Alive with spring!

There is nothing like a good ride on a early spring day to make me think, yes I am blessed! I'm riding a mighty fine horse. We're trotting along through the sand and loping around the sagebrush.

I saw my first curlew of the year. Just trotting along the ridge top with the only sound being the curlews eery whistle as he flies over the area scoping out a nesting spot. The views are fantastic as always. Now the prairie and high desert just doesn't interest some folks, but I love it. I love the solitude, the quiet, and nature. It's just me and my horse! I can see for miles and miles. Far in the distance the snowy mountains outline the land as it meets the blue sky.

The yellow bells and phlox are beginning to bloom amidst the tender grass shoots. Some little critters tiny little paw prints leave tracks scurrying everywhere. The land is coming alive with spring. What a great day!

Fine for Whining

Remember that old Chris LeDeaux song, Five Dollar Fine for Whining? Well I may as well put my fiver in the jar right now because I am whining!! OK so I knew last weekend was a fluke with all the gorgeous weather, but I want it back!!! Only in Idaho do they classify 25 mph winds as a breeze!

Last weekend was one of those rare days in March. Great weather. Lots of fantastic rides on good horses! Combine that with the company of friends and my daughter Andi, and I had lots of fun!! In the morning while driving over to Tammie's I saw a magnificent Bald Eagle in a big cottonwood tree! And the bonus?? While riding Blackjack we came upon a herd of 20 antelope. Later about a dozen deer! None of them stuck around for a Kodak moment though! I managed to get three horses ridden over that weekend!

And the view of the Snake River has to be one of the prettiest and I love it every time I walk back down to the trailer parked less than 1/4 mile from it's banks. The water was so smooth and blue! Sno capped hills amid a few clouds off in the distance privided a lovely border to the view! Yip, can't wait to go ride and see that view again this weekend!!

ATTITUDE

Horses are funny. They all have their individual quirks, likes and dislikes. The younger gelding, Z Blue Lightening, has always been a pretty easy going guy. He grew up in the shadow of his cousin, Thunder. His horsanality was quiet, polite and kind. The opposite of the big red attention hog that is always shoving Blue aside and chasing him around.

But I have noticed as they rear and play and push each other, that sometimes Blue wins the game of "I CAN make you move" and Thunder will lope away. Not for long though as he will come back to reclaim his spot and they continue their King of the hill game.

I've always felt that underneath that sleepy exterior of Blue's is a fire that just smolders. I knew one day the spark would turn to a flame of it's own. And this spring, Blue has woke up! After a long trot to the top of the hill he struts and there is a "nanner nanner" in there trying to get out. Blue is far from finished. He is just warming up and looking for more to do. He is almost 7, looks fit and racy, and he wants to go! With a sling of his head he says "Turn me loose." Blue dances in the middle of the trail, his butt bouncing in the air with enthusiasm. And when all that didn't work he decided it was time for a lively game of kick the dog! All this after about 9 miles. Yup the boy definitely needs some serious miles!

Attitude! "I'm tough! I can do anything!" As Blue comes into his own it'll be fun - providing I stay on. ☺

FABULOUS FEBRUARY

What a gorgeous February day!!

Sun. A few clouds. Grass starting to sprout. Most of the mud has dried out and left soft fluffy sand. Early this morning it was 25 and everything was frost covered. But by 10 AM the frost was going away and it warmed up to a whopping 39. No better way to spend a good day than on a great horse! And we trotted and trotted and then went some more! Woohoo!

This entire month has been pretty mild with a lot of days in the 40's and a few in the 50's. Once the snow melted it has been grand! I know I haven't contributed much news to my blog because I have been having fun riding every chance i get!!

Plus I never get tired of the view between those wonderful furry ears! The Snake River is beautiful. There are a lot of geese right now to watch. They are quite noisy too. The high desert changes color all the time. I especially love the rock formations near the Owyhee River. There are deer, coyotes and long eared rabbits to look at. It is just a beautiful place to be. God is good!

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.