally stepping off.

I repeated the process 5 more times until he was loading without hesitation again...YEAHHHHHHHHH!

So today, when Karen came, I asked her to keep her distance with Red and not to crowd us. Falcon loaded right up. Then Red.

We drove up to Skyline Drive and looked for parking....Were we crazy? It was a weekend during PEAK LEAF season! Finally we found parking at Skyland in front of some of their cabins.

We hadnt checked the horses feet before we left and Karen promptly found that Red was missing his right front shoe and pad! DARN! Ok, well, coban and duct tape it is. His foot was too wide for the Easy Boot.

That done, we wandered around looking for the trail that our map showed to no avail.
Finally we headed down Skyline Drive towards the stables where we knew the White Oak Canyon trail was.

The Trail started out on a fire road down crossed three creeks that paralleled each other and then turned on to a leaf strewn rocky trail down into the canyon to the creek. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures of us CROSSING this creek because it was quite tricky and narrow underwater with large slippery rocks.

Falcon and Red crossed like champs and we continued for a short distance up the otherside. Then decided that the day was short and we better head back since we couldnt make time with Red's lack of a shoe.

This time, Red crossed the creek first. The creek became muddy and Falcon managed to step up onto the large slippery rock under water. He kind of lept foward to regain his balance, only to freak out at a tiny waterfall on the left and two barking dogs on the right.

Mid stream he whirled around and lunged out. Oh great. No amount of coaxing would get him to reenter. I dismounted and tried to walk on dry rocks while leading him through the water...He chose to attempt to follow me on the rocks and promptly slid hither and yon.

Quite a crowd of tourists were gathering to see the outcome....most of them had seem him cross initially.

Karen attempted to get Red to come back across so she could lead Falcon, but Red wouldnt budge from the opposite side!

Finally a young man pointed west and said "hey, there is a foot bridge up there"

I said, "that is for people, big sign says, horses not allowed"

He said, "I won't tell if you wont tell!" yee hahhh...

So I walked Falcon up a narrow foot path, up 4 narrow steps onto a NARROW metal bridge. Falcon put one foot on the bridge, CLANK! another foot on the bridge CLANK!
foot 3 on CLANK, foot 4 on CLANK! Ok, this is going to take a LONG TIME!

Then CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK....right across he scurried and then tackled 10 semi-wide steps down the other side and back on the trail.

Shooooo weeee and clapping and exclamations were heard how amazing it was for such a big horse to walk on such little steps....yeeee hahhhh.

Back up the trail we went, completing just under 6 miles in all quite uneventfully after the creek crossing...until we arrived at the trailer....DUMB PEOPLE parked a CAR RIGHT BEHIND the trailer.

Thankfully, the car ahead of me was just leaving and I was able to pull forward to board the horses. Falcon clambored right on, with Red close behind and we headed home having had a great day.

Squishy Squishy Ride Day

The ride manager invited all to come and ride the Fort Valley-describing beautiful fall foliage, etc.....


October 25, 2008


I didnt want to crawl out of my nice warm sleeping bag. I didn't even want to ride. I was having pre-ride jitters.
This would be my second LD ride if I managed to get on my horse.


My friend Karen had fed the horses at 6 a.m. and so I all had to do was decide what to wear and to saddle my horse.
The fine misting rain made everything all drippy, including the horses and I told Karen that 'we don't HAVE to do this' and she retorted 'we didnt do all of that conditioning for nothing, we are going to do this ride!'


I took in a long slow deep breath and turned my focus on getting Falcon ready. The darkness quickly turned into daylight with omnious clouds hovering overhead. By 7:30 we were mounted and warming the horses up. Falcon, a 5 y/o arab/paint cross was fairly relaxed/if not sleepy.


At 7:55 we checked in and waited for the start. A "controlled" start?!!!! NOT what I considered controlled. We started out in the middle of the pack. Horses were prancing and cantering and trotting along behind the lead vehicle and I had a major panic attack as I saw some horses slipping on the sleek wet pavement. We crossed a cement bridge and thankfully Falcon was more focused on the other horses.


Falcon, by this time was almost out of control, prancing and dancing sideways like a dressage horse as we all swept up the pavement...then aaah, a right turn onto a gravel road, much safer footing...and we cantered and trotted and moved our way towards the front of the pack.


Soon Karen and Red caught up to us and we went single file up a rocky trail over Milford Gap. The trail down the other side was rocky, wet and narrow. A rock ledge bordered the right with a sharp incline. Falcon maneuvered the trail well, head down, looking for rocks. Several times he stumbled and I flew up out of the saddle, losing my right stirrup and noted to myself that I needed to shorten that stirrup at the next water stop.


The rain began to deluge us now and water squished out of my moisture wicking tights everytime I hit the saddle. Yeeee Hah!
We came apon a wonderful grassy road and Falcon took off at a canter, on and on we went taking the lead for a while. He wanted to gallop, but we had miles to go and so I tugged on him to slow down (with little success) When we reached the gravel road along the Shenandoah river he set in to a more steady pace.


Soon we reached the ascent back up the mountain on another narrow and rocky trail. We climbed slowly and were soon overtaken by 5 other riders who we let pass. The warmth and steam rising from the passing horses made a great cloud to settle in over us. I thought we would never reach the top.


It was on this trail that we saw the BEAUTIFUL FALL FOLIAGE that ride management had spoken of. It was absolutely breathtaking. Then as we crested the top, the view of the Shenandoah valley once again took my breath away.


Once again a downpour enveloped us then lightened as we crossed back in to Fort Valley. We sped back down the trail and ended up at the first Vet Check in 7th place and all A's.


Karens daughter brought us hot Chicken Noodle Soup while friends took care of the horses for us. Karen's time out was about 4 min. later than mine, but since she was riding my horse and she is my friend, I waited for her. Karen needed some motivation to get going again, but soon we were back out on the trail at 1201.


Up the road we went, trot, trot, trot, squish, squish, squish. And DARN we missed the first turn and had to backtrack what seemed to be a mile. After that we stayed on trail. But I hated that loop for the most part. All winding through the woods and taking so many turns that my mind was in a whirl and I couldnt place what direction we were going in my head.


Up steep hills, down hills, more rain, trotting, galloping, squish, squish, squish. At a creek, Falcon stopped to drink and drink, then led 3 other horses up the rock creekbed, surefooted as ever. Man, I am glad he takes care of himself.


Finally Red took the lead with some urging from Karen. When we reached the hayfields Falcon decided it was time for a good buck or two, but I quickly caught on and yanked his head up. From there we had a belly deep water crossing. We LOVED that. Falcon didnt want to get out of the creek...as if we werent wet enough already.


One more short steep climb, then good trails to home. YEAHHH!. We had done the 12 miles in less than 2 hours. I walked Falcon in to the Vet, but he was too excited to be back 'home' and whinnied at anyone who would talk to him...not getting his heart rate down to 60.


Judy Ricci, his trainer was close by and came over to help...stuffing some electrolytes in his begrudging mouth and sponging him down for me. Then time for the vet. I was so excited, since we had come in next to last in the Virginia Highlands ride. We finished in the middle of the pack this time and could have placed a little higher had we not left 6 min. late and then gotten lost. And to think that I wanted to quit just because of a little rain!


It was an AWESOME ride.


And the sun came out just as the Vet called out 'overall A'! What an AWESOME AWSOME DAY!

Lunch Time

After setting up camp, we walked over and checked in. No waiting, we were early for the Saturday ride and todays riders were still out on the trail.

Walking back we mosied around at the two Vendors that were there and I hungrily eyed some black stirrups with cages. The other stirrups on my black plantation saddle creak with every move and the pads are quite worn out.

The plantation saddle had been basically a last minute decision when I found that my tree was broken on my Tucker Cheyenne and a pad was missing from my Tucker Endurance saddle and my stirrups were not interchangeable.

But, by then Betsy and "her" Ed had arrived at camp with lunch...Yummy turkey wraps with chipolte mayonaise, Cilantro potato salad and cranberry bars along with a selection of sodas, beer or water.

Betsy used to run Jordon Hollow Farm Inn and now just Inn sits, so she has a multitude of yummy recipes up her sleeve.

After lunch we wandered around camp. Betsy is also a past endurance rider and so she knew lots of people at the camp. I took this time to head back to the Vendor to splurge on the stirrups.

Taking that back to the saddle, it seemed that the bars were too wide for the leathers, so Betsy, Ed and I went back to see if they had a narrower bar, but alas, I already had the smallest one. The vendor said "They will work, I sold some to a friend with REALLY NARROW leathers and she didnt have ANY problems. I garantee that they will be fine"

Betsy mumbled...mmmmmmm, I don't know, I don't know about THAT!. Well, I decided to go with the vendors words and trudged back to the trailer to put them on.

Karen also bought a pair of endurance stirrups with out cages for her Aussie. She had been riding in english irons....not good for 30 miles in the mountains and expected rain.

Then it was time to vet the horses in. They had had plenty of time to eat and drink and Falcon vetted through with an overall of A- due to relaxed skin, but I believe he is just like that, he just isnt really tight skinned.

Then we relaxed around camp. Betsy had talked to the first place finisher on the 30 mile ride and got the scoop on the trail conditions...not that it would totally help us since he rode on dry trails and we were expecting wet ones. But at least he told us where we could really move out and make up some time if necessary.

By then it was almost 5 and I decided that I better head 10 miles back down the road to check in at Fort Valley Stables where I had reserved a cabin for two nights.

Just then "my" Ed drove up, so I hopped in his car and we took our stuff to the cabin which turned out to be cozy with a tiny t.v. and a GIANT microwave oven. I think it must have been the first one ever made!

We threw our sleeping bags out on the bunk beds and then headed back to camp for a supper of baked ziti, rolls and salad and then pumpkin bread pudding for dessert. I had the vegetarian baked ziti. Man it was good, but I harrassed the man for serving me with the same spoon that he had dished the meat version with...hheeee heee.

I told him that I didnt mind since I wasn't even a vegetarian, but liked the plain version better.

The young girl that took our meal tickets was quite creepy, very straight faced and quiet until the guy in front of us tried to get his meal with out his ticket, she frowned and said "no ticket, no meal"! yikes....so he dropped out and ran to his truck for his meal ticket. Turns out that they had like 5 big pans left over and could have fed like 50 more people!

A fine misting rain started to settle in as the ride meeting started. A great indicator of the day to come!

The ride meeting over, we went and blanket the horses even though it was around 60 degrees. Most horses were blanket and we figured the temperature would drop with the rain.

From there Karen opted to sleep in her truck to be close to the horses and Ed and I drove back to the cabin where we both crawled in to our bunks.

I didnt sleep well...pondering the next days ride, the weather, and the fact that I just didnt even want to do this ride at all. Pre-ride jitters for sure.

Time to Set Up Camp

I slept past 7 a.m. because I had not set my alarm. I always wake up at 5!

So, I had to scurry around filling the water tank on the horse trailer, grabbing my saddle pads from the dryer and putting my bags and food baskets in the truck.

Then it was time to feed the goats and pen them so that Jay could drive through the pasture without the goats escaping. By then, Karen had arrived with a big light weight roundpen on the back of her truck for Red.

We walked down to the lower barn and watered the cows while waiting for Jay. Jay arrived at 9:15 and tightened up Falcon and Reds shoes, then yakked to Karen about the arrest of our local sheriff.

I grabbed the grooming box and an extra bucket and headed for the Trailer. Karen got the hint and shut the gates after Jay drove through. Then we brought the horses to the trailer.

Falcon was a pain and would not load, but after some coaxing he finally walked on.
Red loaded without issue.

At exactly 10 we motored out of the driveway with Karen in the lead, through town and on to Mechanic Street, heading for the Massanutten Mountains a few miles away.
The road up the mountain is curvy and narrow and at one point, I passed a van going in the opposite direction and there must have been only 4 inches clearance between us....yikes, but if I got over to the right, I would have rolled down the mountain side.

The down side is just as steep and curvy with a sharp hairpin bend thrown in for good measure. Then, reaching the floor of Fort Valley, the road widens and is more level, but still curvy.

12 miles later we arrived at Base Camp-Fitchetts Field. There was plenty of parking and we found a spot not too far from the Vet-In and Check In.

Quickly we set up the round pen and the porta corral, unloaded the horses (Falcon had to be coaxed off of the trailer) and put them in their corrals to munch grass.

Then we set up two canopys that Karen had that belonged to the Old Dominion...Set down our chairs, propped our feet up and each had a beer. Then we set about getting grain and stuff ready for the next day.

Rose River Ride

Wow what a gorgeous day! Only 48 this a.m. Quite a change from Hot and Humid Wednesday.

Betsy and Tristana were supposed to go with us on this ride, but alas, Tris had the worst case of "scratches" on her front fetlock and some on the back as well, that I had ever seen. Betsy and Ed had come over the night before to look at it and she trotted out extremely lame. So Betsy's plan for the day was to get Tristanas, sores cleaned up and bandaged.

Karen's friend Sarah met us at Red Gate Road. Sarah doesn't ride but she is going to Pit Crew for us at the Fort Valley Ride next week and she wanted to meet my horses prior to the ride.

Red refused to back off of the trailer and so Karen put a long lead line on is right side and the shorter one on his left. She used the long right line to guide his butt to the left and with that he stepped off quickly.

We were saddled up in no time flat, but then my GPS screen went gray. I handed it down to Sarah, who is a geology major and lives by GPS. She fiddled with it awhile, but it still wouldnt work. I suggested turnining it off and waiting 10 seconds. That did the trick and we took off up the trail by 10:45

We walked the horses for 15 min and then trotted/cantered for 2 miles, walked for a breather and then trotted the remaining 1.5 miles to Skyline Drive.

At Fishers Gap overlook we crossed over Skyline Drive and Picked up the Rose River Fire Trail.

There were a lot of tourists on this trail. One little girl wanted to pet the horses so Karen let her pet Red since Falcon was a little freaked out about the "little" people.

The first mile of this trail is small gravel and we made good time at the trot. Along the way is a grave yard to the right with a flag flying and many people were taking a look at that. A little further down is a waterfall and a wide metal bridge.

Many people were lined up on the bridge taking pictures. We dismounted and handwalked the horses over it. Falcon was a little freaked by the people and also by the clanking ove the bridge as his metal shoes hit the metal bridge.

But we crossed without mishap and remounted. At this point the trail sported many rocks and the going was slow as the horses picked their way through them. It just wasn't very safe to trot.

Down down down the mountain we went. Our goal was Graves Mountain Lodge and an Apple Fest, but it turned out that we would not make it due to the slowness of the trail and the distance was further than Karen had figured. She had figured another 4-5 miles from Skyline Drive....NOT, it was more like 10 miles!

The fall foliage was beautiful and the temps cool. I wore my 3 season jacket without the liner and also a flannel shirt with a t-shirt under that. Most of the ride we also wore gloves.

In a few places my nose was cold, but no complaining....IT was GORGEOUS! Part of the way we followed the Rose River that is really nothing more than a big creek.
After 8.5 miles of riding we decided we better turn around and head back towards home. (now, looking at the map, we were less than half a mile from the end of the fire road)

Anyway, we crossed another metal bridge and this time, Falcon put his head down and gingerly walked across it, again without mishap.

Here we chose a potty break/snack time before turning to head back for home.

We made better time going UP the mountain since the horses seemed to be able to trot easier going up. We passed the Man with his black Tennesse Walkers, although this day he was with his wife, but the man was walking, saying that his horse had lost a shoe. Well, we never saw a shoe, but there were so many fallen leaves...that I wish them luck in finding it.

Then I saw a good place to canter and urged Falcon on, he took off and I soon heard Karen yell....Red was bucking bucking bucking. 4 times! BAD BOY. This was the third time of the day that he had done this...hhhhmmm, I had asked Karen to change her girth from the nylon string one to a felt one since I didnt have a neoprene one for her aussie saddle....wonder if it was the girth.

Well, she can use the nylon string one for the LD I guess.
At one point, Falcon's right hind end went down as his foot got stuck in some rocks, but he kept moving and didn't show any signs of lameness.

We reached the upper waterfall and metal bridge, dismounted and walked across. Still many sightseers here. As we mounted, Falcon's head came up and he whirled around like something was scaring him.

Two men on Tennessee Walkers were seemingly racing down the trail. I managed to settle Falcon slightly and kept him in the middle of the trail hoping to force the men to slow down.

They barely slowed and raced on past, making a horrific noise as they raced over the metal bridge.

What in the WORLD, I wanted to report their bad behavior....but ya know, a horse does not sport a license plate. They should have been moving slowly through that area with all of the people/children milling about.

Soon after a group of about 10 people on TW's came through, albeit at a more moderate pace. After they passed we took off at a trot/canter for the remaing mile up to Skyline Drive. I would have taken pictures, but I needed both hands on the reins.

At Fishers Gap, Falcon freaked slightly at a big tour bus that screeched in to the overlook with two noisy motorcycles close behind. But soon both horses were munching on the lush grass.

The day was growing short, so after allowing the horses to graze for 15 min. or so we mounted back up and took off at a trot down Red Gate Road. One mile from the trailer I dismounted and started jogging down the trail with Falcon at my side.

Karen had taken off with Red to see if he would go off by himself. She said he did but he started spooking at ever rock, leaf and stump. Silly boy.

I felt warm jogging so I stripped off my swishy coat and tied it to the saddle. Falcon was not bothered by this at all and we continued onward. The horses were obviously tired at the end and their butt muscles were tight. I massaged Falcons haunches and he seemed to really enjoy it and started to doze.

When I checked his right hind heel there was a tear in it and he seemed tender to touch. Hope that heals up well before the ride. Other than that both horses had come through without other issues.

Time to load up. Falcon, for the first time ever, refused to get on the trailer. I don't know what ailed him. We tried and tried to no avail.

The sun was getting lower in the sky and temps were falling again. So we loaded Red up and then tried Falcon in the rear stall. Again, he would not load, so I passed the rope through the window to Karen, got off the trailer and behind Falcon and FINALLY he loaded up.

I guess he thought that I was going to take him for another long ride! Well, it was either load up or I would have to ride him another 8 miles home!

At home, Falcon then would not get off of the trailer. When he is in the front stall, he knows how to swing his butt over and backs right off. Being in the back stall, he was afraid and stood with his hind hooves on the edge of the trailer but would not step down.

Finally, after much coaxing and pushing, he got up his nerve and stepped off. Sheesh! Red thankfully got off without much ado.

Falcon was happy to see Tristana and both horses were happy to chow down and head out for a much needed drink of water.

A GREAT 21 mile ride....hope the weather is this perfect at the FVLD next week!

Quicky

Today was HOT HOT HOT! Come ON it is OCTOBER for Pete's SAKE!
Both Karen and I had headaches. Sweat was pouring off of me just saddling the horse and Karen said that Red's neck was wet under his mane just from standing still! BLA!

I told Karen, well we don't HAVE to ride...but she said nah, lets go. The horses were sleepy, not motivated at all. So basically we walked up Piney Hill and around to Summers Road, did a little trotting and called it a day.

Playing Hooky

There was a staff meeting at work at 8 am that lasted an hour. However, there werent any surgeries scheduled for the day and the weather promised to be lovely again. So I decided to use my last remaining paid leave day and play hooky.

Karen did not have to work either and by High Noon we were mounted up and head for Skyline Drive via Red Gate Road. (reminder to self, get a picture of the red gate and the road sign next time out)

Temps were in the low 70's but the horses have already accumulated some "fur" and Falcon was sweating behind the ears one mile into the ride.

Basically we sauntered, some trotting, but mostly sauntering. At the top (4.2 miles into the ride) we crossed through the Fishers Gap overlook to the south, hand walked the horses about 1/10 of a mile on Skyline Drive then picked up another trail that circles around behind Big Meadows and heads for Tanners Ridge.

At Tanners Ridge we headed back west on a gravel road for a short distance, just to look at the Tanners Ridge cemetary and to let the horses munch on some grass.

I munched on an apple and then gave Falcon the remains which he seemed to swallow whole.
We passed a man and his son on Black Tennessee walkers and then boogied down the trail that we had come up on.

The sun was hot and Falcon fleered at the only water that we found along the trail.
Back down Red Gate we went to the trailer and called it a wonderful day. A good 11 miles or so.