Last weekend was family trail riding. Amanda rode Huey for 6 miles, including about 3 miles of it by herself, off the lead line.
Amanda riding Huey without help
Amanda riding Huey without help
Anna and Dakota
This morning, Alex and Vicki had a jumping lesson with Pony Club. It was a nice cool morning and they both did great. Both pairs, Alex/Nike and Vicki/Devil are very well matched and we hope they will have a lot of fun together this summer.
Alex on Nike
Vicki on Devil
There are no photos, but King went back into work this week. He has recovered better than we expected from his EPM. He has definitely lost a lot of fitness over the winter, so it will be a long, slow conditioning program. We are cautiously optimistic that he will be in the 60-70% that are able to make a complete recovery from EPM and resume full activity.
Today we said farewell to Echo. While we loved his personality and got along great with him, he just wasn’t quite the right match for what we are looking for. So, our search for the next horse resumes.
This morning the kids were up and hunting eggs at 7. There are no pictures, because like I said, the kids were up. They did follow the “rules for the egg hunt”. Vicki decided to make up rules for the Easter egg hunt and posted them on the fridge yesterday. Here are the rules:
No waking anybody ’till 7:00.
No starting to gather eggs ’till everybody is up and ready.
No opening eggs ’till you are inside (plastic eggs filled with candy).
No stealing eggs from other egg hunters. (Amanda’s rule)
No bikes. (Amanda’s rule to prevent the older siblings from having an advantage)
No candy before breakfast.
Have fun!
Apparently, it was also a competition (because Vicki is quite competitive) and there were pre-determined criteria for the winners.
1st place – Golden egg
2nd place – Silver egg or most eggs
3rd place – Least eggs
It took about 30 minutes for the egg hunt to be completed and judged. I know this, because at 7:30 Amanda showed up in our room crying because she lost. Actually, she got second, which was evident when Alex got upset because a 5-year-old beat him. Vicki collected 70 eggs including the golden egg (can you tell she is competitive). Amanda had 43. Alex had 39. There was no sympathy for the losers. We had a discussion about losing. Not everyone wins in this family.
Earlier in the week, we spent almost 6 hours (4 of which included all the kids) working on cleaning up the tack room in the barn. Saddles and bridles were cleaned. Tack was reorganized. Items were identified to be sold. This morning, we cleaned up the tack room in the horse trailer and then loaded the trailer to haul out for a trail ride.
Today was the first time we ever hauled 5 horses and ponies in our trailer so the whole family could ride off-site. We have a 4 horse slant load trailer, but the rear tack folds flat. Devil and Huey have no problem sharing that space. We left them loose like in a stock trailer and they had plenty of room to move and turn around. We hauled out to Arcadia, which is less than 20 minutes away. Amanda has been on many trail rides with Huey at home, but this was the first time she got to ride him at an away event. Anna still keeps a lead line from Dakota to Huey.
The weather was nice in the mid 50s by the time we were ready to ride and we opted to ride from the Midway parking area, which gives immediate access to nice open fields. The ride wasn’t as peaceful as some, because Amanda kept yelling “Faster!” “Canter Huey, Canter!” We knew her stamina wouldn’t be great with the trotting and cantering (and the temps). Huey was a rock star. He walked, trotted, and cantered at all the right times. Amanda had a blast. She is definitely a speed demon. While she probably isn’t ready for the hunter paces quite yet, she is light years ahead of where Alex and Vicki were at her age as far as trail experience and confidence goes.
Amanda was satisfied after 4.3 miles in 50 minutes (a 5.1 mph average). When we arrived back at the trailer, there was a quick change of Alex off Nike and onto Dakota. Nike and Huey stayed at the trailer with Anna and Amanda while Echo, Dakota, and Devil went back out with Alex, Vicki and I for another 5.7 miles. The second outing was almost all trotting except for short walk breaks and a little cantering at the end. Alex and Vicki have decided they plan to join me for a 25 mile ride in May and it’s time to get kids and ponies ready for the ride.
The second round was a good workout for all involved. Devil is the one we are most concerned about because his legs are so much shorter than Echo’s and Dakota’s. We determined that Devil was able to maintain a nice consistent trot up to almost 8 mph. We were able to average 6.3 mph on our second round, which is well above what we need to average to complete the ride in May. With the kids, faster is actually better because time in the saddle and keeping them fueled with calories will be the biggest challenges. Alex and Vicki tested out wearing their Camelbacks during the ride and that seemed to work. It eliminates them needing any kind of saddle bags and allows them to sip water continuously during the ride. We also bought both of them triathlon shorts to wear under their riding pants to reduce the risk of rubs from 4-5 hours of saddle time as we increase the distances.
By the time we wrapped things up, temps had dropped back into the 40s. Everyone was happy to get home, unload all the gear, do evening chores, and head inside for dinner. We enjoyed some Easter cupcakes for dessert made by Anna, Vicki, and Amanda.
Group selfie
Alex trying to get into the picture
Group selfie
Life through Echo’s ears
Vicki and Devil
Alex and Nike
Quick water break. It’s hard for Anna to drink and hold a lead line to Huey while moving.
Alex on Dakota in a pond. Just a quick water stop for the ponies.
Today we said farewell to Misti as she was returned to her previous home. We owned her for 10.5 months, but she just wasn’t the right fit for us. Of course, you will have to stay tuned to future updates, as I doubt there will be an empty stall for long.
On Friday, we got a nice fresh 9″ of snow. Saturday afternoon, Alex, Vicki, Amanda, and Alexis (who boards Ace here) went out front for some more fun in the snow. Alexis and Vicki have decided to get brave and do bareback jumping with their ponies. Amanda was happy to ride around on Huey, but every now and then he would canter to catch up to the others. Vicki had to take a short turn to work with Huey. I took over 300 pictures, so I had to choose only the ones that really captured the moments. Enjoy the pictures!
Yesterday brought the first snow storm of the season and we got about 6″, which was perfect for some fun with the horses. This morning while working on chores, Vicki and Alexis disappeared. We discovered them riding bareback on their ponies in the front pasture.
Alexis on Ace
Vicki on Devil
Vicki on Devil and Alexis on Ace
Vicki on Devil
Alex and Amanda finished their chores and spent some time trying to build a snow fort. Mack was helping.
Mack and Alex
Mack coming to see the camera
Mack trying to take Amanda’s mitten off
Mack loves the snow
After lunch, we saddled up all 7 horses for a short 4 mile trail ride.
Alex on Nike leading the way, Carrie on King, Anna on Dakota, Amanda on Huey
Anna on Dakota and Amanda on Huey
Alex on Nike
Carrie on King
Rob on Misti
Alexis on Ace and Vicki on Devil (hanging back so they feel like they are on their own ride)
Alexis on Ace and Vicki on Devil (hanging back so they feel like they are on their own ride)
We had a nice relaxing day on the farm with just the right amount of snow! The day ended with a pretty sunset as we did the evening chores.
Anna and I hosted the first Mystic Pony Club Pachaug Turkey Trot today. We didn’t have a very large participation from the club, but the kids that rode had a good time.
It was the first time I have ridden Misti in 4 weeks (since the infamous Ayer Mt Hunter Pace). Misti finished her Oxytetracycline for her Lyme treatment this morning and has been on Gastrogard for 5 days. We started with Anna working her on the lunge line for about 20 minutes. Then Anna rode her for a while in the arena. Then I rode her in the arena. She got a break while we tacked up the rest of the crew and then we mounted up for some more work in the arena as everyone warmed up. It was so nice to have a good ride. I was very anxious about how she would behave, and she was great.
During the warm up, Amanda worked on her trotting with Huey. You can watch the video here. During the trail ride, Anna kept a line from Dakota to Huey to prevent him from deciding to head home early.
Once everyone was ready, we headed out for a nice 4.5 mile ride. It was Alex on Nike, Christina on Saffron, Alexis on Ace, Vicki on Devil, Amanda on Huey, Anna on Dakota, and I was on Misti. We crossed water, encountered vehicles, hikers, and bikers with no drama. I have to say, the Best Pony Award goes to Dakota. He is just a rock star on the trails and doesn’t care if the lead line to Huey wraps around his legs, under his tail, or anywhere else. That pony is one of the best chances we ever took.
The bottom line is, we had a great day enjoying the outdoors and riding as a group. Misti spent over 3 hours under saddle and redeemed herself. Amanda rode Huey for 2 hours straight. I hope everyone else had a good conclusion to their holiday weekend. Enjoy the pictures.
Our blog has been rather quiet lately because I have been trying to figure out what, it anything, to write about things that have been going on. I finally think I know how I want to say, what I want to say.
We generally try to keep our blog posts focused on the positive things in life, but that leaves out a lot of other things. On Nov 1, we rode in the Ayer Mt Hunter Pace and that was our last post. The aspect of that story that was understated was how bad the ride really was for Misti and I. While not every ride on a horse is the always rewarding, there are only a few that stand out as truly horrible. Ayer Mt was horrible on top of Misti (the rest of the family had a great time). In fact, it was so bad, we were ready to just get rid of Misti and give up on her. We even started down the path of finding her a new home.
However, by Wednesday of that week, we had calmed down and decided to try and figure out some possible medical causes of the situation. Since we already had the vet coming that week, we added Misti to the list of patients to be seen.
In June 2012, Devil had surgery to remove some cancer. Dr. Anne Schwartz of Tri State Equine Surgical Specialists performed the surgery with Dr. Cara Knesser doing to the anesthesia. It had been about 2.5 years since Dr. Schwartz had seen Devil, so we had her out for a follow up. The very good news is Devil is doing great and there are no additional treatments planned for him.
King has been with us for 13 years. At 21 years old, he was starting to show some weakness in his hind end, so we wanted to investigate if joint injections might hell him out. Dr. Schwartz did an exam and concluded, yes, he would probably benefit from hock injections. However, during the exam, she honed in on a number of neurological symptoms that we hadn’t picked up on. After some blood work to confirm her suspicions, it was determined King has both Lyme and EPM. Here is a good reference for any of our friends who want to know more about EPM. King has been started on Marquis to treat the EPM and we are hopeful that he will have a full reversal of all symptoms, as is common in 60-70% of horses. After the EPM is treated (which will likely take 2 months), we will deal with the Lyme treatments. Then the hock injections. King also had an episode of choke recently which got him an after hours visit from Dr. Ennis for a tube down his throat.
And that brings us back to Misti. Anna and I suspected Lyme and ulcers both as possible causes of her behavior. It turns out, we were right. She has both. She is almost done with her 2 weeks of IV oxytetracycline for the Lyme treatment and she was just started on her Gastrogard for the ulcers. Dr. Schwartz used a scope to confirm the ulcers. Dr. Knesser was also present to participate in the procedure (and she just loves to come to our farm).
Since we are already dealing with treating Misti for ulcers, we decided to go ahead and treat Huey too, but went with symptom diagnosis instead of a full scoping. We are going to get past all the treatments for Misti, and then see where we are with behavior issues and figure out the way forward.
As anyone with animals knows, vet bills are not cheap. In fact, we have almost spent more on horse vets this month than the combined purchase price of all our horses. This is why I cringe when people want to own a horse, but can’t afford to purchase one. The purchase price isn’t what you should be worried about.
So all of that information simply brings me to the point on this Thanksgiving Day. I’m not thankful for the vet bills. But I am thankful for a family where everyone agrees, we will treat the horses. There haven’t been any arguments about wasting money or “your hobby” like I know many owners deal with. Horses are a family affair for us. I’m thankful to have the horses at home which greatly simplifies all the treatments. But most of all, I’m thankful for both my Navy job and my hoof care business that allow us to be able to buy the medicine our horses need and pay the vets to treat them.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family. Love what you have.
This evening, I needed to trim some of our horses. Vicki has been asking for me to teach her to trim Devil, so I let her work on him. She attempted his right front hoof. I helped. She decided it was a lot harder than it looked when I did the work. But she wants to keep learning and do her own trimming when she is a little stronger.
Vicki picking out Devil’s hoof
Vicki picking out Devil’s hoof
Vicki rasping Devil’s hoof
Vicki rasping Devil’s hoof
Vicki rasping Devil’s hoof
Vicki rasping Devil’s hoof
Vicki rasping Devil’s hoof
On Sunday afternoon, we did a family trail ride. It was the first time in almost 5 months that everyone has been healthy enough to ride at the same time! Of course, Misti wasn’t able to go, so I went on King. Amanda is loving trail rides on Huey (although Anna keeps her on a tether). We did a 4 mile loop and the temps were well into the 50s by the time we got done. It seems like fall didn’t waste any time making itself known.
If you aren’t interested in the endurance training discussion, go ahead and jump to the end for the pony pictures.
First, through the support from her original breeder and others, we now have a registered Part-Shagya Arabian (and a slight correction to her name spelling). The North American Shagya Association has transferred Mistique Lady’s registration to me!
On Sunday, Anna and I each did our training rides alone. While we plan to ride our first endurance ride together in October, we need to be ready in case something happens and one horse can’t finish.
So, instead of using my Garmin 310XT to monitor Misti’s heart rate on our training ride, I decided to wear my HRM and see how many calories I burned. I keep a separate HRM/transmitter for my running and biking to make it easier to switch between events.
It was in the upper 70s here in CT and we rode 10.8 miles at a 5.8 mph average, which is a normal training pace for us.
I burned an average of 366 calories per hour.
My average heart rate was 112 bpm for 1:52. In comparison, my average running heart rate is usually around 150 for trail running 4-7 miles.
While 366 calories isn’t a big deal, riding for 5 or 6 hours changes things. Suddenly you have burned 1700-2000 hours during a 30 mile LD. While there are many people who can handle that without a problem, you need to know if YOU can. If you can’t handle that much of a calorie deficit, start eating a little snack every hour on your ride to reduce the deficit. It’s just like training for a human only endurance event. The goal isn’t to take in the same amount of calories you burned, but rather to reduce the deficit.
Figure out what works for you during your training rides, even if they are only an hour or so. That Slim Jim may taste good driving down the road, but the greasy chunks might give you an upset stomach trotting along the trail!
Sunday afternoon, Vicki and Devil joined others from Mystic Pony Club for some jumping lessons in preparation for an upcoming rally. Here are a few pictures of Vicki and Devil. She has a bad habit of looking down and right as she goes over the jumps.
When we got home, Anna grabbed a quick cup of coffee and at about 5:45, hit the trails with Dakota for her training ride of the day. She did about 10.2 miles on pace. She also had the added bonus of riding in the dark as she made it home about 30 minutes after sunset. All said, both horses did very well riding solo.
Recently, as I was listening to Vicki get told “Don’t look down when you go over the jumps!” it made me think about trail riding. Where do you look when trail riding. I frequently find myself looking at the ground right in front of the horse as we go along. So, during my ride, I did an experiment. I deliberately spent a long period of time focusing my eyes 15-20 yards down the trail. Then, I would shift my eyes to a point only about a horse length out in front. What I noticed (and expected) was Misti tended to stumble more when I was looking down. Just like a kid looking down causes a horse to be unbalanced over a jump, looking down on the trails interrupts your horse’s balance. So, whether you are jumping or just riding on the trails, keep your eyes up! By the way, it will also reduce the number of missed markers on when you are riding a hunter pace.
In other news, Amanda has been riding Huey a lot more recently. I think the increase in Vicki’s riding and jumping has peaked Amanda’s interest as well. As a result, she is working very hard at keeping Huey trotting on her own, working him over ground poles and small cross rails, and even asking to canter. By next summer, she will be ready to ride at the pony club activities too!
This evening, Amanda saddled up Huey and Vicki got to ride Misti. Vicki has a crush on my mare and is always asking to ride her. Of course, Amanda had to sponge down Huey when she was done. Enjoy the pictures!
Since the goats left the farm, we have had a number of people ask if we missed them. The answer has been a unanimous “No”. While we still have rabbits and chickens and dogs, we have restored our horse focus.
Anna is teaching more lessons than ever (and I think actually enjoying it). We have taken 1 boarder, bringing our horse tally up to 7. The herd is doing great and we are enjoying our passion.
Even now, I am sitting in the yard with the waning light getting eaten by mosquitos, watching Anna ride Mystique. She was watching me ride while working with Amanda on Huey (her 4th hour in the arena today). As Amanda finished, Anna took Mysti to do some training with her. Anna claims it is painful to watch me ride Mysti.
Anna is the trainer (at least under saddle) and the instructor. I’m just the farrier and labor.
But, together we are the heads of a horse focused family, and we love it.
It was an exhausting weekend as we kicked off the 2014 fair season with the North Stonington Fair.
Thursday, 8 rabbits reported for show duty and spent the weekend looking pretty for the masses.
Friday, Anna and the kids spent the day washing goats, washing horses, and Anna was up past midnight braiding manes. Saturday morning, we loaded the trailer and headed to the horse show.
Amanda rode on Huey in the lead line class.
Jack, one of Anna’s students, also rode lead line on Devil. Vicki rode Devil in the walk-trot classes along with her best friend, Alexis, who was on Huey. Alexis actually beat Vicki for the walk-trot championship (in her first show ever). It does Vicki good to get taken down a peg every now and then. Alex has no interest in the ride around the arena classes, however, he was keen to ride in the Gymkhana classes. He did the mounted games at the 4-H show in May with Dakota, so we let him do it again, only this time, we let him canter Dakota. He did come close to the fastest times, but he maintained control and had fun doing it. He even decided to add-on a 1 walk-trot-canter class for the day.
Alex, Alexis, and Vicki on their mounts, getting a pre-ride brief from their instructor (Anna)
Alexis and Huey
Alexis on Huey
Vicki on Devil
Alex on Dakota
Alex on Dakota
Alexis won Walk-Trot champion and Vicki got Reserve
Vicki loves Devil
After the horse show, the kids put on their new Barnyard Buddies 4-H shirts to walk around a few minutes, but needed a food and drink break. Ruth is another one of Anna’s students who came along for the day to watch Amanda, but seemed to get bitten by the show bug and is talking about getting more serious in her plans with King.
Sunday was the goat show. We had 11 goats with 5 kids (Alex, Vicki, Amanda, Alexis, and Selena) our herd. Amanda got to show Sprout in Pee-Wee showmanship and the Pet class. Another long day, but everyone had a good time and Alex is actually starting to get more into the goats. Sawyer Farm’s Onyx won Best Jr Lamancha and Sawyer Farm’s Sequoia won best Jr Recorded Grade.
Amanda with Sprout.
Amanda with Sprout.
Amanda with Sprout.
Amanda with Sprout.
Amanda with Sprout.
Alex with Tang
Alex with Tang
Alex with Tang
Selena with Saffron
Salena with Saffron
Alex with Poco
Vicki with Tang
Alexis with Willow
Throughout the afternoon, WCTY was doing karaoke next to the goat show, and the kids were constantly on stage giving it a try. Amanda and her friend Lily spent almost all afternoon on stage.
