We no haz a long trot...and nip and roll the toe!

I promised more on Dakini?

I lied.

Sorry Charlie, but I lied apparently.

Time to talk about the weekend, then I'll get back to mareface.

Out of the blue during the week, I was contacted by one of the ladies from the place I used to board to see if I wanted to come ride on Saturday morning at McKinney Roughs.  HELL YES I DO!!!

Drawback?  Of my 3 horses, 2 are still what I qualified as "lame", so, there was nothing left for it but to steel up my spine and ride the trotting horse.

No, I love that goofy boy.  He's a saint (for the most part) and ever since I took him on that first LD in October of last year, he's perked up on trails and is quite content to trot for as long as I'll ask it of him.  He does flag, but that's because he's just not conditioned for it, but he sure will try his sweet heart out for you.

Anyway, it was a nice little 5.11 mile trail ride that was over far too soon for me.  We had hoped to get down to the river, but we took the wrong trail turn.  We ran in to some other riders out there and asked them how to get there, but when they said it was an 8 mile round trip, while -I- was game (hey, 5 miles, we were just warming up!), my friends weren't.  So, we did the same loop again, but decided to spend much of it trotting (somehow Socks and I ended up in front and he was quite game to lead and just chug along with his rough little trot).  As we came up from down near the river, we decided it was time for a good leg-stretching canter.  So away we all flew.  Thing is, there's some small little "speed bumps" on the trails (no idea what those are about), and I swear anytime Socks got to one, he just lept over it.  Heartpounding to put it mildly.  I don't usually hang on while I canter, but I sure did have my free hand clutching the pommel of my saddle.  After that, we headed back to the trailers.  Hosed the horses down, settled them in at their trailers with hay and water and we broke in to the coolers for snacks and drinks.

It's taken about 3 days before the pain in my spine has finally ebbed.  My legs felt FANTASTIC, which I suspect is because I wasn't having to contantly "ask" for forward motion.  He wanted to go down the trail as much as I did.  But my back.  My aching, aching back.  I genuinely do NOT know how people ride trotting horses for 100 miles.  The 30 miler I did with him was bad enough.  But, my next goal for him is to put out feelers and see if I can find a local who is interested in endurance who might want to lease him and condition him.  He could go out right now and do an LD without a qualm, but should someone want to explore the higher miles, for his own soundness, he needs conditioning.  So, I should perhaps get on that. 

While I was talking to my friends, my farrier sent me a text to see if I was free on Sunday.  And if so, time to show me how to nip and roll the toe on my endurance horse. 

I guess this means I'm serious since I'd spent almost $90 on nippers (which is WAY cheaper than the $200 pair I wanted!).  The reality is he grows toe like WHOA!!  In just the 3 weeks since she'd trimmed him, we had to push him back again. 

Now, I had a hoof stand.  And an old rasp she'd given me.  And I'd TRIED rasping his toe, but I couldn't ever push it back far enough with just a rasp.  So, with slow and patient "nips" from 10-2 on his fronts, getting near, but not quicking him to the white line, away we went.  Slow.  So slow. 

My farrier is right, I AM hard on myself because I want to get it right the first time.  She was patient, showed me tricks and tips to make things easier.  Never at all critical of what I did.  As we both baked in the hot Texas sun (100+ degrees for the win?  No?  NO!). 

Anyway, the plan is I'll go out early again on Sunday to nip and rasp and roll and keep pushing and pushing those toes back.  I still want her to do the more difficult parts and to make sure I'm not unbalancing him.  But, since I don't want to do shoes, this is the only way to make sure boots fit him. 

Well, every week do the fronts, every 2 weeks, do the backs. 

So, Sunday is the first time I'll nip and rasp on my own.  I'm a little anxious, but, as she's said, if I just stay on top of it week to week, it shouldn't be too bad.  And, it might help to soak his feet just a little bit to soften them up.  They're tough as nails right now!!