WW: Horse Trailer Progress

Road tripped 5 hours to look at a trailer with LQ that sounded way too good to be true - and was... Since all the photos were carefully taken to hide the fact it had been BADLY WRECKED 🥴

So naturally we made lemonade out of lemons and picked up the next round of supplies for mine! 

Almost completely insulated!

While I was trail riding Sunday, DH got bored and put the floor in ♥️

And then when I got home we cut furring strips and started installing the paneling. 

Lookin' sharp!

He had seen an aluminum ledge when he was picking up something a few weeks ago and he thought it would be perfect for the lip of the gooseneck, since that area will probably take a lot of abuse from me getting up and down, he wanted something really solid on the corner. And this sure is - we shattered a saw blade cutting it to fit the space 🙃

Still so much work to do but it's starting to look like it's really happening now! 

Of course he flew off to Florida today for a week so everything will be paused anyway lol. 

Trail Adventures: Indian Camp Creek

After a solid 6+ months of badgering my trail group friends, a group of us finally made it to Indian Camp Creek!!! 🥳🥳🥳

My trailer is still not ready to hit the road yet (I need furring strips and paneling up to keep the insulation in place 🤣) so another kind friend stopped to grab me, Ruby, and Trigger.

When you're lazy and need to load in the road - just piled everything in the truck and parked it down by the mailbox haha. 

Man her fall dapples are POPPING and photos done even do it justice. She looks goooood. 

We had five trailers coming from various locations, and of course the GPS is so weird about that park - I may have given an unnecessary level of detailed directions in the group chat including some Google maps screenshots that I drew on 🤣 but we all got there at a reasonable time, and headed out!

Weather was perfect so I left off the dragonfly lol

So many perks to being picked up 🤣

I warned the pair that generally leads about the odds of running into mountain bikes (very high), and we headed out. As is our usual, we did some flip flopping around in the order depending on how each horse was feeling - I love how good our group is at that! The day was absolutely stunning weather-wise, so we ran into a lot of hikers and bikers. 90% of the interactions were totally fine, and even the one that could have gone badly (biker rode up practically INTO the lead horse) was handled gracefully, so I'm glad none of those turned into disasters! 

Trigger was SO HAPPY to be out that at one point he shoved his way up to lead while we all giggled at him 🤣

Of course we HAD to get off the trail and play in the water for a while, which is half the reason ICC is one of my favorite trails ♥️♥️♥️

Trigger's fan club continue to grow 🤣

We stuck to the main loop and did somewhere around 6-7 miles in a little over two hours - and the after we sponged off the horses we hung out and had lunch and soaked up some sun! I was home far later than I told DH I would be (oops) but it was totally worth it ♥️ can't wait to go back! 

First Day of Fall and Subsequent Rides

Missouri graced our first day of fall last week with a 40 degree temperature drop. So naturally I went out to ride Ruby bareback in yoga pants and Sperrys 🙃 #safetyfifth lol

She was fine, because #bestbaymare™️

Hacked on the buckle, w/t/c both directions. Good girl. 

She's looking pretty baller with her winter coat coming in all dapply. 

Snagged an Eponia for $55. 

The patent had some scuffs but the leather is overall great. 

Running out of bridle room though 🤣

The fittings being gold aren't my favorite but it works with the Verbindend and I found reins with gold buckles #tackhoarderprobs haha

This week is perfect riding weather - mid-70s and sunny!

The little chunk of hair blowing in the wind was killing me lol.

Still anxiously waiting for TrainerB to move into her new place, although I really can't move my trailer much until we get a little farther into the renovation process (like panels on the walls lol) so I guess it works out fine timing wise! 

Trail Adventures: Shooting Star

Sorry it has been so quiet here most of the month, I got shamed into updating again 🤣 (thanks Sarah!). Work has been exceptionally busy which from a professional standpoint is wonderful, but it's mentally exhausting. Add that to DH still being on a 10 lb weight restriction recovering from his emergency back surgery in August meaning I have to handle 100% of the chores at home, that typically saps what little physical energy I have left at the end of a long work day. The horses are borderline feral and I am not getting to ride as much as I'd like. But. I'll try to write about those handful of rides and also keep up to date on adventures - whether that's updates on the trailer conversion or the occasional trail ride! So here goes! 

Last Sunday I got to sneak away with some friends to ride at a new to me place in the morning before working all afternoon on the horse trailer. Since my trailer was partially ripped apart, a generous friend offered to come get me in her trailer if she could ride Trigger, so off we went to meet some more of the core trail ride group we've put together this year - it's so nice to have such a big group because even though everyone can't make it every time, we still usually end up with a good mix of horses. And it's been AMAZING for Ruby to figure out she doesn't always have to lead, she can settle in mid pack with no issues, or switch around to help other horses gain confidence. And Trigger is basically reverse aging with all the riding he's done this year, you never know he was 25 and he has stopped lagging a quarter mile behind the rest of the group like he used to do with DH. He's so peppy! 

 

Tacking situation at this trail was.... In the middle of a gravel road. Definitely an adventure. 

Best girl ♥️

Perks of being picked up was I didn't have to drive at all! Wheeeeeee!

Trigger is developing quite a fan club and I cannot even with how cute he is ♥️♥️♥️

The weather was PERFECT and the trail was lovely. 

A giant group of folks on mules (who had taken over essentially the whole road when we were parking) were having a BBQ in the woods lol. 

A creekbed that would be way more fun with water, but we're still in a drought, womp womp. 

I love her happy trail ears ♥️

We did 5 miles in a bit under 2 hours, and it was so refreshing! I was worried about taking barefoot horses on this trail because I'd heard it could be rocky, but Ruby managed fine and Trigger had his front boots. I really do need to invest in boots for Ruby next! 

WW: Horses are Great

So in today's edition of WHY ARE HORSES, one day last week Jack came in for breakfast with this.... 

Warning - gross video below, don't watch if you're squeamish lol.

Because I'm a horse person, naturally I squeezed it all out (the video above could have gone on for.... A long time 🙈). 

Two days after it looked okay

Sunday night it took a bit of a turn so I started him on SMZs and within three doses it looked world's better, so I expect it to heal up without any further incidents. Thankfully he did it around the time cooler weather helped the fly situation. The location means he's constantly reopening it when he grazes, but at least that also means it's constantly expressing anything that builds up in there, and then I give it a good flush 2x a day. Ugh. Horses.