TEASER

Oh I know it's not spring but today it was so gorgeous! Beautiful sun. Birds singing. The geese and ducks have been flying back and forth from the marsh to the river. My house is in their "fly zone". Today is what I call a "teaser" day. It's just a sample of the good weather to come. But since it's a teaser, it could snow tomorrow.

I took the red pony out for a ride on the hills above Adrian. It's a beautiful view of the Snake River from up there. The valley is dotted with brown patches awaiting new crops. And the snow covered mountains in the distance are a reminder that it is still winter. Thunder didn't show me any deer today. The motorcycle rides had spooked them off. The mud had dried out quite a bit and it was wonderful to able to cruise at a trot. He really only haad one hard spook all day when he got a whiff of where some critter had marked it's territory. Wheweee it was stong and stinky, but there are lots of different critters up there so who knows what left it. But he didn't want to stick around and find out either!

It was a really great day and I will be glad when I have this ankle all healed and it doesn't stab me with a pain now and then. I need to start riding Blue too! I'm supposed to be going to a specialist and find out what they plan to do with the multiple grade 2 tears that still exist. Spring is on the way and I have things to do, horses to ride and places to see!

ODE TO MUD

Yes mud, the brown squishy stuff that you squish your toes into in the summer. The stuff kids patty into pies. Fun as it may be then, mud is far from fun in the winter.

The snow has melted with the rain. Now I slog through it in the corrals to feed the horses. It sloshes and sucks on my boots. The brown stuff oozes over the top of my boots and splashes onto my clothes. I find where Blue has stomped the old rubber feed tub into the muck and guess who has to turn it right side up to put feed in it?

Like pigs in their sty the horses have been enjoying mud baths. Mud and crud is encrusted upon their once lustrous shiny coat. Zap, the old grey, resembles a pinto. They slip, slide, bite, rear and play out of boredom because the pasture is off limits.

The thermometer proclaims "It's warm - as in above freezing; go do something!" So I grab a horse to go ride. In my mind I envision a wonderful glorious and free trot down the trails. That ride stayed in my mind, it was not reality. The road going out to the riding area proved wet and squishy. The trails are slick with an inch of mud over the ice underneath. And in some places the soft ground swallows up the whole hoof and half the leg. After a few miles of playing a game I call "slip, slide and sink" it's time to go home. Now the road has warmed up and gives new meaning to the words slip, slide and sink as I put the truck in 4WD and do my best to keep it between the ditches!

So....back to my thoughts of next weekend I will ride. But at least this little jaunt temporarily cured my case of cabin fever.

Am I proccupied with mud? Perhaps. I want to ride without being splashed. I want to be able to trot my horse without falling flat. A nice lope has become a thing of the past. Ah yes, to me - mud is a dud.

WELCOME 2010

The sun lured me out on this beautiful first day of 2010. Yesterday's snow was soft and wet. I took Molly for a walk down towards the marsh. Trudging through the heavy slush was a good workout. The marsh ponds are all frozen, the wetland birds that haven't gone south are over by the Snake River. I spooked up a pair of Pheasants while molly was checking out a rabbit hole. Life is so simple on a walk. No hassles, just clear thoughts of how good it is to get out and walk.

I gave the horses some carrots. And Molly too, if they eat it - she wants it! They all got brushed and of course the red brat got brushed at least three times because he was always in the way!

2010 - a new decade, following a rare Blue Moon on New Years Eve. A good omen? I will take it as just that. A year of promise. A year to do whatever I want, which happens to be quite a lot. And yes it involves a horse. The year 2009 is gone, and I hope it took all the bad karma with it. Out with the old and in with the new as they say! Welcome 2010!

The Quilt

I started riding endurance in 1977, back in the day when they gave us trophies and buckles for our efforts. As things evolved the fashion became T-Shirts, and we all sported shirts that we had "won" from a variety of rides.

I wore a lot of those shirts out. But then I saw a quilt made from T shirts and thought, "Wow! What a cool idea!" I had to think about the shirts I'd use, which ones I'd cut up, which ones were too ragged, and then lay them out and decide what shirt I wanted next to each other. Wow! These weren't easy decisions.

I researched on different ways to make a quilt. I passed on the "patterns" because I thought, who needs a pattern, it's just a bunch of squares! Are you laughing now?

I'd get the stuff out on a cold winter day, play with it, toss it in the box and forget about it till another cold winter day. I cut some squares, sewed some strips of squares together, tossed it back in the box. Last winter I didn't do much with it, had too much work to do on this house. This winter I decided to get it out and work on it because it wasn't sewing itself.

I wanted a few more squares than what I had sewn up. So I went on the hunt. I found several good items that didn't quite fit but I wanted them anyway. The Owyhee scarf, the Horse Ridge blanket, and ROC. Hence - one row is a bit wider than the others. My logic, it's a quilt, things aren't supposed to match.

All these items hold many years of history, cherished memories and lots of good times with friends and family. Sometimes all three of us rode the rides together; other times just Andi and I. We had lots of fun and always came home with something new to add to our endurance treasure chest.

The Headwaters of The Rogue was a great ride, I have pictures of Sunny and I in the Rogue River from 1979. I'm not sure what year this shirt is from but I rode that ride many times on Sunny, Speedy and Zapped.

Pacific Crest - Andi and I rode it in the rain, it was a dark grey day and the photographer on the trail was using a flash. Of course I didn't know this until he clicked and Zap dashed out through the trees in a nano-second. My picture was blank cuz my horse had left! Andi's picture was just fine!

Purina Race Of Champions, I was number 32 in 1986 and rode Speedy that year with Al and Chollima. I'd started it twice before but this was my first year to finish. This ride was in Colorado and it was tough!

Some of the shirts are from my travels. Pacific North shirt was from Canada when I was Assistant Chef d'Quip, it rained and snowed and was a cold bugger but nice day for the ride!
The Cavalo Arabe came from my trip to Brazil when I traveled there in 1995 to do a seminar on endurance. What fun and I got to ride some nice horses there too!

The 1997 FEI North American Championship shirt is one I was commissioned to design. Unfortunately when the printers got the artwork, they left "my mark" off the logo, but at least I got credited for it in the program.

The Old Selam shirt is from 1999 maybe and I rode Zapped that year, but I also rode this ride in 1979 on Sunny when it started at the Old Penitentiary in Boise and the trail went right up the Boise Front.

Paulina Peak was a beautiful ride, a tough 100 and I rode it several times. My favorite year wasn't where I placed, it was seeing the full moon dancing on the water of Paulina Creek. I think we finished at 3 AM about the time the moon was going down amid the Fir trees.

Now the quilt still isn't finished. But it's getting close! The top has the batting and it all has to go with the backing. The back became a stumbling block that I pondered for a couple years, yes it had to be something special not just any piece of fabric. I decided on the cooler blanket from the Horse Ridge 100 in 1986. I raced in riding Speedy and never heard the end of that little match!

From top to bottom, front to back, this quilt tells all about my "endurance life". I think it will be a wonderful legacy for the grandaughters someday!

Red Horse Syndrome

Is it just me or do these lovely red chestnut horses truly believe the earth revolves around them? I can be brushing a grey horse and suddenly it turns into red hair. "Hey didn't I already brush you?"

Some call them chestnuts others classify them as sorrell, doesn't matter because they all have a superior attitude and just "know" they are the best. Their eyes reveal an intelligence that no horse should have, I mean they are forever outsmarting us. Thunder thinks of things to trip me up, and I have to think of ways to convince him that what I want was really his idea in the first place. In the herd they have to be first through the gate, first to get their hay, they need to be first at everything just like a border collie.

When Thunder was born I instantly knew he was "my" horse. A unique connection existed. I could feel this one was special. On his web page I placed the old Arab proverb of: "If one tells you that he has seen a horse fly in the air, ask what color it was. If he says Chestnut, believe him." Thunder absolutely resembles that remark. I call him my flying carpet.

The red horse is noble, demands attention either by being a pain in your bum or just by his regal stature that catches everyone's eye. I remember Merri Melde saying about Thunder, "Oh he's beautiful." I quickly whispered back, "Oh please don't tell him that, his ego is already far too big!" I think he heard me because minutes later I was in the dirt - but that's another story.

I swear Thunder is the reincarnation of my big beloved red horse, Sunny. That horse was the most mischevious animal that ever walked the earth. No gate was safe unless it was chained and padlocked. When tied to the trailer he would undo two lead ropes and be gone. If a buddy was at the trailer he would untie him too, after all it's more fun to escape with a pal. Sunny would buck evey morning upon entering the racetrack with his fourth "pony" of the morning. One morning a friend asked to borrow Sunny as his pony horse was done for the day, I said sure. He came back and said "Man this bugger can buck!" I calmly counted one, two, three, "Yup that was his fourth one for the day, he always bucks on that one!" He didn't buck on the others, just the fourth one.

Another red horse, Domino, was an amazing athlete, also opinionated and mischevious. He and Andi had a brother/sister relationship. He'd see a mud puddle while trotting down the trail and aim for it, slamming a hoof down in the middle of it and spattering her with mud. She'd reach up and tweak his ear. I actually saw the two of them stick their tongues out at each other!

The redhead is a challenge but in the long run they are amazing horses. Thunder will never be truly trained or broke, and don't even think of him as a mode of transportation. Over the years I have learnt that Thunder is not my horse. It's more like I am his human. It is my duty to be his slave and he rewards me with a treat, a magical ride upon his back. And together we get to see many places and travel as one.

Seabiscuit vs Zenyatta?

Can you imagine a race that would round up the best horses in the history of Thoroughbred racing to run against one another? What a match race that could be!! Of course it never will happen other than in my imagination. But think of the greats, all lined up, snorting, stomping, waiting to break from that starting gate.

In true reality, over the years there have been few truly GREAT Throughbred race horses.

Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown in 89 years of racing, with the last being Affirmed in 1978. And if you look at the stats, some of the greatest horses never even won the Triple Crown. Man O'War, Seabiscuit, Zenyatta, to name just a couple.

Match races, the practice of one man's horse against another, was common place in the 1800's. In 1938 the race between War Admiral and Seabiscuit was billed as the Greatest Match Race of The Century. Two very accomplished and well matched athletes. One a Man O'War son, the other a grandson. Those two horses moved stride for stride, side by side, in perfect tune with each other down the back stretch. With the outcome being Seabiscuit by 4 amazing lengths! Interestingly enough, Man O'War was victorious in 1920 in his match race against Sir Barton.

The interest in match races dwindled after the 1950's. And I'm not sure there has been a major match since the tragic race between Ruffian against Foolish Pleasure.

I look back and have to ask myself, could todays champions hold a candle to those who raced 50 or 60 years ago? Who would be the real victor? Would the horses of the past be even faster in todays environment of better training, feeding and management skills?

Would the horses from back in the day run circles around our modern thoroughbreds? Or would it be the other way around? You can't compare race times because there are different factors for each day, and timer malfunctions such as with Secretariat at the Preakness. Could Secretariat and his 31 length win at the Belmont compare to Rachel Alexandra's victory in the Oaks by 20+ lengths?

Oh and the money! The big money earners get bigger each year. Compare the very first Preakness purse of $2050 to todays Breeders Cup Classic of $5 Million.

All of this is merely a mystery. A fantasy race in my mind of the greats from the past against the best of today. It's not much more than comparing apples to grapes I suppose. But it is something a lot of fans can't help but wonder from "Horse of The Year" - year after year.

The result will always be "I wonder if......". Meanwhile we just have to admire each horse for what he/she is on their own merits.

What? No camera?

Yeah that's right. I didn't take my camera today. Not sure why. Maybe because it's fall and so much of the desert is brown. Maybe I just didn't think I'd need the camera. Sometimes it's hard to take pictures on Blue anyway.
But the bottom line was, as that gorgeous hawk just sat there on the branch with the azure sky behind him, I had no camera. And he wasn't taking flight either. He was just watching us travel down the sand gully. I thought of Andi's new "power" camera with the 15X optical zoom. WOOHOO! I could've zoomed in on that hawk's beady little eyes. But - no camera.
I also saw four fat dark colored mule deer. No horns in the bunch as they lingered and lwatched us ride by.
Then there was the lone coyote after the mouse. You knew no one had been hunting him because he also paid little attention to us. The ones around home are long gone if you get within a quarter mile of them! But this old boy just glanced at us, and went back to his mouse. Cocking his head to one side, pawing the grass a little. He was working on a mid day snack. And me, who loves to take pictures, had no camera!
I only had the camera in my little pea brain and I hope it holds on to those images for a very long time.

Fall has BLOWN in!

The winds of Fall. They range from a 15 mph breeze to 40 mph blasts! And yesterday we rode in both. Linda and I thought about skipping the idea of a ride, but then admitted that sadly, summer is gone. Long gone. Those hot days that some folks whined about are gone and those of you who live for cooler days are dancing happily right now. While I whine and pile on extra clothes.

But nevertheless we did ride. Thunder the wonder horse discovered a nice herd of deer as they bounced out of the cottonwoods along the little creek. They were sheltered from the wind there. There were several does, fawns and one big buck. We seldom see deer in there so he had to get all excited and racey. He snorted and blew, his eyes bugged out, his tail was high and he was just a bugger! But I still enjoyed the deer. They must have spooked up a coyote because we saw him running in the opposite direction and crossing our path up ahead.

So on up the hill we went only to have a lone motorcycle come racing over the hilltop above us. He did see us and he was gone in a flash! A man on a mission evidently. The trail wasn't dusty at all thanks to the rain overnight. The wind swirled around us and the horses and they felt as though they were walking on eggs. Why do they always do that on blustery days? We just meandered through the sagebrush, up and down hills, having a good time. Occasionally we managed to get out of the wind.

But wait, here comes the biker again from the distance. He went straight up a hill and then back down again, and took off up the draw, and was gone. Man he was fast! I had wanted to go up that draw but thought better of it in case he came racing back down. It's a busy day when I see anybody out there. I am usually all by my little lonesome.

The view from the top of the hill was gorgeous as we came back down towards the pickup. The wind had blown out all the clouds. The air was clean. I could see forever! The Snake River wound around the squares of green and brown farmland. A driftboat of fishermen hoping to catch something for dinner caught my eye. The trees were a gorgeous red and yellow, some still hanging on to that last bit of green. A view that is pretty tough to beat and it all made for one great day!

Bye Bye website

Some of you may know that I have a website that I started years ago titled Zapped Ranch. Named for my great old Endurance horse, Zapped, who is 26 now. That was Al's idea and a darned good one. I have moved the site several times over the years and now I need to move it again but not sure where or any of those details. So the present site is closing Oct 26 when Yahoo closes geocities.com.

I may set it up again else where but since I am really no longer in the horse biz I'm not sure that I want to find a site where I need to pay for hosting.

The link is http://www.geocities.com/zmufaurwa if you are inclined to one last look.

Owyhee Canyonlands 2009

The Owyhee Canyonlands Multi day is still one that I haven't finished all 5 days of. I have managed to do all 5 of a couple XP's and the old Lost Wagon Train but Canyonlands has avoided me once again. I was so pumped for this ride, had prepped and worked hard to be ready. Both boys, Thunder and Blue Lightening, were good to go. My back and hip could slow me down, I was aware of that, but I had no idea that my own tendon in a leg would stop me from all 5 days. However, better me to be lame than my horses!

Day 1 saw 50 starters take out of ride camp on the beginning of a great adventure. We rode the Wild Horse Butte, a 50 mile loop which left camp at Bates Creek, crossed Hwy 78, went out across the birds of Prey area, around Wild Horse Butte to the Snake River. Gorgeous. The horses drank deeply from the river and then we traveled along the river and up the hills, leaving it far behind, through washes and gully's where we met up with an unhappy rattler. I didn't stop to make friends. We were on the Oregon Trail for several miles which is pretty awesome. Then back to camp.

Day 2 was Castle Creek and we crossed so many creeks and canyons that I am really not sure which was which. The canyons and rock formations were gorgeous. The wind however was wicked and was about to blow us off our horses on the ridgetops. I loved the old wagon sitting alongside the dirt road not far from a ranch. This day and all days were 50 mile loops pf trail with all out vet checks. It was fantastic and beautiful, sandstone ledges, a vast land of many colors. However a few miles from the finish my ankle was snapping and popping and didn't want to support me so we were slow. But we finished. It felt better after I walked around for a bit so I was optimistic for day 3.



Day 3 my ankle felt good, I wrapped it with vet wrap and duct tape "just in case" but trotted out of camp on the Alder Creek 55 feeling good about the day. Linda took the day off her mare and rode Blue. I love watching that horse move, he is so pretty! We rode South across Hart Creek to Browns Creek for a vet check and somewhere in between that blasted ankle started to ache. In the vet check a friend gave me an ankle brace, we wrapped over top of that. Got the high topped riding shoe on and wrapped over that. It felt pretty solid. Out of Browns Creek and off towards Toy Mtn for one very rocky and hilly loop that would take us through canyons, creeks, by old homesteads and back to the vet check at Browns Creek. It was slow going, first due to rocks and then due to my ankle and pain radiating up the leg. Just great! After the vet check it was trot for a mile and walk for half to rest the bad leg. I was leaning off to the side and that wasn't good for my horse. Dropped the stirrups a notch and rode with me knees trying not to use stirrups at all. That's fine for a few laps around a show ring but not realistic for 16 miles of cross country. But we made it in with an hour and a half to spare. But I decided no more rides I'd just help at the vet checks.

Day 4 was Sinker Creek Canyon, considered rocky but not for miles on end like day 3. There are raptor nests in the canyon walls and it is super scenic trail and everyone was doing great as I pulsed horses down in the vet check. Each day did also offer a Limited Distance ride but theswe just aren't an option for me although these averaged about 17 entries each day. Turns out that my ankle isn't really the problem, but a symptom. The real problem is to put it simply, tendonitis, but that will probably take longer to heal than a sprained ankle. I think I should have stuck with the ankle but no choices there!

Day 5 there were still 6 same horse rider teams heading out on the trail. Blue and Thunder were unhappy campers and I ventured over to Tom's camp to see if he needed a horse to ride. I walked back with his saddle and Blue was on his way! An insulted Thunder was having a fit, "Hey remember me? I'm Top Dog! You can't leave me in camp!" I spent the day as the vet check timer, which was kinda fun but I'd rather ride. The next best thing was seeing my horse on the trail with a good friend! Sigh.... A total of 31 started the 50 and 29 completed. The trail was changed a bit from the first days trail and everyone had a wonderful ride despite a bit of cold wind and rain late in the day. The Awards Presentation found us all hovered around the patio heaters behind the house.

This was an amazing ride with the Teeter's doing a great job on the trails and opening up their home and ranch to all of us. What hospitality! And the dinners catered by Blue Canoe were scrumptuous!!! One of the great things was not one horse had to be treated all week! Not one ambulance call for an injured rider! Six teams completed 5 days for 255 miles and there two horse rider teams for the LD five day (all women what happened to the guys?!) and Steph was sure that was a record. The BIG loops of trail were outrageous! It was truly a memorable week of great trails, adventure and friendships! And will I try again next year! Of course I will.