Pintabian Fun

I don't care if it's a proper term or not (is it?), Pintabian is fun to spell and fun to say. 

Firstly, I rode Blaze yesterday morning to the top of the ridge. Rather briskly. When we walked, he walked out quite well, I must give him credit. For a Zombie walker he might have reached oh 3, 3.5 miles an hour..

My mohair girth gave him pink rubs behind each elbow! Wtf. I used it for 14 miles the other day and he had a small rub in the hair but nothing pink. Then I went 6 brisk miles up the ridge and he had little pink spots on both sides! Again I say, W.T.F.  Back to the neoprene waffle I usually use on him, but good grief. 

Cows!

Even Blaze has Arab moments..

Sooo, this morning I loaded my junk into the truck and headed down to the Loomis/Folsom area to ride Chief, J's Pintabian. Yeah, say it people, Pintabian!

A full cab...Yes that is Blaze painted on my purse :D 

J and I dawdled a bit and may have stopped by a tack store on the way to the Sterling Pointe Folsom Lake trailhead. Christensen's  is a good sized tack store with lots of English tack and apparel AND, of all things, some endurance tack and accessories in stock, hanging on the walls! I know, shocking right. I order ALL of my endurance stuff so occasional trips to this place is a bit thrilling. I really needed to get new stirrups with cages and happened to find a Yearling-size fly mask for Sheza. I went optimistic on her hippopotamus stature and bought her an Arab sized mask but her head is still a bit dainty for that. Put it away for future use. By the way, I saved her foal fly mask away in my tack trunk and am going to TRIP OUT when she's like 16 hands and I see that tiny thing used to fit her fat head.

It must be a sign of how tired I am that I'm rambling. Soooo...J has been riding in jeans and boots for most of her life, but I have slowly been poisoning her mind and tack room with endurance-tastic items--a fuzzy seat cover here, a spare pommel bag there...she even started wearing a helmet after we started riding together (because I'm a good influence, not coz I'm scary to ride with..I swear). SO today at the tack store she took the final step and purchased riding breeches (snazzy denim/jean looking breeches) and some Ariat Terrain half chaps, yes it's good to be size XS since that is about all that's left of these dearly beloved, discontinued chaps (WTF, Ariat?).

I give you...Endurance J! (and Sedona, BLM Mustang)

Oh my GOSH, and I didn't even mention yet that her mare went 15 miles in great style in Easyboot Epics today! She has been travelling fully barefoot but is ouchy on the fronts if there is any gravel or rocks, so something had to be done. I eyeballed the mare's hooves last time and brought the Size 0 Epics I had on loan from N (didn't fit either of mine)--sure enough they went on nicely and Sedona stepped out like she'd been booted all her life. She was a lot less fussy today about trying to stay off the trail in the soft grass AND we walked through boot sucking mud (like literally the boots were under the mud and she had to pull them back out and up) and they stayed on! Even with one of the cable clamp thingies swinging loose (fixed that tonight). So, quite a darn successful Easyboot fitting, I'd say. If only it were that easy every time.

Finally, at noon, we were on the trails at Folsom. Hey, tack shopping happens.

Jungle Pintabian

 Ahhh, Folsom Lake! Busy today, lots of boaters, jet skis, and ruckus. The horses were quite good about it all. Some vultures flew out from under the bank of the trail on our way back and Sedona squirted forward but Chief was too tired by that time to waste energy on spooking. A tired horse is a good horse ;) 

Cut down to the lake for a drink and a mid-ride cool down. Chief drank very well at both stops at this area.

 See, told you he drank :)

Looking nice and forward, good boy Chiefy

Today was a good day for Chief. He is still getting into shape and was plum tuckered by the end of it. But he ate along the way, drank deeply multiple times, pooed and pooed (I mean this dude is an Eating, Pooing MACHINE), and peed as soon as I dismounted back at the trailer. He also pooped while trotting once, oo ambitious! It was about 95 degrees today and we didn't get an early start so were doing some heat training for sure.

Chief has issues letting horses head off without him getting to haul ass up behind with his nose up their butt. Imagine that in an 6 year old half-Arab. SO he is a bit of  pig head, when he isn't allowed to do what he wants he can get a bit, ahem, dramatic. Like, throw himself sideways into a  bush dramatic. Or try to run us into a tree instead of up a hill. The first time I told him not to trot off after J on a ride a few weeks ago he tried a little rear. So, a bit dramatic. I like to say it's his bull dog F* You QH/Paint side. I carry my crop when I ride him and I have used it, to be sure.

Today J trotted away and I checked Chief from jumping into a trot after her, so he tried the throw us sideways into a giant bush trick. I gave him hard right leg and a clip on his butt with the crop and he straightened out but was all wiggly and waggly going forward and certainly not using his brain. I turned him around to face the way we had come and flexed him left and right while he tried to stare back the way J went. After a few flexings he gave me an annoyed face, and then an OH FINE face. From there he was allowed to trot as long as it was a nice, polite, but perky jog with a nice head set. Oh MY does he have a smooth jog, smoother even than Desire I think. We had a few more discussions like that but for the most part he came around quickly and then trotted nicely off to find his trail buddy up ahead. He wasn't collecting at the trot at ALL the last few rides and I've been working on it (as much as one can, once a week on the trail) and suddenly this week it was like *lightbulb* he just GOT it. I feathered the reins experimentally when we did our first trot of the ride and he just collected like Bam, yeah, what, I know how to do that. So, a nice surprise!

Bunny ears..

 Up, up we go!

  Butts..hehe love his markings

Well Chief, should we turn around? "Yes please!" 

Sweet relief in those ears, it's the trailer at last!

Here comes a tired gal on her nice mare stepping out so fine in those Easyboot Epics!

There is a really nice trough and hose set up at the Sterling Pointe trail head and the horses got washed, the humans got hydrated (careful pounding ice water on a hot day without much to eat..J found out how ill it can make you feel!)

I got home at about 7:30 pm and didn't finish chores and get in to the house til 9. Now that's a summer day!