Guilt Trip (by Finneas)

Tuesday May 13 2008

Connie is bribing M to ride me while she is gone by offering to bring her many dark chocolate treaties from Trader Joe's. M bribes me while out riding with carrot treaties. Only today she lost my carrots.

We did the Three-Cheese-Dip-Layer Ride. The first Cheese Layer is going miles up the Training wash, and I trotted all the way up it, because I am such a tough strong horse, and I got to eat some grass up on top as always. Then M said "OK, Finneas, when we finish the second Cheese Layer, at the bottom of Spring Ranch Road wash at the water tanks, I'll give you your carrots!" OK, so, I cruised miles down to the end of this cheese layer, bold and brave, and we got to the water tanks and stopped, and I waited, and she zipped open the half-broken zipper of my saddle bag - I heard the zipper and I know what that means - but instead of the sound of a breaking carrot, what did I hear?

"Uh oh."

I didn't like the sound of that. M rummaged around in the saddle pack behind her, then she dropped my reins and turned around in the saddle and scrambled in it with both hands, and, again... "Uh oh."

I KNEW what that meant, and I stood there, stoically, (handsomely,) while the cruel reality of what she'd done sunk into her. She'd lost my carrots out of the broken-zippered pack, and I had been SUCH a good boy, and she had NOTHING to reward me with.

I didn't let M forget it, all the way home. I kept walking slowly toward the third Cheese Layer, Blond Cow wash, turning my head first one way, then the other as I walked along, glancing back at her, to let her know I was still being a VERY GOOD BOY and I was still looking for my carrots. I could tell it just killed her. And I just kept looking back at her.

When we got to Blond Cow wash, I continued to perform brilliantly, trotting and cantering more miles up it, even though I was getting tired and running on empty with no carrots in my gas tank, making M feel more and more guilty with every bold stride I took, that she lost my carrots. She kept apologizing, and I kept letting her.

M felt so terrible that she let me eat grass from the Tevis Hill all the way down toward home. I was really milking it, not even grabbing grass to go but parking myself and eating it until I felt like moving on to the next batch, and she didn't even make me move on. If she tried, I just looked back at her, reminding her that she never handed me a carrot, and she let me be.

I finally made my way out of the Little Tevis Canyon, and then we get to The Gate. Now, The Gate is where I usually have temper tantrums because I don't like being asked to open and close The Gate (I KNOW how, I just don't WANT to do it unless it's my idea, and it's usually not). M had gotten off me to open and close it when we went out, and here she was going to get off me to let us back in. Well, I wanted to keep her feeling so guilty, before she could get off I moved right into position to open the gate without her asking me, and she opened it, and we walked through, and without being asked, I moved into position to close it. M was just overwhelmed, I tell you, and what I did next REALLY blew her away. I just stood there. Usually I blast off to get back to the house and the other horses (I sometimes have Standing Still issues) and my Happy Meal and carrots, but I just continued to stand there. And, what could she do but pet me and hug me and admire me and promise me many carrots when we got back, and I still just kept standing there looking great and being marvelous, and she had to keep petting me and hugging me and admiring me! (I mean, who wouldn't?)

Back at the house, I milked her out of 2 carrots BEFORE my Happy Meal, (can I give a Look, or what!?), 1 carrot DURING my Happy Meal, and 3 AFTER.

Then when M turned me loose after my Happy Meal, none of the other horses were around, so I followed M. She turned to leave and I followed her, so she had to turn around and pet me some more. She kept trying to leave, and I kept following her. And she had to keep hugging me. And guess what - I stood at the fence, giving her such a Look, I made her give me one more carrot before she finally did leave! And then, after she went in the house, I kept standing at the fence, looking at the house, and she had to come out AGAIN and give me one more carrot!

And, THEN I got MORE carrots for being a model! Both M and Steph came out to fetch me to be a model in this beautiful big black robe fit for a (Drama) King (like me), and boy did I look gorgeous in it.

What a privilege and blessing for everybody around here that I'm such a good boy (when I want to be), and a great gorgeous Movie Star (-to-be) like my grandpa Cass Ole, and a great model (just plain killer-handsome), and a great actor (especially at acting stoic and laying on guilt trips) and a great kisser and a great huggee. A colossal package of talent rolled into one big black beautiful horse. Does a horse come any better?

I bet M doesn't lose my carrots any more on our rides.

Who Took My Spring

Sunday May 11 2008

What's this - middle of May?

Today it's a dreary (from some perspectives) gray sky, blustery wind, and a chance of rain - but that's snow in them there mountains 5 miles away. (Steph said, "That's not right!") The wind chill 'down here' at 3500 feet drops to 30* when it gusts up to 20 mph.

Nature is not convinced spring is here yet. The birds are carrying on with their nesting (for one, the golden eagles are later this year), but the locust trees have refused to bud or express any leaves so far.

The horses are romping and playing in the gusty wind, and, sometimes, they appear to be a bit annoyed at the big gusts of dust swirling around, pinning their ears and biting each other a little harder than just play bites.

I definitely don't like the wind, but I do love the cold weather. It's just that I packed my winter hat and gloves away. I swear I just saw a few snowflakes. Guess I better the winter gear out again.

Eagle Extreme - Enough to Make a Grown Man Cry

Saturday May 10 2008

What is it about endurance riding that can bring a man to tears?

Well, I know I about cried for joy when John said he wouldn't be here for the Eagle Extreme (no offense : ), which meant I would get to ride my favorite (among many equal favorites) horse José Viola.

On Friday Steph and I packed up the trailer - I took enough things for a week-long ride, since you never know what you might want or need to wear, and you never know how long you'll really be gone, right? - and we loaded up Rhett and Jose, heading off to north of Eagle, Idaho, for the Eagle Extreme Endurance Ride. It goes without saying, the Raven came along too. The Eagle Extreme used to be the Purple Passion ride; now it's been taken over by hard working ride managers Carrie Johnson and Trish Frahm.

We really did see a golden eagle on our way there - which could only be a great omen, right?


We had gotten a late start from Oreana, and we arrived just in time to park the rig in ridecamp, nestled in a little green valley framed by the snow-covered Idaho mountains, unload the horses, vet them in, and tie them to the trailer and run back for the ride meeting. It was quite blustery and cool, and everybody had a few extra layers on, and were hoping for a bit less of a breeze tomorrow. Nobody is completely convinced spring is really here, or that winter is gone.

Steph woke up thinking she might take it a little easy on Rhett today, but Jose and I planned to do our own ride and let her go on. Well, I planned that; Jose would have rather stayed with Rhett. He didn't object TOO vociferously as, at the start, I kept him with Karen Steenhof and Gil, and Pat Murray and Bailey, horses he knew from training rides, while the frontrunners left at 6:30 AM. He's pretty easy-going, that Jose; he gets along with everybody. We three let the faster horses go on in the cool wind-less sunrise, and we tucked in a gap after them. And boy, did we have 3 amped up horses at the beginning! I was surprised at Jose, always-mellow Jose, tossing his head in disdain at my preferred speed and pulling on the reins, with his legs spinning like a cyclone, wanting to move on out much faster, to catch up with Rhett, whom he had seen leave ahead of him.

The trails took us on four different loops out of camp (15, 10, 15, and 10 miles), covering washes and creeks and ridges and everything in between. And talk about some hills that got us onto the ridges! This wasn't an easy ride. In addition to the 50 mile ride there was a 25 mile Limited Distance ride and a 10-mile trail ride. One thing I like about endurance rides is the choreographed ballet: everybody is doing their own thing - going different speeds, different distances, so there are horses always coming and going on and off the trails and in and out of camp. On this ride, all day, we saw horses on different trails in all different directions, down below us on a trail, or across on a far ridge, or coming towards us or crossing our trail in front of us.


The great footing consisted of soft dirt roads and single tracks with only about 12 yards of rocks over the 50 miles. However, we were warned about the "gopher holes" that pockmarked most of the terrain, sometimes inches off the trails. Now if you're not familiar with Idaho gophers, you might think, "Dang, they breed their gophers big in southern Idaho!" We did see a couple of gophers, but these horse-swallowing holes were really badger holes, and they could have been quite dangerous if you had a terrible silly urge to pass someone off trail, or if you had a horse that was clumsy or idiotic. Carrie and Trish tried to mark them with paint around the holes... but in places there were just too many. If you haven't seen a badger hole, it's as big around as a basketball and, well, it's a horse leg-breaker. It's best to not worry about them and just trust your horse to put his feet right. And, of the 60 plus horses at the Eagle Extreme, they all did.

The trails were marked well, but no daydreaming on this ride or you could lose the trail or miss a turn, like some people did, including the winner! Ribbons or (harmless) spray paint on lupines ("ooh look! orange lupines!") or arrows on the grass directed you where to go. Even where some of the ribbons were pulled by some sabotage culprits on one of the trails the day before, the arrows obviously showed the way. Sometimes you had to keep a sharp eye ahead for the next blob of paint or ribbon. You couldn't rely on your horse, because they usually knew the shortest way back to camp, which was not necessarily the direction the trail took!


The scenery in the foothills of the Boise mountains was lovely - rolling (or steep) green hills, some of them solid yellow from the bright balsam root flowers, sometimes with a view down into the Boise valley miles away.

I was just amazed at Jose; all day he was so tough and competitive. Not in a stupid way, but a serious endurance horse kind of way. On the second loop he went out on a loose rein, and I figured, "Oh, good, he's finally settling down now, like the Jose I know." Well - that lasted about 10 minutes, then it was back to strong, tough, and very forward - all day! Even when he was getting tired on the last loop much later in the day, I had one constant handful of horse.

It took us 3 hours to cover the first loop, and we were moving right along, only walking on the downhills or steeper climbs or pastures with questionable footing. I was hoping Jose wouldn't see Rhett in camp at the vet check, so I took him to Karen's and Pat's trailers with their horses. We'd timed it just right - just as we were coming in, Steph and Rhett were going out on the second loop, exactly 30 minutes ahead of us. Jose still looked for his trailer - which he couldn't see from where he was tied - and he kept looking at every horse that passed by, just in case it was Rhett. He never lifted his head out of his feed, though, which is something you really like to see at a ride. He did get a little worried when I left him to go fetch his food - he tried to follow me, and he nickered at me when I returned. : )

We covered the 10 miles of loop 2 in 2 1/2 hours. We met riders coming in off their first loop of the LD - Tom Noll gave us all High 5's when he passed... it was odd seeing Tom riding his older endurance horse Max, and not Frank! He is saving Frank for the 3-day ride in Oreana over Labor Day.

Loop 3 was supposed to be the toughest one, with "lots of hills," though all the loops had plenty of those! Our horses were all still strong, (they took turns being full of beans), and we slowed them down to walk up some of the steep climbs. We got off and led our horses for all the longer and steeper downhills - me using the excuse it was better for Jose. Actually it was better for my knees to get off and walk now and then, but that has nothing to do with getting older. The cool wind was pretty strong up on the ridges, but it felt refreshing; down in the washes it was warm, but not too oppressive until the last airless wash on the last loop - a pretty darn good weather day overall.

As we waited out our 3rd vet check, the winner arrived in camp: Steph and Rhett! And that was after losing about 8 minutes missing a turn on the one of the loops. "Since I was out front, there were no horse tracks to follow!" You don't realize it, but when you're not in front, you are always instinctively noticing horse tracks going your way. Even if you don't consciously perceive them, something feels out of whack when you don't have any underfoot. And that's the first thing you automatically look for when you aren't sure if you are on the trail.

Jose didn't see Rhett in camp, so going out on Loop 4, he was just as tough as he'd been at the beginning of the ride, eager and strong and still looking for Rhett ahead of him. The highlights of loop 4 included two coyotes, a ferruginous hawk, and bees! We rode right by a collection of beehives just 20 yards off the trail, with bees in the air everywhere - I kept my mouth closed - and on a water trough that had been put out for the horses. Jose was thirsty, but we didn't stop at that one! I was holding my breath, too, hoping an errant bee wouldn't sting me or Jose as we trotted swiftly by.

We finished just before 5 PM... a long ride, a real 50 miles, and we hadn't dallied at all. The horses all looked great at their final trot outs, and they were all diving into the hay laid out at the vet check.

I had promised Jose all day that he would get to see Rhett again at the end of the ride, and finally, I took Jose back to his trailer. "Look who's here waiting for you!" Both horses gave happy reunion nickers... then Rhett gave Jose a good nip on the butt. Not too sentimental, that Rhett.


And all I have to say to sum up the day is, wow, what a great ride! It was really all close to perfect: Jose was awesome, the weather was great, the trails were great, the group of riders was your always-fun Northwest endurance riders. Moreover, this was Jose and Rhett's first rides since their dreadful episode with strangles incident in January-February, and they performed terrifically. There were a number of happy people today, one of whom was Karen Bumgardner. She rode Thunder on their first 50-mile ride together since he dumped her in November and broke her ribs, then went missing for a worrisome 6 days.

Everybody gathered for a delicious pot luck dinner, and the finishers were announced. Head vet Robert Washington praised the riders: of the 33 starters on the 50-miler, there were only 3 pulls, and all three were rider options. Of the 26 starters on the 25-mile ride, there was only 1 pull, and no horses had to be treated. "You guys did a great job taking care of your horses!" We all gave Carrie and Trish a big hand for putting on this ride, and doing it so well, but they insisted on thanking everybody for coming, or else the ride wouldn't happen.

Steph won the ride on Rhett, followed by Lee Pearce, and his wife Naomi Preston. Best condition for the 50-mile ride... Lee Pearce! He was sitting beside us, and when he came back to sit down, Steph told him congratulations...

And the man had tears in his eyes, and something took his voice away so he could barely squeak out a thank you. That's what about endurance riding makes a grown man - and maybe a few other people - cry, - a good horse that willingly carries you 50 tough miles on a beautiful day... whether or not they got the Best Condition award.

Aren't they amazing creatures, to take us on these rides?

FLYING

Thursday May 8 2008

9 PM: We'd just said, "I guess the horses aren't coming down for their evening meal." I'd just tossed hay to the separated 2 mares and Stormy, when I looked west and saw this BIG cloud of dust which stopped me in my tracks. And out of the dust emerges a FLYING horse, Jose, and out of the thickening dust, the rest of the herd behind. They were 4-legged bullets, faster than any racehorse. They were hurtling so fast, I stood transfixed, with wide eyes and dropped jaw and a bit of a cringe, as they rocketed down toward the house. "Jeez-us!" I couldn't watch, but I couldn't peel my eyes away. Heads up, tails whipping, legs a blur, running insanely fast, a glorious sight, silhouetted by the last of the golden sunlight and dust.


They didn't brake at all and instead diverted around the hay barn, sprinting on a very narrow path by a fence past the mares and Stormy, crashing through the trees, then ripping down into and across the rocky creek, running full blast up the pasture across the creek, making a loop, and tearing full bore back toward the creek and across it, making straight for the fences where I stood. I screeched again verbally as they screeched to a halt physically, sliding stops more athletic than any reining horse, roll backs quicker than any cutting horse. They couldn't just stand still so they ran in a few more circles, tossing their heads, bucking, kicking at each other, then coming to a stop at the fence, looking for their grain.

Steph thought maybe a cougar scared them up the canyon, but Diego came cantering in after them all - missing the whole shebang, and seemingly unconcerned about it. I think they did it for the sheer fun of it, with Jose the Social Director leading them all the way.

(The pix are not from today - I would have been so lucky - but then, I would have been so stunned I would have forgotten to lift up my camera.)

Good Bird Week

Thursday May 8 2008

It's spring-summer, and the birds are in full swing in Owyhee. At the house, the starlings are nesting in a hole in the wall right by the front door again, with at least 3 babies. Every time we walk through the door they start cheeping for food at the vibration the door makes. There's another starling nest of at least 3 babies in the A.C. on top of the Silver bullet trailer. The four parents are crazy busy from dawn till dusk.

Haven't found any nesting ravens along the 2 creeks here, though some resident ravens continue to hang around... including my spirit protector Raven (not my puppet but a real Raven we rescued recently... but that's another story).


I snuck up Bates Creek without the dogs and only a short distance up from our house, I flushed at least 4 roosting long-eared owls. They weren't nesting, just sleeping till I disturbed them. A kestrel was also flying around there, sounding agitated, either at me or the owls, so he must be defending a nest around there.

I've seen and heard two resident kestrels around the two snags by the creek at the house, but wasn't sure where or if a nest existed. Had to be in a hole in the snag. I went out there in the evening and waited till the male came back to one of the dead trees... he was holding a lizard in his claws, but, he saw me standing down there watching, and he chittered at me, flew off in big circles, landed on another branch and chittered agitatedly. I didn't move at all, just stood and waited. It's not easy to wait out a kestrel, but finally, after a good 20 minutes, he changed his perturbed tone to a different one, communicating with his woman in one of the holes in the next tree, and finally, he flew there, hopped to a branch closer to the trunk, and closer, and I could now hear two kestrels chattering, and finally he flew to a hole. He passed off the lizard, and said something like, "Hey honey, come check out this freako human staring at us."

The female came out off the nest onto a tree branch and fluffed up and preened for a while. The male sat on a branch still staring at me. I didn't wait to see if the female went right back on the nest or if they both went out hunting, but I know where the nest is now.

There are busy screech owls (I hear at least one every night), robins, killdeer (who love the sprinklers), quail, magpies, flickers, yellow-rumped warblers, red-winged blackbirds, and a host of other birds I am lame at identifying, in abundance. The orioles, who keep the neat hanging woven nests, and Western tanagers have recently been spotted.


Today I went out with Karen the retired bird biologist - she still monitors golden eagle nests in the area. We hiked to a territory where a few weeks ago she saw a female sitting on a cliff nest - one of about 10 nests in this territory. The birds could probably care less about the grand sweeping view down onto the hills above the Snake River and the old Oregon Trail, and more about the somewhat secluded cliff nest, sheltered from the blustery west winds.

We saw at least 2 baby eagles on the nest, possibly three - fluffy white balls with big yellow beaks just starting to sprout black feathers. They just laid in the nest, the only movement the blinking of eyes. Karen estimated them to be between 4 and 5 weeks old. Karen will come back in a few weeks to check on them, to see if the nest has been judged 'successful,' which it is after at least one of the young has reached 52 days of age (which you can judge by their feathers and feather patterns).

This weekend Steph and I are off to the Eagle Extreme endurance ride near here, on Rhett and Jose, woohoo! It's their first ride since they come down with strangles in Arizona this winter. It can only be a good endurance ride with a name like Eagle Extreme.

I'm a Big Kid Now (by Diego)

Monday May 5 2008

Five weeks ago M told me she was leaving and she gave me a big hug. She said I am so cute somebody might want to buy me, but they better not do it until she got back. Well nobody came and took me away, so I was here when M got back, and I had a big surprise for her.

M gave me big hugs and kisses, and she said, "Diego! You've grown! I swear you are an inch bigger!" That was my surprise - I had tried really really really hard to grow while she was gone, and I did! In fact she was so sure I had grown, she and Steph got the Big Stick With The Bubble, and M led me onto the cement at the hitching post, and they put the stick next to me and put the bubble in the center and it said I was 149CMs. I didn't know what that meant, and they didn't either till they went in the house for a calculator, and M came back out and told me I was Fourteen-Two-and-Over-A-Half-Pretty-Close-To-Three Hands and well then you might as well call me almost 15 hands! In fact, they measured Jose too, and I am just as tall as Jose!! And Jose is all grown up, and I'm only 4!

I am shaping up more like a horse now, my little boy pot belly has gone away, and I'm losing my lighter winter coat and turning a sleek darker chestnut. M says that I am maturing, and pretty soon I am going to turn into Handsome, but of course I still have a cute face. And I can still curl up in a cute little ball when I sleep.

After she measured all of my 14.2 1/2+ Almost 3 hands, she put the big boy saddle on me, which I hadn't worn for a while, but I know all about that now. M always forgets and puts the bonnet on my head first, but I just stand and wait till she remembers that it goes best on my back under the saddle. We played a few ground games, then we trotted out. She said when I do endurance rides I will trot out for the vet. I do it really good already.

So, now that M is back, I come hang at the fence several times a day looking at the house so M will come out and hug me. If she is already outside, I just give her that Hug Me look, and she comes to hug me. It works every time. Sometimes she even slips me a few carrots if nobody else is around. I hope whoever buys me leaves me here so M can see me grow to over 15 hands and so she sees me turn into very Handsome and so she can always hug me because I will never be too old or mature for hugs.

Movie Star Drama Queen (by Finneas)

Sunday May 4 2008

M says I am a Movie Star Drama Queen. She says some movie stars are temperamental but talented, have healthy egos but are worth putting up with and keeping around. I don't know what temperamental is, but it must be something good because I know I'm talented and worth keeping around!

I haven't been in any movies yet but my Grandpa has (Cass Ole was the Black Stallion!) but I look a lot like my famous Grandpa so that means I'm handsome as a movie star. Look at me - am I not? Not sure about the drama queen thing, other than I am dramatically handsome, and M probably means drama king, because I am king of the herd (well, except for Rhett, who I am a little afraid of, but don't tell anybody). I know for sure I'm better looking than that Stormy horse M mistakenly says is the Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet. Huh! He's just a bay Thoroughbred with a sway back and pot belly. I am big and black (well, I will be when my brown winter coat is completely gone) and handsome and trim and not just Thoroughbred but Appaloosa and Quarter Horse and famous Arabian. Top that!

The blond girls around here all moon over me and feed me because I am so handsome. Steph doesn't kiss me but she's blond and she feeds me. There's a blond man here too sometimes but he doesn't kiss me, but at least he feeds me.

I got really mad when M left me (well, she left all of us) this winter for a month. There was nobody here to kiss me and admire me and give me special treats every day and I was really mad at her when she got back. I wouldn't let her kiss me or even pet me for a day. But the next day I had to have kisses and treats so I wasn't mad at her anymore. And then this Connie shows up, and she falls in love with me (I mean, who wouldn't!) and gives me treaties and she now has me and we did our first endurance ride last month. I was so good I finished 9th, and everybody told Connie how handsome I am. I give Connie good kisses, and Connie always gives me special happy meals and not only carrots, but carrots dipped in molasses!

Then Connie left me, but Steph stayed here to feed me, and then M came a few days later and gave me kisses and carrots and told me I was handsome, so I didn't get mad at anybody. M says Connie is coming back soon.

Every morning M gives us all a little treatie to eat while she takes Rhett out for a big meal. I always thought it should be ME getting the big meal, and FINALLY, today M took me out to feed me especially alone this morning, instead of Rhett. About time the best looking horse gets fed the most!

However, imagine how appalled I was, APPALLED, I tell you, when M walked out with a saddle for me! I skittered around the hitching rail and tried to hide from her there (but there's no hiding such a big hunk like me). I swear, with Connie gone I thought I was here just to look good and be worshipped and fed. Huh.

When M got on me I was so mad we were going for a ride, I shook my head and took off for the creek and thought about bucking her off into it, then I dragged my feet because I didn't want to go, then I tried the ol' Put-my-head-down-for-a-bite-of-grass-then-turn-back-toward-home-when-I-lift- my-head-up trick, and I swished my tail this way and that, and I tried to walk sideways off the trail, but before I knew it, I was up and over the Little Tevis trail down into the wash on the other side, and I was cruising up the wash looking good and having a great time. Go figure.

It was a fun ride. I got a good workout to keep my manly muscles in shape, and I got a carrot in the middle of the ride, and I got to eat grass and salt bushes on the way back. When we got home M asked me to do some side stepping and I got all flustered and threw my head up and down and had a tantrum because it's so much effort and a big beautiful horse like me already knows how to do all this and should not have to be asked to do it again, and after I had my hissy fit I did it just fine because it really wasn't that big a deal after all, and everything was good. Then I got to have another happy meal!

I wanted to kiss M at the end of it but she didn't want to kiss me. So what if I had food all over my nose and face and forelock? Who wouldn't want to kiss such a handsome movie star anytime anywhere? But she did give me a carrot, and told me I was a very handsome drama queen. I'm sure she means very handsome Drama King, which I know I am, with a big healthy ego!