And Then There Was Heat

Suddenly, it's summer. Up until this point we'd only had 2 or 3 relatively hot days in 2012, and on those days I was off near Lassen at a ride, so they didn't count in my mind (I can't be the only one who thinks like that..). We even had a few weeks recently where the highs were only in the mid 80s and it was positively brisk at night. Then, in the last 5 days it's been no lower than 95 during the day with highs of 100-105. Set to continue through Friday and finally start coming down over the weekend, almost but not *quite* in time for Gold Country. Georgetown is still showing a ride day forecast of 90 currently, but hey, that's better than 100 and way better than 105.

I squeezed in that short, spooky ride Monday morning on Blaze before the heat hit but otherwise have been laying pretty low on the horse front. Desire has been off work, chilling in pasture for 2 weeks now since her last visit with the trimmer. I have a box of Renegades on loan to try out on her but haven't yet mustered the desire (harhar) to actually set to work on fitting them. Partially the recent heat, partially burnt out on boots. Oh yeah and partially just really scared to start working my mare again and see that lameness show up. So the plan is after getting Blaze through Gold Country, when the weather cools next week, I'll bring her back into work lightly and see what she shows me. And play with a completely different booting system. Hurrah, can't wait...Was that believable?

If she isn't pounding the trails she is pounding large quantities of food..

Joey didn't have a session with the trainer last week due to scheduling, so I'm planning to have her come this Thursday even though it's the evening before we leave for Gold Country. Joey is doing really well and I want to see him to continue to realize his potential. In the meantime he has been dozing in his fly mask and stuffing his face..and he is still a little unsure about all of the strange behaviors his humans exhibit.

Well I don't know about this whole camera in my face thing, I'm just here eating and then you show up and I can't help but be interested and yet...

 Sheza is larger than ever, dopey, friendly, occasionally still dramatic but WAY less so in the last month or two. She ditched her fly mask in the pasture the other day and greeted me at the gate that evening all bareheaded and pleased with herself. Figures that I had patted myself on the back that morning for how snugly and evenly the mask was seated.

Blaze is on Quench daily feed-through electrolytes and I'll be breaking out the EnduraMax-Plus tubes this weekend. I didn't electrolyte him at all in his season of LDs last year but it's been a truly hot week and now that I have and am more familiar with electrolytes I figure it will only help the little bugger through the ride. He has been drinking, eating, and pooping out on the trail really well lately, but still holds his pee til I dismount back at the trailer. From what I understand Gold Country is one 30 mile loop out of camp and back to the Finish, so here's hoping he pees before we get back to the trailer on this one!

GC is only 80 miles from the house and I'm doing the LD, so I'm not very excited/nervous for this weekend. In fact, I feel quite EH about the whole thing. Probably because I've got some residual angst/guilt over Desire's lameness and not riding a 50 this month, plus it's hot and that always makes me at my cheeriest..not. Still it's a new ride to check out, an area I've never ridden in, and it is nearby. Blaze will be happy to have a chance back at it and I'm sure it will be fun.

This is a volunteer Sunflower that decided to grow down near our front gate, on my Polaris feeding route. I've been dumping mash-pan loads of water on it every day as I drive by. Today it popped it's first petals open:

Off to stick my head in the freezer...