I just put the little ones to bed. First I let Benji out (he always wants to go out), and stepped outside with him. It’s a beautiful star filled night. When Rudy first came out to the southwest (from the Chicago area) he couldn’t believe all the stars we had out here. Even though they lived in the country, he had never seen so many stars. They were mesmerizing.
I remember when I used to drive from Tucson to Nogales all the time, it seemed I would always see falling stars. Even during the monsoon season there were millions of stars filling the night sky. The monsoons would build starting about 2:00 in the afternoon. It would get very humid, and there would be this special scent in the air, and you knew there was rain coming. I learned years later that it is actually the trees sweating. Yes the trees would sweat. When the humidity reaches a certain point in the southern desert the trees react by letting go of some moisture that has it’s own special smell. To me that smell is always associated with a beautiful cleansing rain. The clouds build, the thunder rolls, and the wind blows fiercely, and sometimes violently. Then the rain comes, not the drizzle that other areas have, but huge silver dollar rain drops. It could be perfectly clear with the sun shining, and suddenly it’s like a faucet is full open above you. Then just as suddenly it stops. When the desert has scattered showers, they really mean it.
The temperature drops at least a good 10 degrees, and where you were sweating profusely, you are now looking for a warm sweater. After the skies have dropped their life giving rain the clouds that stretched from horizon to horizon, dissipate, and you are left with a clear star filled night. We get the same monsoons here, but they don’t feel quite the same. Still the nights here are filled with stars that change with the seasons, and remind me of my youth.
I remember that riding all day would never bother me years ago as pain shoots down my leg. I could go on, and on all night, get up early in the morning, and feel refreshed. Now I don’t even like the idea of getting out from beneath my nice warm, comfy, cozy blankets let alone feel refreshed. Still and all I got up around 6:30 today, let the dogs out, made my coffee, and started my day. I wanted to really get an early start not just say I wanted to get an early start. Since I actually got up about when I was supposed to get up (I have parrots for an alarm clock), I took my shower first then got ready to go feed. Rudy called of course, and we talked for a little bit then my day really started.
I knew I had to check the pasture horses water first, so I headed towards them. Walking into the pasture with hose in hand, I kept looking at Lightning, and something looked wrong. I couldn’t figure out what was hooked to her head. A stick maybe, no of course not she broke her halter. Well I knew she was growing, and I was going to buy her a new halter soon anyway, so I guessed I was going to buy her one today. Granted it’s an old halter (it was Marina’s first adult halter, and she’s eighteen), but it should have lasted at least 20 years, shouldn’t it have?
Off to the main barn I go. By the time I get back to the pasture horses, their tank should be full. Well there’s water all over the barn again. I know I closed the faucet as hard as I could, I just don’t understand why it was leaking again. I pull the hose (100’ hose) out down the barn into the road. It shouldn’t make any difference but maybe if the hose is unwound it will stop leaking. Don’t laugh it worked. Don’t ask me why either, I don’t really care, it worked.
The rest of the morning went as planned, trust me I’m just as surprised as you are. Well there was this one little interruption. Just as I was about to mount Marina, Larry called about some financial business (new job). Since every morning he has called I have been ready to ride, he asked if I was going riding. I was very nice, and I simply said yes. If he had called five minutes later I would have already been gone. The quick conversation lasted at least 45 minutes, but that’s ok, I was still earlier than usual. Marina, and I set out, but she was unusually quiet. Rudy suggested I use the Kimberwick on her as she behaves better with it when he has used it on her. I have been using it for Ibn, and it was a little loose on Marina but still ok. Just changing the bit couldn’t make that much of a difference could it? No, it couldn’t not on Marina, but I didn’t find out why until later on our ride.
Marina being calm and quiet during a ride gives one a very strange feeling, so I counted my blessings, and thanked her. Now that I had a specified route to take, we didn’t take extraneous excursions into unknown territory. There was one little surprise, when we followed one trail, it ended up on an unfamiliar maintained road. I saw a white truck go by before I reached it, and thought this isn’t right. We got to the road, and went down to the cutoff to the other trail. Another vehicle came by, and as they passed the woman simply waved at me. This was a gated area so I was very relieved to have her wave. We came to the other trail, which actually made for a big loop back to the main road. This trail was the one with the super steep hill that was mostly bedrock. Marina took this at a walk, something she has never done.
I’m appreciative, but getting suspicious as this is atypical behavior. We reach the main pipeline road, and suddenly Marina lifts her head and breaks into a fast trot. Now this is the Marina I know, and love. She has the trail memorized, and is pacing herself, trotting in her favorite places. That means we will canter once we reach the grassy knoll. She slows down once the trail turns rocky conserving her energy. Sure enough once we got to the grassy knoll she took off in a canter. The rest of the ride was very predictable, and in some ways boring. It was actually nice to go into a canter through the knoll, and the meadow on the other side. Somewhere along the way, I lost my pedometer. I looked all the way back but never spotted it. At least I got a route mapped out that I know is over 10 miles before I lost the pedometer. I’ll get another one next time I go into that part of town, and have a spare $20.
According to my friend I have to start checking heart rates, and how long it takes them to get back under 60 beats per minute. I can keep it in the pouch I stole from Rudy’s work area. It’s a tool pouch that attaches to your belt. It worked great. I put my camera in, and my cell phone so I can wear a light weight shirt, and still have a place to put stuff.
When we got back I was very pleased to see it was only 1:30 pm. Marina did the 10 miles in 2 ½ hours. Boy did she put Ibn to shame, and I held her back. Just think what she can do if I just let her go. That won’t happen for a while, as she still needs to get in better shape. When I unsaddled her she was filthy so I gave her a quasi bath where she was the dirtiest, then rinsed her off.
Next I have to go to town to check the mail. I don’t even change except I put on a clean shirt since the one I was wearing had mud all over it. By the time I got back from the post office, it was just about three, and time to go get hay. I’ve been getting 20 bales but that only lasts five days. This time I asked if they could fit 28 bales in my truck. Penny said she thought she could. Now I only have to get hay once a week. It’s the first time I have carried that much hay so I go up our road very, very carefully. By this time I am pretty tired, but the hay isn’t going to unload, and stack itself. Luckily I only get two strand as I can’t move let alone lift the three strand bales.
By the time I am finished it’s almost time to feed, so I sit down, make a cup of coffee, and relax for about 15 minutes. Once everything was unloaded, the dogs were fed, and the chickens were put inside for the night, Rudy called. We talked for about an hour mostly about the ride. I looked the ride up on the Internet, and found some disturbing information. The horses have to be shod, and it’s actually a 6-day race not a 3-day race as I thought. That means we won’t be able to enter the race. We can however do the ride for whatever number of days we want, just for the fun of it. Since Rudy can’t take that much time off (mostly because we can’t afford it), we’ll pick three days to ride. I will have fliers, and business cards available. A friend of mine said she would pass them out at her photography table. The whole idea of this is to introduce Ibn to the Endurance world to try to drum up business. We have to sell some horses especially since I have a lot of mares I want to breed this year. I told Rudy I was going to pasture breed, and he is staying out of it. He said I’m running the ranch so I make the decisions, and take the responsibility for whatever happens. He refuses to say anything, you can draw your own conclusions about that. So far I have done pretty good. I have thought things through, and I have a plan. With a little luck things will turn around. I’m really counting on the ride to help promote Ibn since people come from all over the country to ride here.
I’m falling asleep again, and tomorrow is going to be another long day. I have to attack the stalls, and get some (ok a lot) of manure spread elsewhere than the barn after I ride. And I wonder why I’m tired? Of course that’s just the plan, which is subject to change based on the weather. If it’s an indoor day, well I do have to attack the taxes. I only have three months of data entry, of personal information, and two businesses. Yeah I’ll be just as tired no matter what I do. So if I don’t post you know why, I’m puttered.
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