Hello 2015

January 1 2015

The Owyhee view was breathtaking, the cold air breathtaking, the big handsome Dudley beast breathtaking.


Neither frost on whiskers nor frostbite on fingers, nor overnight temperature of 0* and morning temperature of 10* could keep us from a ride on New Year’s Day.

Wet, Wintry, Windy, Wonderful

Saturday November 3 2014

I like a good cold rain while riding on a horse who possibly has a stick of lit dynamite up his butt as much as the next person (oh - wait - I am the only person I know who likes the good cold rain while riding, though I could do without the stick-of-lit-dynamite-up-his-butt part), but the thought of waking up before dawn with the cold rain already falling, and going out and saddling up in the rain for a 90%-chance-of-rain-and-45*-and-wind day is a bit daunting, even for me.

But when my alarm went off for the Owyhee Hallowed Weenies, the last ride of the season, and it wasn't raining yet, I was pretty happy. And when Carol and August, and Dudley and I found a bubble at the start (and in fact, the entire day - it was like we were the only ones out on a 50-mile training ride), with no riders in sight ahead of us or behind us, all day, and Dudley never had a stick of dynamite in him, it turned into an awesome ride.


It was an awesome ride, even when, middle of the first 15-mile loop, I decided to put on my rain jacket right before the rain started coming down, and I reached in my saddle bag and pulled out… my rain pants.

Hmm.

I tried sticking my arms in the pant legs - no go. So I knotted the pants around my neck like an unfashionable rubber scarf for a while, till Carol remembered she had an extra raincoat with her. (Note to self: spray paint your black rain pants bright orange, so you don't get them confused with your black raincoat).


It was an awesome ride, even in the rain, that continued all day, and the cold, which was only mild at 44*, and the wind, which you were shielded against with your proper raincoat. It was an awesome weather day for a horse and rider who don't do so well riding in hot weather (Dudley and me).

It was an awesome ride, because the Raven, dressed as a cardinal for Halloween, rode along as usual!


It was an awesome ride, because it was Dudley's fourth 50-mile ride of the year, an awesome accomplishment for the big beast I fondly call, among other things, a Recovering Obesaholic. He's come a long way and accomplished a lot this year.


He'll keep up the diet and the exercise this winter (in between his Trick Training) and aim for an even better endurance season next year!


For a ride recap, and results and more photos, see
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2014OwyheeHallowedWeenies/

Hairballs

Saturday January 19 2013

While Mother Nature throws every kind of winter weather element at the Owyhee herd, She also gives them the protection they need against it.

The shortening of days and less daylight in autumn trigger photoreceptors in the eyes, and the cooling temperatures trigger skin sensors, which signal hair follicles to start growing a winter coat. As long as humans don't interfere by blanketing, Mother Nature and the Horse usually work it out as to the necessary thickness of the coat.

When temperatures plunge, arrector pili muscles attached to hair follicles in that winter coat contract, and the hairs stand on end, trapping air and helping the horse retain heat. Morning comes and the horses turn broadside to the sun, exposing more surface area to quickly absorb more warmth that the hairs catch and hold against their bodies.


There's no barn out here in the wilds of Owyhee, but the horses will cluster together, or back up to a small rise of sagebrush to get out of the wind. We're fortunate that it doesn't rain too much here when the temperature hovers around freezing, and even when snow piles up on horse bodies, if the snow is dry and the wind isn't fierce, the horse coats will still stay fluffed up enough and keep the horses warm under the snow.


They have a limitless supply of hay to eat (and they're all maintaining good weight),


and thawed water to drink (with a water heater in the trough);


with adequate food and water, and shelter from wind and rain, the horses stay comfortable over the winter, no matter what feelings we might project on them (like looking out the window, thinking 'It's COLD out there, so the horses must be freezing!").

The horse coats are thick this winter, and what with the ultra-cold temperatures the last couple of weeks, it's good to be a hairy horse in Owyhee.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Saturday February 25 2012

It's blowing a blue gale through Owyhee.

It's so cold the snowflakes that defy the wind storm are shivering. They blow at least seven miles horizontally from the Owyhee mountains before they ever hit the ground.

It's so cold the hurricane-force winds force tears out of my eyes then freeze them on my face.

It's so cold I get frostbite on my ears, even under my hat.

It's so cold the wind slices right through however many layers you can manage to put on and seizes up your joints.

It's so cold the horses are hunkered back against an old canal bank that deflects some of the wind, with their butts to the gale. The horse tails blow horizontally between their legs. 

They crowd close together, using each other for wind blocks. They are probably thinking twice now about the coat shedding they started this week.

It's so cold, Jose is a bit irritated.

Some old hard-weather hands, like Rushcreek Mac, know to put their heads down to the ground.

Baby, it is COLD outside.  It's a day to be thankful we're not out on an endurance ride!

Techno and Tech-No-Way

Thursday December 8 2011

HATE the new Mac Operating System.

HATE the new Photoshop CS5.

They went and changed things. Things were fine for me the way they were. I'm not a Techno-Geek. I've spent the last 3 days - and I'm not near done yet - trying to install, investigate, interpret instructions, try to FIND instructions, with a bit of experimenting, hollering and ranting along the way. Old shortcuts are gone. I don't even know how or where to look up new ones, if they exist. Old necessary procedures are gone. I try to look up and learn new ways to perform the old procedures, but I can't figure out how to word them so the help topics will come up. I tried downloading old plug-ins that should work. The downloading didn't work, and the plug-ins don't either. I don't know how or where to begin deciphering why. After you spend an hour tracking down a page of instructions, including a video how-to (yay!), the video has been removed (Boo!). So much time wasted that could better be used doing other things.

I suppose once I learn the controls, the plane will be easy to fly.

In the mean-frustrating-while,

all it takes is a ride on my big bold lovely horse Stormy to clear the brain cobwebs and pump fresh crisp air into the lungs.


Horses don't sweat the technical stuff.

It was the perfect chilly sunny winter day for a ride…


and a good roll in the dirt afterwards.

Winter Light

Wednesday December 7 2011

The air crackles crisp and cold as the golden light of winter sets over the herd.

"It Was So Cold..."

Wednesday march 16 2011

How cold was it today?

It was so cold (and wet) that it resembled Seattle.

It was so cold (and wet) that the horses looked like waterlogged chickens.

It was so cold (and wet) that Bates Creek has picked up enough in volume to resemble a small river.

It was so cold (and wet) that the Owyhee mountains got another layer of snow.

It was so cold that the rain sometimes fell as icesleetsnowballs.

It was so cold and wet and muddy and windy that the horses got wild hairs up their nostrils and took to running and bolting and sliding in the mud.

It was so cold that Dudley got to stay out and eat hay all day.

(Slide show here:)

Confession

Tuesday February 8 2011

You all know: I hate being hot. I love the cold. I love winter. The cold is refreshing, bracing.

But let me clarify.

I love being able to stay comfortable when it's cold.

If it takes me wearing ten layers of clothing to stay comfortable, I'll do it. If I can't wear enough to keep me comfortable, and I am beyond cold, then it hurts. I don't like to hurt. That's when it's just too cold for me.

There, I said it.

So, lest it sound like I would have been one of those hardy, intrepid endurance riders on Day 1 of the Springdale Romp, in the 5*F degree, -6*F wind chill day, I will admit, I would not have been.

I guess it's all what you psyche yourself up for. The Tough Sucker ride we did in Idaho in April was pretty dang chilly. Hearing the cold wind howl all night, and shivering when I got out of bed - even I almost wimped out then. I didn't though - I was psyched up for it to be cold, and usually, once you actually get out and get riding, you warm up. I did warm up that day and stayed comfortable in the cold, and enjoyed it.

As Tennessee Mahoney said after they arrived at the Springdale Romp after a harrowing drive, "We risked our lives getting here, I'm riding all 6 days!" She probably didn't feel the hurt as much as she would have if the ride was in her back yard and she hadn't had to work hard to get there (but then again, maybe she would have, Tennessee is pretty hardy.) I know that I would have wimped out of riding that first day (and maybe the second).

For those of you including me in those 'incredibly determined' and 'inspiring' categories, you can call me a wuss. I love the cold. But not THAT much cold.

Having said that, I'm headed for more cold right now.

Montana.

A week in mid-winter. Cold, snow...

and a place to warm up between the snow dances.

Yipeeeeeeeeee!

Twisted

Saturday December 11 2010

Gray. Gloomy. Dreary. Heavy skies. The Owyhee mountains are gone. Can't see the next ridge - it is consumed by the low sky, fog, mist, drizzle.


Too cold to rain, too warm to snow. Sleet. Spitting, stinging drops that prick the eyeballs and numb the cheeks.


Horses are soggy. They sport the Wet Chicken look, though as long as they're eating, they don't seem to mind.


Birds are waterlogged. The Ravens sit silent, holed up in a leaf-less cottonwood tree, feathers fluffed up to insulate against the wet and cold, waiting for a better day to raise a ruckus.

The desert scrub is sodden. Dripping, drooping, dark brown, dull gold.


Water, soon to be ice, fills coyote tracks. The tracks are deep, heavy. Mud cakes to feet, weighing them down.


Predator and prey have advantages, disadvantages. One slip in the slick mud and the prey loses. One miscalculated slip and the predator loses. She loses the energy it took to go after a meal, and she goes without a meal another night. Not many places in the desert sleet to get dry.

I take to the hills, vanish into the murk. Sleet stabbing my face. Mud caking my shoes, water soaking my clothes, minute icicles dripping from my hair, making me laden as the saturated desert.

I love it.

I must be twisted.

Crispy

Wednesday November 24 2010

The air is sharp and cold: -1*F at dawn. It singes your nose and burns your lungs as it goes down; your fingers and toes start to sting as the feeling goes out of them.


A red-tailed hawk waits in a tree above the creek for the golden rays to warm him before he begins his hunt for breakfast.


The languid horses wait for the sun to crest the ridge, to melt the light blanket of ice on their coats.



The sun comes and Jose naps in the warmth.

Cold

Sunday November 21 2010

This was the start, the other day, of this winter storm that's taking over the Northwest. We've had far less snow than predicted so far, but the Cold is coming.

I took a little hike today up the creek looking for owls - didn't see any (but likely, they saw me). It was only in the mid-20's (*F), and I had plenty of layers on, but my face was cold. I was cold. It's hard to believe that in two mornings it's going to be thirty degrees colder.

I hope the horses have grown enough hair!

It's Getting Hairy

Monday November 8 2010

Almost overnight, it seems, the horses have sprouted thick, fuzzy, winter coats. Do they know something we don't?

Maybe they have been consulting the weather forecast:

Starting tomorrow night: snow predicted for the first time!

(Yeahoooooooooo!)

Re-Winter

Tuesday March 30 2010

Seriously?

The flowers had started to emerge.

We had one wicked round of buffalo gnats already.

Mac already cast off his winter coat.

We could have used a few more conditioning rides before our first spring endurance ride on Saturday. (Of course, the rain/wet snow/ice balls/gusty winds/20's wind chill would not stop some intrepid riders, but I am not one of those).

Winter has returned.

Wave after wave of snow, ice balls, rain, sleet, then sun, pass through. The Owyhee mountains disappear, then emerge with another new coating of snow, then disappear again. All of it accompanied by strong winds, providing for a shivery re-winter bite.

The horses can't get out of the wind-driven snow, even under the hay barn roof.


They turn their ice-covered butts to the wind,




heads low to the ground.






They walk funny into the wind, cocking their heads sideways to keep the stinging cold flakes out of their eyes and ears.

The new Texas horse appears to be rather stunned by the weather - he's probably never seen snow.


One wave of winter passes through, and the horses drip and thaw, until the next surge howls through and drops another load of ice on them.

Winter doesn't want to give up.

Of course, I'm not complaining : )