Day 1, Let's Go Camping!!!.....or "Good day followed by not so good...."

I'm still mentally and emotionally recovering from what was, overall, a semi-disastrous camping trip.  It's been proclaimed that we need a "do over" trip, and that if we NEVER have another trip like this one, it will be FAR too soon.

So, rewind to Thursday morning.

The plan?

Get up early, load up the truck with the last few things, hook up the truck and trailer, catch the horses, get Kaylee up and dressed, load Tilly then leave and drop Kaylee off at daycare and hit the road around 7ish.

HAH!!  What a joke.  NOTHING went even REMOTELY close to plan.

The reality.

Wake up, start getting dressed, when a small, sleepy faced toddler comes walking into the bedroom. 

"I awake Mommy."

"I see that honey."

And I pitch all of my plans and do the best I can.  Get her dressed and ready for school.  Realize I cannot expect her to be calm and patient while I hook up and catch horses, so just go ahead and drive her to school, come home and finish loading up the truck with everything I MIGHT possibly need (spoiler: I didn't need ANY of the extra blankets I brought...or the portable heater...or the extension cord).

Go ahead and get Rango in the truck (he doesn't QUITE understand what I'm asking for initially so I had to pick him up and put him in).  The look of indignation Pancho gave me when he was put back in the house was funny, and a little heart breaking.  SORRY SMALL DOG!!  Maybe some other time!

Hooked up the truck quickly and then had the unpleasant task of trying to catch the horses.  This is becoming my LEAST favorite part of dealing with Tilly.  It IS on the "To Do" list, but...the time change has my life boogered up.

I get Socks caught after running a merry chase from the back pasture to the front.  He gets put in the barn as I have a mild anxiety attack about him getting hurt again, but realize I don't have another option.  Realize that the other 3 have run BACK into the back pasture, so grab the keys to the ATV and away we go, because I can NOT catch them on foot, and they're all being hellacious turds.

Drive back, walk over to see if I can catch Strider, but he's got a bee up his bonnet, and refuses.  With a huff of annoyance, I go back to the ATV and push them out of the back pasture, and shut the gate.  And away we go as they charge up to the barn.  We end up whirling around and around in the front as Socks casually nibbles the handful of grain I gave him, the other 3 flying and running.  I wince every time Strider does a pivot on that left rear, but, they all realize this isn't fun, so they go to the barn and stop.  I go and open the gate to the other feeding pen and all 3 march in.

My mind flips out thinking of all the possible disasters.  I walk in and tell Strider to NOT kick me.  And give him the "mare glare". Slip the halter on Tilly and march her over to the trailer where she just walks right on in.  She's almost on the brink of self-loading, but, that isn't a requirement of mine.  An easy load is really all I want.  And currently, all of mine are.

Anyway, I leave everyone in the pens as I drive out the front gate, and then let them all loose.  Where they all go charging off.  Realize I forgot to open the back gate, but send Joe a text to tell him it's closed.

Look over at my traveling companion and tell him "Let's go buddy!!"

I skeered Momma.  Where we go?

So, locked, loaded and away we roll.

He figured it out quickly.  And this is how he stayed for the bulk of the trip.  GREAT traveling companion.

Of course, as soon a I get in, I realize I hadn't stopped for gas, and Joe left me a 1/4 tank.  That's not going to be enough to make a 5 hour haul!!!

So, whip in to my favorite local gas station.

And take some photos of my other traveling companion.

Look at this big ass mare!!!

Hello Tilly Pilly!!  You have your happy ears on!!!

What, don't like selfies with me?  I think my feelings are hurt.

I call this one "Resting Bitch Mareface". 

For whatever reason, the gas station was having serious issues with the gas pump.  An error message when I pulled up.  So I went in, and they told me they'd reset the pump and go outside and pump.

Okay.  So, I tried that.  Didn't work.  Go BACK in and leave my card.

And then SLOWLLLLLLLLY pumped diesel into the truck.  The guy next to me said "It's a good thing no one's in a rush.  This is going to take a while."  All in all, took me probably 15 minutes to fill the truck up.  I wasn't impressed.  I've noticed these tanks usually are a little slower, but this was ridiculous!

But, in about 2 hours, I caught up with H at a TSC in some small town.  We picked up a few things, and then hit the road again.  3 more hours to go.  She falls in behind me and we make our way to Lake Sam Rayburn.

We stop at the gas station I always stop at on my way to Armadillo Run.  We let the dogs out for a second potty break, then I ran in to go potty after filling Hannibal up again. 

Rango also makes a great "truck guard dog".  My friend H came out of the store and said "You know, he LOOKS really intimidating.  NO ONE is going to mess with your rig when he's in the truck."

Good thing no one knows that even if he's barking at you, he's probably shivering in fear.  Goof.

But, we get pulled in after one missed turn (took us down some road that did NOT lead to the campground....and cell reception was bad), but I managed to get enough signal to get us to where we needed to go.

Pull in and get settled in quickly.  I let Rango out of the truck and away he runs. 

"Dammit, I think I've just lost my dog."

No, he quickly figured out where "home" was for the weekend.  Our camp. 

Get Tilly set up with water and hay, some electrolytes.  Took a look at her feet and figured since I still had sun, I'd better trim and rasp her feet.  So, I got to work on that.  Butchered them SOME, in my opinion, but they looked better than before.

Once I was done with that, we all just sat around and relaxed for a while.

As the sun sets, B, LM, H and I head in to town for groceries and dinner.  We put Rango in the back of B's LQ and head out.  Lots of laughs and fun and plans for a wonderful fire when we get back to camp.  Junk food load up and late night talking. 

I did rig Tilly up with lights though.  Glowstick on the halter and the flashy bands around her rear pasterns.  I know those pens are solid, but....just in case...(spoiler alert; never necessary, but...I don't regret it!).

I was reminded MULTIPLE times we were sleeping in, NOT rushing to get tacked up in the morning, and that we were going to take a slow, easy pace.

"Plebs...GET UP EARLY AND LETS GO RIDING!!!!"

No.  The answer was a resounding no. 

So, I spent the rest of the evening removing the fenders from my saddle and removing the latigos to put the English converter set on my saddle.  And then begged B to borrow her "Total Saddle Fit" girth for Tilly.  Which worked like a CHARM all weekend long!!!  I love this girth.  I WILL need to get the fleece cover for it as well, because Tilly is prone to galls, but we had used a wool one for the scavenger hunt, and I liked how far back it sat that day, and this one was the same length and worked WONDERFULLY.

But more about that for Day 2.

Equine Trail Sports....or "Well, that was fun, but my horse is STILL broken!"

I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION THIS!!!

So, at the place I used to board the horses at (Rusty's Walnut Creek [hey, I don't board there now, and since I know my ex still stalks my stuff, I always tried not to mention it by name ANYWHERE {yes, he's THAT creepy}]) hosted another Equine Trail Sports challenge the last weekend, and, while Joe and I both had things to do on Saturday, I kind of whined and got him to sign up to do the ETS on Sunday.

Originally we were going to be companion only riders (which means we weren't going to do ANY of the obstacles), but, they begged and said we should go try and if we just HATED the obstacles, they wouldn't charge us the fee, so, we decided to go.

Now, Strider was CONFUSED.  So, we're at Rusty's, his "home".  There's trailers!  And LOTS OF HORSES!!  IS RACE DAY MOMMA?!!!!  WE GO FAST!!!

No.  No dude. 

My friend H got us this saddle pad at the Bluebonnet Horse Expo, so I HAD to use it!!
People should KNOW that they're in the presence of the Paso Fino!  LOL!!!

Almost fully dressed with our number! 

I told Joe I was going to walk only Strider, and I did, with the exception of ONE obstacle and when he BEGGED me to go for a little bit.

I rode him in the Myler Kimberwicke, which is what Douglas had used on him when training.  Strider wasn't exactly HAPPY in his bit, but it DOES help him refine his moves.  And he tried his heart out for me.

The first obstacle we had to take them into the round pen, step in a square box and you had to have their head naked and bridle them.  Joe and I both opted to do it without a halter around their necks.  Of COURSE both of our horses walked out of the box.  LOL!!!

Our group, consisting of 2 other endurance riders, Joe and one of my friends in the Central Texas Lady Trail Riders group (who is on her amazing horse Kansas!!) mounted and set off. 

Obstacle two was to turn on the forehand down an invisible fence.  Strider and I bombed this one.

This video is obstacle 3.  Move from cone 1 to 2, line up on the cone, back up, move off back to the cone, line up, back again, and then move off the obstacle.

You can tell in this video that he's off.  I wasn't completely sure, but fairly sure he wasn't QUITE right.

Obstacle 4 was to touch a big piece of plastic on the fence with monsters on it. 

We actually did obstacles 5 and 6 out of order. 

So, we did 6 before 5; which was get a bucket of candy off a peg in a tree, move through cones and hang the bucket back up on the tree.

Obstacle 6 was to side pass obstacles going down the trail.

I was actually very pleased with him ALL day (except for the lameness that was intermittent).

Here are our scores.

Strider and I got a shout out for the obstacle with the candy bucket.  And our reward?

Look!  You CAN make money with horses!!!

Now, let me talk about Joe and Tilly.  Joe was COMPLETELY game to try things that he had NO idea what to do, how to cue Tilly or ANYTHING!!  He was so calm and patient with her ALL day long.  The only time he "got after" her was at the tarp on the fence because she would NOT go near it when he asked.  However, once we finished that obstacle, he DID make her touch it with her nose.

We did tell the judges that this was only the second time he had ridden her, and that he really wasn't sure how to cue some of these things.  The judge at the obstacle you were supposed to side pass on said "That's fantastic!  It leaves them a LOT of room to grow!  Good for him to coming out and riding today!"

Here are their scores.

Overall, I enjoyed our ETS ride (minus my hurt horse).  There ARE people who you can tell are there to win and are competitive, but the overall atmosphere felt very laid back and casual, and no one said anything negative about the endurance riders.  Everyone was very supportive, and the judges were FANTASTIC about explaining what the obstacle was, and what they were even looking for.

My endurance friend (TM) taking an over the shoulder shot of Joe and Tilly. 
That's Strider and I and TC and her horse Kansas behind them.

All of our group (except TM, the photographer!) after we finished obstacle one!!

I would recommend an ETS ride to anyone who has never done one!!!

Scavenger Hunt...or "Chantilly Lace...and a pretty face"

Sunday Joe was going to come to a scavenger hunt held at a church about an hour from the house.  There was going to be a small group of my friends coming...except as we got closer and closer, people kept dropping like flies until it was just B and myself coming.  Joe opted to skip out and stay home with Kaylee since B's husband wasn't going and he didn't want to be the only guy there.

Not a problem.  So, B and I arranged to meet there at around 11.  I was up at 8, hooked the truck and trailer up, AND I actually managed to catch Tilly far quicker than normal, AND get her loaded in about 2 minutes.  Takes a few minutes to get the divider swung over, long rope fed through the window and encourage her in. 

So, I was on the road before 9.  And realized from the gas station I stopped at to fill the truck up, I was 23 minutes away from the church. 

Well then, time for breakfast!!  Hit up a McDonald's in Copperas Cove, killed about an hour there and then headed off for the church.

This is one of the RARE instances where I didn't blow a SINGLE turn.  GO ME!!!

Got there a few minutes before B, while we discussed ditching the scavenger hunt (I saw 1 trailer with horses in and 1 Gator).  We unloaded Tilly and Baby G while we debated what we wanted to do. We finally opted to go ahead and do the scavenger hunt as we walked behind the arena at the church and saw more horses.

So, loaded the horses BACK up (Tilly bravely marched right into the trailer by following me in!....with the divider moved over) and drove back behind the church.

Where we sit and chit chatted and just had a good time hanging out while waiting for the scavenger hunt.

Baby G on the right, Tilly on the left.  Two MFTs just hanging out!!!

B's horse Baby G begging for more Nutter Butters.

The hunt actually ended up starting at 1 instead of noon.  And the rules were that we were hunting for man-made objects ANYWHERE within fencelines and without crossing beneath large power lines or cattle guards.  And we had 2 hours to find as many objects as we could find.

Here's some of the things we found out there on our aimless meanderings.

What no one mentioned until we were already present and saw for ourselves was just how ROCKY it was.  Oh, there were some patches of soft, grassy dirt, but mostly it was rock, rock and MORE rock.  Tilly doesn't have boots yet, but after this ride, she's moved up on my priority list to get her a pair of at LEAST front boots.  She was quite brave and bold and forward when she led, but after about an hour, she was asking me to PLEASE get off the rocks, so B and I quit after an hour and 15 minutes.  We're going camping this weekend and we didn't want to lame our horses.  So, we headed back to the trailers.

Sweaty, dirty, hairy horse-yak.

 

Other side of a big booty horse-yak!!!

B and I only ultimately found 8 items, so we each won a $5 gift card to Tractor Supply.  So, yay!!  We talked about trying to grab lunch, but...between trying to find a place that we could maneuver the trailers in to, and Joe needing to get to work, we rain checked and said next time.  PLUS, we're going CAMPING THIS WEEKEND!!! 

Scavenger Hunt

So, once again, Tilly hopped into the trailer and we headed for home. 

I decided there were 2 things I wanted to do with her before I cut her loose at the house.  Practice trailer loading AND at least rinse her off.

And that is exactly what happened when I got home.  I pulled the trailer through, off-loaded her and left the divider in place.  Then asked her to load up.  Which she did.  And off.  And on.

All in all, I got her in 6 times.  5 of them with the 30' long line through the window, and the final one, I walked her completely away from the trailer, gently lunged her around me away from the trailer, then walked her confidently up to the trailer standing beside her with one of the trailer doors closed, divider still in place, and she hopped right on in as I pointed her where I wanted her.

SMART mare!!!

Took her over to the small stand of trees by my barn, easily tied her up and hosed her off.  She stood like a champ, not a single flinch at the water.  Took my nails scraping off some of the grime and filth, but eventually she was mostly white again.  Sighed because I was SURE she was going to roll, but removed her halter and watched her charge off to go find the herd.

Walked into the house with Kaylee after unhooking the truck and realized something.

Why, I do believe I ENJOY that big mare.  She isn't Strider, he's always going to be my favorite ride...but...she's actually quite pleasant to be around! 

Once you catch her. 

And tomorrow begins my camping trip with my girls!  I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

Armadillo Run (take 3)....or "Part two"

Finally rolled out of my trailer around 6 and got to work.  Pulled Socks out of his pen and started getting him dressed.

I mean, as always, he looks gorgeous once he's dressed!

Yes, reins on.  What you can't see is my "Booma Rein" holder
to prevent them from falling over his head.

Ears up and a happy face!!  My body was already flinching.

I made sure to put my HRM on, and when I turned on my Garmin...nothing.  In fact, my Garmin started acting SUPER strange.  Like the numbers went sliding sideways.  The ONLY field that worked was pace per mile.  I'm unsure what happened, and I turned it off and on several times, but it never EVER wanted to work.  Frustrating.  BUT, I have my watch, so I can keep an eye on the time, which is really all I NEED to do.  HRM is just bonus.

I almost forgot to eat my own breakfast and prep my water, so quickly did that.  I also pre-loaded some Aleve.  I walked over to another friend's trailer (we were going to start out together, and I said I'd drop back when I needed to [spoiler alert; I needed to]).  She then asked if someone had come by my trailer yet to tell me that the LD's start time had been pushed back to 8:30.

I was already upset the LD's were going to start at 8.  It was hot and humid, and I prefer to get started as early as possible so I can get as much as I can done before it gets too hot.

But, that just wasn't to be.  Lovely.

Trail opens, and we do as I'd planned.  Left mid-pack.  It was great.  He was forward.  Happy.  Straining to go.  But not uncontrollable.

We settled in behind D and her large mare and away we went.  Trot, trot, trot.  I actually didn't feel bad.  Socks wasn't slamming my spine into fine sand, he was happy and forward, ears pricked.  D was a little faster than I wanted to go, so we slowed up just a little.

And, in a brief stretch with horses a little behind us, and trail open before us, he spooks at an invisible Boogeyman, and off I tumble.  Two for two at Armadillo where I've come out of the saddle.  I heave a huge sigh, laugh, and the ladies behind me are kind enough to wait (despite my telling them to go ahead and move on, we're okay!) while I hop back on.

Away we move again.

At this point, I'm hot and sticky, and Socks gets me a little TOOOOOO close to a ribbon on a tree, so it clings to my body, and off it and the clothespin come.  Great.  I hear a voice sing out a few horses behind me "I knew you were competitive Erin, but you don't need to sabotage the trail!" with a laugh following!  It's Zurkh's Mom!!!  I crack up and hollar back "Well, you know me, always fighting to win LAST PLACE!!!"

I do manage to get it pinned back on a tree as we keep up our rhythm, but I know that this speed is NOT sustainable for him and I, and the way he's fighting to keep up is NOT healthy for him, so I slow him back down and we drop back again.

He's strong, my hands hurt a little bit, and so do my shoulders.

See?  Compare this image from our first year and they're light years different! And look at GREAT he looks!
Photo by John Nowell (purchased image)

At some point on this loop, we're going along, all alone, and he spooks.  I cannot figure out what caused it, so from my mouth pours some filth (something along the lines of "What the FUCK Socks?! ASSHOLE!!!").  THEN I hear the hoofbeats behind me.  I turn and realize it's Doc Conway and his wife, and I probably turned a million shades of red. 

"I am SO sorry!!!"  

"Don't worry about it!  He probably heard us coming up behind him like a freight train."

I'm hoping that he doesn't put me together as I'm not on Strider as we fall behind them because Socks is back to fighting to keep up.

First loop done, 8 miles down.  We did a pulse down and trot by (had to take a few extra minutes to bring his HR down, but no big deal).

Armadillo Run; First Loop

Swing back up (okay, so not gracefully, I didn't tighten my cinch quite like I need to, so, saddle rolled, and I about fell off...from a MOUNTING BLOCK...in front of the RM!  Lovely).

Back out for loop two.  We're chugging along, and we tuck in behind a junior on the CUTEST mule and his sponsor at some point, and keep on going.  I get a little concerned that he refuses to drink at ANY of the troughs.  He thinks the herd he needs to catch is ahead, and he cannot seem to settle down enough to drink.  The humidity is sky high (at some point my mentor mentioned it was like 90% humidity) and I'm dripping sweat.

He's still chugging along, happy to go, ears forward.

Telling the photographer this isn't our good side.  Look at him!
Photo by John Nowell (picture purchsaed)

 Before I know it, we're almost back to camp.  Hop off, loosen cinch and walk in.

Armadillo Run; Loop 2

Pulse through fine (5 minutes to get him to drop), and head off to see the vet. 

And that's where the wheels came off.  Jugular Refill and Skin Tenting, C's.  And, at our trot out...slight gait aberration.  I was told to go back to the trailer and see if we can't figure out why he's slightly off.  Maybe some hoof boots?

I'm basically resigned to pulling, then see my mentor and her husband, and a lightbulb goes off as I go over to ask if they might have any boots for him.  We go to check, and immediately her husband sees the problem.

Remember when I said trust your instincts?  Yep, should have used the bell boots I didn't buy!!  He'd torn up his heels.

I briefly considered borrowing a pair, and then said "No.  That's not right."

My first instinct was the right one.  Pull.  For his welfare.  So, we did.  And I have zero regrets about it.  I laugh and realize I'm going to be chasing those last 5 miles for my LD patch for who knows HOW long.  Who cares.  My ride record is crap, but I'm having fun overall, and learning as I go.  And, I didn't push nor ask him to do anything.  He willingly gave.  And as humid as it was, things could have gone south, so I'm grateful we did the smart thing and pulled.

Our vetting in on Friday night.  As usual, all A's for Socks the Fox!!

And after 14 miles.  Those C's worry me.  But, the humidity probably had a large hand in that!

I spent some time at camp relaxing.  Waited for my new friend and her reiner turned endurance QH to come back to camp.  They looked great when they came back in!!!  And my friend D on her horse finished as well!! 

Overall, it was a great ride.  I had a great time!!  Socks had a great time!  I actually didn't hurt at all as I packed up camp on Saturday evening.

Storms were rolling in, and Joe had to work on Sunday, so I knew I wasn't staying for the breakfast on Sunday morning.  The drive home was painless and easy, though the last few hours were a little hard as I was getting tired. 

Once again, if you're ever in Texas in October, come do the Armadillo Run ride.  The ride managers are simply the best.  And it was at this ride in 2014 that I FINALLY started feeling comfortable in my endurance tribe.  Why?  Because this ride manager, who also is the in/out timer at most of our rides, called me by NAME because she RECOGNIZED me.  And as such, this ride has earned a place in my heart. 

Good job Socks.

PS-He now has TWO brand new pairs of bell boots in my tack trunk.  I'll NEVER make that mistake again!!

Armadillo Run (take 3)....or "Trust your instincts, they're not wrong"

I'm pretty bad with ride write ups!  But, FINALLY here is part 1 of my "Armadillo Run" write up! 

Thursday was a fast run to Tractor Supply to get a gallon of Kaolin Pectin, more CMPK, 2 square bales and a bale of alfalfa for Armadillo Run.

Socks was brought up Wednesday night to begin his electrolyte protocol.  He's so laid back that I can dump the mix into his beet pulp/grain "tea" (it's more water than food) and he'll lick the pan/bucket clean. 

Thursday, repeat.

Now, I waffled back and forth Thursday evening evening, should I pen him up, making it easier to load and go Friday morning?  Or let him have the freedom of movement and stay with his herd overnight.

I opted to do the best thing for my horse, and left him out.

Now, Thursday was our wedding anniversary, but I pretty much warned Joe, I was going to be busy with horse stuff all night long.  Because, as we all probably know at this point, I'm a professional at procrastinating.  Which means the tack/changing room in my trailer was STILL a mess.  And that's where I sleep.  So, I HAD to get it cleaned out.  I did NOT want to do that on Friday once I got to ride camp.  I was done with that before 9pm, and even moved my big tack trunk to the barn after grabbing 2 blankets out that I thought I -might- need at camp.  FYI-I didn't need them.

So, early to bed so I could be up early Friday morning.  I still needed to hook up to the truck in the morning, but I had it loaded with my clothes and blankets and such. 

Got up, loaded the last few things and took my final pre-ride shower.  It was still dark at 5am as I was loading the last few things into the truck and then hooking up to the trailer.  At 6, I headed out looking for the horses.  I know they're out in the back pasture as I hadn't seen them out front.  I grabbed a flashlight and, I saw Zurkh's form gleaming as he laid in the grass.  I couldn't resist going over to him and snuggling him for a few minutes.  He was quite content to lay there as Tilly wandered over, wanting to know what I was doing to "my Zurkh".  He then told me he wanted to get up, so I moved, while sweeping my flashlight around, looking for 1 or 2 dark forms. 

Nothing.  So I kept walking. 

And walking. 

More walking.

At this point, I figured I would be better off to just go grab the ATV with its bright lights and come back to look.  Except, I see, tucked behind Tilly (who had followed me some of the way), 4 high whites.  SOCKS.  *sigh*

I ask aloud "Okay, so where is Strider guys?"  And there he is, that SUPER dark spot between Tilly and Zurkh.  Horses.  Sometimes I think they're jokesters at my expense.

As always, get Socks loaded quickly (he's such a saint), and hit the road.


Now, I realize as I'm fixing to leave, Socks USUALLY is ridden in bell boots.  Now, H had bought me 2 rubber gum ones, but they're size large.  I hadn't tried him on them yet, so went to go through my tack trunk to see if I could scrounge up a pair of his bell boots.

I found 1.  Not useful.  Considered stopping and getting him a pair....and then...didn't.  Trust your instincts.  They're not wrong.  But, I was trying to do this ride on the cheap, and didn't want to spend the money.  So, figured the ones H had gotten me would probably fit, so I'd be ok.

The drive was uneventful.  We did a quick stop for groceries.  I spent maybe $25 for food, and didn't eat all of it.  If nothing else, Bo and Linda make sure riders are well fed all weekend long. 

I pull in to ride camp and have a decision to make.  Park where I've parked the past 2 years?  It's open, quiet, NO neighbors, and I can make my pen whatever size I want.  BUT, it's far from the potties, and vet check, and it's in the sun with really no shade.

NOPE!! 

So, I camped in a new spot this year.  As I'm pulling in, I see one of the Blazin' Belles already pulled in and set up, some buckets beside her camp, so I pull down past them, swing wide and pick my spot.  It's a hike from VC, but near the potties AND gets my horse in the shade if I set him back far enough.

Off load and start setting up.

As always, quick and painless.  I'm getting better and better at this part of the endurance process.  The ground was harder than normal, so I had to hammer in my posts.  Unusual, especially since A from the Blazin' Belles mentioned a brief storm had rolled through a little before I got there.  Soften the ground?  NOPE!!  HARD!!! 

As I'm getting established, a new lady pulls in next to me on the other side, and we get to chit chatting.  Another new friend made!!  Who actually happens to be friends with another Paso rider here in my region with a 100 miler Paso.  COOL!!! 

We get smacked with another brief storm (maybe 30 or so minutes), so I hang out in my trailer and read and relax.  That's always nice!

We get vetted in around 5 or 6, prior to ride meeting.  I really like to let my horse relax.  Tank up on water and hay and I made Socks another slushy meal.  As normal, he vets in with a lower HR than Strider ever seems to.  *sigh*  Arabs. 

I try the bell boots on that H had bought me, realize they're so large, I fear rubs.  Consider the Mueller tape I'd bought; discard that idea.  Vet wrap?  Nope, discard that idea too.  The last few rides we'd done, he hadn't overreached, so maybe we're past that?

Any which way, I get settled in for the night after giving him some more electrolytes, another meal, and more fresh hay and I take just a moment to say good night before I turn in.

And realize, I've talked about my set up post "The Ride Which Shall Not Be Mentioned", but I've never really gotten good pictures of it at night.

Here's the quick breakdown.

I ordered a set of beta tack from "Trail Blazers Tack" off Facebook for Dakini in wine and reflective silver (I've shown it before on this blog).
I ordered indoor/outdoor "fairy lights" in 100 feet (came with a remote control even!) that I string up on my pen.
I bought some inexpensive solar lights that I stake/zip tie to all corners of my pen and then put sporadically on posts as well for additional light.
I USUALLY tie a glow stick to the halter overnight (for this ride, I forgot).
And I JUST bought battery operated bands to go around the pastern.

No, I don't play anymore.  People think the lights are pretty, but they serve a few purposes on my fence.  One, so that my horse can SEE the barrier at night.  Two, so that any potential LOOSE horses can see the barrier at night.  Three, to add one additional layer of "fencing" for my horses.

Glowstick on the halter.  Light up high, so if they get loose, I stand a chance of seeing it.

Reflective?  Shine a light on my horse, I can see them.

Battery operated bands?  Again, lost, hopefully I'll see them, even if they ARE down low!

Lights on the pen at the corners?  Again, to help ward off loose horses so they don't go crashing through my pen.

These were ALL ideas tossed about after that unfortunate incident, so I have put ALL of them to use in my camp.

And these photos are the end result.

Not a great picture because of the flash, but this is my usual set up.  Socks is in Dakini's old tack, so it's silver reflective.  "Fairy" lights that twinkle all night long.  Solar lights at all corners and some of the posts.  And, a new addition, blue flashing pastern bands for my horse.  I usually also do a glow stick on the halter, but didn't for this ride.

This is what it looks like without the flash on! 

And a profile view of my pen.

So, I set my alarm for 4 am to do another electrolyte dose, a little bit of beet pulp and I doze until about 6 for our 8 am start time.