Drama

This morning, Ruby is off on her left front - head-bobbing at the trot, barely noticeable at the walk.  No obvious injury, heat or swelling.  Trying not to panic here but the possibilities are enough to raise my blood pressure.  It's probably nothing, but wish I knew for sure!

Another Five Miles Down

And another great ride.  Heather and I went back to Lower Green Swamp to ride this morning.  It took about 15 minutes for Ruby to settle into it (in her defense, a deer DID try to eat her last time and there were deer tracks everywhere this morning), but then she was all business.  We started out circling back to Candy when she'd fall behind but Ruby really has no patience for that (WHY are we turning around, just to turn back around???) so instead, she got to graze when it was time to wait.  On our way out, we took the bridge so on the way back I wanted to try the creek.  But...we had a ton of rain the other day so it was much higher and faster.  Instead, I figured I'd take her down to the edge to see if she wanted a drink...but Ruby had other ideas.  She waded into the water and decided to cross.  There were submerged logs so instead of turning her around, I just picked my feet up (it was horse-belly deep!) and let her go.  It was great, getting splashed and knowing that this mare who wouldn't step in a puddle a few weeks ago will now cross small rivers if she thinks that's what I want. 

On our way back, we did a teeny bit of trotting - the fanny pack and trotting do not get along so I'll be looking to buy or configure some kind of saddle bag for my water and other goodies.  Oh, and I should also probably get one of those 'life-proof' cases for my phone...for a minute, I thought the creek was deep enough that Ruby was going to have to swim!

Strava data: 5.1 miles, 1:28 moving time, average pace 3.4 mph...but it also says that our fastest speed was 18.6 mph and that was halfway through the ride - no way.  I plan to keep using Strava, but just for average speed and time, which I may have to verify by other means.  We'll see: https://www.strava.com/activities/122079205

A Day of Firsts

Me and Ruby, Michelle and Guapo, Heather and Candy

Long story (kinda) short, Heather and I followed Michelle and Lee, and their Paso boys, to a relatively new trail in Plant City.  We had a blast!  Ruby led the way over a bridge (our first), we crossed a shallow river (another first), and I came off of Ruby during the ride (the last first).  Ruby was leading when we came up on an oak tree.  It was obvious from her behavior that something was in the brush under the tree, so we let the Pasos pass us, then we followed.  Ruby and I saw the deer at the same time - when it turned to look at us, Ruby started skipping to the left.  I was thrown off balance a bit, and near the end I was laying on her neck...which caused her to spook again.  Perhaps she thought the deer was part cougar and had landed on her? I'll never know.  Anyways, at that point, she began a reining spin to the right throwing me to the left.  I was still hanging on but realized that I wasn't going to be able to right myself, and she couldn't step on me as she was running the other way (and me hanging on was now what was causing this!), so I let go.  She trotted off a little ways, thought about going back to the trailer, but then walked back to the group, phew!  We spent the next 30 minutes or so pulling burrs from the girth and the saddle pad, then went on our merry way.  I didn't hit the ground hard but I may have pulled something in my right leg.  Heather had mounted a camera on her helmet, but apparently didn't get most of the action because she had her own hands full at the time.  Ah well, I would like to analyze to see what caused me to lose my balance so badly but it is not to be this time...and hopefully there won't be a next! 

We ended up riding 9.2 miles, moving time 2 hours, 36 minutes, average speed 3.6 mph.  She does not get tired, though I do, wow!  Our fastest speed was 8.5 mph...this was way after the deer incident so had to be one of her short trotting bursts?  Can't wait to see how she does as we get more miles under our belt.  Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/120888430

One of the few times Ruby wasn't in the lead - we'd just turned around. 

Ode to the Amazing Ruby

Heather and I had been planning this for two weeks - in fact, we were supposed to go last week but family drama (usually known as sick kids) caused us to reschedule last week.  So, this week, I was really looking forward to going down to Lithia to ride with Jennie.  This was to be the first time that Jennie's seen Ruby since dropping her off at the end of January and I was excited to show her our progress.

Wednesday night, I get a text from Heather - son isn't feeling well, she'll let me know in the morning if she can go, but I can use her trailer if I would like.  Hmm. I haven't driven a loaded horse trailer in several years now and I have no idea how Ruby hauls when by herself.  I go to sleep crossing my fingers and hoping that Heather will be able to go...

Thursday morning dawns and I shoot her a text.  Son is going to have to go to the doctor - time to put on my big girl panties.  On the way to the barn, I'm imagining all the things that could go wrong, flat tire, horse falls and is trapped, rear-end someone or have someone rear-end me.  Get Ruby loaded up and off we go.  It probably took me a good 20 minutes to settle into the drive but eventually I did, and everything was pretty smooth sailing.

I got to Jennie's barn around 10:30 and there was a crowd milling about, apparently waiting for me!  It was cold and windy and Ruby was very up.  I considered round-penning her but the round pen was extremely slick and muddy and all of these people were waiting, so I tacked her up.  After mounting  (she stood stock-still, good girl!!), we did some circles and walking around and she was good. Setting off, she took the lead.  She was very brave and bold, not a single spook the entire ride.  I did discover that she will do whatever is necessary in order to avoid stepping in puddles, so we'll have to work on that.  Whenever we would get too far ahead, we'd would do a few circles to let everyone catch up.  We went down by the Alafia River, then headed back to the barn via a different route.  I am very jealous of Jennie's trails, wow.  Very easy to follow, well-marked, less than half a mile from the barn, through the woods so there is a ton of shade *sigh*.  Anyway, to sum everything up, we had our best ride yet.  Ruby was absolutely fantastic. 

What the other riders saw most of the ride - Ruby butt!  Photo courtesy of Jennie

After yesterday, I'm sure that she is ready for the 15 mile intro ride tomorrow, but things have come up and everyone has decided they're not quite ready.  That's ok, there will be plenty of other rides.  Heather and I are hoping to ride tomorrow, crossing fingers.

Nearly forgot to address something that was mentioned in my last post - Ruby's head throwing.  I did a lot of research and found out that the s-hack sometimes causes a horse to carry their head higher than normal.  For the last two days, I've been using Heather's side-pull and we have had no more issues.  In fact, I have discovered that she naturally likes to carry her head fairly low.  Looks like I'll be trading my s-hack in for a pretty blue side-pull in the near future.  

Crazy Week

A lot of the horse stuff has been put on hold since last Monday due to some family craziness, but things are slowly settling back down, phew!

We've ridden maybe 4-5 times since our ride at Tenoroc.  Most of these have been short, but off-property or out in the pastures.  Ruby impressed me during our one road ride - she had to deal with excited horses (in pastures), loudly barking dogs, large trucks, and even being chased by a mini-mutt who in turn was being chased by a yelling woman.  The one time she did the tap-dance was when we had excited, galloping horses on our right and a truck approaching too fast.  So far, she has been pretty good about keeping her cool.  Her tendency is to put her excitement into walking - and she can move out, wow.

A couple of times on our outings, we have had an issue with her throwing her head way up - to the point where she could whack me with it if she were so inclined.  My belief is that I'm actually causing this by anticipating her moving off after our stop, and not releasing my grip on the reins.  Hoping this does not become a habit.

Barn owner is going to record me during our ride tomorrow - if I'm not too bad, I may post it here, we'll see :)  In the meantime, more confo pics.

Purchases

Our little jaunt off-property brought into sharp relief some of the items that I still have not purchased because I haven't needed them.  So, I've been doing some shopping in the last two days.

Fly/tick spray - I just haven't needed it - until I did when those little buggers were crawling all over her neck and chest after our ride *shudder*
Fly mask - again, haven't needed it.  Because it's so warm here, most people have open trailers and hay/road/etc. can blow into their eyes.  Heather had an extra that she let me borrow for the trailer ride.
Shampoo - her body stays clean, but her lower legs are always dirty - no more!
Fanny pack - I haven't done enough research to feel comfortable buying a pommel or cantle pack, so we picked up a $10 fanny pack yesterday. It comes with two water bottles and the belt is very soft/stretchy - should be great on rides until I get real saddle bags.
Reflective vest - for riding along the road. 

Earlier in the week, I went shopping for supplements.
Pure MSM - didn't know that you could get straight MSM until I saw it at the tack shop.  I have since read online that it causes some horses to get jumpy so I'll keep an eye on Ruby.  It is a banned substance in the AERC, but I want to protect her joints.  The current plan is to feed everyday until a week or so before a ride, and pick up again afterwards.
Wormer - she was wormed right before coming out but vet said the fecal came back positive.
Multi-vitamin
More psyllium - I've been feeding her a bran mash every Wednesday and did a round of sand-clear and she STILL had sand in her poo when the vet came out.  Vet suggested a week double-dosing, so I'll re-check her poo tomorrow.