Mud, Dust & Shedding~

We've had a week of cloudy, rainy weather - reminiscent of Washington!  Everyone tells me the rain is needed - that it's been a very dry, mild Winter & I do believe it.  I'd hoped to attend an endurance ride in Kansas this weekend, but with all the rain - the steep slope & lack of space to turn around at Farah's stable - it would have been impossible with the truck, camper & trailer.  The weather was threatening in SW Kansas - Tornado Alley & did I want that worry?  No...

 It was one of those days...  Usually they happen on Monday's but for me - I should have known when I was trying to move out the stove, slipped, fell backward & landed with my left wrist first.  The pain wasn't too bad, so I hoped for a sprain & went ahead, determined to spent time with Farah.

Guilty!  Now to the legs~

I should have taken a before picture!  If you can imagine mud from the tip of the ears, covering almost every inch!  With no grass to roll in, Farah - who loves to roll - has a spot in her paddock.  When it's dry - it's dust, when it's wet - well...  I had put dust masks in the truck, then forgot them when I transferred things to the Bronco. 

 When I noticed that Farah's tail was 6" shorter than it's ever been, I asked the lady who works at the barn if Farah's crazy neighbor might be grabbing at it?  No, I watched as she stood at the outside door of the stall, on a slope that puts her tail right under her rear feet if she backs up.   Once the mess was scrapped off, hair everywhere, I put her in the wash stall & washed out her tail.   She danced, pranced, moved from side-to-side & made it miserable on us both. 

Beautiful Countryside~

I decided to take her out on a walk to let it dry before putting it into a tail bag.

The road~

 I'm planning to do some riding on this road - it's not very long - but has a couple good hills where we could maybe get in a gallop or two.  I'll be trailering out on my own soon too -  as the weather improves.  I'm also doing some research into the history of horses on the Wabash Trace - to lobby for continued Equestrian use - at least for the ten-miles that are advertised as available to horses. 

Surface rock~

 As you can tell from the photo above, this type of gravel is far from decent for horses, definitely requiring shoes for any moderately paced work.

Weight coming back on~

Farah was good until we lost sight of the stable.  I'd wanted to walk quite a way further, but after watching as she circled me at a gallop, bucked, reared & otherwise was a kite at the end of the lead - I turned back.

By the time I'd stopped at the store & returned home, my wrist was twice it's size.  I went through all my wrist braces, all for the right hand - I've broken that one several times...  Only one for the left - so we picked up a new one today.  No cast for me...  I've ridden 50-miles carrying my stick with a broken right wrist.  I hadn't wanted to miss the Golden Ears Ride, in British Columbia.  With eight river crossings, it was always challenging.  At the first one, Khari had refused.  I lent my stick to my friend, who whacked her & in we went!  No more problems the rest of the ride!  :-)

My consolation prize?  Tickets were still available to the FEI World Cup in Omaha tomorrow!  (I'd sold ours after I found out the date conflicted with the endurance ride.)  Since these new tickets are even more expensive - I'm hoping we'll have good seats!