Snapshot from Our Trail Ride
After two days of trail riding, Tank (at left, ridden by a friend) and Riley (with yours truly) were ready and eager for more. Photo by Edward Sala.No heavy-thinking subject matter today, just a snapshot of our two horses, Tank and Riley, at the end of the camp-out trail ride I've posted about recently.
Both the horses did us proud. No surprise for the Tankmeister--at 29, he's seen and done it all many times over, and is the kind of horse you can loan to a friend (which we did for one day's ride), and know he'll do just great. Riley, who's 5, and pretty green at this hit-the-trail stuff, rose remarkably to the occasion, and was the same "sure, whatever" type of guy he's been for me at horse shows.
Of interest to me: Several riders noted the green sponge hanging from my saddle horn, and wanted to know what it was for. In case you're wondering the same thing, it's for cooling down the horses whenever we make a watering stop. By sponging the sweat from their necks and between their hind legs, I can make them more comfortable, and give their natural evaporative-cooling function a boost. It's an old endurance rider trick I learned back when that was my sport of choice.
And, when you are lucky enough to have a 29-year-old horse who's still going, I think you're smart to take as good care of him as you possibly can. They don't make 'em like Tank anymore!
posted by Juli Thorson @ 10:05 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Great picture Juli!
I understand all the negatives associated with horses and the horse business, but it sure is nice to see people just having fun with their equine friends. Thanks for being one of those people! Someday I WILL come to down to Moscow for that ride.
Karen
(up north Idaho)
Juli- thanks for passing along the sponge trick! Here in the humid southland (right on the coast,) cooling is hard work, with little evaporation taking place for the horses. I never would have thought of using a sponge like that!!
One of my best trail horses (well, he was just plain the Best Horse that ever owned me,) was an Appy gelding who lived to be 40 yrs old. Our last trail ride together was when he was 36. I am still lost with out him...
Take good care of Tank! (As if you wouldn't!) Nice to see Riley coming along so well also!
Love the pics of your horses! I am going to set myself up with a sponge for the next time I go out trail riding on my girl Buttercup.
On another note,
I read an intresting article on MSNBC today.. thought you might be interested in it. It profiles the struggles of the family who owns one of the last suburban stables in the Denver, CO area. They pull in 6 figures from boarding but can barely make ends meet due to increasing costs...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26076327/
What a treasure your Tank is! Our farm treasure is Anchor Hill Azrak, a 34 year old Arabian Stallion. You are right... they don't make 'em like these older models any more!
Off the subject but
We purchased a small mare for our five year old granddaughter. The mare is cute with exactly the temperament for an inexperienced rider, but still a grade mare. Of course right off, our granddaughter wanted a foal. We are trying to teach her about the responsibility of not breeding this mare, without saying any thing bad about her horse. I think it is important to try to educate our young horse owners, as well as the older ones. Any suggestions on the level of an extremely smart and adorable five year old?
It's great to have such a solid trail horse still cookin' at 29! Wow! And the sponge is a great idea!
Juli, I really like that Sponge tip. I am definitely going to get one. It is also great when you have a young horse do so well in something new. I have a horse, Lil Tequila Wells, who also has a white face like your Tank and the same age. He used to be willful and prone to throwing little tantrums. He was a lot of work bringing him along. He never spooked at much though. I took him to a parade last year and was beautiful. He even let kids come up an pet him. I was real proud of him.
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