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....