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November 18, 2007
Derek on Halloween
Derek and Daddy get ready to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Derek filled his bucket with all sorts of goodies and they only went to a few houses in the neighborhood!
Posted by Jessica at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Kai's Second Trail Ride
Kai and I went on another trail ride about a week ago. It had been my dream to ride my own horse down the trails at our local rec area. Especially if my friend Cheryl and her horse could be there, too. All that was missing was a trailer ride to the trails. One bright and happy Sunday, this was arranged. The trailer picked up four horses from Cheryl's barn, then came and picked up Kai and his barn buddy Cowboy. We were off to the trails!
We had the horses groomed and all of our gear ready to go at noon. It only took a few minutes to arrive at the trailhead, and Kai and Cowboy were the first out of the trailer. I commenced the tacking-up process right away. I was especially proud of my new purchase, I had bought it especially for the occasion as I wanted to be able to take my camera with me on the trails. It was a cantle bag. As I was attaching it to the saddle, the trainer who had trailered the horses asked, "What the heck is that???" She laughed when I told her, "It's a fanny pack for horses!" I stuck my camera inside and zipped it closed before mounting.
Once astride Kai, I realized that there would be a little problem with my new toy-I'd have to perform a yoga manoeuvre to access the camera!
Oh, well!
Mine was not the only mount with an unusual saddle attachment that day. One of the riders was a student taking a high school class in life skills. This involved carrying a computerized lifelike baby doll with her at all times throughout the weekend, and attending to its every need. She hung its carrying case from the saddle horn of her western saddle, and had to stop every so often in order to "feed" it and change its diaper.
I rode around a bit waiting for everyone to tack up, then we all headed out together...up a gigantic hill. The horses had to lunge the whole way up. Kai was last in line. By the time we reached the top, the computer doll was beeping, and we had to all stop so that the doll-baby could be "fed."
After this first steep hill, the trail leveled out a bit, but was extremely rocky. Kai seemed a bit tender-footed, but then he has never worn shoes and is unused to stony terrain.
The weather was beautiful, bright and sunny and not too warm nor too cold. The trees were all changing color, it was lovely to ride through the forested area.
Cheryl was directly ahead of Kai on her horse, Gambler. Kai has often ridden with Gambler in the past, but sadly we have had to board at separate stables for about a year so that Cheryl's daughter could enter Arabian shows.
Cheryl and I were having a splendid time, but I could feel Kai become more reluctant to move forward and more tender on his feet. The trainer chastised me about not keeping Kai going faster, but I told her that there was something wrong with him. (It isn't like Kai to misbehave, he wasn't afraid, he just would turn his head to look at me imploringly "Do I really have to go on?") I had kept hoping that the trail would become less rocky the further we went, but it hadn't happened. So Kai and I had to turn back.
The rider with the doll-baby turned back as well, in order to keep me company. Kai was relieved to be returning to the trailer.
We made it back safely and hadn't waited very long before the others returned as well.
I totally forgot to take any photos, I was so preoccuppied with Kai's ouchy feet! Argh!
I talked to my farrier about the situation. He said that the area we had gone to was indeed exceptionally rocky, and suggested the possibility of putting front shoes on Kai in the spring if I wanted to do more trail riding (I do.) He also said another option would be to get Kai a pair of "EasyBoots."
Posted by Jessica at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)