There has been so much going on as the school and soccer seasons ending, as well as horse show season ramping up and life in general making the switch to “summer,” that I haven’t updated this blog in a bit!

First, I’m 2 months into the new job and it is going great. I really enjoy the people I’m working and learning some “new” things in QA/RA and manufacturing, including lots of new to me acronyms lol. I’ve begun to travel a bit, and seems like it will be nearly every other week for the summer! Busy times ahead.

Catching up on May… Skyler had another show, which didn’t go quite as well this time on Ruby. Ruby had her speed pants on and Skyler struggled to keep in the correct gait for their classes. The next weekend we made our way to the Eastern Shore ride on a Friday afternoon, thankfully with little traffic slow down other than the normal Hampton Roads bridge congestion. We arrived at camp mid afternoon Friday and let the boys settle and rehydrate in their pens. We decided to do the short loop for a leg stretcher (they had trailered 4 hours) which amount to 4miles on my Garmin. I started out on foot with Breeze, in his new sidepull bridle, who was snorty, breathing loud, and whistle-y at everything. Eventually I mounted up, but in the end I probably hand walked half of the total miles with his state of mind.

Friday night I tucked them in with rain sheets based on the weather forecast trying not to tack up soaked horses in the morning. The rain came, and as we finally decided to tack up (with saddle covers on to keep those dry until mounting), one of the ride coordinators informed us the lunch stop had been moved back to camp and it was OK to go out after lunch when the rain let up; the beach ride would also be available on Sunday for those who opted not to ride it Sat. I untacked the boys and we just hung out a bit around the trailer (watching Netflix downloads). Finally around 2 the rain appeared done so we tacked up again. I left camp mounted this time, with Scooby in the lead we headed out on trail, but just did an out and back of about 3miles. I didn’t have to get off Breeze, but the loudness of rain falling through the trees did have him on edge. We got a little wet riding too but the rain did finally completely quit by dinner! I let Doug know we were going to be home later on Sunday due to the longer ride in the morning than I had originally planned – the whole point of coming was to ride on the beach! Loaded the boys up on hay and water and everyone was tucked in and dry for the night.

Sunday we got up and had breakfast and headed out to ride an unknown mileage for the beach ride lol (no one was sure if it was the short or long route). Started out with Scooby in the lead again until his walk was too slow in the open areas. Breeze has some odd anxieties over the open field riding, which made for a bit of a tense ride as there is a lot of that for this loop. We got through a bunch mounted, then hit a field riding parallel to where he could see other horses far off and his attention to me was gone. I hopped off and hand walked a bit again, then I was on and off as we weaved in an out of wooded areas. He had some big spook moves this time, with a front-end splat/splay and half spin. Thankfully he never unseated me and we were always able to readdress the spooky thing to get past it. The mind connection was waning all throughout, which while he might not have been lip flapping a ton, the inability to stand still at first for me to remount was a clear sign. Unfortunately, when we got to the beach both horses gave a solid NO to riding near the water! It was a little rough and loud, and they didn’t want to be near it. We both opted to hop off and hand walk, allowing them to get closer as we led, and it gave us a chance to eat our lunch easier. There were MANY dead horseshoe crabs washed ashore, as well as a gutted turtle and some fish along the shoreline, that probably didn’t help their uncertainty of things. We remounted using the sandbank at the end and started the loop back to camp. We came across one other pair of riders we played some leap frog with, then asked to ride with them, a bit behind, in the field areas to help Breeze’s brain. We did a few spurts of trotting, which was nice to stretch ourselves out some and he remained controllable. We arrived back to camp, gave them more water and finished packing up to head home. Another 4 hour, fairly easy trip back, and they went off to roll and run the pastures no worse for wear after a total of nearly 20miles for the weekend.

After we returned from Eastern Shore I had made up my mind… we were not going to compete at the OD ride. I know I could have asked around for a babysitter riding partner, but given the amount of up/down I could be in for, I didn’t want to risk someone else’s completion over his brain/state of mind. I opted to then purchase the anniversary buckle and sign up as a drag rider. But first, there was memorial day weekend and the following weekend’s soccer tournament to get through! Neither of which allotted for any riding around our time constraints and weather, argh.

The Sunburn Tournament is apply named… Hot sunny weekend typically, and it sure was this year. Both kid’s teams were playing, and the 3 pre-scheduled games were ALL in conflict, so that means I didn’t see any of Skyler’s, and Doug and she made it to the latter part of one of Asher’s. Both teams played hard and did well, ultimately resulting the girl’s team advancing to the finals, and the boy’s beaten out of the finals in goal differentials 😦 Asher and I got to see Skyler’s team play their final game and win – The Yellow Cheetahs were the U12 girls challenge champs 🙂 And finally the following week – the last day of school!

So – that brings us to making our way to the OD Ride last weekend…

Not exactly the story I was hoping to share, but there were improvements and wins. Breeze has been an onion to peel the layers of for sure, and some of them really make you cry! In this case, I had very unexpected fruit-loop moments from him at OD. We loaded up at home just fine and arrived at camp around 5pm. I had hoped to get in earlier in the day, but work commitments had us leaving later. Once I had his pen set up he seemed to settle in and I gave him a chance to get water, grass, and rest while I went to check us in with the volunteer coordinator and get our packet. The good and bad part of being in drag-rider zone is we are on the total opposite end of camp as the vet and base tent, so it is a hike back and forth! Next I took him to vet-in as it was quiet between finishers. All was good until we did our trot out. He seemed to suddenly realize there weren’t horses RIGHT THERE and became a calling out, snorting, blowing, Arab-like kite (sorry but endurance folks know what I mean with that, lol) next to me. Fruit Loop moment #1.
Ok, he looked pretty, and HUGE, but had NO BRAIN. We stopped to do our turn and trot back, and he was then looking OVER the top of me, to the few horses in the crew area of the their finish and danced around. I never regained his attention to finish vetting in (note to self, bring the flag!), but since we were drag riding they just needed to see he was sound and healthy enough to go out. Dr. Stacy gave us the “go ahead” and we headed back to the trailer – by about half way back his brain had returned and he wasn’t prancing around me. I settled him back into his pen and began visiting friends 🙂 Later that evening I took him out again to walk all the way through camp and down by the vet area. Some of our rides have scales – it was at OD, so I led him across it maybe a dozen times, just waiting for the one instance I could ask for a pause on the platform and could see the numbers. The last weight tape I did on him in December was about 1100 lbs., he has definitely gained more muscle this spring, and it was reflected – 1215 lbs. He is 15.2 and you can still occasionally see ribs! Such a tank.
I attended dinner and the ride meeting and headed back for the night. I had pulled out the charger for the electric, but the batteries were found to be dead so I left it off, as prior camping trips he hasn’t needed it. That apparently was a mistake. At 4am Saturday (as ride camp was waking for 100s getting ready) he trashed the pen, pulling panels toward himself, breaking one, and corning himself. I looked out my window as I heard the racket and then jumped into trying to find shoes and a jacket in the dark. I nearly fell over twice till I convinced myself to take a breath and grab the headlamp first. I could hear he was OK, not panicking, just snorting and pacing the tiny space left. I went out there and pulled things around to get a rope onto him and tie him to the other side of the trailer while I fixed the mess. I then promptly changed the charger batteries and it was ON when he got put back! After that adrenaline rush I went back into bed for a bit to relax and heard that he zapped himself a few times 😛 I had left him with a bunch of hay and a little more grass added. I wasn’t watching him when the 100s left, but apparently he was dancing and popping up in the pen impressively as told by neighbors (Fruit Loop moment #2) despite several horses around him still there 🤦‍♀️. I decided to take him out and do some ground work while the 25s left. Commence Fruit Loop moment #3. I had to get really big to get his attention, and he even popped up to think about rearing on the line. I was having none of that and we worked on things till he settled again and could focus his attention on me. Back to the pen he went after with more hay until it was our turn to drag behind the intro riders at 730am.
Elizabeth and I were riding together for the 2 loops of the intro. She had her steady girl Moons with her and knew the troubles we’ve been having with focus and race brain. Breeze tacked up half asleep in his pen and waited. It was around 8am before we left as no one knew for sure if the intro riders had all made it out of camp! Once we got confirmation of that, we mounted up and headed down the road. Despite all of his antics the 12 hours prior, he was alert, but steady on the trail. We quickly swapped to lead around a car approaching and we led a good portion into Birdhaven with some swapping between them. We trotted a little and walked a lot but he has a big walk 😛 We were really looking forward to the loop back which we knew we could move out as it headed more up rocky hills than down. By the time we made it to that vet check and rest stop, the intro riders were headed back to camp. We hung out a bit to let them eat and drink, and waited to hear if our route was changing to locate a Ride & Tie team still out on trail for their first loop. They came in and then we set about heading back on the next 6 miles. Things started out great, but then Breeze started head bobbing. We stopped so I could check his hooves for rocks, and found two (diagonal front to back) had hard packed dirt and smaller stones packed in around the shoes. I removed all of it, and we walked on hoping he would be fine with them now gone. It was not the case, he was very ouchy on the right front, so we opted to dismount and hike our way back to camp… Thankfully it was absolutely wonderful weather and we marched on down the trail chatting about stuff a long the way enjoying the scenery.
Upon getting back to camp to vet in for our courtesy check and have his hoof looked over, we were informed they had tried to reach us on radio- which I then realized had gone silent by Birdhaven. Turned out the battery on my radio died! 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ I let Duane (drag rider coordinator) know – and he discovered it had completely failed and needed replacing. 💩 even happens to drag riders! lol Breeze was OK, sore but HR not terrible at vet out. Instructions were to soak and give Bute, so that is what we did next (thanks to Elizabeth having some on hand I could use, mine was in the house not trailer!). He stayed very quiet for a while, but that electric fence remained on anyway! Sunday was a more reasonable wake up to the sun, then watched Lynne and Calvin present for the OD Trophy vetting. They finished his first 100, and it was her 10th OD 100! Lynne has been an endurance mentor and friend of mine for many years now and it was so fun to see them.
We had some surprise rain showers, then it was time to pack it up and go home! Breeze loaded just fine, but was not happy about leaving his girl Moons behind in the pen next door. He pawed and banged about a bit, and I discovered once home he kicked out hard enough on the walk through door to shear the latch 😦 Someone is losing his “riding loose” privileges’ it seems. New latch on order, welder notified, hopefully an easy fix – super frustrating as I just had all that work done to fix the door where it bowed from age!

While I wouldn’t call OD drag riding the success I had hoped it would be, there were good points of it. Having the tools to bring Breeze back around to me on the ground definitely made a difference in how long the fruit-loop moments lasted and how intense they got. Where it counted for me that he did OK, or better than before, was when I was on him. We never had major disconnection moments there, even when allowing horses to pass us heading back the other way toward camp (we were riding backwards on a loop essentially).

What happens next ? Another horse show yesterday/Saturday! And lots of soaking and wrapping of Breeze’s hoof ahead. Not sure where my plans will lead ride wise, but Skyler and Sally had a great show and she did her first competitive jumping round with a 4th 🙂