Renegade Clumsy Test

Yeah, I said it. Chief is a lovely and talented young guy but BOY, he is clumsy. Having survived Desire's torque and power both dry and wet, the other good test I could throw at the Renegades was Clumsy. I mean stumbling, graceless, dorky gelding clumsy. 

Aww but he's so cute-- Chief trying on some orange shoes!

"Ah shit, when the redhead shows up I gotta WORK"

Just so you know, when I met J she rode western with leather tack, cowboy/work boots, jeans, and no helmet. Do you think Redheaded Endurance rubbed off a little??? LOVE YA, J!

Imitating a horse, I think?

Up the hill we go

A coyote was stalking a baby deer who was lying in the shade of  a tree, across the valley. We rode right through the middle of nature's drama

 Chief channeling his Arab side--pretty ears!

Sedona loves the water--she will veer off the trail to head for it. Still learning to drink but loves to wade!

 Imitating..well, probably a horse again..

 Up and away! I didn't touch the reins on the way home, Chief just turbo-walked his little butt right across the creek, up the hill, and to the trailer! Fooooodddddd

 Trailer in sight, ears up!

Renegade Clumsy test results? I did indeed have a boot twist today, and a boot come off. Here's why: Chief is transitioning to barefoot after years of being shod in the front. His front hooves aren't in great shape right now, in fact they are kind of a hot mess. He has had one trim cycle with my trimmer, D, but it's going to take months for him to grow out healthy, barefoot hooves. There is some significant chipping on his fronts and he has a nasty hoof wall crack/flare that I almost couldn't get a boot over today. My rasp wasn't in my boot bucket as I thought so I had to fit a technically too-big size 1 over the cracked hoof, and a size 0, which actually fit, onto his other front hoof. The boot twist and loss came, predictably, on the size 1 boot, which ideally would have been a 0. I was still pretty impressed with the boots, we rode 10 hilly miles with multiple water crossings and the only boot loss came while charging up a steep hill after water, so pretty much the hardest situation for boot retention.

J's mare Sedona has been getting rubs from the Easyboot Epic gaiters, we corrected most of that today with copious amounts of baby powder on the gaiters and slicking down her legs. But seeing me slide on and Velcro the Renegades after powdering, slicking, banging, levering, strapping, locking, and finally pinning on her own front boots--well let's just say there might be a Dragon Fire Red order being placed in the near future. ;-) Speaking of, I passed on my snazzy red breast collar, the first endurance breast collar I ever bought (7 years ago) to Sedona. It's still in great shape and looks great with the red and blue she already has.

Just about a month until Chief and Sedona's endurance debut at Chamberlain Creek!