Life on the ranch...or "I *bleeping* hate cows"

I have been told that moving to the country and having our own 'ranch' would be a learning experience.  It hasn't been...until we brought the cows home.

February 8th, Chili busts through our front fence and gets out into the county road we live on.  Our neighbors corral them, patch the front fence and let me know (this is the first time I've really met those neighbors).  So, that evening, I shove all the cows and horses into the back pasture, we link together enough hose to get water to the troughs I've moved out back and I assume that's a good patch until we get the front fence fixed.

Literally one week later, February 15th, as I'm out checking on our horses and cattle, I look in to my other neighbor's pasture and to my horror, my neighbor now has 4 cattle.  2 full sized angus, and a striped zebu mix and mini hereford.  ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME HOW?!!!!

Joe and I think they crossed where a tree came down from the neighbor's side of the fence and fell on the wire, so our cows just stepped over it.  So, no riding on Saturday, we had to fix fencing as we promised the neighbor we'd get our cows off his property ("No big deal", he'd told us when we informed him about what happened).

So, Joe and I ran by TSC, got a fence stretcher, a "Fence Fork", some T-post clips and gloves....then hustled home to get to work.

Seriously...a "Fence Fork".  Once I figured it out (took me sacrificing 1 clip)
then it was quite easy to use!!
Stock photo found somewhere on the Internet.

Dragged out the chain saws, the ATV, the generator (one of our chainsaws is electric) and got to work.  We had the fence line cleared and fixed in about 2 hours.

Then proceeded the most annoying livestock work I've done yet in my life (up to that point) for the next few hours.  Joe and I chased our 2 and the neighbor's 2 on foot (our neighbor says his cows are scared of ATVs so we didn't take it on to his property to use).  Let me tell you, it's incredibly unpleasant to chase cows, on foot, on about 14 acres. 

Joe kept trying to get me to use the horses.  Which I knew wasn't really a viable option.  My horses aren't used to chasing cows.  And, trying to chase cows on 14 acres is an exercise in futility.  Especially as the ground isn't exactly safe (lots of holes and divots and places for horses to get badly hurt).

Eventually Joe gave up, so I slowly worked them forward, closing gates behind me as I knew all 4 had crossed through until eventually I had them in the front most pasture. 

This is after trying to walk through trees, shrubs and brush that ripped and snagged at my hair, clothes and shoes.

As the sun is starting to go down, I get all 4 into the front pasture of our neighbor's property.  I call Joe and have him come back to help me out. 

Thankfully there's a gate that connects our properties, so I drive the cows towards Joe, and he tries to separate ours from the neighbors as they charge through the gate.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work.  Now all 4 are on OUR property.  *sigh*

We're inadvertent cattle rustlers!


Joe and I discuss it and figure that since they're now on our side of the fence, and the cattle are already freaked out, let's get the ATV and see if we can drive them back to the front of the property and somehow separate them.

Goes about as well as you could expect.  It doesn't.  And we're losing sunlight.

Joe sends a very anxious text to our neighbor (who, we haven't MET at this point...we've only communicated with him via text message) and tells him that while we have our 2, we also accidentally have his 2 as well and we WILL return his 2 on Sunday.

So, instead of our quiet weekend alone (Kaylee went to spend the weekend with her old babysitter), we're both tired, grumpy, irritable and NOW, instead of relaxing and having a "pasture date" (Joe's idea...take the ATV, a blanket and a laptop to watch a movie out back), we know we're getting up early to chase cows alllll over again.

In a desperate Hail Mary, I reach out to the OTHER neighbors we had just met, as they "know" cows, and asked if they had ANY ideas on how to separate them and return the neighbor his cows.

"Do you have a catch pen?"

"No, but we can make one!"

"Okay, we have some guys that can come help tomorrow as well.  They'll be over around 1pm."

So, Joe and I get up semi-early on Sunday and dismantle my barn's panels.  Which is fine, I was planning on using some of them as the foundation of my round pen.  We load them into the back of the truck and drive them into the back pasture then discuss how we want to arrange them for maximum effectiveness.

We now have 2 separate pens built, with one pen being built around the neighbor's gate so all we'd need to do is drive all 4 cows into the first pen, separate out the neighbor's 2 (or our 2) into the 2nd pen, and then either push the neighbor's cows back into his pasture, or push ours back into our pasture and then push his on through.

Great...pen is done by noon. 

Joe and I take a few minutes to fix some more fence we think might be sketchy, then we wait.

1pm.

1:30.

No word from anyone, and we realize we can't keep waiting....so get back to work on trying to push them ourselves.  Joe takes the ATV and I get on Strider (the more naturally cowy of my 2 horses) and we try.  The cows keep ducking into the brush where we can't go.  It's an exercise in futility and after 30 minutes, we quit.  Strider's upset because Socks and Zurkh are up front, so he's impossible to deal with.  Joe can't get to where the cows are, and even when he does, they just dart off into another pile of brush, or they race back to the back of the property.

Have I mentioned yet how much I hate cows?!

My neighbors reach out and ask if we've heard from their boys.  I hadn't, so she said they were on their way home and they'd come help us out.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

So, her, her husband and their son came over and we all ended up chasing those stupid cows for about another hour.  On foot.

At one point, she and I are near the front and we notice the neighbor's cows are IN the 2nd holding pen of the catch pen...and she and I go sprinting like mad, scrambling to slam the gate shut before they get out.

We watch in horror as they whirl and get into the 1st pen.  We're both screaming at this point "NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!"  And she's flying through the field...and 100 yards away those two jerks bolt out the gate and back to freedom.

So, the chase is on AGAIN. 

Eventually her husband shoos them down a fenceline, hot on their proverbial and literal tails, and then, he can't see them anymore...

We're not COMPLETELY sure how it happened, but at some point, the neighbor's two larger cows stepped over a portion of the fence that was low (a tree had fallen on it and we hadn't seen it as it's hidden by a lot of brush and trees) and our cows couldn't step over it.  That's the theory.

THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!

The men then spent another hour or so fixing that portion of fence and removing the tree (our neighbor's wife and I ran and got his chainsaw) to try and prevent it from happening again.

I spent time on the neighbor's property walking to make sure I could VISUALLY confirm I'd seen both a red and black angus on HIS SIDE of the fence (I did).

As the sun set, a very tired and Joe and I went to Whataburger for dinner and a few groceries from HEB....

When Joe got a text from the neighbor..."Have you seen the cows today?"

*facepalm*

Back in the saddle...again....or "Okay Strider, let's see how you feel..."

With a clear diagnosis for Strider, it was time to figure out where to take him out for on our return to the saddle ride.

Just so happened that the Land Heritage Institute (the place where the River Run Ride is put on) is open every 2nd Saturday of the month to the public.

A group of us endurance riders decided let's all go.  We're going to take it nice and easy, no pushing, more of a casual and fun trail ride than a conditioning ride.

It went perfectly.  Well....let me back up...

I got up when I planned to (6:45am), but, the fog was so thick I didn't want to drive in it.  And, I had padded my schedule, so I laid around for a few more minutes before I dragged out of bed, got dressed and headed out to gather up Socks and Strider.

I decided to take Socks as extra insurance in case Strider got tired during our ride.

They were both an easy catch, followed me on the ATV quite nicely, didn't do anything foolish.  Zurkh followed us up to the gate, whinnied that hysterically comical "foal" sounding whinney he has...then wandered off to go graze alone.

So, here's my not thinking moment.  USUALLY Socks is a pro at just jumping into the trailer.  No big deal.  Except Saturday, he just didn't want to go in.  Partially my fault, I didn't open the manger windows (I'm still a little freaked out after Strider jammed himself into the manger the previous weekend, can you blame me?), and I didn't have any hay in the manger either.

Also, Socks does this strange thing where he sideways loads himself, gets his head over the divider and cannot seem to figure out that if he'd just go in, oh, I dunno, STRAIGHT things would go easier. 

So, here I am, hanging on to Strider, trying to load Socks, and this just isn't working.  So, I casually loop Socks' lead rope around the divider, because, he's not going to leave his Strider, right, and go walk Strider to the barn.

Except, Socks would, could, and DID leave his Strider.  When I shut the gate to shut Strider up, Socks casually meandered off.  And, when I walked faster, then jogged to catch Socks, the punk took off on me in a full fledged canter to the back.  *sigh*  Glad I shut the gate!  Found him there, and hand walked him back up.

Horses.  They'll humble you and remind you that you can't cut corners.

Get Socks tossed into the trailer, and then Strider pops in.

And away we go.

No surprise, truck has 1/4 tank (thanks Joe), and I have an almost 2.5 hour drive in front of me.  And I need breakfast and water to take.  Swing into a nearby WalMart for both.  And, as I'm leaving Joe calls, tells me Kaylee is throwing up and sick.  Uhhhh....not cool.  Asks if I'll get her some Pedilyte on the way home.  So, that kind of niggles at the back of my brain all day.

Soooo, was supposed to get to the park between 10:30 and 11?  I arrived at about 11:15. 

Quickly get the boys off the trailer, Socks set up in a pen, and start getting Strider dressed.

Socks, fairly unimpressed with the hay provided. 
Forget what it is; timothy I think?
One of those compressed bales from TSC.

Not a super flattering shot.  View as taken from Blondie's back
by my friend H, who joined us endurance riders!

Another one off Blondie's back taken by H!
Almost fully dressed and ready to get back to riding!

And from there, H on Blondie, L.B. on Spiderman (Spy) and I on Strider took off at a gentle walk.

As I said, the goal was just to see how Strider felt.  For H, to try out her brand new saddle.  And for L.B., to teach Spy to eat while on trail (he got a "D" on gut sounds at River Run, so he's got a few things he needs to learn to do endurance, but he'll get there!).

We took it nice and easy for a while.  What's funny is that I both know and don't know the trails at LHI.  I'm so used to following ribbons that I wasn't quite sure which directions to go, and yet, I would recognize things.  L.B. wanted to avoid the Skyline trail, which was quite fine with me.  The grade to get up to Skyline isn't bad, but the hill to come DOWN off Skyline can be a little intimidating, and some horses go down sideways.  I've done more extreme hills, but I didn't want to take Strider down that hill at the moment, so I made sure we didn't go that direction.

So, we meandered off the other way and just took it easy.  Walking, Strider would fall back, and when he asked to gait for the first time, I held my breath, and I'm SURE I was tense when he took off, because I got a bunny buck, which he never does at the gait, so perhaps between my tension and him finally being "back" would explain that. 

But he felt amazing.  Strong and forward.  Brave and bold.  Not a single misstep.  I was able to FINALLY breathe again.  He's back.

L.B. and Spy's butt, H and Blondie and Strider and I.
Photo credit to L.B.  :)

We 3 had a great time.  The other endurance riders we were planning to ride out with had already set off on their own gentle trail rides (my fault!), so we 3 just chit chatted and had fun talking about everything.  We practiced some leap frogging.  I tried moving Strider around off my leg and some yields, which he did in his hackamore.  Not beautifully, but he DID IT!!!  Considering I've allowed him to pretty much be a feral horse with NO ground work in 6 months, that's amazing!

We were out for almost 3 hours, just poking around, pausing to let the horses graze, letting H walk Blondie down to the river to try and drink...it was lots of fun and exactly what we needed.

Once we got back to camp, we slowly started stripping tack, and waited for T.M. and Galley to come back, then we all went and hung out at T's trailer.  L.B. looked at T's other horse, Sunny, and noted his toes were long.

So, while L.B. did a little rasping and work on his feet, and I got all up in her business watching and asking questions, we killed another good hour or so.

Then everyone packed it up and we all had to split and head for home.

Got both boys loaded easily and headed out.

Made a stop to get Kaylee some pedialyte and some things I'd need for work the next week, then meandered on home.

Those days are some of the best days.


And, if you're interested in the stats of the day....

High Roller....or "There's plans, and then there's life"

So, here we are more than a month out.

I had zero plans of going, honestly.  It's cold.  I was going to work.  I didn't feel like taking Socks who HAS done an LD at 7iL because I didn't want the sand to get up in his bell boots and rub him.  Just, I wasn't going.

Until...D.C. reached out to me.

"R.C. is going to do the 75 on Tivio, and, he thinks he'll be too tired to do the 50 on the next day.  Would you like to come ride Dez again?  You're welcome to crash in our trailer."

Would I like to ride Dez again?

WOULD I?!!!

Resounding YES!!!

Cue mild freakout as I'm not together, but I have a week to get my shit together, pack (well, repack) my bag and toss everything in the car.

I was supposed to leave on Thursday to do the ride on Friday.  Except on Wednesday, Kaylee was showing some signs of being a little sick.  My parents were going to watch her for the whole weekend as I was planning to go up to B's for New Year's Eve (Joe was supposed to work his reserve police gig).  But, as my sister's husband had just gotten out of the hospital with some intense sickness, and they were going to my parent's house for a delayed Christmas for my sister's granddaughter, mom asked that I not bring Kaylee until after they left.

Cue me buzzing all over the house in frustration as the time gets later and later.  Kaylee was totally fine all day Thursday.  I had INITIALLY planned to arrive at ride camp around 5:30.

Totally didn't happen.  ALL my plans went to hell.  I didn't arrive until 9ish, including getting lost once.  So, missed ride meeting, but, 7iL is a nicely marked venue, easy to follow trails, but I took the map anyway, "just in case".

R.C. and Tivio headed out early on their 75, and D.C. and I laid around for a few extra minutes before we started getting Dez dressed. 

She held him for me, and I swung up, did a few circles, let the front runners head out as I rode up, checked in and headed out on trail.

And almost immediately realized the Dezzie of River Run was NOT the Dezzie of High Roller.  High Roller Dezzie could SEE the horses in front of him.  And I was cold, so grabbed gloves with ZERO grab for the reins.  BIG mistake.  HUGE. 

Dez charged through my hands.  I could NOT slow him down.  He was having none of my shit about staying behind horses and walking, or even gaiting calmly.  I finally gave it up, and let him out just a little because I was bracing so hard with my hands it was, quite frankly, ridiculous.  He's strong and he knows it.  Race brain in full effect.

As we were heading out on this loop, we passed R.C. and Tivio circling back on it.  He quickly assessed the situation and said "There's the Dez I know."

Yes, this was the Dezzie I had been warned about. 

Dez and I keep having "discussions".

"No Dezzie, not so damn fast."

"Dezzie, LISTEN TO ME!!!"
*cue me turning him into the trees to slow him down*

"Dammit Dezzie, what did I just say?"
*cue me running him into the trees again*

We come to an open section and a nice young man on a sleek bay Arab comes up behind us at a trot and he asks to pass.  I of course tell him that's fine.

And they break into a canter once they're a little way ahead of us....and I lose control of Dezzie.

He takes off like a shot, and I'm wrapping the reins around my hands trying to stop the mad dash.

Let me say, I wasn't scared, but I was annoyed.  I was annoyed I wore the wrong type of glove.  I was annoyed Dezzie wouldn't listen.  And I was pissed at his first owner for allowing such a nice and naturally gifted horse to be like this.

I ended up running Dezzie in to a fence (not literally, but right up to it) to stop the mad dash.  The young man offers to stick with us and slow down, for which I am appreciative.  Eventually we end up in the woods, and I'm able to slow Dezzie enough that the young man is free to continue on his ride without waiting on us.  But it involved circles.  Turning Dez all the way around and back tracking the trail.

Every trick I could think of and had at my disposal to get him to listen to me, I was using shamelessly.

We finally come out of the trees, and we have some semblance of being a cohesive team.

He almost looks like he's listening, doesn't he?
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

I mean, doesn't he look like he's behaving? 
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

I usually don't look this intense and serious. 
Apparently I get this way when focusing on NOT DYING!
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

Wheels falling off a little here.  DEZ!  Listen to me!
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

Thank you for listening Dez.  Good boy.
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

We spend most of this loop completely alone.  We saw a pair of ladies who we'd tried to tuck behind at the beginning.  One of them commented "You said he'd calm down about 7 miles in.  He doesn't look calm and we're a lot further than that in!" *laugh*  "Yeah, apparently he's making a liar of out me today."  And cue me letting him out a little bit because we were STILL fighting about who was driving over 15 miles in.

We come in to camp, and D.C. is there to meet us.  Dezzie is being a pill (took me a few moments of spinning him in circles so I could get him to stand still so I could, you know, DISMOUNT), and she and I are both on him to just STAND STILL and freaking BEHAVE!!

Talking to D.C. and doing a quick run through about how the first loop had gone.
Credit to SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

I tell her I've offered him water, gave him a 10 count, then moved on, which is a strategy she says she also uses and approved of.  His heart rate was a little high, so we try to offer him water (no dice, he wasn't having any of it), he drags me over to someone's alfalfa and snatches a mouthful (are you KIDDING me Dez?!) as I rip him back off of it.  We get him to finally come down and we go to vet him through.

Realizing that the photographer is right there and you're completely oblivious.
Credit SAGA Lifestyle Photography.

He vets through nicely.  Doesn't COMPLETELY try to kill the vets.  So, we head out, and back to the trailer.  I wolfed down a quick lunch, chugged lots of water, and realized our hold time was just about over.  I had no idea where I was in the pack (didn't care), and didn't expect to catch up to anyone at this point, so, I swung back up, and out we went again.

Here's our Loop 1 stats:

Splits

	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time				Avg Speed	Avg Moving Speed	Max Speed
1	10:45	10:45	10:37				5.6	5.7	9.3
2	7:24.3	18:10	7:19				8.1	8.2	9.7
3	7:00.5	25:10	6:56				8.6	8.7	10.1
4	7:07.6	32:18	7:02				8.4	8.5	13.2
5	8:17.7	40:35	8:07				7.2	7.4	10.2
6	7:26.9	48:02	7:20				8.1	8.2	9.3
7	8:51.1	56:53	8:41				6.8	6.9	9.9
8	8:51.5	1:05:45	8:38				6.8	6.9	9.8
9	7:51.2	1:13:36	7:39				7.6	7.8	11.2
10	9:29.0	1:23:05	9:14				6.3	6.5	10.3
11	10:57	1:34:02	10:52				5.5	5.5	10.9
12	8:34.2	1:42:36	8:18				7.0	7.2	12.9
13	10:01	1:52:37	9:57				6.0	6.0	12.3
14	10:11	2:02:49	10:03				5.9	6.0	13.1
15	10:36	2:13:24	10:24				5.7	5.8	11.1
16	6:20.3	2:19:45	6:17				9.5	9.5	16.7
17	14:41	2:34:26	9:48				1.8	2.6	9.1
Summary	2:34:26	2:34:26	2:28:03				6.4	6.7	16.7

So, we're set up in a good position as we're heading out on our second loop.

About 2 miles in, that water and food was sitting so heavy in my stomach.  I couldn't get comfortable in the saddle, and Dezzie was doing what I jokingly call the "Quarter Horse Death March".  He wasn't particularly interested in gaiting out or moving quickly.  He would, if asked, but he was just as happy to walk.  I decided this wasn't awful, especially as I just couldn't seem to get balanced or centered.  He also was telling me that the saddle wasn't comfortable.

We're making okay time.  We're on target to finish, and that's all that matters. 

All of a sudden, about 8 or so miles in, Dez flicks and ear back and charges forward.  I cannot figure out what on earth is going on, and then I realize; we're being passed by the hot foot LD riders.

Son of a b....here we go again.  I point him off trail into the weeds, we spin circles, go around trees, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I can think of to get him to listen to me again. 

He settles down, so I get back on the trail, and we continue on, though, now that he KNOWS they're up there, he's hell bound to ignore me, so he's blistering along faster than I want him to be.  This sand makes me very uncomfortable when I'm on a horse I can't rate.  Suspensory and tendon issues come to mind, and I do NOT want that to happen to ANY horse. 

We circle back on trail, we're back to doing those tricks again.  And FINALLY he seems to settle back down again.

GREAT!!  Whew!!  Okay...and he starts to sandbag me.  "Oh I'm sooooooo tired....I just want to DIEEEEEEE...."

Dramatic much Dez?  I tell him when we get back, we'll swap saddles for him.  I'm so sorry.  I carry on a stream of conversation...then, out of the blue, he takes off...we're heading around a corner, he's charging ahead, and I cannot tell you what happened next as I got separated from my horse at this point.

I vaguely remember riders asking me if I'm okay.  I told them I'm fine.  I think they asked if I needed them to call anyone.  Just said if they could call camp and let them know, I'd appreciate it.  And I started hiking, I think.  I DO eventually have a clear memory of walking down the trail.  I was a little confused for a moment.  I knew where I was.  I knew I'd driven there, and I was PRETTY sure Joe hadn't come with me.  As a few moments ticked by, I snapped back into it, and was concerned that Dez would be lost on the ranch.

However, in less than a mile, I see ahead a bay horse, and a person holding the horse. 

It's DEZ!!!!  OMG!!  He'd been caught!!  A crew of people came up at that point and they checked to make sure I was okay.  Said I was fine, I was going to finish this damn ride now.  But, was my horse okay?  Were there any rules about needing to back track to where we'd separated?  But mostly, was he OKAY?!!!!  They trotted him out, we all watched him, he looked fine to us, so they said "Just get back in the saddle, and go.  You're okay."

Zurkh's mom, D.H. was there, she helped boost my big butt back into the saddle and said "Ride that horse hard, he's not tired."

So I did.  He moved out fine, gaited strongly.  I was gritting my teeth, not angry, but in determination at this point.  I was still a little fuzzy on things, but, by god, I was going to ride this horse!

We make it back in to camp (apparently we'd just missed R.C. heading back out with Tivio), and D.C. is there to meet us again.  Once again, we take a few extra minutes to get him pulsed down, and then head over to the vets, where everything is okay, except for his guts.  Vet wants us to do a recheck before we head back out though.  Not a surprise, I couldn't get him slowed down enough to eat if I'd had 24 hours to finish a 50.  He just wasn't having it.  So, D.C. and I took him back to the trailer, offered him food, and she took him to hand graze him on some of the grass, hoping to get his guts moving.

I was a little less enthusiastic about eating; so gulped down some water and just sat for a few minutes.

D.C. and I got my saddle on him, and headed back over to the vets to have the recheck done.

Guts were still crappy, but, he wasn't gaiting out soundly now.  A slightly "off ness" on his right front (I believe...could have been left front).  We stood around and talked about it.  The guts issue wasn't a problem for us.  We could slow it down, almost walk much of this loop.  But that leg.

One of our primary objectives for this ride was to break Dez of the "All rides are 25 miles, so I can skip eating and drinking" mindset.  If we stopped at this point, we further reinforced this issue for him.  But, if we continued, there was potentially no way he'd finish sound.

It wasn't a long discussion ultimately.  That leg was JUST enough of NQR for us to take the vet's offer of a Rider Option.  We were disappointed, but not greatly.  I was freaked out that I'd hurt him. 

The general consensus is when he made that turn where I came off, he probably hit a little hole in that sand and torqued it just a little bit.  He was just fine and back to 100% in a few days, but that didn't alleviate my sheer guilt it happened under my watch.

We walked him back to the trailer, stripped tack and settled him in with hay while we waited for R.C. to come in off his loop with Tivio.  I at least wanted to wish them continued good luck before I left for the evening!

Which I got to do before leaving around 6ish.  Tivio looked great when I left, and I think they only had 1 or 2 more loops left to go at that point.

So, it was disappointing for me to not get that 50 knocked out on Dezzie.  Truthfully, he has it in him.  I can FEEL it.  He's a sandbagger, which isn't necessarily a desireable quality, but if he can just lock in on his job, eat and drink on trail, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with.

OH!  And, here's our stats for the second loop.

Splits

	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time				Avg Speed	Avg Moving Speed	Max Speed
1	8:12.4	8:12.4	8:10				7.3	7.3	13.3
2	6:21.8	14:34	6:18				9.4	9.5	15.7
3	8:28.4	23:03	8:28.4				7.1	7.1	14.3
4	10:37	33:40	10:34				5.7	5.7	10.5
5	9:33.2	43:13	9:29				6.3	6.3	11.8
6	8:18.8	51:32	8:06				7.2	7.4	13.4
7	9:05.6	1:00:37	9:00				6.6	6.7	11.9
8	13:34	1:14:11	13:29				4.4	4.4	11.4
9	11:43	1:25:54	11:35				5.1	5.2	11.9
10	12:38	1:38:32	12:29				4.7	4.8	11.5
11	6:21.7	1:44:54	6:16				9.4	9.6	17.7
12	7:08.1	1:52:02	7:03				8.4	8.5	14.9
13	16:36	2:08:37	15:04				3.6	4.0	11.8
14	25:27	2:34:04	16:19				1.7	2.7	9.8
Summary	2:34:04	2:34:04	2:23:05				5.3	5.8	17.7

The results?....or "Okay, how did the ultrasound go?"

I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to get back to this, and what happened Saturday at the vet's office.

Friday afternoon, I was feeling progressively more and more sick.  If you're not living under a rock, you know that the flu is taking people down with aggression this year, and I was starting to exhibit flu-like symptoms.  I asked Joe if he could go check on the horses and the cows and fill the troughs and get the truck and trailer hooked up for Saturday morning.  I promptly went to bed.

He offered to drive up Saturday morning since I wasn't well.

Actually, he said I should stay home Saturday morning and he would take Strider himself.

Not.Happening.  I was going to that appointment if I was dying.  He called me a hard-head, stubborn, etc, etc, but the thing is, I know my horse.  I knew what happened, and could tell the vet.  Any additional questions about him, I could answer immediately.  And, I needed to SEE.  Really, any horse owner will understand where I was coming from and what I was feeling.

The reality is that I didn't sleep at all Friday night.  I was wide awake rolling over every possible scenario, and beating off the glimmer of hope that the vet would say my horse was okay and ready to ride again. 

What would I do if the vet said he could never be ridden again?  I know that he always has an invitation to retire at Golden Acres with B's mom.  But, the idea of looking out my windows and not seeing him, not interacting with him killed me inside.  My herd already feels so different without Tilly, to remove Strider too...I just couldn't.

What would I do if the vet cleared him only for light riding?  Quit endurance entirely, maybe look into ETS as that was mostly walking and we could do the obstacles if I felt he could.

Basically I spent the entire night mentally spinning up and down through every permutation of what could or couldn't be, not even daring hope that the vet would say he's okay to go. 

In essence, I was preparing for the worst, hoping for the absolute best, and content with something between the two.

I managed maybe 2 hours of sleep.  At some point of the night, I put on "Ever After", which is one of my go to movies I can put on the tv, watch happily until I get sleepy, and doze off with it still playing.  Honestly, I watched a good deal, closed my eyes and listened to a great deal, dozed off, woke up at some point, and restarted it again to repeat that entire process. 

Finally 7 am rolled around, and we all got up and moving.  I felt better, and had told Joe he could stay home if he didn't want to go with me, but he said he'd already planned to go.  So, while I got Kaylee ready, he went out on the ATV, caught Strider, brought him up and loaded him in the trailer, then we all hit the road around 7:45. 

Stopped for breakfast, but I was only able to choke down one of my donuts.  My stomach was churning, and I was telling Joe my fears and my plans that I'd worked out in the wee hours of the night.

I told him I just couldn't send Strider away to Golden Acres.  He sighed and said "Okay.  I understand that.  But, if he can't ever be ridden again, he gets no special or additional treatments that cost us money."

Agreed to that.  We're just not made of money.  Now, I'll always make him comfortable, even if it comes out of my own personal budget, and I can spend my own money on him all I wish, but Joe was saying that no more special grain (not that he's getting any right now; horses aren't working, they don't need anything extra), no special supplements, etc. 

The drive really was short up to the clinic.  Just about 15 minutes north of my parent's home, and, right at the turn off for P&P Trailer Sales in Salado.

Of course, GPS isn't always what it's cracked up to be.  She shot us PAST the entrance for the clinic, which I noticed as we went by.  On a narrow 2 lane road.  Thankfully, just a little past the clinic is a road which we were able to swing the whole rig around in, get turned around and headed back to the clinic.

As we turn in, Joe and I are a little wide-eyed in wonder.  Gorgeous horses, beautiful pipe fencing, and open fields.  We drive by what appears to be a broodmare field.  2 mares and their foals.  We creep by the collection barn, breeding barn, and a few other structures.  We're both looking for an office, or where we need to go, when I finally spot a sign that says "Office", and a note to not off-load until you're checked in.

Done and done!

I run into the office, let them know I'm here, and get the thumbs up to go offload my horse.

The vets finish up with the horse before mine, and I bring him into the barn, where I give the vet a run down of what happened, my thoughts, and what he's used for.

We put him in the stocks, just to get him used to them for a moment while the vet goes in to consult with another vet.  They both come out, and the tech does a trot out down the alleyway.

And then they begin flexing him.  Flex at the pastern, trot out.  Flex at the hock, trot out.  Flex the whole leg, trot out.

Repeat on the other leg.

Front.

Other front.

The vet turns to me and says "I don't see anything wrong with him at all.  He reacts slightly to the left front suspensory, but not significantly."

My heart in my throat, "Do you think he can do endurance again?"

"Most definitely.  Condition him back up and go back to riding.  He's just fine."

As I walked Strider out of that barn, my eyes filled with tears as I leaned against that black neck and sobbed.  I bawled like a baby as I grabbed at my horse's neck, holding him tight. 

Joe, who had walked out behind me just started laughing at me.

As a horse owner, the relief of knowing that, not only is our horse GOING to be okay, but IS okay is so liberating. 

Look, I mean, here's PROOF my horse is okay!!!

This was, without a doubt, the BEST $40 I've ever spent on him.  To actually KNOW my horse is okay, to KNOW that my horse can return to endurance.  Peace of mind comes at a price, and apparently mine was $40.

So, we loaded him back in the trailer, where I got distracted with the idea that I needed to pay, so I forgot to shut the window at the manger.

What did Strider do?  Try to kill himself by escaping THROUGH the manger window.

I'm talking to the receptionist, and see my trailer is rocking like mad.  That's not normal.  What's going on?  I rush out to see my horse JAMMED his front end in the manger.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME HORSE?!  YOU JUST GOT CLEARED TO RIDE!!!!

We managed to convince him to back out, and I made Joe walk him around the yard to make sure he was stepping out okay.  Thankfully, moved out just fine.  Damn horse trying to give me a coronary!

We slowly head back out, swing by for a brief visit with my parents, then head for home, while I manage to eat my other donut.  And from there, run errands and go grocery shopping for the rest of the day.

Now, having had the foresight, I booked Sunday full.  My sister to come over to drop of a dresser and do a "play date" with her granddaughter and Kaylee.  Jodi Brassard of Brassard Equine Acupressure to come and do Strider in the afternoon. 

It was good/bad planning.

Good in that, had I gotten bad news, I was too busy to dwell on it.  Bad in that, BECAUSE I got good news, I didn't have time to haul out and go riding!!

So, instead, Joe saddled up Socks and Zurkh while I penned Strider up to work on his feet and they went riding.

I opted to walk towards the back, as I wasn't sure how Socks would react to the cows while under saddle.

Oh, yeah....we have 1 cow of our own and a "friend" cow.

HAH, new additions.

This is our cow, a Zebu mix, I've started calling Stripey.

This is the 'friend' cow named Chili.

So, I walked with Joe and Kaylee out back.  One, walking is healthy.  Two, to be there if Kaylee needed me.  We are dedicated to making sure she has nothing but good experiences while riding Zurkh.

Love.

Joe on Socks, Kaylee on Zurkh, and our 3rd "horse", Rango!

Joe and Socks, Kaylee and Zurkh, Rango
and our "ranch dog", the Dachshund, Pancho Villa.

They rode for about 30 minutes until Joe's knee couldn't take it anymore.  We headed back up, and since I figured my sister's granddaughter would want to ride, we loosened cinches on the horses and left them tied up while I got to work on Strider's feet.

Then it was a flurry of activity.  Sister and her husband and granddaughter showed up.  5 minutes later, Jodi showed up.  And we got to work on Strider.  She said he felt great.  A little arthritis, but she felt that perhaps some of that is because he's been out of work.  She said she didn't remember him feeling like that before, so we are going to try getting him under saddle, get the joint fluid moving more and see where we're at.  She also said his front shoulders were a little 'off'.  I was like "OH!!  Probably because he jammed himself into the manger in my trailer!"  She said that was most likely what it was as, just from a few moments of work, they were already releasing.

Our plan now is to start riding him, bringing him back to work and then we'll do another session with him at the end of March.

So, plans are in place to get him back to work.  Apparently the PFHA National Championship ride is in Indiana this year in September.  I don't know if I could have him ready to qualify in time this year.  We'll see.

I have decided that he'll come do the NATRC ride I'll be doing at the beginning of March.  We'll be doing the Novice division, so the speed is much slower, and doable with a mixture of walking and gaiting.  And, it's at 7iL, so a venue I already know is barefoot friendly.  I'm a little concerned about the sand, but, we'll walk or canter the sand, no big deal!

First things first though, put a saddle on him and just GO RIDE!!!

Tomorrow I'll know...or "What's that heavy ball of steel in my guts?"

Ever since making the appointment to haul Strider to Brazos Valley Equine Hospital in Salado, I've been living with a tiny knot of anxiety in my stomach.

As we turned the corner and started the countdown on Monday, the knot of anxiety has transformed into a ball of lead in my stomach that's weighing me down. 

Every day, almost as soon as I'm alert, my mind ticks down; "5 more days until Saturday."...."4 more days until Saturday."

This morning it was "One more sleep, and then we'll know for sure."

This entire week has just been so outside of the norm, which has helped keep me from spending my evenings worrying away at my anxiety like a dog with a bone. 

Monday night we drove in to work so we could go visit Kaylee's first "babysitter", Miss A's daughter who just had her son.  So, we didn't get home until close to 10 that evening with all the driving.

Tuesday was normal, though we were all tired and cranky.  When we got home from work, Kaylee and I went out and filled up the troughs, which I noticed aren't as low as they used to be.  Either Tilly was a HUGE drinker, or my horses aren't drinking as much.  That doesn't make me very happy if it's the latter...and actually, the former makes me a little sad too.

But, Kaylee and I then went to go find the horses and check on them.  It's so funny how the loss of Tilly is felt in interesting and surprising ways.  I hadn't realized how easy she made it for me to find my herd.  GREAT BIG HUGE GLEAMING WHITE body is far easier to find than all black horse, and bay horse with 4 high white socks and the pony sized gray.  In fact, I found Zurkh first, although it took some looking, and then it took me another 30 seconds to spot the other 2.  Zurkh seems to be by himself.  Near the big boys, but not near them.  He and Tilly were the best of frenemies. 

But, I needed to lay hands on my 4 leggers.  I always do, just some nights, I run out of time to run out to visit with them.  It's become almost reflex now, I run my hands down Strider's left hind, gently palpating it, then run my hand down his right, seeing if they feel the same to my inexperienced hands.

Tuesday night, they felt identical.  But, that doesn't mean anything.  And I then spent the rest of the night fighting against hope.  Because if I allow myself to have hope, I'll be crushed if the news is he isn't better.

Wednesday we got a surprise inspection from the county appraiser to check on our cow, which, wasn't yet on site.  After some scrambling, we arranged to go pick her up, and a loaner "friend" for her from H.  She's a cute little zebu mix that I'm calling "Stripey" right now.  The other is nicknamed "Big Red" for now, but she's also a miniature cow.

Another night where we got home around 9:30ish.

Thursday morning saw us dragging out of the house, quite tired and more than a little cranky with a toddler in tow.  She fell asleep on the bus on the way to work and school and did NOT want to be awakened to get up and go to school.  I don't blame her as I slept all the way in to work myself.  The bonus of riding the bus.

Last night I made Joe and Kaylee go out and do a livestock check and fill the troughs since I was on deck to make dinner.  I didn't need to drive myself nuts touching Strider over and over again, because I'm quite firmly on that crazy train and we're flying out of the station to LooneyLand. 


I'm not sure how I'm going to get to sleep tonight.  I've asked Joe to help me unhook the stock trailer that H lent us to bring the cows home in, and help me hook up Hannibal and Red Draggin' for Strider's appointment tomorrow.  I already know I'm going to be a ball of nerves tomorrow, and hooking the truck up alone is already a stressful venture for me, and just one more thing I don't want to deal with tomorrow morning along with everything else. 

Not going to lie, I'm scared.  I keep trying to emotionally prepare myself for them saying "He'll never be riding sound again."  I know that's being over dramatic, but, the truth is, anything that's more positive than that is better than what's going on now, right?  Granted, if he's never able to be ridden again, he could probably go retire to "Golden Acres" with B's mom.  I just don't think I could bear to be parted from him though. 

These are the thoughts going through my head.

If he can no longer do endurance, that would also mean NATRC would be out for him too.  Maybe we could do ETS.  It was a relatively short trail ride broken up by obstacles that didn't push him too hard. 

I just can't imagine riding anyone but my best buddy.  Oh, he makes me mad.  He pisses me off something fierce.  But, I always tell people he is my reflection in horse form.  He and I share personalities.  Only his is a little bit bigger and tougher. 

I need more time to mentally adjust to the concept that someday I will have to replace him.  That someday he'll need to retire.  That someday he'll no longer be with me.

But, first thing I need to do is get through tomorrow. 

So, while I'm not a religious person, if you pray, and you're so inclined, spare a brief prayer for him?  If you're more of a "thoughts" or "healing energy" or "love and light" person, and you're so inclined, could you spare some for him?

And maybe a good night's sleep for me?  It's an hour haul to Salado.  A lot of time there and back for me to spiral mentally into bad places.  And a potentially long ride home with bad news.

Please, don't let it be bad news.  Even more time off is preferable and a recheck down the road. 

I'm ready for this lead ball in my stomach to dissipate and disappear. 

And I'm more than ready to have my best buddy back.