All our prep work, which granted did not even cover everything I wanted to since he came home, paid off and we had a solid start to our endurance plans with the Fort Valley Intro on 10/20.

Tacked up ready to go #901

The week before the ride I had my farrier glue on Easy Boots (Love Child) on front & Scoot Skins on the hinds.  Neither of which was a perfect fit, so I will be back to the drawing board some there to make sure we can adequately cover his hooves in the future.  I’ll be pulling those soon, which might be a feat in itself! 
I want to make special mention – Stacy Pratt of Heartland Scoot Boots went above and beyond to track down the single pair of Skins in the US of his size in time for us to get them on!  She is great to work with and always willing to help you trouble shoot 🙂

All glued on

It had been so hot I hadn’t gotten around to adding a rump rug, nor the crupper as we hadn’t found a need to use that yet… Suddenly it dawned on me these things would probably come in handy at Fort Valley, so we did a quick session with them… Lunged him with no issues (and probably one our best sessions yet on communication), so I hopped on and we went for a bit of a walk using our S-hack.  We still had some discussions on moving my requested direction when he wants to go the other way towards the pastures, but we over came those with minimal fuss and then went back to enjoy more hay and pampering in the stall as while I was brushing him, I noticed some “matted” areas on his back and sides… confirmed with Amanda as the dreaded rain rot.  So the next day he got a bath and some Bannix treatment.  His saddle pad came home to be washed, and I picked up some Coat Defense to use under the pad and blankets over the winter.

First time using the crupper

Pulled off the rope halter/rope and just used the Hack

Most of my other barn time was spent organizing and getting my trailer ready – I was expecting cold weather for FV, so made sure I had a warm sleeping bag and everything else Sully or I could need 🙂

Cozy sleeping area

Friday morning arrived and headed out to the barn after dropping the kids at school, did my finishing touches on the packing and hit the road – as we had a 2pm appointment with Stonewall Saddles for a fit check.  Amanda and I got out right on schedule and headed onward with our rigs and horses.

off loaded waiting for us to set up pens

our view of the vet-area from our camping spot

The fit check went well, I even had a few lessons from a “Connected Riding” instructor while riding Sully with the pressure map system.  Sully was measured – apparently a fairly non-remarkable back that should fit most medium saddles – photographed, and pressure mapped using our Synergist wide.  The angles and such fit him well; It is a little too much rock for his back BUT the Skito is doing a good job of taking that up.  We added some shoulder shims to fill in his hollows, but found it was an over-correction, so no shims is how we proceed.  I got to see the new Living Bar Saddle, but not ride in it as there is no way I could afford now anyway 😅  So – we will stick with Synergist and the Skito pad combo, watching for any issues from the rock in the future – but as he fills out and muscles up more it should fit even better. Now that Jackie has us in her system, if I ever found an older Stonewall I want to purchase she could check specs against his profile.

After that was done, it was time to vet in… That is where I saw how attached Sully was to Cheyenne, hollering up a storm and being very disrespectful on the ground to me and the vet.  He has this hind end kicking out thing he does when “pissy” about something – Item #1 that needs fixing for the next ride.  There were no other horses around the vet check at the time, which was both a good and bad thing – no risk to anyone else, but no horse around to possibly calm him. Dr. Rick was great about dealing with him and just asked that I have a red ribbon in his tail for Saturday. We never got his HR under 60 … The rest of the day was totally uneventful.  He had never camped before but he did great in my panels.  I think out of the 4 horses that have used them, he tested them the least.

Reflective neck collar and pastern straps on for the night – turnout in case it rained

I was toasty warm Friday night – borderline too warm! Ended up out of my sleeping bag, heater off and the roof vent open. Saturday am we were up at 6, just as the milling around camp starts up around then.  Amanda and Cheyenne were off on the LD starting at 8.  Guessing that Sully might get a little worked up, we walked around to graze while they headed out. He calmed down nicely.

Cheyenne ready to go while Sully watches on

“ok, grass is better than worrying”

I put him back in his pen and then groomed while he snoozed. Sully LOVES to be groomed, and one of the few horses I know that loves his ears scratched. Finally, brought him out to tack up for the intro group meeting up at 915.  That went smoothly, he just stood and snacked lol

We walked down to meet the group and mount up – and that is where we had a little rodeo event.  One vet thought is was the crupper so I removed it and remounted…the rodeo and hind end kicking out continued, so the vet asked to see him move as she was concerned it was something on the left hind and wanted to make he was OK to go – we trotted out again for her and she gave us the OK to get on trail.  Mounted a 3rd time, not so many bucks but lots of backing instead of forward movement.  Jen Stevenson offered some advice and eventually just took him by the reins and started walking him towards the group as they left – then it was ears up all business happy boy!  Ugh…gotta figure out how to work through that! (item #2, tho both are related in his antics).

As I thought, Sully’s big walk quickly left the rest of the intro group behind. We were not required to stay together, and having previous endurance experience just a new horse I was “ok” on my own.  He is a monster! lol  He spooked at nothing, powered up hills and loved trotting up the gravel roads.  We came to the rocks and I had to slow him down going up to make sure he was watching his footing – he has never experienced trails like this!  He always knew before me when a horse heading towards us and would stop and wait for them to go by,  not one thought of spinning and following them, just back to forward down the trails. And these trails are NOT wide enough for two horses side by side so I was thankful he was so easy to handle there.  Then item #3 came up that we need to work on – downhill rock navigating.  He wanted to go fast, I wanted him to pay attention to his feet and rocks. We had a couple of good stumbles and scary moments for me. He was a bit of a freight train and had to grab my gloves! I had to concede to some gaiting and of course trotting the few steps where he could on smoother downhill portions.  The saddle stayed in place just fine without the crupper fortunately!  Once that section of rocks was over it was nice open grass road and I let him “open up.”  Kept our trotting at 12-15 mph and he was loving it.  We came to the four corners and he did actually drink a little at the tank, but was quickly ready to go again.  We headed back into a climb, this time he was willing to do it slower lol.  The road back into camp was all downhill, but his trot is just too big (and still getting used to it) for me right now to do that going down – so I let him gait/pace down as I could stay with him without feeling like I’m off balance.

Powering through the trails

Ridge line view on the way back

We got back into camp at the same time a bunch of LD riders came in, including Amanda and Cheyenne. Sully still misbehaved for the vet, but not as many kick-outs as Friday (Dr. Rick worked with us again). We ‘Completed” but just barely by LD standards with 60/60 as he continued to be worked up – all A’s otherwise. All his glue on boots survived, but he came away with a little gash on a front hoof above the coronet band – likely a wack to a rock during a stumble.   We headed back to the trailer, he went through 2 pans of beet pulp mash (not even his favorite thing to eat!), and let him dry off a bit from the sweat and then groomed off all the yuck much to his enjoyment.  I found out later that there was a miscommunication from the spotters and we missed part of the intro loop that would have had some more open road for us to fly through – darn – but nothing to worry about.

Mostly cleaned up and enjoying pan #2.

Sully calmly hung out in his pen watching the vet check for the afternoon until Amanda and Cheyenne finished the 30 🙂  We let Cheyenne chill for a bit, then packed up and headed home with two happy healthy horses.

Amanda and Cheyenne coming in from the finish

This is only one of the 3 OD rides I have never done any part of before – and OMG Rocks!! Definitely something to prepare for next year, but what amazing views and we had such nice fall weather!

I am really looking forward to the future with this guy. Now I wait on the ride photos to pop up online to grab our first of hopefully many rides to come.  We will work on his issues to make our next ride smoother and safer for all involved – he probably could have handled the LD, but I really didn’t want to push our luck too soon and I don’t regret that choice one bit.  We learned a lot this weekend, and I had a blast being out there riding again! 

Another plus – spending a weekend with good friends! Amanda and I before the ride meeting