More Rocks

Yesterday I took Falcon back up the mountain trail to the radio tower. This time I made a right hand turn and headed East down the Fire Road, handwalking Falcon because of the numerous small rocks on the trail. The footing is very unstable most of the way down.

Once again, I did not go all the way to the gate to see if I could get around it. I hope to do that on a day that someone is riding with me since from there I would be on a well used gravel state road.

Anyway, we checked out a graded road to the left. I have never seen so much natural gravel. Anyway there are numerous posts with pink tape on them like the place is being divided up in to lots for sale or building. That trail dead ended. I was hoping that it would end on the road.

So we turned around and headed back to the fire road...crossed it and checked out the opposite graded road which, instead of gravel was all sand. Very interesting change in the soil. But it was great for cantering and so off we went at a nice pace, around several bends and seeminly back up the mountain, but once again, dead end.

Back down we came and turned up the Fire Road. The Maremma's, Cola and Gemma had trotted right along with us the whole way, several times dashing through the woods and barking. Could have been deer, but there was plenty of bear scat on the trails...so it could have been a bear they were chasing as well.

The heat was almost intolerable. Not even a breath of air in the woods and I was thankful for the tree cover.

Another problem for Falcon was tiny little flying insects that tormented his head. So he was constantly shaking, shaking, shaking his head. I felt like I was being "shaken and not stirred"

On the way home the maremma's were really panting hard and I was afraid they were going to have heat stroke, but they soon found a puddle and flopped in it and wouldnt even move out of the way for Falcon.

Later the dogs also found a "three trunked" tree. They ran to it and started lapping up water that had pooled there from Sundays rain storm.

Ok, so we did 4.65 miles in about 50 min. Not bad, once again completed with plenty of graded elevation climbs and unmerciful heat. Falcon just LOVED his cold shower back at the barn, and the dogs flopped out flat in the cool shaded grass and looked to be half dead.

New Kid on the block

The plan was for neice Shana to ride with me at the Virginia Highlands Endurance Challange while she was on the East coast in Aug.

Great plan, no horse. Both of us contacted people who might be willing to share a horse. Dead Ends everywhere.

Finally, I was able to follow up on two leads. One woman with a black arab G. Sounded great at first until she blurted out that the horse was afraid of most adults and also small spaces....NOT!

Candidate # 2 was a Missouri Fox Trotter being pony clubbed, but not working out in that dept and owner was willing to let me have him on a trial or lease basis, but they also wanted to sell him to the "right" home.

I linked them to my web site and also talked with them and on Sat. 7/12 they brought "RED DOG DAN" out to my place.

He is a handsome boy....and uh, well now I am the owner.

I took him out for a ride on Sat. night and he handled very well. Beautiful Canter but all mixed up with his trot gaits.

On Monday and Tues. we went out again. LSD work up the small mountain and also 5 miles out around a pasture across the street and through the woods.

He is a very nice boy. Goes right along nicely through water, tall grass etc.

Looks like I will be riding everyday trying to get both he and Falcon in to shape for the Mountains of the New River Valley.

On the trail again

I arrived home from MT at 2:30 a.m. on 7/10. Cows were mooing, and I freaked out thinking that they were loose. Son David emerged and said that the cows and horses had escaped twice while I was gone. I really didnt care much about the cows, but tore off to the barn to look for the horses.

Both were in the barn lot with Dakota munching on dogfood. Falcon seemed glad to see me and came over and nuzzled and snarfed me. Then Dakota gave up the dog food and did the same while I shooed them out in to the pasture and secured the gate.

(Turns out that the cows had been caught and penned up in the goat pasture)

Falcon had his new shoes put on on 7/10 as well. He had lost both of his hind shoes while I was in Montana and had completly overgrown his fronts which were hanging on with just a couple of nails each.

On Sunday, I decided to brave the heat and humidity and hopped aboard Falcon for a "short" ride up to the radio tower and back.

I had spent the morning clearing the trail and so we had a pleasant ride up...except that as I made the turn on to the fire road, I heard 4 wheelers revving around somewhere in the woods.

I nudged Falcon in to a trot and we headed on down the trail. The revving got louder and so I halted Falcon and flew off of him and quickly rehooked his rein to the chin ring so that I would have some length to work with in case he got excited.

The 4 wheelers rounded the corner and slowed to a stop when they saw Falcon hogging the whole trail. I asked them to wait while I climbed up the steep trail to a wider area. Falcon was visibly nervous, but controlable.

To the right of this trail, it drops off pretty steeply and I didnt want to end up rolling down the mountain.

When we reached the top, another 4 wheeler appeared from the other direction and slowly creeped past then stopped to talk for a few min. Soon they all came past and zoomed on towards the tower.

I gave them some space and then hopped on and we took off. Reaching the top, I saw that the 4 wheelers had taken the trail to the right and were sitting in a clearing.

I decided to explore a trail off to the left that I had never been on before....to be continued......

Ok, so the trail was level for a short while and then dropped down over the mountain. It was definetly a hunters/4wheelers trail as the overhead was low and there were plenty of deer stands in the trees. I had to break branches as we went, but soon got off and hand walked Falcon as the grade was so steep.

soon we reached High Power Lines which had tall grasses and across from that on further down I could see a camping trailer and a red truck, on beyond that I could see Lake Arrowhead Road and Griffiths Butchering. So I knew where I was, but wasnt sure whether I wanted to take a paved road back home and expose Falcon to fast moving cars on this day.

Also, looking at the sky....YIKES, it was a menacing dark gray. The sky was so dark and Thunder was booming all around....ooooooooh we were gonna get wet regardless of the way we went.

Finally, I decided to turn around and go back UP the mountain, because at least the tree cover might keep me from getting totally soaked and I could get in a "Holler" if the the lightening got bad.

Trudge trudge trude, Falcon was really laboring and panting and dripping buckets of sweat from the heat. So I got off and hand walked him up. The wind was whipping all around. Trees were creaking and it was DARK in them thar woods.

At one point, I walked under a half fallen tree, Falcon stepped left and got the saddle horn stuck on the tree. He half reared, hopped sideways and all was well, except for me saying "oh crap, I'm dead if he lands on me"

Thunder kept booming and Falcons ears kept twitching back and forth. Then, grrr, I heard the 4 wheelers again and they were coming our way. At this point the trail was VERY steep but I was able to get off trail for them to pass. They turned their engines off and squeaked on by... but stopped to ask if we were ok and then said "yer gonna git wet"

Yeah, well, not much I could do about it now unless they had room in their camper for Falcon!

So onward we went, 10 steps, heave heave, rest, 10 steps, heave heave, rest...I was nauseated from the heat and the grade. I squirted some of my water on Falcon, but I doubt it helped any. At one point I sat down, but Falcon freaked out about that, so I got back up and leaned on a tree until my heart rate dropped.

When we reached the top, Falcon perked up, so I hopped aboard and he took off. Fine with me and when we reached the lower trail, it started to rain lightly which cooled us off, but the wind was really getting strong, the thunder louder and lightening strikes all around.

I kicked Falcon in to high gear and we raced for home. I never let him run home....ever! But this day, yes sirreeeee. Just as we reached the corner for the barn he saw a dogfood bag in the corner of the pasture and freaked out. Lurching sideways and stopping at the same time. GRRRRRRRR...how did I stay on board THIS time!

Yikes more lightening. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I jumped off and yanked Falcon to run behind me and we made the mad dash for the barn.

As we got in the barn, the sky let loose with torrents of rain. We got an inch in half of an hour!

I undressed Falcon and he was glad to get in to his stall. I stood in the barn for the duration of the storm. It was horrendous, all of that hammering rain on the metal roof. The roar was so loud that I couldnt hear myself think. The Great Pyrenees were all piled in the tack room and when they saw me they piled on top of me...yes, the dummies are afraid of Thunder.

The lightening was scary and zzzzzzzzting. In fact, Dakota, cribber that he is, was knawing on his stall door and I heard zzzzzzzzzt and looked around and Dakota was going crazy and I think the lightening must have zapped him a little. Serves him right, but I am glad he is ok and it DIDNT stop him from cribbing yesterday!

Shoot, I forgot to take my GPS with me, but regardless of the length of the ride it was a real workout with the climbs and the heat and humidity. Falcon did great and I am giving him 2 days off so I can work Red Dog Dan, the newcomer, which I will write about soon.

4H/Skyline Drive ride

Betsy called today. Hallaleujia! Did I want to ride? Well I kinda didnt want to due to emotional upset over my "man" wanting to break up with me or something to that affect.

But regardless, Falcon was on the trailer by 4:30 pm and I was on my way to Front Royal to meet Betsy and Christie.

Then Betsy called and said they were running 20 min behind due to realizing that there were wasps in the their trailer with the horses and they had to stop and rememdy that situation.

The 4H center was alive and buzzing with campers, ponies, horses etc. Falcon was interested, but well behaved and more concerned with munching on clover. The boy sure does like to EAT!

Betsy and Chris arrived and were saddled up lickety split. But then Betsy couldnt find her helmet. I had an extra on with cobwebs in the trailer. It fit her, so We took off at a walk and a van pulled through the gate. A little girl hopped out and partially closed the gate, but left it wide enough for us to get through....NICE, except that Falcon decided to SPOOK when he got to the van and hopped sideways which landed us in a BIG ditch with a metal culvert.

Wow, How did either of us survive that one?

Ok, on up the road, to the trail which leads to the top of the ridge. It was slower going because Christies horse is 20+ and not in that good of shape.

At the top, through a subdivision and then the ridge trail that I love. Falcon and I were in the lead and took off at a fast flying trot, then a canter. It was GREATTTTTT!

Then Falcon came to a jarring stop, head up, ears pricked. hhhhhhmmm, I didnt have my glasses on, but then saw a "form" walking towards us. It was a black man with a back pack and he was really hoofing it up the trail towards us. I said hello and when he caught his breath he said that there was a "big ass bear" right around the corner.

So we talked to him for a few min. then took off up the trail and never once saw a bear. But we did see plenty of bear scat.

As we headed down the trail, we all got off and walked to stretch our legs some. Falcon put his head down to grab some grass and stepped on his rein. He yanked his head up and snapped the brass snap in half. GREAT! LESSON LEARNED. Always carry extra snaps!

Not only that the rein was stuck between his SHOE and his HOOF. Now, HOW did THAT happen? So I dug that out and before remounting at the creek, Betsy rooted around in her pack and found an xtra snap so I wouldnt have to tie the rein on.

As we reached the backside of the 4H Center the sun was setting and there was a herd of 25 deer in the soccer field. Quite a sight to be hold as their white tails flashed up and off they took.

My GPS stated that we had gone 7.86 miles with our fastest speed at 12.6 mph and an average of 4.6mph. Not a bad ride. And the only reason we had gone that slow was due to Old Sashshey.

Falcon is back on vacation because his shoes are getting loose and since I am heading for Montana. Falcon will be reshod on July 10 and then we will be putting in the miles getting ready for the Virginia Highlands ride in August.

Another ride through the gauntlet

Back to Karens tonight. Sam wasn't home and so Karen had to fix her own wine. I had Falcon saddled up in a jiffy because we were starting much later tonight. Not so with Karen. Grrr, I like her, but this is driving me crazy. Too much wine going on.

I waited for 45 min for her to saddle up and eventually get on Slick. Same ride this time as last only it was hotter with more humidity. The horses were poking along, not interested at all in stepping out.

No wet noodling from Falcon tonight. He had "been there and done that" two nights ago. But the Stallion caused excitement for a few min. and then we were on the mountain trail again.

This time we decided to keep going. The trail was one track with lots of briars and thorny trees along the way. Karen and SLick were in the lead as the path became steeper and rockeier.

Halfway up to the top, Karen stopped, trying to decide whether to turn around or keep going. I yelled, "I dont know, make up YOUR MIND, Im sliding off Falcons back!"
I nudged Falcon and he charged past Slick. I grabbed a branch to prevent it from smacking me in the face-it turned out to have thorns that drove into my hand and stuck there. OUCH!

We reached the top and found that the trail continued to worsen. I hopped off and led Falcon as we started down the other side. It was a great relief when we reached a large level,grassy area. This is where we had started initially and had come full circle.

I hopped off to fix my stirrup because my leg was cramping. Karen had a "smoke" which actually is great for keeping the knats away, while the horses munched grass.

Then darn, my cushion in my stirrup had come unglued! It just wouldnt stick, so I stuck in in my saddle bag and hiked the stirrup up two notches to match my other one with the pad.

The ride down was a pain, with my foot that kept sticking to the remaining glue that wasnt enough to hold the pad but enough to throw my balance off.

Back through the gauntlet, where we stopped to talk to the Stallion's owner. A nice man, but a definite junk collector.
This time we just head to the trailer since it was almost dark. I was glad to be home and decided that I am not making much conditioning progress riding with Karen.

spooks and bucks

Karen called while I was at work and asked if I wanted to go for a ride that evening. I was game and arrived in Stanley at 5:30 pm.
Sam, Karen's daughter came out to say hi and to see if I needed help with Falcon-NOT He is a good boy about loading and unloading.

Karen had just arrived home from work and wasn't ready to ride, so Falcon munched on grass for a spell. Sam brought her mother a glass of wine and the two of them walked off to the barn to get Slick ready.

Two glasses of wine later, Karen was trying to mount Slick, who doesnt stand still and they twirl around in circles until finally Sam grabbed a hold on him and Karen was on and we were off down the road at a walk.

There was a crossroad 0.5 mile away and when we reached that area there road turned to gravel and stated that the state road ended 1.0 mile.

Karen warned, "ok, we are going to trot ok? the whole mile ok? are you ready?" Slick was still walking, Falcon KNOW's what the word "TROT" means and he took off and we soon left them in the dust.

I don't know what Karen was thinking. She must think that I don't ride much, when in reality I ride much more AND longer than she does. Ok, musta been the wine talking!

Falcon was like a wet noodle going down the road. Spooking at every rock and black stump, sign and fence. I gave him stiff nudges with my heels and kept him going at his fast trot.

Karen then hollered, "THERE IS A STALLION at the the end of this road" A Stallion was an understatement.
The residence at the end of the road had JUNK, JUNK, and MORE JUNK on BOTH sides of the road.
The Stallion was hollering on one side and running up and down the sagging fence line.

On the other side of the road the Donkeys brayed and trotted up their sagging fence line, all three animals were dodging rusting trailers and farm equipment.

The Stallion is 29 and a GORGEOUS gray arabian. Falcon wanted to visit and slowed down despite my prompting to keep him moving. Slick and Karen moved ahead and Falcon soon followed.

From there we were on a fire road up the mountain. We went about halfway up (maybe another half of a mile) and Karen decided that Slick was tired (uhhhhmmm not! Karen was tired!)

So we turned around and came back down, back through the rusted animal gauntlet towards Karens place. But then she gained her second wind and took me on another gravel road in her subdivision.

It was a gradual climb up a long hill and Slick took off at a canter (yeah he was tired! haha!) Falcon bunched up and Buck, Buck Bucked! What in the heck???? Took me by surprise. I yanked his head up and yelled. After that we trotted to the top and I hopped off and readjusted his girth. I think the saddle had slipped back and he is sensitive to THAT! grrrr.

Then we faced another hill and this time, Falcon was a good boy and did a nice canter, but then acted up again and attempted to rear a little and buck some more.
We were in a FLOCK of big deer flies and they were really messing with him. No amount of shaking and tossing got rid of them, so we took off cantering for the horse trailer and thankfully arrived unscathed.

Sam met Karen with another glass of wine, while I unsaddled and loaded Falcon and took off for home.

Vacation time

Falcon is on vacation! We have had turbulent weather here in the East and a tornado of sorts ripped a path through the valley. Berrystone Farm (Falcons home) sustained some damage. A beautiful Young maple tree was snapped at its base, the top landing on my car.

The miracle was: only minor scratches to the car, and IF the Truck and horse trailer HAD been parked in their USUAL spot, they would have been SMASHED. But it so happened that I had scheduled for them to be serviced that day and had driven them to work.

Needless to say, I had to cancel my appointment for them in Harrisonburg due to the storms.
Thunderstorms have been frequenting the afternoons and evenings. For the next FOUR days, Temps are to be in the high 90's with a heat index of 110.

The horses are sweating just standing around in the shade. I need to get some electrolytes soon and plan on giving Falcon a vacation until late next week.