Music to My Eyes

Monday October 22 2012 

I have been waiting for this day for a loooong time. Many times during the long hot dry summer, the song of winter played in my head, and I dreamed at nights and imagined during the days: rain, cold, snow.

Today, I got them all at once!

The herd lined up butts to the weather as the cold wind pushed the clouds down from the Owyhee mountains and the cold rain started its glorious descent from the heavens.

Luna still does not know what to do with herself in the rain. She kind of likes it… but she kind of doesn't. (She's the same with water from the hose - when Jose comes up to get a bath, she watches and kind of wants to get sprayed a little bit… but then she doesn't.) She ran around in circles, tried to crawl under the hay feeder, backed up into horses and kicked at them, and pestered Tex for a while.

[slide show here]

Luna was later worn out from her pro/anti-rain demonstrations, and rested in view of the snow-kissed Owyhees, as another storm headed this way.

Jose and Tex celebrated the fine turn of weather events with a bit of Owyhee Gladiator wrestling.

[slide show here]

It was a great day in Owyhee, and the forecast for the week looks delicious!

First Day of Spring

Tuesday March 20 2012

Cold, blowing, snowing as the day breaks. Owyhee mountains disappeared in the storm, horses hunkered down in a draw, or heading for the hay to keep warm.

I could be the only one in the country deliriously celebrating the snow on this first day of spring. 

If this is a preview of what spring is going to be like, I say, Celebrate! Bring It On!

(This is Google's cool doodle commentary on the first day of spring, by Marimekko, for people of the opposite persuasion, i.e. warm weather Folk)

Nobody Here But Us (Wet) Chickens

Saturday March 17 2012

With odd weather all over the country, Owyhee is getting its share of wetness. It's so slick, there's no thundering down the canyon - the horses walk around carefully in the mud.

Everybody looks like a wet chicken, including the cats who run through the rain then stop to lick their paws - as if that will help anything.

Jose, up top, strikes a handsome wet chicken pose.

I think that of all the herd Mac most enjoys being dirty as he can get. It's probably like a dark-haired human going platinum blond for a while, only vice versa.

The salt block is a quite popular social gathering place in the winter. The mud probably gives it a special spicy flavor.

Stormy isn't irritated by being photographed as a wet chicken; he doesn't like being bothered when he's eating.

More of the wet stuff and white stuff to come! Winter is not ready to leave yet, and I'm not ready to let it go!

It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over

Thursday April 28 2011

Here it is, almost May, and so I scoffed at the forecast that says 80% chance of rain/snow tonight. The temperature did drop rather quickly and somewhat fiercely with a brisk north wind while I was out on a ride at noon... but I could scarcely believe my good luck surprise late afternoon when it started to snow.

Confused?

The weather is.

The horses are.

Here they'd gone and shed their winter coats already, and now they got another chill blast.

Turning tail to blowing snow while grazing.


Rhett is bewildered.


Into the flurry, heads cocked sideways.




Hurry up and get it over with.


Can you see the Owyhees? I can't either, because they are in an almost-May snowstorm!


Nothing for it but to eat hay


or sit tight and wait it out.


An experienced ranch horse knows how to huddle up and hunker down and ignore things.


Is it a late spring? Is it still winter?

Doesn't matter, because of course you know me, I'm not complaining. I think Mother Nature sent one more snowfall just for me, The Ice Princess. : )

Owyhee Canyonlands: Eye On the Sky

Saturday September 26 2009

Day 1 of the Owyhee Canyonlands ride is 3 days away (Tuesday). As for the broken rib, that is not up for discussion here. Then there's the weather: a touchy subject.

It's going to be cooler, in the 60's and 50's, but if I do a yippee dance about the cold nights (down to 38* and 35*!) I'm going to get drop-kicked into Pickett Creek. What can I say, I'm a cold weather junkie. : )

What's slightly disconcerting is the "chance of showers". It was 20% chance of showers on Monday - which would have been perfect for our godawful dusty trails and ridecamp, but now it's changed to 50% chance, on Tuesday. That could mean anything from a hot, cloudless sky to a 2-day downpour.

Now, weather has rarely stopped endurance riders (unless it's thunderstorms and I'm riding, and that's because I'm a lightning wimp). Adverse weather sometimes just makes things a bit more challenging - an extra layer of clothing here, a butt blanket there. But I bet you that anybody who spends one day here in this dust bowl of a ridecamp will be happy for a day of good rain. The desert will drink it up, and the trails will be good for days afterwards. It might even wash away this smoke in the air from distant fires.

So, ignore the weather forecast, saddle up and come on down to the Owyhees to ride. For five days, ride the old trails, and some new ones: over the desert and through canyons, past some old homesteads, over the original Oregon Trail, along the Snake River.

Just ride!

More info here on endurance.net on the Owyhee Canyonlands

Fort Howes Day 2: It's All Mental

Sunday June 7 2009

This time, it rained all night, and turned to a dozen forms of precipitation, all of them involving some form of ice, till late afternoon. It turned the trails into a mire of treacherous footing. "A mental ride," a couple of riders said.

Despite the conditions, there were still lots of smiles from riders and crews, if not in happiness then from a sense of humor. People love this ride, and the Stevens who put it on, and they keep coming back to do it again.

For the full ride story, see the Fort Howes page on endurance.net.

Here are some photos to give you the flavor of the day!

Julie Jackson-Biegert and Nitro, winner of the 100.




Oops! A slip on the slick ground.


Horse coming in to camp in the snow




Flurries in camp.


Heading back out into the snow!


Blankets off for trot outs.


Blankets back on immediately after - several blankets.


The snow turns back to sleet.


This rider was doing her and her horse's first 50. "I'm a wimp and I'm surprised I'm still going!" She was tickled with how much mud was all over her stirrups and legs. She finished the ride. Think of how enjoyable and easy all the rest of her endurance rides will be when she has good weather and terrain!


Still beautiful, despite the weather.


Horses bowed their heads moving into the blowing snow and rain.


Suzy Hayes and Tezero's Gold.




Trotting out for the vet.




This fellow came all the way from Texas but got kicked on the trailer, so he didn't get to ride. OBVIOUSLY he was bored. He kept pestering his pen-mates, trying to get someone to play with him.

2009 Fort Howes Endurance Ride - Friday

Friday June 5 2009

Here's a short list of essential items to bring along if you are planning to go to the Fort Howes endurance ride on the Circle Bar Ranch in southeastern Montana in June.

Shorts and tank tops.
Long underwear, winter fleece and wool layers, hat, gloves.
Very good rain gear.
Muck boots.
A sense of humor.
At least 3 changes of everything.

If you have all that, you'll stay comfortable and have a great time no matter what the conditions.

The first thing you might notice when you get to this ranch 20 miles south of Ashland is the simple beauty of the setting in the rolling hills of the Custer National Forest, at about 3000'. Bill Stevens' great great grandfather homesteaded here in 1883 - he was a former sea Captain from Massachusetts - and Bill and Jan's girls are the 6th generation on this ranch. You could say ranching is in their blood.


You could say endurance is too - this is the 13th year the Stevens have put on the Fort Howes Endurance rides. And there really is an old Fort - it had been put up in the late 1800's, "just in case," though it was never needed for protection. The outer walls are still there, and occasionally a roof is, also. A big thunderstorm blew the last one off, and Bill just hasn't gotten around to replacing it yet.

This year was again a 2-day ride: Saturday was a 35, 50, and 75; Sunday was a 55 and 100, all but the limited distances being offered as FEI rides also. And Saturday's 50 was also the Region 6 AHA Championship.


It was warm enough for shorts when I arrived - and it got hot and muggy too, but I'd heard it had been raining the last two days, and more was forecast. Jan and Martin Marsh had come here to Forth Howes from our Owyhee rides two weeks ago - Jan had both her horses entered here, but was sitting on the fence. "We'll see what the weather does. No sense in risking anything if it rains like it did the last 2 days straight."

There were some big rigs that brought 3, 4, 5 horses. Darolyn Butler from Texas brought 2 rigs and 12 horses! Many people drove 2 or 3 days to get here. A lot of riders would be riding the 50, or 75, on Saturday, and the 100 on Sunday. You might say they were a bit deranged, or you might surmise that most FEI riders are either trying to qualify themselves or their horses under the most recent FEI qualification system, for the World Endurance Championship in Kentucky in 2010.


Jan Worthington and Grace Ramsey brought 4 horses from Illinois, a thousand-mile drive. Jan was one who'd be riding the 75 then 100. She'd be on Leon - Golden Lightning - on the 75. Leon and Jan were in the World Championships in Malaysia last year, finished the ride and were pulled at the finish - this after about knocked down by a lightning bolt and getting thrown to the ground. They then finished the President's Cup in February in the UAE, followed by some time off for Leon. He'd just finished 3rd in a 50 last month, so he was ready for a 75. And although Jan probably gets tired of hearing it, it's worth noting that Jan is 69 years old, and is stronger and fitter than most of us.

A couple of Utah-ans had shown up - Sue and Tony Hedgecock, and their almost-neighbor, Jeff Stewart. Jeff brought his horse for Sue to ride in the 50 on Saturday, and Sue brought her own horse to ride in the 100 on Sunday. I sort of cozied up to this group when Sue offered the use of her trailer, for coffee, warmth, "whatever you need." What I needed was a Starbucks coffee right off the bat, so I provided the coffee, and Sue provided the expresso maker.

Sue and Tony had gone out for a warm-up ride; their neighbor Jennifer Poling from West Virginia had joined them. They'd gone out a ways, when Sue and Tony were ready to turn back. Jennifer kept going, and going... and got lost out there. She was gone for hours, and eventually Bill took his airplane up to look for her. He did find her, but then I think her crew got lost and they then had to be found!


Vetting in for tomorrow's rides took place in the afternoon, and as evening approached, the Big barbecue grill was fired up. As the now-chilly wind whipped around the big tent, (I now had fleece layers on, not shorts), riders and crews gathered inside for the ride meeting and the best ranch-cooked steak and potatoes meal you'll find anywhere. Jan gave everyone a dismal weather forecast: 80% chance of thunderstorms tonight, 20-40% chance of rain tomorrow. She did remind everybody of the saying, "If you don't like the weather here, wait five minutes, and it will change".

I'd pitched my tent the night before, heeding the warnings of two people: "Make sure you're on high ground! My tent about washed away one year." It was up on higher ground and I figured I'd be fine.


But Jan Stevens said, "There's a comfortable couch in the house up there, you'd better grab it, it's going to get wet out here." "Aw heck, I've got a good tent, I'll be fine." "You'd better take the couch..."

I decided to listen to the locals who know what they're talking about, so I took down my tent, and moved to the house for the night.

Smartest thing I did all weekend. It started raining around midnight, and didn't stop till the start of the 75-mile ride at 6:30 AM.