What a week

Last Saturday, warning: not horse-related.  A few weeks ago I started really looking into something that we can all do as a family.  See, I'm the only horse person in my family.  My husband would like to have a horse so he can ride with me, but it's not something that he's considering until we have our own place again.  So, I started thinking about the dogs. Growing up, my family was involved in AKC conformation showing and obedience.  It was fun (isn't winning ALWAYS fun?) but I've just gotta point out...there are a ton of stuck-up dog show people.  I'm sure the same is true in the horse show world but I seriously doubt they can trump the dog show folks - it's impressive in a sad way.  We never really did fit in, and honestly, didn't really want to.  We stopped doing things with our dogs when we returned to FL. 

Twenty years later, there are so many more dog clubs and activities (or maybe the internet makes it seem that way, I dunno).  One of our dogs is a Jack Russell terrier and is absolutely the funnest dog I've ever owned in my life.  We didn't buy him from a breeder; he was given to us by a guy my husband used to work with.  Apparently he and his wife just couldn't stand Cooper.  They asked us to watch him while they went out of town for Thanksgiving in 2010 and Cooper never went back. I've done some research on the breed and came across terrier trials. It turns out that the local club was having a fun day on the last Saturday of August.  We signed Cooper up for everything but the group races and planned to get up really early on a Saturday - a true trial for my family.

We made it to the trial around noon and were immediately welcomed by everyone we saw.  People we didn't know were asking about our dogs (even for Stella, who is obviously not a JRT).  Cooper was unenthused when it was time for him to go to ground, so we're going to build him a tunnel and practice (some day).  He was allowed to run the race course by himself with a borrowed muzzle and had a blast. Then it was time for the lure-coursing.  I'm not sure I've ever seen him so excited as when he was watching the other dogs run. Then it was his turn.

This video shows his second run, which was fast enough for a first place in his class over five other dogs.  Yay, Cooper!  The video is wobbly because Stella was trying to yank my arm off in her attempt to get the bag before Cooper.

Cooper, looking smug, with the hubs

They let Stella run twice, too, which was awesome of them since there are no classes for off-breed dogs.  By the time we left, everyone was pooped and hooked.  I see this becoming a regular part of our lives in the near future.

When I woke up Sunday, I was miserably sick and stayed that way until Wednesday.  I still have the headache so it may have been some kind of flu. Anyways, on Wednesday morning, I woke up thinking I was feeling well enough to take Ruby out for a ride.  We went to Marshall Hampton but weren't more than a quarter mile into our ride before the flies caused Ruby to go bat-shit crazy.  In desperation I kicked her up into a trot in an attempt to outrun the flies....then Ruby kicked her belly while trotting.  I've never been one who likes to land on her head, so I pulled Ruby up and hopped down to help her out, which is when I realized that these vicious little bastards were biting her udder (ow!!!) and the inside of her legs.  I killed 7-8 of them and she stood completely still so that I could.  I decided to lead her to the next grove of trees and we got maybe another 50 feet before she started kicking her belly again - she had another 7-8 flies biting her.  We tried one more time but when she stopped this time and I started killing flies, my hand came away from her udder dripping blood.  That's when I called it and we walked back to the trailer.  It was INSANE.  I swear I think fly spray is just expensive, smelly water because it doesn't seem to do a damn thing for the flies out here.  Swat works until it sweats off about 15 minutes after application.  We won't be going back to MH until it cools off some.

On Saturday, Lee (with Paso gelding, Copa) and I went to Tenoroc.  The flies were bad in parts but nothing like MH, thank goodness.  I put Ruby's Gloves on for this trail ride and I'm happy to say that they stayed on the entire time.  They don't twist but I'm going to have to order power straps due to the gapping at the front of the boots.  We did the actual north loop this time. I like this loop other than for the first half mile or so, the trail has been torn up very badly by the hogs.  After that, it smooths out and there are a few steep hills to climb.  There's also a mile or so of nice, flat straight away - one of these days, Ruby and I are going to canter this part of the trail. When the flies got really bad, Ruby and I trotted while Copa and Lee gaited - Ruby rather enthusiastically leaving Copa in the dust every chance she got.  In poor Copa's defense, I think his neck was sore from shots received on Thursday night. 

The north loop is very short, maybe 3 miles, so it wasn't long before we were back at the trailer.  Lee needed to stretch so we hung out for a minute before going back out onto the southern loop.  The trails out here are not always well-marked and I missed a turn so we ended up back at the damn trailer maybe 20 minutes later - oops.  Copa was non-plussed when we rode right past it up the dirt road. This time, Lee was leading the way, and she missed a turn. But things worked out well - we found a very nice little trail through the woods where it was so much cooler.  The trail took us to another little dirt road and continued on the other side, but it was obvious that Lee and Copa were pretty well done.  I am looking forward to following this trail next time I ride at Tenoroc - I seriously love exploring on horseback.

We did about 8 miles, though Strava shows 6.6 - somebody forgot to start it again when we left the trailer after our break.

Saddle and other update stuff:
Nickers cannot change saddle rigging after the saddle is completed, but I expected as much.  I was told that they can make me a special bolster to support my left hip but I'm not sure my unevenness is quite that bad.  I haven't yet ordered the new saddle inserts, partially because I'm still not feeling 100%.
At my last lesson, Claudia had me move my stirrups back an inch or so - on Saturday I had zero knee pain, hallelujah!
My saddle did not shift during the ride but I made it a point to use my left leg.  Ruby's back is not sore today but I'm not sure 8 slow miles is enough to cause a problem.
I did not start yoga this week but I did start roller-blading with my dogs.  If you have a dog, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.  My dogs seriously love it.