I did a thing one weekend… And Skyler did a thing the weekend before. Both of us were out of our comfort zones!

Ophelia completely cancelled the horse show that I had planned to have Skyler show Scooby at, so instead that put us taking him to the last one of the season in mid October. We prepped all week prior cleaning tack and scrutinizing the weather after one last “practice” of ring work with both boys the weekend before. Skyler has only been to two shows before, and both on another horse Rube – who was not going to be available as the backup this time. She did have another backup from the barn that she also loves, but hadn’t shown him before, so a little bit of uncertainty overall. We managed to get Scooby groomed and braids put in before dark on Friday. I didn’t want to cut his mane for one show just before winter, so we did a scallop braid running down and trimmed up his bridle path. It came out looking pretty good, and he even managed to keep it all in overnight with his rain sheet on (which has a neck cover). We were up well before sunrise that Saturday, and got loaded up just as it was beginning to rain. We hit rain on and off during the drive and while we were getting him tacked up. The plan was to be on the ground with him in the warm ring during the worst/busiest time and let her get on when they closed the ring for the younger group’s warm up, and ultimately switch horses if things went haywire. We walked Scooby in and around a few jumps and he settled in well, so Skyler hopped on right away. She worked him mainly at a walk during that busy period and getting him over the fact people hang on the fence and going around the jumps and such. Miley & I knew he could handle it, Skyler just had to stop worrying and let him do his job! They looked great during warm up and then showed in 4 classes together (3 pre-short stirrup, 1 short-stirrup). They got 6th place in two of them – Pre-short walk and Pre-short walk-trot. She was super proud, and surprised. The rain held out until the last of her classes, then we had to clean up and pack up in a bit of it! Due to the weather we didn’t stay as long as we have before watching the other girls, but everyone did great.

Now that she tackled that, she’s all about trying to show him next year in short-stirrup! We do have see how the cantering work goes this winter. He is 17.5 now and has not yet mastered it, lol. I’m sure he can learn, but will take some work with other riders than her and a vet review of the movement in his right hind fetlock to ensure we won’t be causing any damage over time due to his prior injury.
She has definitely stepped out her comfort zone this year in several areas between riding, school, and soccer, and has been really enjoying it – including participating in a play at summer camp drama week and a play for the middle school’s drama class first quarter.

Now, my turn to be uncomfortable… I decided very last minute (the week of the ride!) that I was going to drag ride or do the intro at Fort Valley with Breeze the weekend of our anniversary (this ride always falls around it!). I had gone back and forth on it a while beforehand. Several bad memories of things gone wrong upon returning from that ride made me want to skip it, as well as the fact I don’t fully trust Breeze not to spook on the mountain, or get too focused on a horse ahead. Ultimately, I convinced a friend who’s been wanting to try endurance for a while that FV was close and a good place to get her feet wet and I’d be there to help and ask all the questions to as she went along. So, we signed up for the intro together 🙂 Needless to say, I felt a bit scrambled trying to get myself ready to go as I also was traveling for work that week. I ended up taking a half day that Friday to get the final touches done that couldn’t be easily done during the week in the dark, and hit the road a little earlier than I had originally planned that afternoon. Bonus was getting to see more friends, and J saved us a spot to camp together; we had an easy trip there and set-up without rain! There were some sprinkles throughout the evening, so I did put Breeze’s rain sheet on overnight. I struggled to get my heater to come on that evening after a year of non-use, but it did finally and as I’ve had recent issues with the walk-through door not sealing closed it did not overheat me on low (plus I keep roof vent and front door slider open).

This was only Breeze’s second time camping alone with me using our panels, and first time at a ride like this. He did pretty well, until the 50s started getting active in the morning to warm up. He did not like seeing all these horses moving about, some going out of his view and began ping-ponging around his pen. Despite the electric fence also being on, I decided it was best to get him out and keep him occupied with grazing and groundwork. It was almost an hour later, after the 30s were also gone, that I put him back in the pen to chill and eat more hay while we waited on our time to get ready and go out for the intro. That is when the ride manager found me and asked me take another rider with us who has never ridden FV trails, or this horse, before. Sure, why not? 🙂 I figured giving Breeze a little “herd” to be with should help us stay together and not so intent on horses somewhere ahead. Tacking up went well, and we met up with our additional rider, mounted up and headed out. Our loop stayed in the valley but started with crossing a concrete bridge… my friend’s horse Gonzo was in the lead, and well, he did not like that bridge! She opted to hand walk him across and remount, and shortly after we were met by the infamous Becky Pearman, who was the ride photographer. Things were going well, until Gonzo spooked and came flying back into Breeze. The big spook was missed on film, but we got some great pics of us starting out. Breeze and Gonzo then bounced back and forth with leading, both being somewhat chicken for ‘what is round the corner’ and slowly walking on. The intro’s drag riders, Vicki and Roger, quickly caught up to us so now we were a group of 5. We hit a spot where we were walking along the edge of a grass field, and I was just thinking about asking if folks were ready to trot so I could get Breeze’s mind to stop worrying about what was IN the trees next to us, when riders came through the trees off another trail and sent him flying backwards and sideways into the field. That also then spooked Gonzo and both horses were up in arms on what was going on. Drag-rider Roger surged ahead and gave us a horse to pull ours around to focus on, and we trotted off. We spent the next several hours in beautiful scenery and great company chatting. Our additional rider had a prior injury that flared up while we were out, so we moved a bit slower on the last half of the ride – which gave me LOTS of opportunity to work on reining Breeze in as he wanted to surge around. Lots of serpentines, asking for him to give his head, and asking his mind to stay present. There were definitely a few hairy moments, but we survived!

Upon our completion, we stopped at J’s crew spot (she was doing the 50) and Mike helped us with untacking and a quick sponge off before the final vet out and both horses vetted through. Breeze’s HR spiked initially and he got all worked up over the cows moving around barely visible through the trees, that weren’t there the night before. Art was commenting ‘That isn’t right” and then we realized why and it came back down. He did the trot outs at the vet-in and out perfectly (unlike the CTR) without needing to prod him to come along. I guess that prior issue was more related to having Scooby there that he was “tied to.” We threw our tack back on loosely (with horses giving us the side eye!) to walk back to our trailers and let the horses rest before hitting the road again back home. I socialized while ensuring he had time to rest, eat and drink, caught J to say “Goodluck” and “bye for now” on her way out for the last loop of her 50.

I made it home near dark, then stayed up until it was time to pick Asher up from his band competition that night. Sunday, it was time to celebrate = 18years married! We rarely get to go out, but we decided to do dinner out on Sunday as our Monday schedules (the actual day of) had us home at 7pm. It was nice to get out and eat a fancy dinner 🙂

I also tackled another “uncomfortable” thing in October… At their farrier appointment the week prior to FV, I had Scooby’s nail on composites pulled so I can attempt using the Easy Care Versa Octos this winter for him. He needs shoes to stay comfortable (hocks), but needs a break from the nails too. Boots don’t help him when the ground gets hard as I don’t want to leave them on 24/7. The farrier helped shape up his hoof, I marked which shoe is supposed to go to which foot and what modifications to make. First application – failure on 3/4 hooves within 36hrs 🤦‍♀️Not totally unexpected, as while I glued I didn’t feel it was great contact and noticed the shoes a smidge too wide (tighter trim since I had measured for this). 2nd attempt, after cleaning and heat modifying the set, lasted about 24hrs – and saw him pop them off in some crazy bucks and such hitting the hard ground. I decided to size down on his hinds and just reapply the one missing front. Got that on, and the next day the one that had been on a week was missing… took me and Skyler 3-days to find where it got flung to 😒 Soooo…. for now I’ll concentrate on getting the Octos in a smaller size that have arrived onto his hinds, and boot the front until can glue some shims in place to tighten that width. If this doesn’t work, I have a set of tabs I can weld onto his Blue Pegasos nail on shoes that were pulled, but still have life, or try the easy care cuffs with acrylic gluing. He’s my Guinea-pig because he is such a patient guy and lets me just do these things on a whim! Once we see how this all goes for him, I’ll look at doing Breeze later; he has ‘tougher’ feet and didn’t mind being bare earlier this year when he first arrived so will have his shoes pulled in December. I do have some front boots for him too if needed to ride while it all sorts out!

Farrier day also marked a year since I lost Sully unexpectedly. Prophecy knew I was a bit out of sorts and was hanging on my shoulder and playing in my hair while we waited on his arrival. After our return from FV, I realized that the FV Intro was also Sully & my first AERC ride together. I hope he is watching over me/us ❤️

So, what did I learn at Fort Valley and what is next?
-Breeze will take some extra management, and probably extra gut help, at rides – esp when we aren’t tacking up the same time as everyone else.
-He is capable of “coming back to me,” just need to make it consistent and find the right ‘ask’ that works.
-I need to get the walk-through door fixed. Bugs and cold air have an easy in!
-I’m getting more comfortable hauling with the GMC.
-I’ve more than proven to myself that Breeze is physically fit.
-Measure 2x cut (apply) once applies to horseshoes too! I should have double checked before messing around with application on Scooby. Will definitely redo measurements before attempting a set on Breeze to ensure what I have on hand is right!
-I did not find the safety vest I picked up to be the right fit. Still need to find one.

What’s next?
-Another weekend clinic with Tom Moates the 11/12th, then a decision on IF we try for an LD at JD’s for this season, or Ride in the Pines in mid-Dec for 2024 season, or wait for another ride.

Hopefully I’ll get through my next update faster!