New Horse???

Joe has been talking about getting a new horse.  He has been looking online at horses for months now.  Today, he finally looked at one in person. 

Meet Magneto.  He was a rescue horse, untouched until he was about 2  1/2.  He was gelded and then put though a 120 day  training competition similar the the mustang makeover, which he won.  His current owners were hoping to  take him on a year long ride through the western states, national parks and BLM lands.  But have decided he is to sensitive to alternate between riding horse and pack horse.  So they have made the difficult decision to sell him and look for something more staid.

He exact breeding is undetermined, but the farm he was rescued from originally bred Arabians.  At the time of rescue, there was also a quarter horse stallion and a mustang stallion.  After seeing him in person, I think he is a high percentage Arabian.   Joe is wanting something he could endurance ride again and Magneto looks the part.

The owners were gracious enough to saddle up some other steeds for us all to go on a trail ride around their beautiful property.

And look what I got to ride, my first mule!  And she did absolutely wonderful.  Joe has a lot of thinking to do and a big decision to make.  We will all have to wait and see what happens.  We had a nice daycation.
 

Iron Mt. Jubilee 2015

J and I got 2 more completions in the Iron Mt. Jubilee limited distance endurance ride on Saturday. 

 J rode his trusty mount Jessica and I took out Brother for his first endurance trip.

 Brother is just 4 years old so not old enough for the 50 mile (they need to be 5) so we did the 30 mile LD ride.  J has been wanting to try a 50.  He might just have to do it alone.  We weighed the horses Friday evening when we arrived.  Brother is 15.3 hands and weighed 1185 pounds.

 Jessica at 14.2 hands weighed 1075.

 They vetted in fine.  The vet said he didn't see many western pleasure horses attempting this and wished me luck.

 Jessica vetted in like a pro and there was much discussion on what breed she might be.  One girl thought she looked pretty much like a mustang.

 Then it was time to hang out until morning.

The horses were perfect overnight, no pawing, pulling back or whinnying.  They were also calm for grooming and saddling.  I, on the other hand, almost forgot to change from my slip on shoes to my boots.  With 10 minutes until the start I went to get on and saw my mistake.  I ran back to the trailer, grabbed my boots and hopped on.  

 Brother was still doing great, really only interested in trying to eat.  There isn't much fan fair before the ride, just some people trying to quietly walk their horses back and forth until the trail is open.  We left right after the fast crowd but that left several behind us that eventually had to pass.

 Brother never got out of control but he never really liked other horses cantering up behind him on the trail.  That spotted gaited horse was one of the only other non-arabians that we saw.

 Brother and Jessica cruised through the range lands too.  Several of the horses get very worked up out in the open like that and end up being lead.

 There was also a Ride and Tie going on in conjunction with the endurance ride.  It was pretty depressing to have 1 horse with 2 people going faster than us.   And that was another thing Brother didn't really care for, runners coming up behind him on the trail.

 We made in into the 1/2 way point right at 3 hours.

And what a welcome sight to see V standing there ready to help.  

 It was great for her to hold the horses and let them graze while we were able to sit down and eat lunch.  The hold is 50 minutes but you wouldn't believe how fast that time goes by.

 Then it was saddling up and heading back.

 We didn't go back through the range land but had to go a much more rocky trail.  Brother was starting to do a little more stumbling and if he hit a rock wrong would limp for a step or two.  I was getting worried we might have to pull out but every time we would get to a rock free section, he would trot out sound.  The 50 milers started catching up and passing us about 5 miles after the hold.  I was starting to worry that we wouldn't make it back on time but the last 6 miles was all downhill and smooth and Jessica kicked in her road trot and Brother had no intention of being left behind, so we were able to make up quite a bit of time.

 We crossed the finish line at 2;57 and both horses were pulsed down by the time we got them to the vet check at 3:03.  We had until 3:15 before we would have been disqualified on time.  They checked Jessica first which placed her above Brother.  We were 41st and 42nd.

 There were 46 that started and 42 that finished.  That meant I was the "turtle".  I figured that for every step an Arabian took, Brother was taking 3-4.  He was taking 1 and  1/2 to 2 for each of Jessica's steps.  So really, he was working a lot harder that everyone else.

Jessica weighed 1015 at the finish and Brother weighed in at 1135.  They both went right to eating and drinking.  

As for being the turtle, there was actually an award for that, a turtle figurine, turtle garden stake, a "To Finish is To Win" refrigerator magnet and the best part, someone had donated 2 raffle tickets each to the last 5 finisher.  She had recently lost her father and wanted to honor him with an award and decided the last place riders probably didn't have Arabians so she gave us the raffle tickets to an Arabian horse raffle.  Anyone interested in seeing the horse I'm going to win can click HERE.  Someone said, if you can't be top 10 go for the turtle. So it was a great ride with wonderful weather (overcast, somewhat low humidity and upper 70's) and I got a completion on my 4th horse that I've trained and conditioned for this ride (Jessica, Hank, Thumper and now Brother).

Final Push

The Iron Mountain Jubilee (http://ironmountainjubilee.com/) endurance ride is coming up in just 2 short weeks.  I've been struggling over what horse to take if any.  J is riding Jessica again.  I really didn't want to sit out for a second year but Hank has just gotten too old and I dreaded doing that much trotting on him, he is sooo rough.  Pep with her slowness and tender feet was out of the question and Otoelene, having finally recovered from her year long struggle with white line disease is still being babied.  That left Wrangler and Brother to chose from.  Wrangler has been doing well but I'm still a little leery about going full tilt for 30 miles on him.  Since E was going to show Brother at the State show I was a little worried about something happening to him on the ride since the show is just 12 days later.

 Well, after the show at Ivanhoe (HERE) last month, E has decided to not take Brother to State.  This means writing a letter to the State office explaining why we want a substitution and a $50 check.  The only problem is that she wants to take Pep and I had had her shoes pulled after E had picked Brother and was on her way to college next week, and Pep is so iffy on those tender abscessed prone feet and now the farrier can't come until next week.  So until we get shoes and make sure Pep is ok it looks like Hank is hanging around in the background for potential back up at State.   Got all that.

 It just means that I get to take Brother on the endurance ride in 2 weeks.  J and I rode the 8 mile Horse Heaven loop in 1 hr 40 mins on Saturday.  There were a few obstacles, some down trees,

 this rattle snake someone got to before we did,

 and herds of these hateful horse flies.  Brother really hates those.

J has done a great job slowing Jessica down.and Brother has sped up some so they are making a good pair so far.  Anyone want to crew for us in a couple of weeks?

Iron Mountain Jubilee Recap In 25 Pictures or Less

J actually started the ride Friday by chasing Jessica across the ridge and maybe cussing at her. 

 As you saw from the picture Friday we bathed her then turned her loose in the lot while we finished getting things together.  In true Jessica fashion, she rolled again so she needed another bath before we loaded her on the trailer.

 When she finally got all four feet on the scale she weighed in at 1005 pounds.

 She vetted in perfect with all A's.

 I was trying to show how her number color coordinated with her halter but she took the opportunity to try to rub her braids out.

 After an uneventful night J was up and ready to go with the 30 milers.

 And they'er off!  There were 30 that started.

 Including this mule that finished about 30 minutes before J and Jessica.

 It may not look it but Jessica was ready to go.  J said he spent the first half of the ride holding her back.

 I mean while, drove to the halfway point to be ready to help when they got in.  Do you see a theme to Jessica's behavior?

 We got her unsaddled, sponged and pulsed down in six minutes.

 And she passed the vet check with flying colors again.

 Then it was 50 minutes of waiting.  I took care of Jessica while J kicked back and took it easy.  (and got a rock out of his boot)

 Jessica ate grass in between checking out her competition.  The halfway hold was located at the property that was auctioned off last month.  See Land Auction.

 Then saddled up and at the timer waiting to be released.

 I asked J if he heard me in his head during the ride.  He said he did and that I was saying, "now would be a good time to trot."

 I was certainly thinking that as he ambled slowly away from the hold.  In fact I almost yelled it at him.

 He must have heard me in his head because he finally started trotting.

 He got back in one piece.

 It took 14 minutes to pulse down and they called out "14th".  Not a bad finish.  Then all A's except a B+ on gut sounds.

 After stomping up onto the scales she weighed out at 945, a 60 pound weight loss.  She went right to eating and drinking as soon as we got back to the trailer.  She probably added back 20 pounds before we loaded her up to head home.

 And she did her usually scrubbing when we turner her out.

Now she can be a wild pony for a few days.  Not that she has ever been much of a tame one.  I think J had a great time and was glad he did it solo after all.  But boy, I need a horse for this.