My life with Haily has been a bit of a challenge since Mid-Summer of 2012. She started having sore back issues that continued to get worse no matter what I did. So we went back on the great saddle hurt. Tried about every saddle my friends had and even bought a few. Nothing was working she just kept getting worse even when I quit riding her. That was when I found as AWESOME vet clinic just North and East of Lincoln. One of the vets was an acupuncturist and an Equine Chiro. She started Haily on treatment to fix her pelvis that just refused to stay where it belonged. 3 trips and 3 months later we seem to be winning the battle. In the month of May I put 30 miles on her in a new EZ Fit Treeless Saddle. And her pelvis stayed in the vet told me to get her legged back up SLOWLY. Shooting for the Mid September Endurance ride in Admire KS. The beginning of June I took her to my Local Chiro in Maryville MO and her pelvis was still in did a quick 6 mile ride at Mozingo after the appointment. I put over 9 miles on her at Honey Creek on June 9th and NO sore back. I am going to continue to use the EZ Fit saddle for another month before I cut up my fancy sheepskin saddle cover to fit it.

My bestest vacation ever :) August 9th thru August 18th This is my current favorite dream vacation of all times. I was able to spend quality time with my family, childhood friends, and my Awesome Haily. We left all loaded up in my new LQ trailer on Thursday August 9th and went as far as Harlan County Dam. There is a horse camping area on the eastern side of the lake just south of the Republican River Bridge. This camping area is called Perkerneck and has a very primitive camping area but lots of horse trails. With a nice Full LQ trailer primitive is not an issue :) We got to Perkerneck about 3 so I was able to go out and do a nice 2 hour ride. I made it to the pond then turned around and did the other loops back. Ended up being almost 9 miles, this is the kind of trail I am not usually crazy about as it is for the most part out in the open. But it had awesome views of the lake and was just different kinda like a mini Kanopolis. Left for my childhood riding buddies house early on Friday the 10th. We of course had to get lost and went about 30 miles on washboard gravel road before I broke down and called Tammy to get GOOD directions. Haily had been in the trailer for hours without water so we stopped at the fairgrounds in Kiowa let her out for a while and she drank about 4 gallons of water. Then off to Tammy’s awesome horse home. She has the type of place all horse owners dream of having. She had a very nice barn with big stalls and turn outs. 2 nice sized pastures, an indoor, and an outdoor arena. And if that is not enough she has a gorgeous home too. Once we got to talking it was like we had seen each other last week not forty years ago  Saturday was BBQ at Wayne’s house with my daughter Andrea her hubby Steve and grandson Tristen, my Dad, some of Wayne and Barbs kids. Ate too much visited and played horse shoes. Sunday was the day for my hometown Reunion for Idledale, Colorado. Raym was making his famous MO river catfish so we headed out early. It was really awesome to see so many of my childhood friends some of them I had not seen for almost 40 years. Everyone had changed to the point I had to ask who they were! After the reunion we went back to Tammy’s for our last night in that area, Tristen came with us as he wanted to go camp in the mountains with us. On Monday morning we load up and headed up to Grand Lake with Wayne, Barb, Dad, Raym, Tristen, Haily and I. What a trip for poor flat land Raym driving my diesel with the BIG LQ trailer. I-70 to our turn off has the steepest grade allowed for an interstate. Then we exited off onto highway 40 and did the Berthoud Pass road, just had to keep reminding myself to not look down and we did okay! That was a very long slow 40 miles! We finally got to our camping spot near Grand Lake in the mid afternoon, Winding River Resort is an awesome place to horse camp, my only complaint is almost all the trails are out and back and I like loops. I headed out on Tuesday morning for a trail ride about 11, with Haily barefoot, this was a mistake. We only got about 2.5 miles out and we had to turn around as she was getting sore. About a mile from camp we have a Black Bear cross our trail about 50 yard ahead. Haily at this point cannot smell the bear and it looks like a big black dog to her to why are we stopping when my hay and water is only a mile away. I on the other hand am trying to stay very clam and figure out what I should do! So I decide to first take pictures  Must have been shaking some as they are blurry and I should have zoomed in. When the bear finally realized we where watching him he decide to come see what we are! So I decided we needed to look big and mean. I yelled and whipped my Rommel around and it worked he headed back into the woods. When we got to the spot where the bear was Haily must have been able to smell him because I got a little Arab Attitude at that point but her tummy won out and she headed back to camp. On Wednesday I planned on heading up to Granite Fall an 8.5 mile one way trip. Put Haily’s boots on the Gloves on the front took over and hour the renegades on the back went on in about 1 minute. I am defiantly going to sell my gloves and get more renegades. Rode around camp for a while making sure the boots would stay on and making sure Haily was adjusting to the altitude okay. Off we go on some pretty easy trail we are trotting some and having a good time when we get to a major road crossing (trail ridge road to Estes Park) and it looks like my trail ended. I looked for a trail head but never dawned on me I was supposed to ride though a very busy cars rest/parking area. So I went back to camp disappointed I had only gotten about 8 miles in instead of 17. On Thursday I talked with my neighbors at the campground and found out how to get to the falls so off we went. This was one of the most Challenging trails I have ever been on you go up and up forever, over and around rocks and ditches. There are also lots of hikers and back packers. Some just do not have a clue what to do when meeting a horse. Two guys tried to “hide” behind a tree I had to ask them to step out Haily knew they were they and figured since they were hiding there plan was to eat her! Our elevation was just over 8,000 feet at the beginning of the trail and we climbed to almost 10,000 at the falls. It was a great check of Haily’s condition. I thought she was VERY tired but she was pulling my leg as she was more than happy to run all the way home :) Of course with it all being down hill we walked or should I say we power walked most the way back to camp. About ½ mile from camp we come around a corner and Haily is about nose to nose with a big cow moose. Moose is not concerned at all but Haily was not a happy horse! I rang my wildlife bell and the moose went back into the woods. This was our last ride at Grand Lake sure wish I could have gotten more miles in but what we did not was defiantly quality miles. The wranglers for the dude horses and the other horse people at the campground were very impressed Haily and I had done all our miles totally alone. The trip home was pretty uneventful I drove until we got about 100 miles east of Denver so Raym did not have to deal with the steep highway or the Denver traffic. We got to Perkerneck about 6 so it was too late for a ride and Raym wanted to get an early start so I did not get to do the trails on the way home. I wanted to do 75 miles for the vacation but only got in 45 but I am still a very happy camper :) August 4 2012 If I remember right this was a short tip around Indian Caves (the LD loop) it was a little slick due to rain the day before and I did not want to take a chance of Haily or I getting hurt before vacation. 7.24 Miles July 28th and 29th Kim Koenig the wonderful lady that bred/raised/trained Haily had a Clinic at her house on the 28th. So I trailered Haily up there and really enjoyed seeing her work a horse and even more seeing her help a newbie learn how to work with her young stallion. Then afterwards we all went over to Griswold man what an awesome ride. This is a very challenging place to ride if I went alone I am sure I would be lost over and over again! We only did 6.79 miles. I can see why Kim’s horses end up in such great shape this is one challenging place to ride! Then on Sunday I met Janet at Honey Creek she trimmed Haily then we did 8.99 miles. July 21st thru July 24th Decided to do the Perry Sunflower MOTDRA CTR Ride. Went down on Friday after work set up put did not go out and ride as it was late. On Saturday morning went out on the Orange long loop and had a very nice fun quick ride. When we got back Haily’s feet were a little chewed up so I decided she should wear her boot for the LD the next day. Took me over 2 hours to get the boots on they just do not fit unless she has just been trimmed by a pro. She had not been trimmed for a long time! Sunday dawned and she was totally 3 legged lame for the second time in 2 months. The ride vet and a rider vet both agreed she was leaking joint fluid. Did not want to mess with that so I loaded her up and took of to for K-State. $800 later and 1 extra day of vacation and they decided it was a combo of tics and the boots that made her lame. The fluid was a bad reaction to the 20 or so tics I had pulled off her. She had x-ray and all kinds of tests done and she is in great shape her joints are awesome. Total Ride miles for this weekend 11.4 Miles July 13th thru July 15th. Got my new LQ trailer in Ill the last weekend in June so decided I should go try it out my first long weekend at Turkey Creek Ranch in Northeastern Nebraska. We got to our campsite earlier enough I could was able to go out for a ride after getting all set up. Of course this does not take long with an LQ trailer:) and a nice campground with corrals for your horse. The trails there are very manicured wide without a “thing” to step over! We did not even get to actually cross the creeks there was either a bridge or a culvert at every creek crossing. Ride day one was 5.07 miles a nice quite ride. A lot of other riders showed up while I was out riding so the campground ended up pretty full. Raym had lots of neighbors to talk with and Belle to walk so he did not get too bored. We had electric hook ups so the heat was not a big issue for sleep at night. Day 2 I went out after I trimmed Haily’s feet. And something just was not right with her. She was coughing and panting so I decided it was an allergies issue and we came back to camp after only 1.06 miles. I gave her a couple of Benadryl’s and 4 hours off. We went back out again she was growly but not acting like she was earlier and we only did 3.36 miles on this loop. Went out kinda late and did another loop and this one was great we went way out and did a lot of very open area’s that I would have only wanted to do in the evening when it was cooler on this loop we did 5.67 miles, was almost dark when we got back. Then on day 3 we went out for one more awesome loop found a really neat and different trial had to do a little back tracking to find it but it was nice we did 3.43 miles. For a total of 18.59 miles at Turkey Creek. July 7th Went to the Caves very early and did one loop for 7.98 miles before it got hot. July 4th Went over to Indian Caves with Amelia and Power very early to beat the heat and did a nice 7.47 miles. June 30th and July 1st No riding for me this weekend we went to Ill and got my Brand new 2012 Bison 2 Horse LQ Trailer :) we blew 2 tires on the old trailer before even going 100 miles good thing I did not go to the Big River Ride! June 23rd and 24th Did a short ride at home on my Haily trails but they were way to slick so I only got in 3.4 miles for this weekend due to not being able to use the trailer with the BAD tires. This is the first weekend I did not trailer someplace to ride since the first weekend in March! June 16th and 17th This ride weekend was Bev’s idea but she was unable to come with just too much pain. I decided to go anyway as I loved Poosey in March. Janet showed up on Saturday the 16th and I got to meet her new Arab Mule Josie. What a nice molly mule she is! We had a nice ride we rode 15.3 miles. That evening while eating I noticed one of my trailer tires looked weird. They were the same size make and age. But one was skinny and tall the other one looked normal. We decided it probably had a broken belt. On the 17th I rode alone and my heart just was not into it I really missed Bev, I did 13.2 miles then Raym I a drove home very slow worrying about the tire. Had to make a decision when I got home either move up my new LQ plans or buy all new tires for Old Blue.

June 10th: Decided to ride at Honey Creek to find the trail I have been looking for to add a good mile to the Honey Do again someday ride. We got close but I have a better idea of where it is for the next trip down. We had another great conditioning type ride she was good easy to rate and only bulked slightly at the first couple very rocky down hills, cannot say I blame her! She was awesome every time we met up with a group of riders we passed some, met some and even had to let one bunch head home while we headed to the pond loop. I got a little confused on this loop as the some of the signs have lost their arrows and we did a lot of it twice she even handled that perfect. 11.6 miles / 5.5mph June 8th: Decided to ride at the Caves had not been there since we took ribbons down and I thought maybe part of Haily’s issue on Wednesday at home was she needed a good workout. We did two loops got in some great conditioning, the streams are dried up so we did not go as far as I would have liked but did not want to push too hard since I had electro lighted her. She was very well behaved and I did not fight with her at all we still need to work some on who decides when we trot! 13.3 miles / 5.3mph June 6th: First ride at home in a while I wanted to get to the trail near Marty’s and see if we could get any father then the ditch crossing. Elway just had to come with us and to get to that trail I have to go past Ellison’s dogs and that is not a good idea for their dogs or mine. So we just kinda rode around. Haily was being a pain spooking trying to head back home type stuff. Not sure what I need to do to fix this as circling her / serpentines / making her go back nothing was working. Need to visit with Kim on this one. 3.9 miles/ 3.2mph June 1st – 3rd: The lameness issue had me concerned so I made an appointment with the awesome equine chiro/vet in Maryville MO. We knew we had one detour on 136 between Rock Port and Tarkio but were not aware there was another between the T and Maryville. Man my usual 40 mile trip to Maryville was close to 100 miles. Luckily the vet called and was running late so we were not late. Still had to wait at his home (this where he works on horses) for a about an hour and a half. I led Haily around letting her eat on the side of his driveway. She was fascinated with the meadow across the highway from his home. After her treatment which was minimal! Only one hip out slightly she escaped from me while I was writing out the check. Off she went to the meadow; I ran after her and saw her heading into a wooded area. My heart is breaking when I get to the wooded area and there is knee high old barbed wire fence with wire all over the place and no Haily anywhere. Long story short she was “missing” for an hour. We finally find her with the help of a stranger just down the road from the vets visiting with his neighbors horses. Thanks GOD she was not hurt I take her back to the trailer and head home, finding a little better detour home. The vet cleared her for the Centered Riding Clinic I had planned for the 2nd and 3rd so Saturday morning at 5 AM I headed North to Brenda Messick’s for the Clinic. This was an awesome Clinic I am not sure to even begin! We did “ground” work first. Not with the horse but with us, we learned how to visualize which helps with finding what our center is. And some stretches /visualizations to help our bodies be prepared to ride centered. I was in the last group to ride so I got to watch the first 3 groups ride I then knew kinda what to expect. I sure wish Carol could run her magic hands over my leg before every ride not sure what she did but mile leg felt a mile long! Then Carol told me my pelvis was tipped forward. DARN I thought that was the one thing I had down. So I am trying to figure out what right feels like! Then it was on to keeping my pelvis center/ soft eyes / breathing. These are the biggys I am concentrating to first. When we got done with our turn with Carol I asked Brenda if there was a place Haily and I could enjoy a short ride. She sent up down to some CPR ground she rides. After we rode the in and out road Haily did not seem interested in returning back to Brenda’s so we did a loop around the section. This was the neatest gravel for riding a barefoot horse on, Haily ended up the 4 plus miles with perfectly trimmed barefoot hooves. Day 2 we were instructed to work on riding from our center. Not sure I got all this concept but trying to do it really helps with my posting the trot. All in all this was a great Clinic for me I have a lot to work on and some tools to help me along the way. 8.7 miles/3.5mph May 25th – May 28th: The Jo Tate Endurance Ride, this was to be Haily’s first AERC ride. What a weekend! First we get super lost once we arrived in the Flag Springs conservation Area we drove around the area for almost 3 hours, before a kindly sole lead me to the ride camp. It was dark before I got parked. Haily does not eat or drink well on the road so I elected to not ride on Saturday since it was a 2 day ride I would just ride on Sunday. I did go out and do a short fun ride on Saturday with Dedi and her new horse. We picked the wrong trail to ride as this one was mainly road but I did get to see some of the Jo Tate Trail. Sunday dawned and we got already timely and I got her all warmed up she is calm and being a very good girl. We trotted out for Leon and we are off for our first AERC LD. I left with Triny and did not get ¼ a mile and my stirrup falls off! I send Triny on and hook her back up. We go another ¼ a mile and if comes off again. I give up and lead her back to camp to have it permanently put back on. Barry Cole and Leon are still in the vet check area. Barry jumps right in to help with the stirrup. He high tails it back to his rig to get another tie for the other side I walk away with Haily and Leon tells me to STOP. She looks lame! Oh man was she lame she could put no weight on her back left. Barry gets my boots off we are hoping for something minor like a rock no such luck she is lame. So I pull from the ride. Never did figure out why she was lame went to the chiro the next weekend but still no answers. 5.9 miles / 3.0mph May 18th – May 20th: Brenda Trujillo a lady I met thought the horsetales Yahoo group invited me to go down to Kanopolis with her group. Her Hubby wanted this trip to celebrate his birthday. So I invited Chris Anton to ride down with me. Had a nice trip down stopped and picked her and Ali up north of Topeka and off we went. We never did get in a loop with Brenda and company but Chris and I got in a few nice loops, I went though the water cross almost calm and they were a big issue with Charlie. I still have to remind myself now and then Haily is not Charlie! We had a nice weekend with great company and Haily got some good miles on her and my confidence jumped up a notch or two! 27.7 miles / 4.0mph May 14th: Haily first Open MOTDRA Ride: The ride was the benefit ride at Pomona Lake. This is the flattest ride on our schedule but also very technical. My plan was to leave last and do “our ride” but I left at my minute instead and paid for it with an unplanned dismount. I kept trying to keep us alone and it just was not working. Haily has an awesome 7 to 8 mph trot, get her faster than that and she gets hollow and choppy. Since most horses trot faster than that I figured alone would work best. After the dismount I gave up and stayed with Eric and crew for the rest of the first loop and the entire 2nd loop. We ended up in 3rd place in the heavy weight division and actually got 3rd place overall. An awesome placing for her first Open ride! GPS shut off for a while so stats not “right”. 26.1 / 5.10mph My 9th: I wanted to give the glove a test since we might need them at Pomona and we would need them at Jo Tate. Did a nice ride at home tested the gloved on hills up and down at a trot and lope they worked great. I struggle with getting them on and off but it will get easier as I do it more. We also found a way across the big ditch which opens up a lot of area for me to ride in. 4.22 miles / 3.4mph May 6th: Had an appointment with Randy to have Haily trimmed and have her fit with boots. He had 2 trainees for the weekend so this was a good opportunity for them and me to learn more about both trimming and boot fitting. She ended up with size 1’s on the front and 0.5’s on the rear. On the way home I decided to do a loop at Nodaway Valley Park since it is a long drive from home and I was driving right past it. What an awesome ride on my best girl. She zip through the trails like a deer running for it life. Unfortunately a storm was moving in so I had to cut it short at just under 5 miles. 4.63 miles 4.4mph May 5th: This was take the ribbons down day. Deb and Rosemarie showed up to help since I only had 1 day to get them all down I was very pleased to have the help. This was the fastest take down ribbons in history of taking down ribbons. We had a great time I was for the most part the tail end of the group and only had to stop and turn around a few times when all 3 of us missed a ribbon. 19.1 miles / 3.66 mph May 4th: I rode in the driveway and out on the road/fields a little tonight in the bareback pad. I was feeling very secure and comfortable this time even did some trotting. 1.48Miles / 3.3 mph April 29th : Rosemarie one of the MOTDRA members horse Skylar came up lame before the Indian Caves Ride so she rode Haily in the 15 mile LD Ride. Haily did a great job of carrying a total stranger on her around the very challenging trails at the Caves. And to top it all of we had cold rainy weather. Haily placed in 2nd in the ride. April 21st and 22nd: Our next mission was marking trails for the MOTDRA ride at Indian Caves on April 29th. Haily has taken ribbons down but never put them up. When we hang ribbons we tie them to clothes pens then hang them on cloths hangers and attach to our saddles. Since I knew I was making alone on Saturday I was a little concerned she was not going to love all those horse eating plastic monsters all over her. You would think by now I would quit worrying about Haily getting upset over things she was AWESOME as usual and we set out to mark the long 12.5 mile red loop. We came across a lady ponying a horse; she was lost and trying to get back to camp ASAP. Her sister had come off and the horse had headed for the timber. So my duties of marking had to end and we got the rider back to the trail head. It was late and a friend of mine was there and she offered to help on Sunday so I decided to wait until Sunday to go back to marking trail. Ruthann on her trusty paint Honey and I went out bright and early to mark the rest of the trails. Ended up being a good thing I had not done any more marking on Saturday as some drunken jerk cowboys had taken down about ½ the ribbons I had put out! Despite them and the lady needing help we got the trails marked! 17.48 miles 3.4 mph April 17th: Next update will start with another Wednesday night ride at home, we had a lot of rain in the last 5 days so going out on the Haily Hills trails was not safe. So we did the go around each field/pasture behind my house. Haily did great she is no longer going into the famous Arab Jig when she thinks we are heading for home. My older Rottie just had to come with us. After the 4th field we went around she decided to take the short way home. So a few minutes later I get a call from my hubby wondering if we are alright since Elway came home alone. Always good to have someone who will come looking for you if something bad happens. 5.01 miles / 3.4 mph

Ever since my awesome trip to Indian Cave in October 2011 I have not been keeping my blog up to date. So I am going to do one long entry to get me to mid April of 2012. Haily got a spot with white hairs from the Indian Cave week, so I decided it was time to have a pro look at the fit on my Specialized Saddle. In Mid November we made a trip to Kanopolis State Park in Kansas and met up with Priscilla Lindsey. She fit the saddle for me and we did two nice long loops and Haily seemed happy and was moving nice. We did have a little soreness on each side of her spine, Priscilla told me to file down the edges of the fitting pad by her spine and that should fix it. I had truck problems on the way home cost me $1,400 to fix the truck and 2 days vacation. I “got” to use Usrider, what a wonderful company not sure what I would have done without them! Haily and I traded having not “be able” to ride issues for most of December. I had pneumonia and she had rain rot when I was better. I did finally take her up to Waubonsie for a ride on December 31st. We did a very short but nice alone ride. She was not herself, I had attitude going down the hills. Then on the 1st I went over to Brownville and did a nice 5 mile loop and she did great. So on January 5th the forecast was for 70’s, riding buddy Amelia and I took a day off and rode at the Caves. She did pretty well still have some downhill attitude. By Saturday she was sore in the back with a lump to match. So she got the next weekend off. I tried borrowing a friend Wintec but with it she was Cujo horse and that is just not her style. Met up with my barefoot trimmer Janet at Honey Creek on the 15th, we did a loop after Janet trimmed her. Went back to using the Specialized Saddle she was not a happy horse, she did not want to be in front and she was walking like a 90 year old Quarter Horse. Then Bev showed up and I was getting big time attitude, I knew at this point I have a big saddle fit problem. She was sore for 2 weeks with a BIG bump on her loin. I took her to a chiro and he said her pelvis was out and she had a few other issues he fixed her up and told me to ride her lightly the next day. The next day I saddle her up with the specialized and man do I have an unhappy horse. It finally registered with me this saddle is not going to work! So the next day I try out the grandkids abetta saddle. She liked it and we had a nice quite slow short ride. So I put the Specialized up for sale. But she was still getting a little sore. So I called in a massage therapist and she gave Haily a wonderful massage and told me she had the tightest back she had ever worked on. She also showed me how to work her back to relieve the tightness. I was not willing to use the Abetta for Endurance/CTR as it has a horn and that IMHO is just not safe for me. So I decided to give Linda Cole’s treeless saddle a try. Haily and I both loved the saddle from the first time we used it! February 26th was the first time I used the Stunni Treeless Saddle
While I was waiting to get the saddle from Linda I started hiking and mapping the deer trails behind my house. I decided to call these trails the Haily Hills. They are steep/wild and a kick to ride!
Stunni Treeless Saddle: This Very Awesome Very cheap saddle got us moving again! Here is a quick write up on each ride since we finally got a good fitting saddle
February 26th was the first time I used the Stunni Treeless Saddle
February 26th: Met Bev at the Cave and we rode only the River side including some of the non horse trails mapping some area’s for her CTR the end of April. 10.19 Miles
March 2nd: Haily was full of piss and vinegar not sure if it was the wind or what fun ride. Miles 3.16
March 5th: The weatherman was forecasting very high/cold winds to hit around noon. So I decided to head over to Brownville and do a loop with Amelia before the weather hit. I had Haily saddled up going down the access road by 8 we did walk trot transitions all the way down. Then we went up on the Tanner ground on top of the Bluff. This was not as “neat” as I thought it would be up there so I will not go again. Then I went over to Amelia’s. And we headed north on the trace if the wind started up we would turnaround and have it at our backs. The cold and wind did not hit until I had Haily in the Trailer heading home. 17.55 Miles
March 9th: Wild ride in the Haily Hills so will go where ever I ask her! 3.62 Miles
March 16th – March 18th: Haily got this weekend off as I went with Cole’s to Arkansas and did an Endurance LD on one of their horses. This was the WOW ride and the trails and the area are AWESOME!!! This ride is on my schedule for next year it is so worth the long trip down there!
March 24th: I was expecting my Skito pad to come today so I put off riding so I could try it out. Finally gave up and it shows up just as I got her saddled up so I resaddled! Decided to go out and ride east of the house, had no problems with her until we got to the momma cows on both sides of the road. Guess she just does not like cows. I got a snort and a spin but we both lived thought it and made it to the other side. We rode in the meadow that follows Rainbow Drive. She did not love the Skito if we went down a hill she had the rear action going telling me she was not happy. Coming back we met up with the gray QH and his rider that shares a fence line with Haily. 5.10 Miles
March 25th: Rode with Janet and Bev at Poosey after Janet trimmed Haily. This is the first time riding here man what a nice place the trails took me back in time. Lots of rocky water crossing complete with zigging and zagging through the trees. We are going back when we can camp a night and try to find all 17 miles of trails 11.89 Miles
March 28th: Did a short ride in the yard and back on the gravel road using the LJ bareback pad with the skito. I just do not have the balance at this point to ride in this pad for very far and or fast! 1.48 Miles
March 31st & April 1st: My first camping trip with Haily for the year we went to the Caves did 2 loops on the 31st with Patti mainly mushroom hunting. Then a quick loop alone on the 1st while I was out Bev showed up and went out without me. She called me and we met at the Charlie shortcut then did an awesome long loop. 29.27 miles
April 5th & 6th: On the 5th went with Amelia to Waubonsie, she rode Star we had a wonderful ride with some trotting and a little loping 5.26 Miles. On the 6th I went over to the Caves and did a quick alone ride as Amelia was held up. Then did a second loop with Mark Holmes and Amelia on Cowgirl (her moms mule), then a 3rd loop with Amelia on Power and Judy on Cowgirl. Haily was great the whole way and did all that was asked of her! 12.2 Miles
April 11th: Awesome at home ride back on the Haily Hills. I need to go back and work on them there are lots of trees down. She went through/over/up/down everything I asked her too. Not sure what I did right to get such an Awesome horse! 4.01 miles

Day 1 of the Distance Derby Browville Loop

Haily and I went over to Brownville my plan was to ride the Cooper Road. But when we got there the wind was bad and it was cold. So I decided to ride her into town first visit Vicki then go over to Amelia's. Turned out to be a great horse eating monster day as there were lots of them in town with the wind blowing. The worst was an American Flag up on a pole. Since I could not send her up the pole to sniff it all I could do was to have to stand quietly by it. Hoping this is what Kim would have done. It did take a bit and it was making lots of crazy noises between the flag itself and the rope hitting the pole. She did finally figure out she was not going to get to leave the monster until she relaxed. Then a little farther and it was a horse eating manhole cover. We circled it rather nicely just wish that is what I was asking for :) She finally put her nose down a sniffed it and off we went to Vicki's. Of course i turned up the wrong road and had to back track as it was a dead end. Then finally made it up to Vicki's but did not want to ride up on her porch so I am not sure if she was home or not. Then off to Amelia's and man did I mess up I went to the end of mains street thinking I would be at her road instead I was at the 67 intersection. So it was either go all the way back down or go down Highway 136. I had a good shoulder so decided on the later. Haily as usual did great even with the traffic flying by. We came to a farm road so I decided to take that. It was a neat way to go but we ran into a fence so we went through the timber following deer trails it was very challenging but as usual Haily did great and we ended back up on 136 close to Amelia's road. When we got to Amelia's she was not home either so we headed back to the trailer and came home.

Short Ride at Waubonsie Alone

Had plans to ride with the Amigos but they both canceled so I decided to go up and ride at Waubonsie alone. Ridding alone is a big step for me in my confidence building, especially when I have not ridden Haily in over 6 weeks and it is windy and cool two things that can even make the best horse a little goofy. But not my awesome Haily she did great we went around the campground for a little then did the very short loop out of camp. There were some horses in the corral at the far end of the campground and that did not even make her goofy. The trails were a little greasier than I thought they would be but once you got in the timber they were nice and dry. so we then took off on the side trail and did my favorite loop. I was having issues with the saddle pad coming out the back and the wind was really picking up so I decided to call it a day.

My 9 day Indian Caves Adventrue

My Indian Cave Adventure
I am finally on the right track!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/123911068
If you click on the next arrow you can see each rides stats.
Not sure where to start guess the beginning  Any of you that know me well are probably tired of hearing about how the flooding has messed with my summer. When I realized I was not going to be able to help with the spooking at the Caves this year I was really bummed. Then I came up with a plan. I would take a week off then I could help out the two biggest weekends. I could take Haily do the 145 mile commute and have a week of riding, bonding and spooking. My original plan was to ride twice a day and really push Haily to build on her condition, so we could go to OK over Thanksgiving and do our first LD ride. Things changed big time and for the better!

Day 1 Friday October 14th: High of 67 degrees and a low of 46 pretty good camping riding weather. But by the time I got camp set up it was too close to spooking time so no riding day one. But I did meet a new friend. Sara she came up out of trail 6 behind the Jones with their mules and Tom pointed over to me and told her I knew the trails and could help her get around. So I went over to talk with her when she told me she was from St Joe I asked if she knew Thea and she does so we became instant riding buddies. Actually Thea was supposed to come up with her but Spirit had a mild colic and being the great horse mom she is she did not take the chance of hurting Spirit.
Day 2 Saturday October 15th: High of 74 and a low of 35 still good weather getting a little cold for sleeping in the back seat of my pickup though. Sara and I set out to ride Trail 6 then the knob then back up 5 to camp. Haily was not listening to me when I wanted her to walk she was prancey and bouncy. This started the new plan for the week! Then coming up 5 she stopped cold with her right front leg in the air. Got off could not find anything she took a few steps and was back to her bouncy self. I did not think a lot about this as she was fine the rest of the day. We went 7.44 miles with a moving pace of 3.8 mph elevation gain of 1,171ft and a average HR of 107, her 10 minute HR was 47. Then off to spooking until after 10:30 it was a long night down in my piece of the hollow all alone.
Day 3 Sunday October 16th: High of 70 low of 40 still great camping and riding weather especially of the middle of October! There was an older couple parked next to Sara and they wanted me to show them the “flat” loop. They must have been at the wrong park Indian Caves does not have a flat loop! The man was having problems with his horse bucking up the hills. The wife could not get her horse to walk up them. So I offered to show them the Charlie loop and lead as I could “make” Haily walk up the hills. The wife’s horse learned real quick just how to walk up the hills  and the man’s horse quit bucking. Haily did the lame thing on her front foot 2 more times now I was worried! They were happy with the loop and said they had a nice ride. I clean haily hoof out with dawn and a scrub brush and vinegar when we got back. I could not find a thing. So I put some antibiotic cream and sterile pad then wrapped it with vet wrap (note to self leave the soaking boot in the trailer!). I decided to give her Monday off. 4.77 miles, 3.9 mph elevation gain of 622ft and an average HR of 105 bpm, her 10 minute HR was 47. Then Bev showed up to visit what a great surprise here she is fighting a medical but still takes the time to come up and visit with me! We had a wonderful time visiting and I asked her the big question that had been floating around in my mind for some time. Does she let ever let Cody trot without her asking him to? I was actually surprised when I got a big loud NO! This was finally the last straw I had to establish my leadership role with Haily out on the trail or I was at risk of turning her into another Charlie!
Day 4 Monday October 17th: High of 60 low of 41 still loving the weather! This was a day off for Haily to let the meds work into her hoof. I spent most the day cleaning up all the corrals and the over flow area for all those people that do not clean up after their horse. Really sad I counted 18 wheel barrels of poop and old hay. The rest of the day I spent reading Whole Horse Whole Heart by Mark Rashid another person to reinforce I had to buckle down on the trail and demand we go my direction and pace at all time!
Day 5 Tuesday October 18th: High of 54 low of 41 good day for leadership 101 training. I put Haily gloves on her front feet and decided I would get her settled down before we left camp. Well that took 30 minutes then off we went. Too bad my gps did not count all the circles we did as Haily just did not want to except I was not going to allow her to trot as she pleased. We did the 5A loop and by the time we got back she was doing much better. I was practicing my good horsemanship skills I have been leaning with Janet too. Haily goes into this awesome walk it is very fast and if I am in the correct position it is like we are floating. No issue with her right front foot so it must have been something sore in her sole or frog. 4.71 miles with a moving pace of 3.9mph and an Average HR of 114, elevation gain of 519ft. Her 10 minute HR was 46.
Day 6 Wednesday October 19th: High of 49 low of 30 this was not the “best” weather day of the week but it did stay dry! Today it only took about 10 minutes to get her calmed down and out of camp. She did much better listening to me on this loop and we had a great time we did the 8/8A loop and she powered up the steep 8 trails without a stop. We rode late in the day and it was cold when we got back I sure was glad I had her cooler and a nice blanket for her on this cold night. 5.59 miles with an average moving pace of 4.4 mph and an average HR of 151bpm and an elevation gain of 885ft. Her 10 minute HR was 48.

Day 7 Thursday October 20th: High of 55 low of 28 this was a VERY cold night in the truck at 5:45 I started up the truck and warmed up as I was freezing. Note to self get a warmer sleeping bag! We were able to go right out of camp at a very nice relaxed, head down walk! We did the thigh-master loop today, I thought I was going up the steep part but ending up going down. 5.35 miles with an average moving pace of 4.0 mph and an elevation gain of 921ft. Her 10 minute HR was 49.

Day 8 Friday October 21th: High of 70 low of 26 this was a VERY cold night for me too. We waited around for Amelia until about 11:30 then went out about 15 minutes after Tammy Vasa and her friends left. We caught up with the group at the 8/8A intersection, I saw a wonderful training op and decided to go the opposite way they did. They went the high road we went the low road. She did not give me any grief going on 8A alone! Then we did the long knob loop it was awesome. For the first time in years (outside an arena) I asked for and got a nice controlled lope  We also trotted from one end of the knob to the other it was awesome. Wonderful ride on a wonderful horse on great trails! 7.83 miles, with a an average moving pace of 4.4mph, an average HR of 114bpm and elevation gain of 1,263ft. Her 10 minute HR was 48. Bev showed up to help me spook sure made the time go by faster to have a buddy to talk with. Kevin had me try out a new horse to spook with tonight not sure I would have wanted to do that if Bev had not been with me. We took both horses to our hollow. Then new horse Chester was a 4 year old and he did a wonderful job!
Day 8 Saturday October 21st: High of 68 low of 38 much better temps for sleeping in an unheated truck. We took the Charlie loop today (no short cuts) and I asked for more trotting up the hills to build some endurance, she also trotted the last ½ mile back to camp so I could check her 10 minute rate. 5.44 miles with an average pace of 4.3mph and an elevation gain of 1,023ft, average HR of 119bpm. Her 10 minute HR was 60bpm.
Day 9 Sunday October 22nd: This was my saddest day for two reasons I had to come home and the drive from Plattsmouth NE to Watson MO was a shock! It was like a desert so sad everywhere you looked sand and destroyed buildings.

I ended up the week with a few tack issues that I have to resolve before I even consider doing the LD in OK, My girth is too long and it makes the saddle go down on her neck going down the steep hills. And she stared getting a “rub” spot just below her withers. Not sure if the two are related but I have already contacted Sue to do a Saddle fit with us in the next few weeks. So all in all it was a great week Haily spent 3 days camping alone with me and did not whinny once for another horse. I put her in the corral at night and moved my truck up by her. Haily is defiantly a KEEPER!!!