Okay, I technically didn't go anywhere, aside from to the lake, or into any other nearby body of water, but I didn't update the blog for a while so I'm saying I'mm baackkk. We've just had a 5 day run of 100+ degree weather and as I say I wasn't doing much beyond surviving, playing in any and all water, and hiding from the sun. I went out in the evenings to think about going for a quick ride but when its still 90 degrees at 8 pm its just no fun.
I had plans to ride this morning at the lake with a friend but I postponed it to Friday because I want to get Blaze's hind shoes pulled before I ride him again. The old catch-22 interference mark is just not resolving and keeping it wrapped in 100 degree weather is insane. He also somehow managed to get another little cut just above the previous one and has slight filling in that hind leg now. Its maddening because I didn't have a single problem until I put shoes all the way around and its just been an endless pain in the butt ever since. I was very glad to have all four shoes, and pads, at Hat Creek Hustle as the rock was so nasty, but I am going to try to finish our ride season with just front shoes as we had been doing before. I don't *think* we have any more truly rocky rides on the agenda, but we'll see. I haven't had problems covering miles of gravel and/or fairly rocky trails at Lake Oroville with only front shoes so I think I can swing it. If I remember correctly Mendo Magic ride might be requiring hoof protection all the way around but the ride managers are my old friends and ex-co workers so I will email them directly and see what that is about. I have ridden most of those trails and the only bad footing I can think of is some gravel road, which is doable. I'm not riding Blaze to win anyway and I walked almost all of Whiskeytown with only front shoes due to extreme rocks and was just barely over the time limit, so if I see some rocky conditions I will just slow down and accomodate, because having hind shoes is not working out for Blaze and I. I am thinking transitioning him to Easyboot Gloves next season will be the thing to do, because I will absolutely need all four hooves protected for Whiskeytown and Hat Creek. I am definitely planning to stick with the Gloves with the mare since her hooves are so nice and un-spoiled by steel, so maybe I will get going with them on her and then figure Blaze's out next. My farrier should be making it up this afternoon to pull the hind shoes and hopefully things can start improving from there.
The forecast only calls for 97 degrees today! Miraculous. Its supposed to be in the low 90s by the end of the week and into the 80s next week which will be great, I actually have a chance of going for some fun rides without dying of heat stroke :) Call me a chicken, but remember I'm a redheaded endurance rider, so my endurance toughness is somewhat tempered by my skin saying "AHHH I'm melllttinng and fryyingggg" And I should really just buy stock in Coppertone already.
Hope to be posting stories and pics of more riding soon, as the weather cools!
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