Darn Those Russians!

Friday December 19 2014

Salsola tragus, aka “Russian Thistle,” or Tumbleweed, is as ubiquitous in the West as barbed wire, and coincidentally the two go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

A native in the Ural Mountains in Russia, the plant seeds snuck over on ships in the late 1800’s from Russia apparently hiding amongst flax seeds, showing up first in South Dakota, and tumbling all over the West thereafter. While “Tumbleweed” aptly describes the entire plant’s existence and planetary purpose, I am also fond of the honorific “Wind witch”.

The tumbleweed is an annual plant that, once it matures, dries out and dies, breaks off at the base of the stem and tumbles away in the wind, efficiently flinging and dispersing its seeds along the way to take root in your soils, and then to ultimately shore up your barbed wire fences. (See Steph’s accurate cartoon depiction of tumbleweeds here)
and my short video of me running the gauntlet of them on an Idaho highway on a windy day!:


(or link)
http://youtu.be/t1AfB6Lam3w

Once the desert soil out here is disturbed - that is, as soon as you plow it up thinking you’ll have a fantastic self-sufficient green pasture, or, after a flash flood that scours the sand, or almost immediately after a burnishing wildfire, Russian thistle will be the first plant to move in and take hold. On the plus side, they are pretty - turning maroon in the fall; and if you didn’t have the tumbleweeds, you’d soon have sand dunes developing. But on the downside, they spread, and spread, and are virtually indestructible. One winter I uprooted a whole plot of them and tried to set fire to them - they wouldn’t burn! (Oh, but they will burn quickly when they are dried.) And they are sticker-y as hell.

Before I became more than casually acquainted with tumbleweeds, I thought I’d gather one to send to my artistic sister, who I was sure could make some spectacular work of art out of it. After I collected a handful of painful stickers trying to stuff one in a box, she also found a handful of stickers when she opened the box and tried to remove it; and she decided not to use it. “They are not the cute tumbly little things bouncing across the road. They are very pokey.” Now I know to wear gloves when I have to wrangle with tumbleweeds.

Out of all the tumbleweeds everywhere, this particular one caught my eye. It was a large one, hanging out with a barbed wire fence. It was so impressive, I thought I’d drag it home. The horses were impressed in different ways - not at the tumbleweed, but me, a human, dragging it behind me!


Sunny and Jose are alarmed


Stormy is not bothered.


Batman is bored


Dudley is (no surprise) hungry! He’s actually picking it up to pull off a prickly stem!

In The Bubble

Sunday May 25 2014
Up top, Steve Bradley photo!

I was keeping a sharp eye on my competition on Day 1 of the Owyhee Fandango endurance ride. Far ahead was Christoph, but I wasn't out to catch him. But a mile ahead of me, I was tracking a trio of Steph on Jose, Carol on August, and Wayne on his horse. About the same distance behind me, I kept crosshairs on PJ and Lynne.

I wasn't doing it to garner any particular placing. I wanted to be In The Bubble: a nice cushion of space between the riders ahead of us and the riders behind us. Sunny does better for me in an endurance ride when she's not directly leading or following other horses. She relaxes more, keeps her head down and travels smoothly and steadily, and keeps her cool when she's by herself.


We were In The Bubble, a magnificent glorious Bubble, for 1 hr 45 minutes of trail after the start of our ride.

Then the bubble rather quickly shrank, and popped. We caught up with the trio ahead of us while the following riders caught up with us.

The second half of the first loop was um… challenging. The adventure started down in Sinker Canyon, which Sunny isn't particularly comfortable in anyway with the towering red rock walls and the overgrown brush and trees. That was where she startled from horses behind her through the bushes. She bolted, then wheeled, taking some vines draping around my leg and hers and she does not like anything wrapping around her legs! From then on, she figured a cougar was sure to get her, and the only gait I could get out of her was a high-headed pogo-sticking jigging foxtrot.


The last picture in Sinker before all heck broke loose and I had to put the camera away!

It got worse when we suddenly came upon a line of people along the narrow trail - stopped by a rattlesnake blocking the route. We had to wait there a while, until one rider dismounted and shooed the snake out of sight, and until the line of excited horses got going again.

The rattlesnake traffic jam!

I did manage to not fall off Sunny on the looooooooong 4 jiggy miles of Sinker Canyon; and once we left the canyon to climb up the hills to the vet check, Sunny settled down.

back to normal calm at the vet check.

After the vet check, for the entire 25 miles of loop 2, we had another Glorious Ride In The Bubble - a mile or more behind the horses in front of us, and miles ahead of the others.

Sunny above Sinker Canyon

Just me and Sunny, cruising through the Owyhee desert. It averaged out to one of the best rides I've ever had on Sunny - love me some Bubble!

In The Bubble at Sinker Reservoir

She LIKES It When She's Good

Thursday May 22 2014

I've been the conditioning jockey for J.T.'s beloved mare Sunny, while he's away being a Presidential Innovation Fellow in Washington D.C.

We all call Sunny "Special" - for various reasons. One is that she can get a little wound up during rides - training rides and endurance rides. She's a Shagya, but I call her a 'gaited horse' - as in she can cantalope, trotalope, trollop, jig, be-bop, jigalot, jigalope, and pogo stick her way down the trails, which can, at times, be most uncomfortable for the rider. (See Three Dinks to get what I mean.)

Today I had the best training ride on her, ever. I even looked down a few times to make sure it was actually Sunny that I was riding. She was relaxed, comfortable, only cantering and trotting and walking - not jigging - actually sauntering down the trail. Wow - just - wow. I am sure she likes it so much better when she's good.

Tomorrow I'm riding her on Day 1 of the Owyhee Fandango. If she keeps up this astonishing calm and smooth way of going, I may not let J.T. have her back when he gets home!

Owyhee Chills No Frills

December 16 2013

Our last 50-mile endurance ride of the season was November 9th, but it's never too late to look back at it.

We rode the same trails, by the Snake River, around Wild Horse Butte, over the Oregon Trail… but it never gets old, and it looks different aboard different horses. And the golden autumn light made the trails spectacular as ever.

And, I rode 2 different horses on each loop. Normally that's against the rules in endurance riding, but this was special extenuating circumstances. Both horses were technically Sunny (John's beloved mare), but Loop 1 was Sunny Dink and loop 2 was Sunny Super Endurance Horse!

Above:
Long shadows over the blue Snake River


Sunny and I rode with Steph on Rhett, Amanda on Chant. They were also Dinks the first loop, and Super Endurance Horses the second loop!


Sunny, Super Endurance Horse (loop 2, obviously!) headed for Wild Horse Butte


This spot where we first turn along the Snake River is always stunning!


Our regular posing spot above the Snake. We always have time to stop for photos!


Sunny and me by the Russian Olives by the Snake.


Travelling the Oregon Trail


The Raven and Sunny, relaxing after their ride!

Read more on this 2-horse ride here:
http://merritravels.endurance.net/2013/11/owyhee-chills-no-frills-three-dinks.html

2013 City of Rocks Day 1

Tuesday August 6 2013

Day 1 of City of Rocks Pioneer Trails endurance ride was spectacular scenery and not too hot this year! I ended up pulling Sunny at the second vet check; she was slightly off. It was so minor she might be fine to go again in a few days, though I'll be riding Bodie the next couple of days.

Here are a few pictures from today's awesome high trails in City of Rocks National Reserve.

More to come!

The Evening Stroll

Saturday September 8 2012

Whether they're up the canyon, or just across the creek, they always come back down around dinner time: 3 of them get grain, the others are forever hopeful.

Sometimes they come thundering down; today they strolled lazily down to the house.

All except for the 3 stragglers:

Mama Perry

Luna

Sunny

You've Come a Long Way Baby

Baby!

From this (on July 18 2011)

to this (today)

and this

Sunny has made it a long way from her dreadful barbed wire injury last year.

She never was the worse for wear, never did take a lame step. The injury only hurt the first few times we changed the bandage, but even before tissue completely grew over the exposed bone, she took no more notice of it.

She'll be ready for an endurance ride by summer. Maybe even spring. I'm thinking John should even do a 100 miler on her at the end of May. (Haven't told John that yet).

Back in Business

 Tuesday January 10 2012

From the top photo on July 19 (that photo is Day 9)

to this (5 months and 23 days later):

and this:

Sunny is back to work after her horrific barbed wire accident. Miraculously, she never did take a lame step, and she rather kept herself in shape while she was penned up, spending her days pacing and sometimes sprinting along her fence, until she was turned out beginning of October.

She's a little uh… fat now, and despite her being sound, I'm not doing much with her. Just a little work at a time. But she'll be ready for an endurance ride this summer. John will be back on his favorite mare. 

Jose is supervising the progress.

Just About Gone

Sunday December 11 2011

Remember Sunny's dreadful barbed wire accident back on July 18? (The photo above is from the first bandage change, 9 days afterwards.

After about 2 1/2 months of bandaging, we left it open and turned her out - as it was getting increasingly hard to keep a bandage up over the hock, with all her sprinting back and forth in her pen! The vet said it would be fine to turn her out, and we did.

Without a bandage, the wound was slower to heal though it continued to do so. I hosed it every day or every other day and usually put Shreiner's spray on it, and covered that with aluminum spray as a 'bandage' to keep the flies off.

Around that time, her lower leg swelled to about the size of a draft horse leg, from the hock on down. It stayed that way for a month or so, but she was never lame on it, and the vet was unconcerned.

There was some proud flesh persisting on the inside of the wound, so I switched from the Shreiner's to a sulfadine cream (the vet gave us two kinds: one for healing a wound and one for preventing proud flesh). I put the anti-proud flesh cream on just that area, and the healing cream on the other part. The vet thought he might have to remove some of the proud flesh - but it want away on its own with the cream.

This blog entry here shows the progress through October.


Now the water hoses are frozen, so the wound doesn't get hosed often - but it's still healing. This last photo is 21 weeks after the injury, almost 5 months later. It's only about 1 1/2 inches tall by 3 inches wide, and pretty much a surface wound now.

Amazingly, it's almost all healed up. Never would've imagined it.

Sunny - The Barbed Wire Injury

Monday October 17 2011

This is an update on Sunny's continued healing from her July 18th hind leg barbed wire accident.

If you want to review the whole healing progress, see Aug 14 Amazing Healing and Sept 9 The Healing Continues.

She'd continued to stay penned up and bandaged since then. She did have Perry, the other gray mare, for a companion, till the one day I found Sunny cornering Perry in the corner and kicking the bejeezus out of her. (The nerve of Sunny, doing that to her babysitter, without which she'd probably have killed herself for lack of companionship!)

I moved Perry into a pen right next to Sunny, which was just fine with Sunny, because it gave her more room to really work out hard - wind sprints across her pen, short gallops and spins and rears on her hind leg (to get the most efficient change of direction), much of which involved banging one of her 4 legs on the fence panels - etc. I managed to keep the bandage from slipping down for 3-5 days at a time despite her acrobatics; I'd remove it and leave it open for a day, spraying the silver alum spray on, then re-bandaging her the next day. (Closing of the wound is much faster with a bandage on.)

Our vet looked at her at the end of our 5-day Owyhee Canyonlands endurance ride on October 1 and was rather astounded at how well and how fast it's healed. He thought it might require a little proud flesh removal (on the inside bottom corner of the wound) at a later date, but in the meantime, he said, "Turn her out!" If I could keep a bandage on her, fine, and if I couldn't, that was fine.

Sunny was so relieved to be turned out with the herd (even though they were often standing 30 yards away from her). Despite the much-less moving around, her bandage slipped down after 2 days, so I've left her unbandaged since (11 days so far).

The wound continued to heal - I hosed it off every day for 10-15 minutes (strong hose pressure), and dried it off and then sprayed it either with Schreiners Herbal solution (supposed to help with proud flesh, of which she still has a small lump on the lower inside of the wound) or the Alum spray (which as far as I can tell is just a protectant seal, not a medicine).

(Top photo is July 27, Day 9)

Sept 13-Day 57


Sept 21- Day 65



Sept 26 - Day 70
(the wound is actually a little smaller - it's just a closer shot, I should have kept the camera at a consistent distance for all of these. I'll know next time although I hope there is NEVER a next time. Note that there is a little more proud flesh to the inside of the wound.)


Oct 5 - Day 79 (left unbandaged after this)


Oct 14 - Day 88 - a week without bandaging


Then, Friday of last week, I noticed her leg was a bit swollen, from below the wound on down to her ankle. Saturday it was worse. Definite swelling, from the hock behind the wound to the ankle. You can see the difference in the size of the left lower leg and hock in the photo just above.

Damn! What was it - did she get kicked? Jam it somehow? Was she suddenly standing around too much at the hay bale with the herd after 2+ months of self-imposed conditioning in her pen? Did the hock suddenly become infected? How could the joint be infected now, after almost 3 months?? (The wound had healed from the inside out, quite cleanly.) That would be dreaded news if that was true. She still was not lame on it, which was a very good thing.

The vet was out on Sunday, and he took one look at it - and was astounded again at the progress of the healing. Even the proud flesh has decreased. "But what about the swelling?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it. Sometimes tissues just restructure themselves as they heal. She's fine. Keep doing exactly what you're doing."

What a relief! We had fears, but didn't want to voice them, about All That Work fixing her up, and she's doomed anyway.

But she's not!

In fact, John's probably going to start riding her again soon. (Might as well, since she's kept herself conditioned through all this.)

: )

Sunny: The Healing Continues

Friday September 9 2011

We've been following Sunny's healing from her hind leg's battle with barbed wire on July 18.

I did an update through August 13 (Day #26), Amazing Healing.

The following is her steady progress since then. The pain has gone away and in fact, she spends a lot of time pacing and/or running her pen when the herd has left (she doesn't care about Perry, who's babysitting her - and in fact I had to move Perry to her own pen this week when I heard, then saw, Sunny outright attacking her!). Which has led to the latest problem: her sore hock. The bandage starts slipping down, and the wraps above the hock become tight, and have started cutting into the skin right above the top of the hock, and leaving the point of the hock swollen.

Last night for the first time, since the wound is looking so good (it's about half the original size now), I left her unbandaged. I figured it would be cool enough overnight that the flies would leave it alone. I hosed it a long time with water, dried it off and sprayed Shriner's spray on it, and a coating of fly spray. This morning I rewrapped it. I'll probably keep doing that - leave the wrap on 3-4 days, then leave it off a night. We'll have Dr Washington out to look at it one of these days... she still may need that lower flap of skin, and some proud flesh removed, but overall, she continues to heal marvelously and at an amazing pace - and still no sign of lameness.

Day 28:


Day 30:


Day 33:


Day 37:



Day 40 (see the bandage cuts above the hock and the swollen cap of the hock):





Day 42:






Day 47:


(today) Day 52: