I need to figure out how to recover quicker

I cant really be so draggy every week after I do a weekend endurance ride. I am so not a true endurance rider. Oh well they let me play with them and I sure have fun. I did attack some goatsheads this morning. It was not so theraputic as I hoped. I kind of enjoy attacking weeds sometimes but when its a patch of out of control burrs, not so much.

OK went to fill my water bottle just now -maybe I need better hydration to improve energy. Life mystery -how come in an office with more men than women I have to replace the 5 gal. water jug so often and see other gals replacing it more often than one of the guys?

lessons learned at Fort Meade

1) When you fill your pickup while its on a good slope the fuel tank is not really full. -twas ok I didn't run out of fuel on the road, just was shocked when my low fuel light came on right before Lusk where I had planned on putting in just 7-8 gallons to make sure I was in good shape to get to Cheyenne. I put in 19 gals to have plenty of cushion in case my truck was really slurping fuel but realized later it was probably just the slant effect at work.

2) When you take a shower with your trailer at a slant away from the drain you have to bail and sponge out the shower floor and cold showers are a last resort. I coudn't get the water heater to start --I think because of the slope, fridge was not chilling either although it showed as on until I turned it off to try over since it was not chilling anything (ok that should be 3 -pack a cooler rather than thinking the fridge will work) I have to get a repair done on the heater now because I tore the wiring when I pulled up out of the ditch. Fun with sloping ground. Oh well good practice for my hilly lot in WY. I think I'll see if a skid plate can be added to protect that bit of wiring.

3) Grey Moun likes to travel. He blew me off after the July 4 ride and I thought he was wanting to stay more retired but he was pumped when I went trail riding with my sister.

4) always put a lead on the foal when taking them through a tricky spot and its not good if they decide to go elsewhere (N's filly became Cayenne in my mind this weekend -adds serious spice to things) No harm, no foul but she didn't want to hop up the 10 inch step that led to the roomy tunnel under the interstate --instead she ran up to the edge of the interstate and then I hustled over to the other side of the tunnel with Grey and Shade to encourage her to come down there and she obliged before N put a lead on her to make sure she didn't try that again. This might be a lesson for me if I pony Sadie on trails later --make sure she can't just pull the lead out of my hand and dash to trouble.


5) I no longer like 'fru fru' beers, at least not the bottled ones. I think they do not age well, I will stick to more thirst quenching Busch lite for hot weather and mead or something if I don't want an icy beverage for future trips.

6) I already knew this but Shade rocks. She had a lot more next day energy this time. I had been going to leave her at the trailer on sunday because at Shamrock she was tired and didn't even want to go for a stretch your legs 1 mile bit with Grey before his poker ride but she wanted to come on sunday so I ponyed her and she had plenty of energy and enjoyed herself. I loff how well she and Grey do to pony each other. It was such a pain when I used to try to pony Cindy/Grey cuz Cindy would just try to take advantage to get into a run.

Rainy night

Yuck its raining and I just gave the horses their hay. I did put 4 flakes inside but had 2 outside because it was a lull when I fed. Oh well mom fed them earlier this evening. The geldings were going for the outside hay to start. They are cold tolerant, not like my desert Arabians. So everybody should have had a few bites at least.

I had to detour on my way home tonight. A set of branches was across the road. A guy in a p/u was stopped in front of me and suggested I needed to go around. Friend or son pulled up behind me and said it was flooded in town. I had already had to thread my way between some downed branches a few miles earlier too. My internet is down because its raining again, so I’m drafting on word, think I’ll just go to bed. Ole is clinging like crazy –its not thundering much at all he is just being a total wuss. I’ll see if Mia wants in, She likes to stay outside and guard except during the heat of a summer day but sometimes she comes in to avoid rain too.

Did a heat training ride

I really hope that weather saturday is just good riding weather, not chilly and wet but not hot. But today I rode Shade 12+ miles in the middle of the day. This was lack of planning and then ambition to trailer somewhere a bit cooler rather than planning to train for heat but its still good to do some heat training. I started day with a headache, took alleve right away and sudafed after I fed the horses and it was closer to 12 hrs since my bedtime dose. Around noon I took ibuprofen and it clouded up and got a bit of a breeze so I caught Shade and saddled up instead of waiting on the stupid head. Once I was upright and moving the headache went way down.

I really wanted to get somewhat of a training ride to prep for the endurance ride. It was still pretty hot at times. Ole tagged along to start but was lagging pretty good after a couple miles. Shade and I did about 1.5 miles that he skipped. I decided I would take him home making just 7+ miles and then either take a break and ride Shade later or just offer her a drink and bit of food, and grab myself a quick bite (had my water pack on so I didn't need a drink) and go. Shade didn't want to be led over to the trailer so we went with plan B. She was pretty draggy the first 2.5 miles of this 'second loop' but perked up when the clouds came back + we were on the homeward bound part of the loop. Trotted up the gradual incline about .5 miles and then we cantered up the .25 mile bit that was more of a hill and trotted the gradual downhill till I asked her to walk the last .35 miles home.

Ugh, so stuffy and sleepy

I wish I was not so obsessed with the goatsheads. OK really I wish mom and dad were a little more obsessed with them and it wasn't just on me to do anything about them on THEIR place which will probably go to medicare rather than me. But I really should shake off the zombie feeling and at least call the neighbors about the camper trailer. In a minute, I'm still sipping tea and trying to energize after the arena working -which was not hard --MOM could sit on the tractor and do that, she is just a prima dona about some things; and then hand pulling goatsheads in a couple pens where I'd like to leave more of the benign weeds for general erosion control etc.

riding update

Shade got a week off after her 50 mile ride at Shamrock. Sunday I rode 8 miles and tuesday I rode her 5 miles. Saturday I alternated being lazy in the house with weed control efforts most of the day but grabbed Grey for an evening ride of 3 miles. Today I rode RazzMo 3 miles. C was out to ride sunday but we were getting ready to haul hay so I just unlocked the tack door and then did some prep stuff and she came looking for me asking about longeing him because he was unwilling to canter for her and she didn't want to push in the saddle. She was doing ok. Its a square arena and Razz probably was longed in a R/P when he was trained 4 years ago but otherwise he was 'longed' once 21 months ago when dad worked to get him to accept the scabbord.

I had a pretty good ride on Razz. He was a lot more willing and obedient than last year so the weekly arena rides are doing him a lot of good. I hope that getting a road ride 1x/week between times will help him be a bit less lazy for C in the arena. I also need to hop on a horse and ride with her again soon, that gives Razz some energy w/o him getting wound up. I need to ride CJ soon to see how he is after his adjustment, which is already 3 weeks past. Dang times flies when one wastes too much of it on the internet.

Its Probably just wishful thinking ......

But I find myself wondering in Sotomayor may prove to be a bit of a Souter except hitting the Ds. If she had early ambitions of getting to the supreme court she would have known that she most likely wasn't going to get there as a conservative after the treatment that Clarence Thomas and later, Miguel Estrada received. The D's get downright vicious when a minority dares to be conservative and then could be in line to get a powerful political or judicial position.

But I dont believe she is very 2nd amendment friendly; and the summary dismissal of the Ricci case -those are pretty concerning. But at least the conservatives seem to be doing a good job in the confirmation hearings of making the case of how judges should decide cases. I just hope none of the conservatives on the bench gets struck down before there is a conservative prez and a senate that will approve his nomination. The judges on both sides of the spectrum tend to pick their times to retire when they feel its safe that the new appointee will be of their bent.