Reader question

Today we have a response to a reader comment that was way too involved to get a response in the comments!  Would love to hear whether your advice for this reader is different from mine.

I've put her questions in italics and addressed her "sub-questions" one at a time in the non-italicized font.....

First the relevant signalment (that's what we vet peeps call the age/gender/breed/neuter status.  Think of it has a one line history that tells you the relevant history of the animal and gives you a photo in your mind):
Fetti, Haflinger, looking at doing our second LD, first one this year. 

AWESOME - So what we have here is a non-traditional breed that already has one LD under her belt (girth?) and is looking for more.  

It's entirely possible we'll never make it to a 50, but I don't think it's unreasonable to aim for some 25s where I don't have to worry the whole time about time/pulsing down at the end.

AMEN!  It's the number one reason I HATE LD's.  I can remember thinking that neither me nor Farley were going to survive the experience of pulsing down at the finish line on the LD's that we did.  She did NOT understand why we were standing outside of camp away from the trailer, food, water, and the comforts of her Spring Tie. Ugh ugh ugh.

However, keep in mind that you have to pulse into vet checks within a certain time, and you DO have to pulse in to the finish at the 50 mile distances and above in a certain time - it just doesn't affect your placing.  That being said, there is just a diffference (for me at least) of sitting at the finish line trying to get my horse to pulse down, versus pulsing in for a vet check.  It's just different.

And don't count yourself out for 50's or even a 100.  If you don't read Funder's blog - you should.  She went from "never going to do endurance" to "maybe I'll do an LD", to "a 50 could be OK" to "I can't WAIT to do a 100!".  And she's doing it on a Tennessee walker! 

With our usual riding partners, average speed tends to be 3-4mph. Am I right in thinking that most 4-10 mile rides with them are not going to do an awful lot for Fetti's conditioning/fitness level? We're generally not going above a medium-slow trot, with a fair bit of walking thrown in when the others get tired. Her Big Trot is closer to 7-8mph (on flat ground, but without other horses). 

To increase fitness you need to be pushing the horse in either the speed or distance (or difficulty in trail - such as hills etc.) to a level not previously experienced.  Maintaining fitness is easier and doesn't necessarily mean that you are pushing quite as hard.  My guess is that by doing the 4-10 mile rides at that speed you are maintaining a certain amount of fitness needed to do an endurance paced LD, but you aren't actually adding to that fitness in any significant way.  I feel that 4-10 miles at 2-4 mph is fine for the majority of your rides, as long as you add 1-2 long rides a month, and an interval workout every 7-10 days.

I would do my long rides at that "big trot" speed, with walk and jog breaks as necessary for 2-3 hours - overall speed will end up being slightly greater than the 2-4 mph, and when you work up to the 3 hour mark, your mileage will be increased as well.

Interval workouts would be done by doing short bouts of that big trot speed up a hill, or on the flats with at a speed slightly faster than the big trot speed, with walk/jog breaks.  Perhaps 2-4 minutes doing the fast portion of the interval, followed by 1-2 minutes of slow walk/jog recoveries.  The horse should be close to full recovery (ie close to 60 bpm) before doing the next fast interval.  So if your horse is struggling to feeling "good" after 1-2 minutes of the slow recovery, you need to back off the speed or duration of your fast intervals.
- Note that by "fast" I don't mean gallop your horse all out......the fast portion of the interval is just faster than the normal endurance speed - a fast trot or a slow canter. 

Those 4-10 mile rides, and finishing that LD last year means that you probably have the base to start doing the long rides and intervals I've described above.  In fact, for someone that has just started, the slower rides are exactly what I would recommend!  However, you are ready to move your conditioning to the next level, to give you a little more of a "comfort cushion" for your next LD. 

We did finish the 25 last year at Ride Bear, but just barely pulsed down in time. As a result, I'm currently erring towards the super-fit side of the spectrum. 

I would encourage you to step back and think of your conditioning to this point as outside of the seesaw between "super rested" and "superfit".

Since I don't know how often you are doing the 4-10 mile rides, it's hard for me to determine exactly how much mileage you are putting on your horse, but for the sake of this argument, let's assume that these 4-10 mile rides are making up the majority of your training, and that you are riding a couple days a week.  Sound fair?
-  With this assumption, I would argue that you fit into neither category of super fit or super rested!
-  You aren't doing the super fit thing, because you are neither going far enough or fast enough (often enough) to be putting the "extra" fitness on your horse.
- But you are doing significant riding more often than what I would consider "super rested".

It obviously varies for each horse, but here is what I would consider a "super rested" and a "super fit" protocol for an LD horse.

(caveat - assumption being that, like in this case, the horse has successfully completed an LD before and can be considered as having a "base")

Super fit protocol EXAMPLE: Long (~3-4 hours) rides at speeds of at least 5 mph average every 7-14 days.  Horse is ridden most days of the week - a mix of dressage schooling, shorter trail rides, and a fast ride of ~1 hour every 7-10 days.  Reduce this work out in the last 2 weeks prior to a 50 or LD - horse is still ridden 3-4 days a week and those rides include schooling dressage, and slower trail rides up to one hour.  The 2 week taper period would also apply to a 50 miler.  For 100's the lead up "tapering" prior to a ride was even longer than 2 weeks - approaching 4 weeks, with ideally no significant rides (such as a 50) within 6 weeks of a hard 100. A superfit protocol will give you the reserves to get yourself out of a situation - ie you got stuck behind a long line of people or had a major tack malfunction and now you need to make up some time.
--> This is how Farley was trained for much of her endurance career.  Resting the horse before a ride, and giving alternating weekends off after doing significant 3-4 hour conditioning rides is essential for keeping the horse sound!

Super rested protocol EXAMPLE: 1-2 Long (~3 hour) rides per month.  Ride horse ~2 days a week.  And sometimes weeks go by without the horse being ridden.  No more than 1 hard work out a week (whether that was one of the long rides, or a faster interval ride).....and even more typically "hard" workouts are spaced out by 10-14 days.  May "cluster" your workouts - ie do 2 or 3 harder/longer/faster workouts back to back after 7-10 days off, followed by another 7-10 days off.  "Days off" = fartin' around = rides without fitness goals.  This includes fun rides with friends and beer, leadrope runs, ground work, swims in the lake etc. If you have a time and a distance in mind, than it is not a day off.  A cornerstone of this approach is that you absolutely make sure your horse is rested going into the ride......and you absolutely make sure you don't put your horse back to work after a ride or an especially hard conditioning ride too soon.  Wait weeks if necessary.  Never ride your horse through a NQR. Realize you are NOT going to beat that cut off time by galloping 5 or 10 miles.  The benefit?  Going into the ride, I'm not worried that there is something brewing somewhere. 
--> This is Farley's current conditioning.  

Neither approach is without it's risks.  Superfit?  Look for stress injuries and micro injuries caused by fatigue.  Tendons and ligaments are only as strong as the muscles around them - and fatigued muscles are asking for an increased load on a tendon that causes failure. Superrested?  If you have a horse with a history of tye up, you MUST make sure you are addressing it through nutrition and how you are asking the horse to go back to work.  I tend to not pull Farley out of her pen and ask her to do a hard work out.  If I have something coming up, I try to make sure I've gone running with her, or done a short walking trail ride with her for the day or 2 before. 

What about an approach that is in between these 2?  I would argue that you have the risks without any of the benefits.  You have a horse that you are riding a lot, that may be more fatigued than optimal, but the type of work being done by the horse isn't adding to their fitness. 

Important concept: If you are happy with how the horse is finishing whatever is your choice of rides (LDs, 50s, 100s), than don't change anything - it doesn't matter exactly where you are on the see saw because it is working for you. 

 However if you want the horse to look differently at the finish line, than you must change something in your conditioning plan in order to change something in your horses fitness. You could be in the middle of the see saw (Not enough mileage and not enough rest), or at the extreme ends of the see saw (not enough mileage OR not enough rest).  You either need to add rest or miles and which option you chose will depend on your rider goals and your individual horse!!!!!!!

I think a diagram would help explain this concept.  At the arrows, the horse is too tired.  At the circles the horse finishes well.  

You can also look at this as a 2x2 diagram (in vet school we get like a GAZILLION 2x2 diagrams to explain EVERTHING).

My Dear Patient Reader had one last (sub) question that will be answered in a second post since I think it's an important concept that stands alone and is relevant beyond this specific situation.

Bonus discussion - I wasn't sure how to fit this concept in nicely above so I'm shoving it here on the end.  Just something else to think about:

What about injury?  I've touched on it briefly above with stress/overtraining injuries associated with superfit protocols, and more acute overriding injuries associated with super rested protocols.  Another thing to consider is a known history of some injury that you don't want to reinjure. An argument could be made for either philosophy. 

Let's take tendons as an example.  Assume you have successfully rehabbed the injury, it was a relatively mild injury that required time off, but isn't necessarily career ending.  The facts are: the previously injured tendon is not as strong.  Tendons experiencing increased load have a tendency to protest.  Tendons are kept in working order by the strength of the muscles around them.  Tendons are susceptible to both overtraining/stress injuries, and overriding injuries. Keeping that in mind:

• Superfit = you've tested thoroughly tested the tendon out on the trail and it hasn't broke yet, so you are probably OK to go.  The downside: You've put a lot of stress on that tendon in training and it may have micro injuries (and in fact, the research says it probably does) and you are relying on the conditioning of the structures (muscles) that may or may not have overtraining issues/fatigue. 
• Superrested = You've not overloaded the tendon in training so you know you are going into the ride with as close to 100% integrity as it's ever going to have - the risk of some micro injury is low.  The downside: the muscles around it may not be as adapted for the load, and thus the tendon may experience more strain during the ride and muscle fatigue during the ride may cause injury. 

Again - there's a trade off and a grey area of what exactly is the "right" approach.  Again, it goes back to the rider goals, individual horse etc.  

A woefully inadequate post (and a spackle recipe!)

This post was going to be much better. 

It was going to have trimmed feet pictures (sorry Ashley - will get them to you tomorrow)

It was going to have a group picture of me in seriously wacky colors, Farley, and Tess getting ready to go on our afternoon run. 

It was going to a much better post than just words and me rambling along. 

But I took the pics using my REAL camera, and not my phone, and thus the pics don't automatically upload to my drop box, and thus when I leave my camera at home on the counter while I run to starbuck to do a little internet, those pictures do NOT magically appear on my computer, ready to share with YOU, my Dear Reader. 

So instead, my Dear Reader gets random Monday Mel thoughts, without the benefit of pictures, an outline, or a plan of what exactly this post is going to include! 

Did you know I have a fifty this weekend?

Yep.  It's been 2 years since me or Farley have been that far.  Should be interesting.  I'm planning on getting off a LOT and running.  If I'm not ready to collapse at the end from running I probably didn't run enough.

To be perfectly honest I'm a bit freaked out about the whole thing.  Which is why I haven't been posting much about the 50 here.  It's hard to sit here and not second guess my conditioning plan and compare it to everywhere around me and what THEY are doing.  Even though I have lots of miles underneath my belt, know what it takes to do 50 miles, and understand the balance between training and rested.  I don't have the time to get Farley super fit.  To try and do so would be to risk an over-training injury and go to rides with a tired horse that is more prone to injury.  Thus, my smarter strategy is to do minimal training and arrive at the ride with a well rested, uninjured horse and then try to mitigate the minimal training by utilizing pace and rider fitness.  Two different strategies that are both appropriate depending on horse and rider experience, and the goals of the ride. 

The WORST thing I could is let enough self doubt creep into my pschy that I'm tempted to do more mileage and training to try and push myself towards the edge of the seesaw that represents the less rested/more fit side --> because I do NOT have enough time, I would get half way there and then get stuck on the middle of the seesaw - not rested enough, nor fit enough. 

ANYWAYS....back to the 50 this weekend.  I'm trying to low key, not fret too much, and just take it one thing at a time.  Either it happens or it doesn't.  Either I decide not to continue going out on loops or I finish.  I either finish well enough that I decide to do Wild West, or I don't. 

I just have to say one thing.....
Unless someone specifically asks my opinion on their conditioning program and is looking for specific advice, I keep my mouth shut.  There are many different ways to accomplish the same goal.  For example, we've already touched on 2 different strategies above - super fit versus super rested.  That's just one example of how it's important to look at different protocols and schedules and strategies and choose one that compliments your horse, you as a rider, and your ride goals.  The variation can be immense!  That being said, there are a couple of common themes throughout any program - one of which is that REST is very important.   It is during REST that the horse gets stronger.  REST is at least as important as any other component (long rides, intervals etc.) of your chosen program.  That is why I was shocked to see so many people who are going to Cache creek this weekend, posting that they were doing "one last long ride" before Cache creek this past weekend?  What the Hell???????  I've always followed the wisdom that any "last long rides" or any ride that could be considered "strenuous" never took place closer than 2 weeks before the ride.  That has been true whether I've been riding 50's or 100's.  Whether I've been using a "superfit" philosophy or (my current) "super rested" philosophy.  The fittness gained by doing a ride within that 2 week window before the ride gives you minimal increase in fitness, but increases greatly the chances of an overtraining injury or that you will be bringing less than optimally rested horse to the start of that 50.  If you absolutely MUST do that one last long conditioning ride 7 days prior to the start of the race in order to get that incremental amount of fittness possibly gained by doing so, I would argue that you probably REDUCED your chance of finishing by at LEAST the same amount that you increased them by the additional training. 

I was so suprised by the number of posts that I saw, I actually had to check with another endurance rider that I hadn't gone crazy and was totally missing something.  Nope, she thinks that is crazy too. 

Of course "long" is relative.  If I've been training for 100's and decide to go for a recreational 10 mile ride 2 weeks before the 100 - no big deal.  If I'm doing my first LD or first 50 and decide to do a faster 10-15 miles (or more) over challenging terrain with the intent to actually "train/condition" my horse - bad idea. 

Even during Marathons human athletes taper for 3 weeks prior to a marathon.  I might do a 20 miler or a half marathon 3-4 weeks out, I would NOT do a half marathon the weekend prior to a marathon that I wanted to do well at.  There is a limit to how much you can extrapolate from human performance to horse performance, but rest is one of those parameters that is universal. 

So if you've ever wanted my advice on what you should do in that 2 weeks before a ride, here it is:
Whatever mileage and riding you got in at the 2 week mark is what you are going into your ride with.  Any further training with the intent of increasing fitness will only harm you (or at best be neutral).  What should you do in those 2 weeks?  Have fun.  Definitely keep riding - but don't do it with time or mileages in mind and if it seems strenuous or hard, don't do it.  I'm not giving you a specific mileage or speed because you know exactly what consitutes training.  Go on a 10 mile ride because you have the time and the horse is eager.  Sure!  Gallop some because the horse and you are having fun and it's a great stretch of trail? Sure!  Ask the horse to canter or gallop specified intervals or perform according to heart rate?  Not such a good idea.  Going out to plug away on that trail with that huge hill?  Not such a great idea.  Asking the horse to continue at a speed when it begins to tire because it will be good training?  Not a great mindset in this period.  A 8 mile ride that intersperses some galloping, eating, hand running, and walking?  Sounds good.  Doing some ground work, maybe a bit of dressage - sounds great! 

Get the idea?


I'm experimenting with saddle food!
Not to leave you on such a "finger wagging" note......I want to share with you a recipe I'm going to try this weekend.  It's based on some experimenting that I'm doing with backpacking food for some trips this summer. 

The meals for ridecamp I have handled - those sectioned containers filled with food in an icechest wonderful! 

At camp far west last fall, I experimented with different commercial bars and elytes and nut butters and applesauce.  For that ride I made up baggies of balanced nutrition that were a certain number of calories and forced myself to eat one bag an hour.  It worked great - I didn't bonk and making sure that my protein and carbs were balanced went a long ways towards making my stomach and brain happy. 

I'm doing something similar for this ride, but I'm replacing the nut butter packets with a homemade "spackle".  Of everything I brought in my saddle bags, the applesauce went down the best, the nut butter the worst - and since the nut butter is how I'm getting the majority of my protein, I want to make it more palatable.  (eating jerky in the saddle was no bueno). 

Here's the recipe

1 c. almond butter (Winco lets you grind your own in the bulk section, which made it more affordable).
1c. cashew butter (I couldn't find, so I bought unsalted raw cashew pieces and ground them to smithereens in my food processor)
1/4 c. almond oil (Ha!  Couldn't find this either so I used a soy or vegetable oil with minimal taste - thought about using coconut oil, but didn't - but I might next time)
1/2 c. Agave syrup (I used honey - because I wanted more flavor, not just for it to be sweet)
1 Tbl vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract (I didn't add because I didn't have)
Salt - to taste

Mix in a blender

Once I had it all mixed up, I seperated into 4 bags so I could experiment with "additives".
- 1 bag I kept as original
- Added white chocolate chips and dried cranberries to 1 baggie
- added miniture chocolate chips and minature marshmellows to another
- added coco powder and minature chocolate chips to the last baggie. 

I'll see what flavors sit the best while "working". 

To dispense the spackle, a 500 ml platypus water bottle was suggested, but the idea of stuffing spackle into the little opening, and having that huge bag for a relatively little amount of spackle did not appeal, so I bought those little refillable squeeze bottles that you can buy in the camping section.  I am concerned that some of my "additives" won't fit through the nozzle of the bottles, so next time I'll probably throw the additives into the food processor to chop them up a bit. 

The plan is to throw a squeeze bottle in my saddle bags with one of the mixtures.  I'm putting applesauce in another squeeze bottle because it went down SO GOOD at my last ride, and I think that these 2 foods, along with S!caps (my electrolytes pills) and vitalyte in my water bottles (a different kind of electrolytes that I can drink that has an acceptable taste....) should get me through most of the loops, without having to open up a gazillion little packets and deal with the trash. 

For those of you that care about the numbers - note that none of the numbers/calculations below include the additives - just the original spackle base:

One spackle recipe = ~4000 calories
One serving is considered 1 Tablespoon = ~130 calories
I found it easier to weigh the spackle (thanks mom for the scale!  I use it all the time!); one recipe = ~22 ounces
Thus ~180 calories per ounce
The current recommendation I use for calories per hour of exercise = 200-300 calories per hour
So....let's call it 1.5 oz per hour and the rest I'll make up in apple sauce (yum!). 

I'm not quite sure how much is going to fit into my squeeze bottles, but I think it's going to be around 6 oz from what I've experimented worth so far........

So one squeeze bottle SHOULD be good for ~4 hours.  If haven't finished off a bottle of the stuff in 4 hours, I know that I'm probably working on a calorie deficit. 

In which I get trimming advice

Yesterday I sent some pictures of Farley's feet to renegade.  My plan is to use renegade strap ons at Tevis this year, so I want to make sure that her feet are trimmed as optimally as possible, since the "better" (ie closer to ideal) the hoof mechanics are, the better the performance of the boot. 

I want to be perfectly clear: I'm NOT taking a pigeon toed, contracted heel, crooked hoof creature and decreeing that it shall have "normal" mechanics.   I have a horse with nice normal feet without any major abnormalities.  Any significant imbalances in the hoof are more than likely caused by my trimming and can be corrected without causing lameness or harm to the horse.  

I am NOT a hoof care professional or trimmer.  A trimmer still looks at Farley's feet every 5-10 weeks (depending on whether I miss my appointment.....) and cleans them up for me - I'm especially concerned that my inexperience will result in a medial imbalance etc.  And, just because I can see something that needs to be addressed in Farley's hoof doesn't mean I know how to use my tools to fix it!

Digression: I see a lot of trimming jobs done by various people in a 2 hour radius from me because of my "Boots4Mel" business.  I would say that 50% of the trims are see are worse than what I do with Farley, and 50% of them are better.  Of those 50% that I think do a better job than me, there's only a fraction of them that I would actually trust to trim my horse for various reasons and I haven't seen anyone I would chose over my current trimmer.  I make a point of looking at the horse's foot before asking who trims so that I'm not biased, but every time I see a trim I really really like, it's by my trimmer :).

I have to admit that I'm a little self conscious about posting pictures of Farley's feet.  I'm not sure why - I KNOW I'm not a professional.  I KNOW that I don't do a perfect job.  And I KNOW that there are a lot of people out there who can give good advice.  I'm not trying to pass myself off as the best trimmer in the horse.

I think some of it is this:
1. A fraction of the advice I'm going to get is really good advice that should actually be implemented.
2. Most of the advice is going to come from people like me - who may be able to see the abnormality, but don't necessarily know how to correct it.
3. Some of the advice is going to wrong. 

Here's the problem: I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to sort through which advice falls into category 1, 2, or 3.  I have to rely more on knowing WHO the advice is coming from than WHAT they are actually saying.  There's only 2 reasons to post picture of Farley's feet. 
1. To show off and brag how good they look.  I'm totally not there yet - she's rock crunching sound but that doesn't mean that her feet are "show worthy" yet. 
2. To ask for advice.  And since we already established that there's only certain people I'm going to take advice from anyways - than if I want advice I should just ask them......

OK OK OK - get to the point you say. 





I sent pics of Farley's bare hooves.


I received a page of advice. 


I like to think of the advice as falling into 3 categories (because there is NOTHING better than a numbered list!!!!!!)


Category 1: Principles that I knew.....that I have apparently forgotten and needed to be reminded of (don't take sole off in the front quarter of the hoof!!!!!!!  even with the rasp!!!!!!!!! If the sole is that high, the walls don't need to be taken down!!!!!!!)
My reaction to this advice: *head to desk*

Category 2: Subtle things that I have a hard time seeing.....but that once pointed out I can see better and thus correct!!!  (things like the relative height of heels between feet, slight flare at the ground surface etc.)
My reaction to this advice: I can't WAIT to take a rasp to my pony feet and correct this!!!!!!  COOL!!!!!!!!!!

Category 3: Ummm.......things I haven't done out of pure laziness. In my email with the pictures I called the trim a "clean up" that was left " a bit rough". 

Translation: Doing a good mustang roll is a lot of work and so I just sort of rounded up the corners. 

Time for whiney-ness: But her feet are HARD, and doing a proper mustang roll makes me SWEAT. 

The email reiterated the importance of a proper mustang roll.

My reaction: &*&^^&%%^&(*)  I need new a new rasp.  That's the only explanation for why I have avoided doing a roll (and then tried to justify the lack of it, LOL)

I took this as a sign that I needed to visit an awesome farrier supply store that lives in Sac - "The Horseshoe Barn". 

Every farrier/trimmer in the area recommends the place, but it's never been convienent for me to stop in.  Yesterday I had a client visit for boots that took me right by the place so I stopped in. 

 It was GREAT.  Walls and walls of options and brands and supplies.  And very knowledgeable people that were able to give advice about which knife sharpener to get, and whether my current brand of rasp was good or whether I should switch. 

Friendly, knowledgeable and reasonably priced.  What more could I ask for?  Well, that this place wasn't on the OTHER side of Sac from where I live and travel, but that is probably asking for a bit much......

 I exited the building with a box of goodies.  :)  Can't wait to get started on those hooves!!!!!!

Camping tips to be ignored - III & IV

Today we continue with more useful camping tips!!!  (use at your own risk, your mileage may vary).....

These posts were being difficult yesterday and gleefully crashed my blogsy app, so they had to wait today until I had "time" to rewrite them on my computer ("time" = a lecture that I'm not particularly into......).

Tip: To be tough is not to be stupid

Why Michele and I are NOT doing this course as a ride and tie:

Do you see the freakin' hills?  I tell you what, if my horse wasn't tied to that tree at the bottom of the hill, I would be taking whatever horse was tied there.

tip: close your eyes and buy beer while filling the fuel tank

 Tip: appreciate cuddly puppies when they choose to be cuddly...Because for the rest of the trip they will eat horse poop and want to lick you in the face.  Then, after finally allowing you to sleep, they will wake you up at 4:30a because they absolutely HAVE to go out into the moonlight and do some sort of dog ritual that requires them to be off leash and free and running around at full speed.  

So yeah...if Tess wants to snuggle up to me while I'm driving, I'll take it!

Tip: Friends are for laughing at you.  And taking pictures

It was Kim's turn to provide the amusement on the morning of the second day.  What are friends for but to laugh and take pictures while you stare at your bridle in puzzelement?  Here's a bonus tip: if your tack gets twisted and malformed because the fairies played in it overnight (or because it got tossed on a rock in a heap after your ride the day before....), it can probably be fixed without unbuckling it.  However, if those fairies had opposable thumbs....then all bets are off. 

In this picture, Kim tries to decide whether she's better off dismantling her bridle and attempting to put it back together, or give up ad ride her aptly named mare "Medusa" using a bridle-ness telekinesis technique.

Tip: while it is NOT acceptable to actually defile the signs in the campground, you may use duct tape and cardboard to ummm.......make the signs more appropriate.

It's hard to see in this picture, but the BLM sign has been changed from "Cowboy camp" to "CowGIRL camp". :)

Tip: Proper footwear is footwear that allows you to keep riding! And, in an effort to bring you non-dirty feet pictures, this tip is presented in conjunction with a bonus tip: If a bird looks like it's going to bite you....it probably is.

Dirty foot pic first:

This is why I had to do all my miles last weekends in crocs.  I ran on Thursday or Friday before the trip and my running shoes (the orange Merrell ones) gave me this blister. 

Why would I even continue to run in these shoes?  Because those shoes are the best compromise for a shoe that will allow me to both ride and run. Everything else I have tried either doesn't give me enough support in the stirrup, or provides too much support when I run.  So, if I have a ride and tie or other event coming up, I just make sure I've run in these shoes enough to have a callus in this location.  Since I have a ride and tie in mid June and I plan on using these shoes for my 50 in two weeks, I've stopped running in my runamocs and switched to the Merrells for now.  With rather unfortunate results. 

Ugh - I don't like popping blisters on feet because of all the bacteria - intact skin is good - but the pressure this blister was exerting was quite painful.  Using crocks in the saddle mitagated most of the discomfort when riding.  I was suprised how well the crocs worked in the saddle - they wouldn't be my first choice of footwear because they leave my feet too exposed on the trail for poke-y sticks that want to jab and lacerate my toes when running down hill dismounted - but if I do end up with a foot injury that requires me to wear a loose fitting shoe, I think they perform better than runamocs in stirrups.

 Once home I did end up lacerating it to relieve pressure once my foot was clean.  Oh blessed relief!  Usually popping blisters hurt because of the exposed sensitive flesh underneath the blister, but in this case, the pressure being exerted was a much bigger pain component. The skin is so thick on the feet that enormous amounts of pressure can be generated by the blister without it popping itself.

Below: Connor has been lost foot privileges.....

Camping tips to be ignored - VI

The posts are going up out of order because some of the posts keep crashing my blogging app when I try to post them. Infuriating! The tips aren't in order anyways, so it doesn't really matter.....

Tip: not having cell service is a mixed blessing.

I had left a list of 3 things I wanted done in my absence.

1. Feed my cat

2. Feed Connor and be nice to him/her

3. Water my garden

Camp didn't have cell phone service so all three of us were a bit aprehensive of what was waiting for us when we got home.

My trip home was uneventful and I came home to a clean house and garden that apparently prefers my boyfriend to me. My carrots that had been subbornly refusing to sprout, had decided to enter the sunshine under the care of Matt. Lovely!

Kim and Michele's trip was not quite as uneventful.

After having her truck blow up in Michele's drive way, she continued home (in Michele's truck) only to see a window suspiciously broken, with blood smeared on the outside wall of her house......apparently her husband had altercation with a rattlesnake, which was resolved with a 12 guage shotgun. "Overkill" perhaps?

I crack myself up.

Cache creek 50 in 2 weeks! Entry is in the mail today :)

 

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Camping tips to be ignored - V

Tip: you can never have too many "ear" pictures, especially when there are bombs and serial killers around....

On day 1, how was it that Michele and I ended up doing a wild night ride - which was my second ride of the day? And why did Kim and I abondaned Michele and her naughty steed on that first ride of the day?

So......after arriving in Cowboy camp and tacking up to ride, we were told there was an out of control crazy horse with a saddle under it's belly running around on the trails. AND that this horse was at some point actually caught and almost got the saddle removed.....except it jerked away fom the person, who had attached a lunge line to it....and now there was a carzy out of control horse with a saddle underneath it's belly running around the trails, dragging a lunge line.

GREAT!

There are other little details about the situation that have more twists than the best than any country song.... but we will leave that part of the story to the imagination and focus on the little trio of riders currently pictured here.

(Yes, Farley is eating. Again. Oink oink!)

Early into our ride we end up on the side of the trail, in poke-y long grass that hid deep furrows in the ground, sandwiched between barbed wire and a trail that contained ATV's involved in the "rescue" effort passing by.

Medusa, Kim's horse, did a valiant impression of a Lipizzaner, bouncing around in a circle on her hind legs to express her displeasure, while Kim did her best to earn the title of rodeo queen and ride those 8 seconds.

The situation finally gets under control and we start down the trail again. The horses are hyped, Medusa and Stashi (my friends' horses) who are long time riding partners are feeding off of eachother, and I'm taking deep breathes to try to keep my anxiety about riding in a group situation with drama from bleeding over to Farley.

As we are tiptoeing down the trail expecting to see a crazed horse running towards us +/- finding the bloody wreckage of the rider around the corner, Michele makes the comment about feeling like there is a serial killer on the loose.

That was the last straw. I started hysterically pleading for a reset button for the ride, Stashi started rearing and the 3 riders were reduced to 2 as Michele elected NOT to fight a losing battle with Stashi. After assuring us that we should go on, me and Kim continue on.

I've written about Stashi here on this blog before during my ride and tie experience. Stashi is an incredible horse. Who, like the girl with the curl (right in the middle of her forehead!) can be very very good, BUT when he is bad.....is very very bad!

Unlike Farley who disperses her naughtiness over time - a threatening head toss here, a little harmless, half-hearted buck there - Stashi saves it up, and when the moment of his chosing is right, releases the naughty side contained in that double whorl on his forehead.

After reassuring us that she was going to lead Stashi back to camp (1-2 miles) and would be absolutely fine doing so by herself, me and Kim continued down the trail. We tried to reassure ourselves that Michele's style was to enjoy a glass of wine and not to plan her revenge on the 2 friends that decided to finish the trail ride instead of joining her in camp.

At the top of a big hill with a fabulous view, Kim and I decided to head back and made the trek back down the hill and rode into camp.....to find that Michele had made friends with the other campers that had a portable shade set up in the middle of the tree-less, windy, extremely sunny camp, and had decided to enjoy a glass of wine. Good job Michele!

In retrospect, Kim and I continuing on was exactly the reset button that Medusa (Kim's horse) needed. Stashi and Medusa stopped feeding off of each other, and the crazy loose horse situation was resolved shortly afterwards. Later that day Michele and I got out in the afore mentioned evening ride which allowed Stashi to get his head screwed on right. AND because I got to go on 2 rides that day, I got more mileage and saddle time than probably either Kim or Michele wanted. The next morning the 3 of us were able to have a VERY nice enjoyable ride.

And the bomb reference? On the second day Michele was leading us through a pretty little hill trail and suddenly yells "look it's a bomb". And then proceeds to prance around this object. "A bomb?" I thought, "that's a little weird that we are hanging around, letting our horses step dangrously close to the dark colored object". Apparently she was trying to say bong. Which it was not (apparently none of us are up on our drug paraphanelia lingo) - but instead a pipe that had been (carefully?) placed on a rock on the trail.

 

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Camping tips to be ignored - II

Tip: being prepared is overrated (the more you know the less you need right?)

On the evening of the first night, I decided to go out at dusk and get some additional mileage. Michele decided to go out with me, as she had to turn back earlier in the day due to Stashi's naughty behavior, and hadn't gotten a ride in earlier. (more on that later)

I blame our mis-interpretation of the above phrase (is it the LESS you know, the LESS you need? I can't quite remember....) on the fact that the decision to go out and ride was made after afternoon refreshments. We left at dusk with no maps, no headlamps, and no water, with some vague impression that we would be out for about 1 1/2 hours.

Yep. Between the 2 of us, we probably have more years in school than anyone should have to admit to, and that's exactly how it went down.

The first half of the ride was spent PROMISING each other that we would turn back at 8pm sharp if it wasn't obvious that the trail we were on made a loop back to camp. In reality? Neither one of us was planning on doing any repeat trail and it was FORWARD ON!

At 8pm we decided on the following truths

1. Our horses, both experienced endurance horses, one of which probably remembered this trail from years ago, both were acting like the trail went back to camp. Thus it HAD to be a loop right?

2. The mapmyrun app on my phone CLEARLY showed that we had come in a "C" shape from camp and thus most likely we were half way back to camp since the trail mostly likely made another "C" on it's way to camp the other direction, thus making a complete circle. (I know, sitting here reading this, it doesn't make any sense to me either....).

3. The trail was very nicely groomed with great footing - soft dirt with some rocks. There's a 50 on this trail in another 2 weeks and someone had obviously been putting in some work - and so it was definitely rideable at night.

4. Nothing had gone after my dog food sitting on the picnic table that day, so it was unlikely anything was going to eat us (dog food is much tastier than human with a side of equine right?)

5. Riding at night is fun.

6. There was a full moon. Theoritically. In fact, I got to enjoy it at 4:30a that night from my sleeping bag --> meaning it was NOT illuminating the trail when I was actually ON the trail. But that was a small detail that I immediately banished from my mind as soon as it surfaced - the truth that the lovely moon was not going to show it's face did not make it onto the acknowledged "truths" list......

With these 6 things in mind it was onward and forward!

We periodically checked our direction and progress by screaming at the horses "where's camp!!!!!!" while throwing the reins at them and observing their willingness to gallop in the direction we were heading.

And yes, there WAS a loop. A nice little 8 mile loop. We did much of it again the next morning, and it wasn't nearly as exciting - I guess actually KNOWING where you are, and being able to SEE your trail markers, and not having to make decisions based on the sum of an amorphous mapmyrun route and attitude of your mount just take some of the fun out of it.....

Tip: Apparently wild pigs won't evicerate your horse and revel in your still warm blood as matter of course

 

I am not fond pigs. Their squinty little eyes, their big 'ole teeth, and their oh so cuddly (NOT) personalities. For those of you that have pet pigs - I'm sorry, I just don't understand. When talking about medicating pigs we talk about the effectiveness of pig medications based on giving them in the "IP" route. Now, you small rodent people may think that IP stands for intraperitonium. On the Contrary!!!! It stands for "intra-pig". Thus my piggy drug protocols are based on whether the medication is potent enough that the dose needed is small enough that it fits into my long range sticker thingy and still be able to put that porker into some reasonable state of immobility.

I am even LESS fond of wild pigs. Mostly because there's not usually a pig proof (if there's even such a thing....) fence between me and it.

Now Michele apparently is WILD about pigs. Especially the wild ones. I found this out when I pointed out a "sow" (sounder?) running down the hill with a ton of little piglets, and Michele took off at a dead run screaming her head off, calling to the piggy's in some secret piggie language.

To my horror the sow(nder?) switched direction and started heading UP the hill towards the trail in response to Michele acting like a complete maniac. I followed at a sedate speed expressing my worry that at any time the sow was going to bust out of the brush in front of me, and then, in a flood of gore and blood worthy of a supernatural episode, I was going to die a horrible and painful death. Due to pig.

Michele laughed (LAUGHED!!!!!!) at me and said that that was not going to happen (She's worked with them a lot for various studies)

My response was "that's why you are in front....." :). Because that's how much I trust my ride and tie partner. Enough to follow her into certain death, but not lead the charge.

Moments later Michele squeals and points down the hill - THERE THEY ARE.

Me, instantly sobered by the thought of immenent death, quickly assessed the situation and an escape route.

Until I realized that she was pointing to a large bush and several small bushes. LOL. In her defense it was dusk.....The piggies were long gone. Bummer for Michele, thank goodness for my blood pressure.

We did the last mile in the dark - a successful completion to Michele's first night ride.

Speaking of being prepared......Michele found out that night that she had managed to leave all her bedding at home. Oops. More sad for me and Kim was the cherry pie that had apparently decided to keep the bedding company and not attend the camping trip :(

 

 

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Camping tips to be ignored - I

Presented in no particular order......tips to make YOUR next camping trip a success! Part 1

Tip: Get permission to use your friends' real names BEFORE the trip gets crazy.

I, oh so innocently, asked my friends as we were setting up camp whether they perferred to be "M-asterisk and K-asterisk", OR did they want the HONOR of having their REAL names used on the blog (evil laugh BAWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!).

Of COURSE they agreed, not knowing that it seems that when I'm around on a trip, there's ALWAYS something to blog about.

Tip: Color crazy distracts

Want to distract someone from noticing your tack, horse, riding ability, or anything else identifying about you? Wear color. Lots of color.

May I introduce.....the 2013 tights.

When Michele told me that my metallic-highlighted-blue-white-shaded-awesome tights clashed with my patterned F.I.T.S shirt, I told her to squash her inner hunter jumper and join the kolor krazy sport called endurance!

(yes those are crocs that you see peeking out in the above picture, more on those later)

Below are my 2012 tights. Michele approved, saying that my color coordination definitely improved on the second day.

Notice the mail box that says "maps". That's me standing at the road kill cafe at the end of the second day picking up our trail maps!!!!!! Which brings me to my next point.

Tip: maps are optional

Upon arriving we discovered that none of us actually had maps of the trails or any real idea of where we were going (Michele, who had ridden these trails a long time ago, spent the trip alternating between denying all knowledge of where we were at any particular moment, and epiphanies of what trail went where.....). So, I took a picture of the map posted at the trail head with my camera, with the idea that if we got lost I could just kinda zoom in on it and magically find our way back. But really, how likely is it that the situation would present itself? We were riding animals that despite having a brain the size of a largish walnut, ALWAYS know the direction of home.

As pictured above, we did eventually get maps at the road kill cafe (but honestly, even after 2 days of riding the trails before getting the map, I looked at it and it was spactacularly unhelpful).

The menu was posted in the back corner of the road kill cafe and there were appropriate props.

It looked like a nice lunch spot.

 

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Cool stuff!

I have a long day ahead of me and can't do justice to my camping story this morning, so instead I wanted to share two new pieces of equipment that I used at the camping trip.

Although there was a creek near by, the camp itself was dry of both livestock and human water. The thought of hauling buckets of water so that my horse could drink to her hearts content at the trailer did NOT amuse me, so I needed to figure out a way to carry 20-25 gallons of water.

I've played with the idea of getting a water container for the trailer, but I've always balked at the price. At least a $100! I've always been sure that I could rig up something for that kind of cost.

The day before I left was the day of reckoning. I visited way more stores than I care to list, looking for something that would hold water that was affordable. Rain containers were the same price as buying a trailer water container, and those 50 gallon blue barrels were no where to be found. Finally I saw this:

 

"It's a trashcan" you say. Yes, but it was a brand and type I recognized from working at the plant at Fosters. Most trashcans won't reliably hold their volume in water - the container just isn't designed for the weight and pressure that acts on it when filled with water, and if they do hold water, they usually don't hold up well to being moved or bounced around.

 

This particular brand and model (a Rubbermaid Brute with the FLAT lid) we regularly filled with water or sanitizer and then pushed them around the plant on little wheels by the sides and handles YES!!!!!!!!! For $35 I had a 32 gallon container that I could put close to 30 gallons in.

 

I had some time to kill before leaving town to meet up with my compadres so I tried to find some weather stripping that would adhere to the inside of the lid where it met the lip of the container. Unfortunately the only weather stripping I could find (limited to the stores that had parking lots suitable for my trailer....) was tiny tiny tiny. Pipe insulation, however, was a mere 99 cents on sale. Bingo. What I didn't use I could throw in my trailer and use it to cover any sharp edges I might have that I haven't bothered to address.

 

To get the water out of the trash can I used a short section of hose and used suction to fill buckets on the ground by my truck. Another option would be to use my battery powered shower, or to dip a clean bucket in the top.

 

I was very very happy with the system. I used the water for sponging, animal water, and wash water and had plenty left over. Probably sufficient for up to 2 nights, as long was there was water on the trail that could do some supplementation when the horse is working hard.

 

Item number 2:

When the boyfriend brought these home from work I knew IMMEDIATELY I must have one. He refused to give one to me (even though he had 2 and they were free), so I "borrowed" one for this weekend and it was WONDERFUL. And it fits my color scheme. Technically it's they are for hard hats, but helmets are similar enough that I didnt have any problems with it budging, and there was no tape that was melting off in the middle of the day. I guess the handkerhief + velcro works nearly as well, but I liked this better since there was no glue or sticky on my helmet - just the elastic band with small pastic hooks that hooked on the edge of the plastic shell (although it seemed to stay well even without being hooked).

You are going to LOVE the camping story, so stay tuned!

No idea where you are going to find yours, but it made a significant difference in how cool (both in temperature AND in my degree of colorfulness!) I felt on the trail.

 

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The first event of the year is a bit rough....

Going horse camping with my ride and tie partner (M*) and her friend (K*).

M* assured me that I was going to like K* and when K* posted on facebook this morning that she was excited to go, and while the horses were going to behave we were NOT, my response to my phone was "M* you are right, I AM going to like her!". And I finished packing with a smile on my face.

Packing. Where do I even begin....

Packing out the horse trailer on Thursday went well. I've downsized to the point that everything goes from my tack barn at the ranch, into my trailer. Since I don't use my trailer as a tack room on a daily basis anymore, it stays neater and more organized and has less little things crammed into corners.

Friday was a bit rougher.

Since moving, I've only gone backpacking. Which means my backpacking stuff has managed to filter out of boxes and various outbuildings. My base camping stuff has NOT. The game was "What do I bring and where is it?"

I have enough backpacking trips planned in the near future I feel like I'm going to get that full experience and for this trip I wanted to use a REAL stove. And sleep on a REAL air mattress. And eat REAL food that has to be like....refrigerated or something.

Remember the adage of the more you know the less you need? It's been so long since I've been base camping that I pretty much need EVERYTHING.

As you read on, keep in mind that this is a ONE night trip. With ONE horse. And I'm only feeding and clothing ME.

I decided the best strategy was to make piles of gear in whatever location it happened to be. Thus, by this morning I had a pile of gear here:

and here (yes, there is some duplicate gear in ths picture)

 

And here

And here..... (behind the sunbeam next to yet another outbuilding)

And here (inside the car....)

I then took my truck and drove in a huge loop around the property, loading piles of gear into the bed.

And yes, there is a kitchen sink in that pile of gear. Literally - a camping kitchen sink.

Because I know that you are asking out of concern that I might go on this trip sink-less, not because you are making fun of me or anything.

And I did find that air mattress even though it took a full 12 hours of me looking and thinking where it might be.

And since I had a migraine last night, I'll be spending the morning after I load up my horse searching out a liquor store that is both open at 9am and stocks my favorite beer since I couldn't last night.

Did I mention that I have an anethesia take home exam that was given Friday at noon to be turned in by Monday at 8am?

Let's not talk about the fact I have a Fifty mile ride in two weeks. Now THAT should be interesting.......

 

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