Latest Conditioning Rides

I've got some catching up to do!  Here are some pictures from a ride earlier in August.  I took Zephyr out barefoot, thinking he’d do fine, but the local trails are just SOOO rocky.  We had to walk most of the way.  I vowed not to go on those trails again without Gloves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night, I did a fresh ‘mini trim’ in preparation for putting on the new Gloves that Garrett sent with the prototype gaiters. I still think his toes are longer than they were, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to make them shorter without having to pare out dead sole.  I think I need to call the farrier for some help.  (Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, I was starting to lose daylight.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what’s going on here, there’s been a slit in his hoof wall since July.  It’s immediately above where the Glove/Glue-on stops on his hoof wall, but I don’t know how the boot could have caused it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First time I’ve ever seen bot eggs before.  (Got them off with a hoof knife the next day.)

The Gloves went on a little hard with the Power Straps already in place, but for the first one I took the strap off (left the T-nuts in), fitted the boot, walked him around a bit, and screwed the strap on.  Worked great.  The other three boots I was able to just muscle on and then have him walk around.

Here they are (with Zephyr standing very strangely):

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left my property on my woods trail, which has two stream crossings, both with mossy-rock bottoms.  The first stream has a steep uphill right afterward.  This video is from the second crossing, though... I didn’t think to take my camera out for the first one!  If you listen you can hear the squelching sound after we cross.

As soon as I got out onto the paved road I was stunned to see a pair of horsey ears emerging over the crown of the hill in front of me!  We never meet other riders.  As we approached each other I realized it was my new neighbor Laurie from down the road; she’s had her 7yo unregistered gelding for about a month, and we’d only met once but had hoped to get together soon to ride.  She wasn’t on a schedule so I shanghaied her and off we went to do one of my short loops.  It’s plenty rocky, hilly, and there are usually lots of puddles and mud.  Here’s one of the rockiest sections... we started trotting as soon as I put the camera away.

I kept trying to find mud so I could do a new “mudding” demo video, but we’ve had such dry weather for the month of August that even though we got 2” of rain on Saturday we didn’t have any mud on this trail.  Here’s my old mudding video... I think I posted it before but I’m not sure.  You can HEAR the mud!

Here’s Zephyr (left) with his new buddy Chief, and a head-shot of Chief.  Laurie thinks he’s Arab/Morgan.  I can see it, can you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning when I turned Zephyr out in the field, he grazed for a minute and then ran off to look for Rocky and Peyton.  Unfortunately he didn’t find them, they’re still at their owners’ house!  Makes for nice video and pictures, though, and at least there’s still a cow or two out there to chase around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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