I'm probably going to put Bee(tle Baum) in with Tanza for a while.

I felt Lady's ribs today and she's getting plenty fat.  Bee is not bad but has the least fat between his ribs of all the horses here and he and Tanza are often visiting over the fence so I'm sure they'll get on fine so I think I'll just give Lady her every other day previcoxx in an apple slice and put her in the big somewhat diet pen group and have Bee with Tanza for a while.  Probably I'll have to rotate who is in with Tanza so I don't have a too fat horse.

Tanza is also looking pretty good so I'll cut down the amount of hay to him and whomever I have with him as well, but I still want him to have a bit more hay.  I don't need to have maximum high octane food going into my already energetic boy.

I've been pecking away at tree trimming.  I got a new chain for the pole saw and got smart enough to grab the 3-step mounting block to reach higher branches.   I don't have the arm strength to use more than 2 of the 4 lengths for the pole saw and its also no good reaching too high so the block is nice.  I need to drag out the ladder for some branches I feel I should cut down to reduce risk of branches damaging the house or garage roof but its getting there.  Tomorrow I want to move my little horse trailer and hook up my gooseneck.   I should have done that this weekend and dropped the trailer off at the repair place today but I guess I'm still kind of hoping dad would take the trailer in to drop it off, but he would wait until I need it next spring if I just wait on him plus I'd like to have the trailer gone and see if I can get someone to cut that dead tree down.   I'm thinking we'll have to move panels where the mini's are so the tree or some of its branches can come down in those directions and not break the panels.

Saturday we got the new TV I got dad to buy last weekend delivered and set up and the old 37inch tube TV that quit working hauled away to be recycled by Best Buy.   Last night Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider was on and I enjoyed watching it on the high resolution 43" screen and getting to enjoy the mountain backdrop and so on.  Of course the downside is I might have done something else if dad was watching it on the little portable TV he had been using for the last few months.  But it was ridiculous, he pays $$ for direct TV and then just using the old portable TV to watch when new TVs are relatively cheap.

This morning I did some raking up of the area around Tanza and Lady's half barrel hay feeders.  That is the other reason I'm going to cut back some on the hay to Tanza and whomever I have in with him for a buddy.   Too much wasted hay.   I try to keep raking up the stalks they don't eat and give those leftovers to the mini's but I need to have dryer ground around the feeders to make that work better.  My arms are whinging that I did too much raking,  I need to have dad call the skidsteer guy again.

Sis had invited us for Thanksgiving and I told dad I guessed we could.  Now I don't really want to spend the time driving because there is so much I need to do.  I'll have to call her.  I don't want to not go and Dad's health takes a bad turn but we did get a good visit in August.

And today I learn I'm a bad person for riding FW

FW is 'feather weight' and I'm not.   Over a decade ago some tiny hineys in the most populated region were griping about how its so hard for them to get into regional placings versus especially heavyweights because of wives who add their non-riding spouse to the membership to support AERC and # of placings is taken by the # of registered members in a weight division rather than by the # of folks actually entering rides.

I thought it was BS and that the org has too many weight divisions and posted that "well put your DH in your weight division, its perfectly legal to be heavier that the weight division boundaries. if they do enter 1 or 2 rides some year" and then I thought "I can't make them have fewer weight divisions but I can put myself in the lightest division."  Years pass with me only owning dinks and not getting to enough rides to be competitive no matter what.

Then I got Tanza, stayed in the FW division and wow,  he has been in the standings a couple times and yes I noticed that the LW, MW and HW divisions were all more competitive in our region and the bottom point level listed in them was much higher than the # of points we had earned.  So I felt a bit of 'white privilege' type guilt but then thought  Oh well:  I didn't just pick the least competitive division and it is not like weighing more gives me some advantage over actual tiny hineys so I'm just going to leave myself in this division anyway;  I'm sure at some point there will be a few high level tiny hiney riders and it will no longer be the easy division for year end point accumulation.

So today I read a post griping about heavier riders changing to FW and knocking the true waifs out of placings.  I think the big gripe was about folks who had started in a heavier weight division and then dropped down mid-season.   I still think its a bunch of whiny B.S.   If someone is kicking your teeny little ass point wise, but being left in the dust by a Christoph or someone and they drop to your skinny waif division and make it more competitive you have the option of going to more rides,  or riding at a higher speed to get placings points or doing a 100 for the bonus points if getting a jacket or vest is a big deal to you.   Shut up and ride.

Tanza was awesome at Red Canyon ride

The Duck wants riders to wait 30 minutes after their horse pulses down before going to the vet at checks.   Tanza would come into a check and be dragging me around looking for food, I'd get his mash and hay out and he'd hardly lift his nose out of the food for 25-30 minutes so it worked perfectly for us.   

On day one I got uneasy about trail and then J picked up on it later and we doubled back when we should not have.  Wow was he mad.  I knew he likes to go for placings but he had said he wanted to ride 3 days so I really could not grok worrying about finish order on day 1.  So I promised him I would not ride with him after the vet check.   I missed a turn and ended up looping back to the vet check, yuck but it was not a huge # of extra miles and Tanza drank good so it was OK.  Then coming back in to camp I had caught up with a couple of folks and we 3 caught up to a couple that were leading their horses because the horses had gotten stupid about the cows earlier on the trail.   We 3 were all politely staying behind but the gal got all crabby that 'you're riding our ass.'   Later her horse hit 8000 miles so I think she just had jitters about making the milestone and is not normally a grouch; but between the 2 grouches and thinking the gals that were just a bit behind me when I missed my turn might have noticed and chose to let me go wrong cuz placings fever again even thought we were all at least an hour behind Christoph, I was pretty blue that evening.

I took day 2 off, took my tire to Panguitch to have it replaced.  On day 3, Tanza was wanting to keep up with a gal who was going fast, she had 3 horses she had brought to the ride and was riding not quite at Christoph pace but to finish about 5th place.   Finally I got Tanza to stop thinking he could catch her speedy gray horse than S passed me and was going pretty fast plus I knew she doesn't like to ride with someone else most days (she was 1/2 of pair behind me when I turned wrong on day 1 so she has one person she loves to ride with at least on her other horse.)   Next horse behind her was Otis B and he let me ride with him.   What a treat riding with a top pioneer event rider.  Normally I would have felt obligated to separate from Otis and Phyllis cuz they ride together all the time and a 3rd horse would be a nuisance but Phyllis had SFDT surgery on her mare in April so she was not riding. Otis' horse likes to follow vs lead so Tanza was thrilled,  he enjoys being in front as long as he has a wing man or posse right behind him.  Otis and his mare were still really setting the pace as Tanza would walk if she got too far behind and pick up a trot if he heard her trotting behind him but the 2 horses both worked well riding like this. 

Okay,  I'll finish the account in a 2nd post.  

Black Hills trip was mostly mis-adventures. Hopefully filled the yearly quota

I still don't know how well the saddle pad adjustments will work for Tanza cuz I only rode him short walking rides with Dad and Sis.   This is because I was dumb when trying to level my trailer.  FYI, if running trailer wheels up on blocks is not enough to level it; one needs to have the wheels on the ground and chocked before unhitching from p/u.   And never think "oh it will be just a few minutes and we are right here watching" and leave the horse tied too long while getting trailer situated.

So Tanza had some minor bruising of lower front right leg and was w/o his shoe and I opted not to ride him at endurance speeds.   The leg was fine by Monday so that was a good decision.

Saturday was not bad,  we rode a 2-3 mile loop, saw it was looking like rain and decided to go back to camp and get rain coats or wait if it rained.  It started raining when we got back to camp so we untacked the horses and hung out in dad's camper to have a bit of lunch and see if it cleared up.  It rained for 15-20 minutes and then just stayed overcast and drizzled a bit about every 30 minutes so we never did ride anymore that day.

Sunday we went on a longer ride.  Dad got his saddle way off to the side where he fell off twice, once each side.  Second fall he went downhill and wrenched his back.   We were right by a road at that spot but he initially thought he could ride back, but got to hurting so when we crossed a road we got him off Razz and left him to wait for us to come back in a p/u.   I had to talk sis out of going off to get vehicle faster.  I felt like with Dad's balance and hurting back it would be a disaster if Razz and Tanza were even a bit jiggy when she left on Babe; plus I wouldn't be able to get Dad down safely by myself.   She did stay with and it did take both of us to get Dad dismounted w/o dumping him.  Was no problem ponying Razz back to camp and we got Dad in p/u OK.  Offered that we could take him to the clinic to get checked out but he felt it was just wrenched back muscles and I figure he knows his body after 79 years.   Gave him Alleve and SalonPas patched back at camp and got him in his comfy zero gravity chair and he was ok.

Sunday evening I decided I would hook my p/u back up, and put trailer in the access lane since most folks had gone home so we would not be fighting with it Monday morning when we had an 8 hour drive to get home along with getting the rest of camp torn down.   While I was doing that Tanza was scratching his head like a dog and got his leg over his high tie lead rope.  Thank god I have plastic tubing over the lead rope.  He got just a tiny bit of a friction burn, but did not break the skin and seems sound today.  I wrapped it Tuesday to keep the tiny bit of scabbing he was getting even though I didn't see any broken skin down, lest the scabs cause issues and he seems to be trotting sound even in the wrap.    We got the p/u hooked up and then it was time to get it moved.

When the trailer came off the trailer jacks I was using as risers on Friday the tires were jammed between the trailer jacks and the chocks behind the rear wheels.   I was trying to shovel out underneath the jacks and Sis said "use your bottle jacks to raise the back end of the trailer."  That was a great idea.  I got the trailer jacked up and we got all but the one big chock behind the right tire out; then I was able to pull forward and sis was able to use the shovel to dig that chock out.   I got the trailer backed up onto the more level access lane, had some late supper and crawled into bed.

Monday we got everything packed up and on the road at a decent hour and made it home by about 6:30.  I even had time to spray some goatsheads.   Dad was hurting from the long drive but he felt good enough to unpack his fridge yesterday.  

I'm going to have to put CJ and Tanza together for a while

The two redheads are a bit skinny and Razz and Sadie are plenty fat.   So I'll have to put CJ and Tanza together and hope Tanza doesn't get a bit where the saddle pad will rub so I can feed them plenty of hay and give CJ more Eq. Sr than he is getting now and maybe a bit of the Amplify.  Good thing I went to the Buffalo creek ride and got the "body score is a 4" to open my eyes to the gradual weight loss with Tanza and now I looked at CJ and noticed he has dropped weight too.   I don't like my horses being under a 5 but I was just not registering the dropping weight until the vet said Tanza's body score last week at the ride and then I noticed I can see ribs on CJ this weekend.  Sigh, in theory part of the reason to always shove any thought of moving out back in a closet is because I'll notice things and take better care of the horses.   I guess I'm going to have to get a younger roommate with sharp eyes to fill that role for me before too long.

I sprayed about 5 gallons of 2-4-D this weekend.  This is good burr eradication progress,  it took me quite a while each time to walk around and find burrs to spray to use up about 1.3 gallons of spray.  I have to remind myself of this progress because I felt like "uggg, I'm still not doing much but spraying weeds"   I also did some hand weeding of mom's old super over-sized flower bed,  watered the pretty weeds I'm trying to start along the outside of the horse pen and burned some tumbleweeds that got going before dad got his mower belt replaced earlier this summer.  Not bad for as hot as it was.  Not great but not bad.

I also washed a couple loads of clothes, I hauled a huge tote of sweaters that mom had to take to SD to hand off to sis to deal with and also washed some of her clothes on hangers that had gotten so dusty they needed to be washed before wearing or giving away and boxed them up.   It always seems to take a huge toll on my mental/emotional energy stores to deal with "what to give away, throw away etc. and this was no exception.  I added some smaller ls shirts to my wardrobe as I sorted,  decided that I will give bro mom's Broncos Ed McCaffrey jersey,  I forgot she'd even had that or the Brett Favre T-shirt.   Course she didn't wear them often, appreciated them as gifts, but was saving them.  I come by that silliness naturally,  of save something until it spoils (food) or is outdated or no longer fits well etc.  instead of enjoying it and being ok with using it up, wearing it out etc.  Trying to work on this personally.

Tanza did great yesterday but saddle fit not right yet

Argghhh on the fit issues.  If I had confidence it would fix the problem I'd buy a new saddle for him but I don't.   The adjustable fit (with special fit pads) seem to work for a lot of folks but I can't stand the thought of spending that kind of scratch on a saddle where the cheap construction ends up with screws poking the horse if the rider misses a problem and I think the poking screw is not visible with the saddle lining.  I will try shimming my saddle pads to be thinner at the spine to hopefully even up the saddle pressure and if I can't get that right will start looking for a seller/fitter for expert help.

I found out that Tanza has more bottom than I thought.  He was acting tired to start the last loop and then M came riding up on his nice bay horse and Tanza was like "oh I enjoy cruising with Rocky" and was trotting fast and cantering quite a bit and was still in great form at the finish.  If I can get the saddle fit really good so Tanza's back stays comfortable he will be awesome.  It was a hot day yesterday and I was close to done in by the end of the ride.  Did get Tanza back to the trailer with food and water before I had to lay down for a bit.  

I must restock my trailer with snack foods and buy string cheese for the next ride.  Also need to restock my salt and minerals for Tanza and get horse feed.  I'll probably just take 1/2 a bag of Eq Sr instead of packing up buckets since Razz will be along and we'll be about 4 days.

I should water some things today and perhaps I'll get a bit done but my scalp is demanding I shower first and really scrub with some baking soda.  Sky is teasing that it may rain and water things but it usually doesn't amount to a good watering out here.  

Well I did not get to ding management on their reviews

In previous years the standard deal was supervisor's bosses would sent an email to everyone that was supervised by them inviting any comments.  Well this year I guess the new system is to ask X # of people for feedback about everyone who is being reviewed.   I was not in the group of X for either my direct boss or our program team boss and I never saw any "hey you can offer generic feedback on managers" invites.

It is a good overall thing to ask a few people to give answers to focused questions for every person being reviewed.   But its also a nice little dodge for managers that deserved to get some dings since their reviewer can choose *friendlies* to give that feedback versus inviting feedback from everyone who is living under their supervision.

Everyone is about breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for getting the first bits of data processed from our new satellites.   They didn't see fit to mention that the sister agency in Taiwan had the first download analyzed before we got our little configuration issues ironed out; must only magnify their own success as much as possible.

    Its why I love Trump so much.  When he does his pep rally speeches he is always saying how "our military,  our dedicated workers, etc etc have done an amazing job."  This is especially refreshing after the last potus that always spoke "I did x, my plan worked, yada yada"    And I'm not a total fan girl of Trump.  I don't love his speaking style which often seems like trying to sell something.   But Trump is always crediting americans, his voters, the military, etc etc when he is talking about any success instead of trying to claim all glory for any success but can't scapegoat fast enough for any failures like most politicians.

Our neighbors mom died last week.  G and S used to be our neighbors and were great before they moved to AK and rented the place to their daughter and SiL who are also marvelous.   I did not get a card out for them to take with them to funeral in IN.  I've been thinking in terms of writing a card to leave for them when they get back and only thought "oh should send a card to funeral"   Oh well.  I sprayed goatsheads over there this morning.   G used to tell my mom "someday I'm going to tame this yard"   She did get quite a lot of nice trees going.  Getting rid of as many of the nasty burrs as I can is my personal memorial to her feisty but fun and friendly spirit.

 I kind of care less if toad boss(es) are at all put out that I missed meetings today because I didn't manage to fit both things in.   I started with the early morning meeting, joining from home, but they were going over visuals but no one was sharing the ppt or whatever that to the meeting,  only to the display monitor in the conference room, so it was going to be a total waste of time for me to sit at my laptop and only get the audio of them discussing the plots.