Ham-Cam: Hammer's medium-sized adventure

Tonight was Hammer's first trail ride near the farm but not on the farm. You would think that would not be a big deal--but you would be terribly wrong. As far as I know, this was his first RR crossing. Most horses will do it once, but wig the second time---or put up a good fight repeatedly, until they get used to it. Baby Hammer rolled right over it the first time, and then on the way back I took this pic. Although he appears to be standing at high alert--he was seeing and recognizing that he was home, and not at all bothered by the tracks.
I will admit that he was not as good as he was in the Shawnee, but that is to be expected, because so much of the riding behind the farm is on a mowed path, rather than a real challenge. He paid a little less attention because of that, but he still did exceptionally well. We ventured off pioneering, like he likes to do, and ended up in the dry creek bed. He is in his element in tricky terrain.


I so wish I had my real camera, as this one just does not capture the colors like the good ones do.
There are about 300 acres to ride on, but the bean fields are blocking access to a lot of it. Still, we can get in 90-120 minutes easily without backtracking, and we still find new things everytime.

This sort of mowed path riding is not my favorite kind of all, but beggars cannot be choosers. These are the paths they have cut in anticipation of hunting season, which starts October 1, and will mark the end of the riding at home days for us. We are sure having a good time packing in as much as possible until then.


This is what some of the paths around the edges of the fields look like.
I did not realize until I loaded this photo that the leaves are starting to fall. That makes me sad, but it sure makes for some pretty after-work jaunts.

On the Radar front, he was heartbroken to be left behind tonight. That did my heart good. I am going to take Jodi's suggestion and leave him be for a few days, then try a quick change bridle on him. Once I buy one, that is. I have one, somewhere, but it has a browband and that defeats the purpose.

Uno is doing fine. He was out of his stall when I got there this morning, which put me off my game by thirty minutes. The most appalling point was that evidently his deworming has been very successful. Enough that I noticed it when trying to catch him. And then I stepped in it. Now that is nasty.

The only other news of the day is that I did half a spinning class (stepping in wormy horse shit can make a girl late), and half an aerobics class (my bodyfat session ran late) and weighed in. I hit a new low! Go me! I do not know how, as I surely did not deserve to have lost it, but I will take it.

One more day in this week--two workouts tomorrow, and perhaps an after work ride. Then this sister is going to take a BREAK! Barry won't be home again, so I can sleep and catch up on things. I am so looking forward to it

Another weekend in the woods

It was cold this weekend, so we built a fire as soon as we got settled in camp Friday nite. Headleys had some family issues arise, so it was just Barry, Mom and me, plus Emily, Jessie, Adrianna and her brother, Alexander, who arrived just before us. We had a great dinner of italian beef that mom made, then some ribs, pineapple, tomato salad and cheesy potatoes that Adrianna brought. We talked a while, then read and just enjoyed the fresh air. It was a relaxing night, after the initial trepidation about where in the campground our trailer could fit.

Verdict--one good spot in the area we like, that will allow us to make the turns to get into it---



The leaves are changing, and this is such a beautiful area. We are so lucky to have it just an hour away.

Jodi and Ed arrived a little before 10 am Saturday morning, so we had some breakfast, and took our time saddling up for the ride. Too much time, as there was a disaster or two in the making. We mounted up and went to Adrianna's cabin to get them. As we waited, we played around in the pasture--Target calmed down pretty quickly, and we remarked on how well he was learning patience, which he needs to work on. Barry had previously talked to another group who wanted to ride with us, since they did not know the trails. As they arrived in our area, something still unknown set Target off. The next thing we knew, he was bucking from a stand still--and I do not mean a little bucking, he was dead serious, throwing in a lunge and really getting some air. He bucked like a mad man, as we all sat there dumb-founded.

The other group had two loose dogs with them. By the third buck or so, the little rott was on Target's ass---barking and chasing as he bucked himself across America---a few bucks later, Barry voluntarily dismounted. I have no idea how he stayed on that long...I sure had no idea he was that kind of cowboy. This was big time rodeo bucking.

And it was not over. With the dog still on his heels, Target bucked two huge circles--pretty circles, worthy of the reining pen, they were so uniform. He bucked the whole way. I have never seen anything like that. By the third pass, he was simmering down into a lope, but he could not stop as the dog was still chasing and barking.

What was his owner doing, you ask? NOTHING. Barry said later that from his vantage point on the ground, he saw that her horse set to bucking as well--which suited me just fine, as she made no attempt to control her damn dog who had no business loose with other horses. There were four or five people with the dog girl and they too did nothing.

By the time Targ was making his big circles, Radar was dancing--he was scared to death. Eventually, Target came to Radar and stopped snugged in close to us. Rad was still hopping around and I was trying to figure out where to grab Target--his reins were twisted up around his ears, and I was a little anxious to get out of the center of the saddle, for fear I would get dumped too. As usual, it was Jodi to the rescue and she got Target's reins--by that time, he was shaking in his boots, and Barry was getting up.

He is tougher than he looks, as got back on Target and we set off in the other direction--shed of the wild dog group, thanks. I do not even think they said they were sorry. As we headed that way, Radar finally blew and went straight up. Do not ask me why, I think he just could not take it anymore. We went back to the trailer, and put him in a snaffle bit--he has been out of that almost a year, but his Myler combo bit was clearly pissing him clean off. We proceeded as normal after that, and things got back to normal.


Today, just Jodi and I went out for a short ride together, and Fred determined that when he is in the lead, he is anti-markers on the side of the road. All he did was snort it and look at it funny, but I like to mark these occasions to recall when my horses act a fool.

This is one of the caves we stopped at yesterday--we had lunch there.

My pics are all out of whack, but blogger is not cooperating. This is Fred having a snack.
The tie-line at camp.
The picnic table. Yeah, this is not interesting, is it?
Radar needs a haircut. Maybe this will remind me to tend to that--he looks silly and I think he is embarrassed.
See how contrite Target looks here? He was likely hoping that Barry does not leave him out there to die, after his little episode.
Mom and Jodi--interesting facial expressions, aren't they?




The scene of the explosion, just before it happened.
I do not think Radar is ever tied anywhere without doing something goofy with his reins. Maybe he was showing off that he is back in his snaffle bit
Twist wants everyone to know that he was the good one.
Barry, about an hour post-pitching, with his admirers and their mother. He was self-medicating. I think he needed help to get up--his ankle is hurt, as is his hip and his butt, and he has bruises he does not understand on his inner thigh. If he had as much experience getting pitched as I do, he would know full well those are horn and pommel bruises---he is lucky he has me to tell him these things.


You can see from these photos how the trails are covered up pretty well by leaves. And it is loud to ride through it, but with temps in the mid 60s, it really was beautiful riding--I will take that over 100 degree rides all day long.



We rode about 4-4.5 hours and made it back to camp for dinner. Ed still cannot ride since his shoulder surgery, so he polish the aluminum on his trailer and just relaxed. Then he got stuck grilling dinner, which was steaks and chicken and a whole pile of Adrianna's food. I was too worn out to eat. Linda and Randy were still hoping to come down, but things worked against them. They did come down for dinner and brought pizza and hung out for a few hours. By 8 pm we were all practically nodding off in our chairs, and by 9 we were all retired to bed. I stuck it out long enough to watch Saturday Night Live, but not even all of that, I do not think.


And now, for real, I am sending in my power shot to be cleaned and fixed as most of these photos really suck.