Terri visited Dexter this morning, and I used my iPhone to capture it on video. My first video experience--at least, the first intentional one!
Ignore the audio, I was pretty excited that I was using the video camera on purpose! I seem to be able to create and upload video but I can't see that I have an aplication where I can edit it.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
What season is this, anyway???
It's really been hard to tell that this is autumn, as we never really had summer. Seemed like winter all summer long, and now that the leaves are starting to fall, we are getting sunshine and temps in the 100s. The horses are really confused as they started growing winter coats early, and now they are wishing they hadn't.
After the last post, with the chilly foggy weather, we took another try at Pt Reyes, this time on a Friday, which meant we could ride on the Bear Valley trail (closed to horses on weekends and holidays). After several years of cautious riding, we are finally getting a teensy bit bolder and are pushing the horses more. Not that they are breaking much of a sweat. But we got a fabulously beautiful day, and decided to try Glen Trail, a trail we hadn't ridden before as it starts out a bit steep. But in our new brave frame of mind, we headed up it anyway, and it turned out to be a gorgeous trail that wasn't all that steep after the first stretch. Cowboy always loves exploring new territory so he was ecstatic even though it was certainly more strenuous than our usual routes. We passed Glen Camp and got to the beach side of Stewart's Trail, just as it drops down to Wildcat Beach. It really does drop, too--almost a mile of steep downhill. But it ends up on a gorgeous beach, especially when you get a fabulous day like we had. I think this was 3 weeks ago.
Wildcat Beach
Cowboy looking none too pleased about his beach experience, with Dexter in the background.
Of course, what goes down must go back up, and that steep downhill turned into an even steeper uphill on the way back. We took mercy on the horses and led them up the really steep part. It was steep enough that we climbed for 5 minute stretches, then took a 1 or 2 minute break to catch our breath.
The next Wednesday, Dexter got a trip to Davis to check on his "clicky" hip. He has had a definite click in his hip or stifle, hard to tell which, and frequently has a sort of skipping gait that he often warms up out of. It seems to be getting more pronounced, so Laura decided to try to get to the bottom of it and see if there was some treatment he should be getting, or if he should be on restricted activity.
Dex was a real champ and took his exam and all the waiting in stride. He got poked, prodded and trotted around. Of course he seemed perfectly sound for quite a while, and then finally he did a little skipping for the head of orthopedics, who had apparently never seen a horse move quite like that. Very reassuring. So Dexter earned a hip x-ray, which meant that he got his right hip shaved. Also that he got sedated, so he is probably still wondering why the right side of his butt is cooler than the left. The x-ray didn't show much according to the reading, and after a full day of hanging out at Davis during a heat wave, they concluded that it was more of a gait abnormality than a lameness issue, and that the best treatment was to get him really fit, so more strenuous work was the answer. Dexter wants a second opinion.
We got back out on the trail the following weekend after the fog rolled back in, and instead of being hot, we were back in our winter garb. The higher we climbed on Horse Trail, the colder and damper it got, until we were finally in the cloud bank. As we headed for Sky Trail, a stiff breeze came up and that was the final straw. We headed back down the mountain to Bear Valley where it was at least dry, and took a short ride down Rift Zone trail.
So this weekend we headed to Five Brooks and we are now back to summer again, with temps in the 90s inland. Fortunately, it was only in the 80s at Pt Reyes. We've been wanting to ride Alamea Trail as it looks like a good alternative to Stewart's Trail if you want to go to the beach, so we took that trail just past Firtop. Turns out to be a beautiful trail, not too steep, but it is single track and hugs the side of a steep mountain. It's fine if you can focus on what's ahead of you and not on the steep drop-off to your left! Just keep that horse moving forward, no spooking allowed on this one. We made it to Old Out Road, which is another nice trail, and rode that a bit until it, too, dropped steeply toward the coast. Apparently it meets with Coast Trail and from there you can go to Wildcat Lake and Wildcat Beach but we didn't have time to go that far. Coming back, we went back to Stewart's Trail instead of Alamea, but that was such a steep climb that we'll just brave the cliffs of Alamea next time.
View from Stewart's Trail.
We were running later than usual by the time we headed back and came down Greenpicker trail instead of Stewart's, saving ourselves about a mile and a half. Greenpicker has some really steep and rocky stretches and we usually avoid it, but it was dry and like I said, we were feeling brave, and it was really a kick. The horses were anxious to get back to the trailer and just charged down that trail, never putting a foot wrong, and we made great time.
Even though we had a long day and a pretty strenuous ride, Cowboy had a burst of energy at the end and decided that everything was scary. He has some abnormal fear of logs and ferns, and every log and fern along the way was cause for snorting and sidestepping. Forget the fauna, my horse is terrified of flora. It's a little disconcerting to be bopping down the trail at a good clip and suddenly find yourself 10 feet to one side because there is a fern alongside the trail.
Dexter and his previous owner, Terri, are the subject of my latest story just published in the Sonoma County Horse Journal, so check it out. It's free at local tack and feed stores, and it will eventually get posted on the Horse Council's website at www.sonomacountyhorsecouncil.org.
After the last post, with the chilly foggy weather, we took another try at Pt Reyes, this time on a Friday, which meant we could ride on the Bear Valley trail (closed to horses on weekends and holidays). After several years of cautious riding, we are finally getting a teensy bit bolder and are pushing the horses more. Not that they are breaking much of a sweat. But we got a fabulously beautiful day, and decided to try Glen Trail, a trail we hadn't ridden before as it starts out a bit steep. But in our new brave frame of mind, we headed up it anyway, and it turned out to be a gorgeous trail that wasn't all that steep after the first stretch. Cowboy always loves exploring new territory so he was ecstatic even though it was certainly more strenuous than our usual routes. We passed Glen Camp and got to the beach side of Stewart's Trail, just as it drops down to Wildcat Beach. It really does drop, too--almost a mile of steep downhill. But it ends up on a gorgeous beach, especially when you get a fabulous day like we had. I think this was 3 weeks ago.
Wildcat Beach
Cowboy looking none too pleased about his beach experience, with Dexter in the background.Of course, what goes down must go back up, and that steep downhill turned into an even steeper uphill on the way back. We took mercy on the horses and led them up the really steep part. It was steep enough that we climbed for 5 minute stretches, then took a 1 or 2 minute break to catch our breath.
The next Wednesday, Dexter got a trip to Davis to check on his "clicky" hip. He has had a definite click in his hip or stifle, hard to tell which, and frequently has a sort of skipping gait that he often warms up out of. It seems to be getting more pronounced, so Laura decided to try to get to the bottom of it and see if there was some treatment he should be getting, or if he should be on restricted activity.
Dex was a real champ and took his exam and all the waiting in stride. He got poked, prodded and trotted around. Of course he seemed perfectly sound for quite a while, and then finally he did a little skipping for the head of orthopedics, who had apparently never seen a horse move quite like that. Very reassuring. So Dexter earned a hip x-ray, which meant that he got his right hip shaved. Also that he got sedated, so he is probably still wondering why the right side of his butt is cooler than the left. The x-ray didn't show much according to the reading, and after a full day of hanging out at Davis during a heat wave, they concluded that it was more of a gait abnormality than a lameness issue, and that the best treatment was to get him really fit, so more strenuous work was the answer. Dexter wants a second opinion.
We got back out on the trail the following weekend after the fog rolled back in, and instead of being hot, we were back in our winter garb. The higher we climbed on Horse Trail, the colder and damper it got, until we were finally in the cloud bank. As we headed for Sky Trail, a stiff breeze came up and that was the final straw. We headed back down the mountain to Bear Valley where it was at least dry, and took a short ride down Rift Zone trail.
So this weekend we headed to Five Brooks and we are now back to summer again, with temps in the 90s inland. Fortunately, it was only in the 80s at Pt Reyes. We've been wanting to ride Alamea Trail as it looks like a good alternative to Stewart's Trail if you want to go to the beach, so we took that trail just past Firtop. Turns out to be a beautiful trail, not too steep, but it is single track and hugs the side of a steep mountain. It's fine if you can focus on what's ahead of you and not on the steep drop-off to your left! Just keep that horse moving forward, no spooking allowed on this one. We made it to Old Out Road, which is another nice trail, and rode that a bit until it, too, dropped steeply toward the coast. Apparently it meets with Coast Trail and from there you can go to Wildcat Lake and Wildcat Beach but we didn't have time to go that far. Coming back, we went back to Stewart's Trail instead of Alamea, but that was such a steep climb that we'll just brave the cliffs of Alamea next time.
View from Stewart's Trail.We were running later than usual by the time we headed back and came down Greenpicker trail instead of Stewart's, saving ourselves about a mile and a half. Greenpicker has some really steep and rocky stretches and we usually avoid it, but it was dry and like I said, we were feeling brave, and it was really a kick. The horses were anxious to get back to the trailer and just charged down that trail, never putting a foot wrong, and we made great time.
Even though we had a long day and a pretty strenuous ride, Cowboy had a burst of energy at the end and decided that everything was scary. He has some abnormal fear of logs and ferns, and every log and fern along the way was cause for snorting and sidestepping. Forget the fauna, my horse is terrified of flora. It's a little disconcerting to be bopping down the trail at a good clip and suddenly find yourself 10 feet to one side because there is a fern alongside the trail.
Dexter and his previous owner, Terri, are the subject of my latest story just published in the Sonoma County Horse Journal, so check it out. It's free at local tack and feed stores, and it will eventually get posted on the Horse Council's website at www.sonomacountyhorsecouncil.org.
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