Hi Sweetie!
Okay, before anyone gets too worried, everyone and everything is fine! Flash and I were having a nice ride, but we did have a bit of scary moment. The trails are a bit hillier than I expected, but I had put his breast collar and boots on, which was good because there are a lot of stony areas, albeit not chunky cut gravel, but well-worn, rounded natural stone, and we were doing just fine until he started to go down a part of the trail that was really washed out. I felt like we could make it just fine, but Flash wasn’t happy about how deep his feet were going into the dirt (not even mud, just a deep grove of missing dirt), when he suddenly pulled up and decided to climb up the side instead. Problem was, there was no place to go, and he stumbled over some bushes and lost his balance and slid down the side of the washout, ending up like you see in the picture, upside down with his head on the down side. The walls were much steeper than they appear here, and he couldn’t get his feet down enough to stand up. He just lay there for awhile. Meanwhile, I’m trying to move him with no success, and I figured I’d need a bunch of burly guys to help me get him up, so I ended up calling 911. Thank goodness I had a cell phone signal! We all know how unhealthy it is for a horse to be on the ground for too long, especially with his head at the lowest point! While I was waiting, I managed to get a lot of his tack off, including his saddle and breast collar so he could breath a lot better. Just as the FD folks were coming up the trail, Flash suddenly lurched and scrambled and somehow managed to get himself upright, thank goodness! Of course, everything was dirty, especially him, but that’s a small price to pay. I checked him out and unbelievably, he was just fine! No sore spots, no heat, no swelling, no limping, nothing! Well, the dirt was soft, which is how I was able to get out from under him anyway. While the fireman held him, I re-saddled him and started to walk him out, and he seemed so fine I decided to try mounting, figuring if there was a problem it would show up more quickly and more noticeable with me on him, and again, he was perfectly fine! We ended up riding back to camp with no issues whatsoever. Other than a bit of a wrenched neck, I seem to be whole as well, though I did some post-crash ibuprofen as a precaution. I can’t even figure out how I landed, but that I managed to extricate myself quickly enough. Anyway, we got back to camp, untacked him, and let him graze with Apollo the rest of the afternoon, no harm, no foul! Got lucky on that one. And now the DNR folks know they need to do some trail repair, they were there, too. So now I’m all settled down for the evening, glad I did my Egoscue exercises this morning, it may have helped me be loose enough not to incur any real damage. But I am going to have a much needed glass of wine now that I’ve fed the horses and am ready for a bit of TV before shower and bed. So I’m going to say good night a bit early! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Woke up to a nice morning, temps aren’t quite as hot as they’ve been, and it looks like it’s going to stay that way for awhile, thank goodness! After chores and breakfast, I was just starting to get Apollo ready, because Dan was supposed to be coming over for a ride. I was actually going to let him ride Flash today for a change, but at the last minute he texted to say he couldn’t make it because of a serious family problem. I put Apollo back and saddled Flash, and we had a nice 7.69 mile ride. The bugs were still bad, but the heat and humidity weren’t as bad as it’s been, so it was quite nice, and Lola enjoyed herself, too. I was careful not to let Flash drink from any streams on the trail, just in case that’s what set off his colic the other day. Got back to camp, made a few phones, learned that my order for feed had come in at the Tractor Supply (they neglected to call or email me, sorry to say), so I went to pick that up. I forgot the propane tanks, though, that had been on my list, so I’ll have to do that another day. I also went to Meijers and stocked up on Joint Juice, should have enough for the rest of the year now. Came back to camp and unloaded, then left a while later to go pick up hay at a farm about 16 miles from here. It’s supposed to be about 40 percent alfalfa, which is more than I wanted, but I haven’t been able to find any anywhere else, I just keep missing the timing, everybody is getting sold out in a hurry. It’s been a weird year for hay, some areas having a drought, others too much rain. I got eight bales, though, so it should last me for most of my stay at the next place, hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a good load sometime in the next couple of weeks. Got back to camp, grilled a burger, and settled down for the evening. I’ve been having to cover myself with insect repellent the last few days, I feel like the trailer stinks of it, but it’s probably just stuck in my nose for now. Hope it’s not as bad at the next place, though I’m prepared for it now. Heading off for a shower and bed shortly. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Another night when I couldn’t get to sleep, probably because it was so dang hot and humid, I had to run the fan and keep the inverter on even after going to bed. So it took me awhile to get to sleep, which ended up with me sleeping late, so I got a late start today. After chores and breakfast and a few computer jobs, I saddled up Flash around noon and headed out. I figured it would be a fairly fast ride, though Flash wasn’t particularly feeling it, probably because of the heat and humidity. Lola came along and plopped down into every mud puddle we came across. Flash took a drink on a particularly muddy creek (after Lola had stirred things up), but since he does that all the time, I didn’t think anything particular about it. We did about nine miles, including one short new trail we hadn’t done before, and when we got back to camp, he started to behave strangely. He buckled his back legs a bit when I took off the saddle, but when I checked his back it seemed okay. He did a lot of fussing when I was taking his tack off, wouldn’t stand still. Once I put him in the paddock, he laid down and started rolling, which isn’t that unusual, but then he stayed down for a long time. Then he’d get up and lay down again, over and over. I thought maybe he was dehydrated, so I tried to give him some water with electrolytes in it, but he wouldn’t drink, nor was he eating any hay or grass. He was also very shy of me when I approached him, like he was afraid, very unusual. I got online to see what it might be, and it seemed possible it was early stage colic. Best remedy recommended was to walk him around, so I put him on a lead and started walking him around the campground loop. I knew I had to get him to poop, since colic is essentially a stoppage in the intestinal system, so when we got back to our site, I tied him up to the trailer. He usually poops as soon as I do that, but not this time. So I took some advice from my friend Trish, who had told me a story about someone else who was worried about her horse not pooping, and someone else suggested that she put him in the trailer, because, as everyone who has ever trailered a horse knows, the FIRST THING a horse does when he gets into a trailer is to poop! Weird, I know, especially to non-horse people, but it’s the truth! So I cleared up a few things out of the back of the trailer and led Flash up into it, and sure enough! In less than a minute, he left me a nice pile. I got him out and put him in the paddock, and he immediately went for his hay bag and started eating. Suddenly, he was behaving normally, no more laying down, it was like nothing happened. I kept an eye on him for some time just to make sure he was okay, and everything seemed fine. I had planned on going shopping, but changed my mind, I wanted to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, when I left at noon, the forecast said no rain until the middle of the night. When we got back around 2:45, I heard thunder and saw dark clouds, checked the forecast again, and it had changed to rain starting in 15 minutes and lasting a couple of hours! So I put everything away and sure enough, we had a terrible squall and then some steady rain for the next hour plus, which was really a good things, washed all the dirt off that Flash had accumulated. So I finally settled down for the evening, feeding the horses late so I could keep an eye on them, then watched a little TV, now I’m ready for shower and bed! At least it cooled down a little after the rain came through, hoping to sleep better tonight. Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a little trouble sleeping last night, read for quite awhile, but finally dozed off and slept through the night. Woke up to my alarm since I had arranged to ride with Dan today and didn’t want to sleep too late. Chores, breakfast and have both horses saddled up by the time he got here, a little later than I expected, but we got out nonetheless. It was hot, muggy and buggy today, and there was rain supposed to be coming in by 2:00 and I wanted to make sure we got back on time. We did the long loop on the west side of the property going in the opposite direction than when I went last week just for variety. Other than the muggy heat and bugs, it was a nice ride. We did get back shortly before it started raining, though it came in earlier than was forecast. Once it started, it really rained hard, a real gully washer. It was the perfect opportunity to check out where my window was leaking from, so I excused myself and took off the window frame. It’s definitely dripping around the window, but I still can’t figure out exactly where it’s coming in. After Dan left, I did some research about it, and discovered that there’s a seal around the inside of the window that could be the problem. Looks like a fairly straightforward job if I can get the kit somewhere. I’ll need a little help getting the window out, but other than that I think I can get it done fairly easily, assuming that’s the problem. I know I’ve sealed the outside of the window pretty thickly, so I don’t think that’s it, so process of elimination, it has to be the inside seal. I’ll do more research tomorrow. It rained very heavily for a bit, some flooding around the trailer and the yard I’m in, but didn’t last too long. I got my proposal off to my prospective client, hopefully that’s something that will come through in the coming weeks, maybe a job by the end of the year, that would be nice! Finally settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed, I have to get all the dang bug spray off me, I stink! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Another great night sleep, woke up to my alarm to make sure I didn’t miss a business call at 9:00, though at the last minute she was delayed so it was twenty minutes later when we finally got to talk. No worries, I got my chores done and had my breakfast beforehand anyway. It was a good conversation, looks like I might have another job before the end of the year, which would be great! After I finished and did the dishes, I started to saddle up Flash, and waited to saddle up Apollo until Dan arrived, we had settled on today at 10:00, he was a few minutes late, but as soon as he arrived I started to get Apollo ready. He changed into jeans (he rides his bike in shorts, understandably) and before long we were headed out. I essentially did the same trails I did yesterday in reverse, a little under five miles, I didn’t want him to be suffering, since you know that when someone doesn’t ride for a long time, 60-90 minutes is about all they should try to do. It was just at 90 minutes, so it worked out well. He really enjoyed himself, he hadn’t been on a horse in a long time, and these are pretty nice trails here, just wish they had more of them. He was good company, we chatted amiably throughout the ride and afterward in the screen room. Then we decided to go to lunch, and we drove to the White Lake Inn, a nice little waterfront restaurant where we sat on the deck and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. It was after 3:30 by the time we got back to camp, and headed out shortly after that. He’s working over the weekend (he does part time at Lowes, just because he’s bored just hanging around), but he’ll probably come and ride again next week sometime. He lives in Costa Rica, would you believe! So that was part of our conversation, of course. Anyway, I went back to the French lessons I’ve started to take online, because it feels more productive than just playing games, which I’ve been doing a lot of lately. I’ve been considering doing a riding trip in France, so that kind of got me going, but I figure it’s good exercise for my brain regardless of whether I actually go on that trip. Haven’t done any French since high school, forgot most of it, but it’s been fun to get back into it. Well, time for shower and bed! Looks like it may rain a bit tomorrow, don’t know if I’ll ride or not, we’ll see. Meanwhile, good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Had another good night sleep, did my chores and breakfast, did some computer work and some French lessons (just for fun, and maybe taking a trip next year), then saddled up Apollo for a short ride around the east side loop, some trails I didn’t get to yesterday. This ride just about wraps up all the horse trails in here, so I may have to get adventurous and accidentally take a couple of cross-country skiing trails. Got back in the afternoon and struggled again trying to get hay. I had several haymakers tell me they’d have some yesterday, then it got delayed until today, but very late, and finally, I just couldn’t take a chance because I’ve been looking since Monday, and I was almost out, so I had to go to the nearby feed store and get some, at a 30 percent markup, darn it! Well, two of the haymakers are actually a lot closer to the next camp I’m going to in ten days, so I got enough to last me until then, and I hopefully will be able to pick some up then, if they’re not all sold out. It’s selling like crazy right now, but then again, everyone’s baling right now, too, so I expect a surplus for the next few weeks, hopefully. It was a lovely ride. I put some new cushioning pads in Apollo’s boots and had him wear them, even though there’s only a few places that are rocky, but he’s been behaving so tender-footed, I’m going to put them on every time we ride for awhile, at least until we get back to soft sand. He seemed okay today, though he was still trying a bit to stay off the trail, but that may just be habit with him by now. Saw several deer, and some other big fat round thing that I only saw from the backside, not sure what it was. Very quiet out on the trails today, didn’t run into anyone else. Didn’t take Lola, either, still wasn’t sure what kind of roads we might cross, but I think I’ve sorted that all out now. Probably won’t take her over the weekend, either, since this is a pretty populated and civilized park, but maybe next week when it’s quieter again. It’s been very sunny here, so it’s been a bit warmer in the trailer since there is not shade in this campground, but the good side of that is that Apollo’s rain rot seems to be just about gone, partly because of the treatments I gave it a few weeks back, and partly because he’s been standing out in the sun and it’s been doing a good job of drying it up. Once I got him put away, I took the truck over and filled the tank with water, got their tubs and the trailer refilled. I learned something last night, too. The inverter cuts off at about 11.2, that’s my low battery point, so now I know. I ran the generator for about 10 minutes last night because it got so low I was afraid the low voltage would damage the water pump while I was taking my showers, but that brought the volts up to 12.2 in just ten minutes! I was amazed. Even more amazing, the generator actually started on it’s own this morning, which really surprised me after running the batteries so low last night. Live and learn! Finally gave up on my haymakers and went to the feed store, then settled down for the evening. Already had my shower, heading to bed shortly! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Had a good night sleep, beautiful sleeping weather here right now! Got up and did my chores and breakfast, spread out the tarp to dry since I had been planning on getting hay today (which didn’t happen, won’t be baled until tomorrow! Getting low!). Meanwhile, a man named Dan rode by on his bike, he had stopped by yesterday and we chatted for a bit, turns out he used to be a rider, so I invited him to come ride with me if he wants. Always helps to get both horses exercised at once! He stopped by again today and we chatted a bit more, made arrangements to ride on Friday morning. After he left, I saddled up Flash. Yesterday, I had got his boots out, because it looks like some of the trails here are graveled, and put several layers of Lexol conditioner on them and rubbed it in. The Cavallo people told me that I might have to break them in, though I’ve never had to do that before, but since I knew it rubbed Flash’s bulbs last time, I thought I’d make the effort. I had put them on for a few hours yesterday as well, hoping that it would help. I also got out the pastern wraps Cavallo sent me (they actually sent me two pair, didn’t realize that) and put those on, hoping to avoid any rubbing. It seemed to help, because he didn’t spend nearly as much time avoiding the trail as he has been lately, didn’t seem to mind many of the rocky sections. There really weren’t that many, but still, it was an improvement. I did forget to put his breast collar on today, that’s been helping a lot, but the park on the east side is so flat I didn’t think it would be an issue, but the park on the WEST side is quite hilly, so I wish I had remembered it. Anyway, it was a lovely ride, just under ten miles, including a tunnel under a busy road. I didn’t take Lola because I was worried about crossing that road, wish I had known about the tunnel. The only time I met other horses on the trail was at that tunnel, a couple was just coming out as I was just getting ready to go in. Flash is really getting into good shape now, he was quite happy to go quickly most of the way, especially the way back. Saw a few hikers, but other than that, we were on our own. Enjoyed it a lot, just wish they had more trails out here! This ten mile loop pretty much covers most of them, there is just a couple more short loops around camp to do. Of course, we’ll go backwards at least once here, just for variety, but we’ll have to do the same trails most of the time while we’re here. Got back to camp, and was planning on getting hay, but the guy contacted me after I texted him and said it wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow, darn it! Oh well, that’s the way it goes. I got out the pads I had bought for the Cavallo boots and cut those according to size and put them in both pairs of boots, will try them out next time I ride either horse. It did seem like the pastern wraps did a good job, there didn’t seem to be any rubbing. Then when I put the pads in Apollo’s boots, I decided to replace the velcro straps, they were pretty beat up, and I had spare, and wouldn’t you know, when I opened the draw to get the new straps, there was a pair of Cavallo pastern wraps in there! I have no idea where they came from, don’t remember seeing them, but evidently they had sent me some, maybe as a freebie with my last set of boots (or more likely the set before, since I had no memory of it) so now I have THREE sets of pastern wraps! Guess I’ll be trying those out on Apollo, too, though his boots are already broken in. I also decided to raise my stirrups a notch, just because there are times when I feel at certain speeds I don’t have enough leg control, we’ll see how that works. Grilled a nice little steak for dinner, now I’m sitting outside waiting for it to cool down, not sure if I’ll have enough battery power to watch a movie tonight, I didn’t run the generator at all today, and there were a few clouds so I didn’t get quite as much charge today as I hoped, but we’ll see! That’s why we’re testing the system! Won’t be long out of bed, though, so I’ll say good night, my sweetie! Love you

Hi Sweetie!
Well, once again, the weatherman threw us a curveball. While it was a beautiful day yesterday, there was a forty percent chance of rain overnight at 4:00 a.m., which turned into 100 percent rain at about 1:30. It was so loud, I heard it even with my earplugs in. I had to get up and close my windows, and unfortunately, there was still some wet spots on the bedroom window in the morning, so I still haven’t completely solved my leak problem. I felt bad for Alayna in her tent, but she got through it all right, even with the thunder and lightning. Anyway, by daylight it was all gone, and it was a beautiful morning. We didn’t exactly get an early start (like me, Alayna’s not an early morning person!), but we did get out on the trail just after 10:30, after I did a load of laundry and got it hung up so it would dry while we were gone. We did another 9 ½ miles today, and Sundance wasn’t any worse for the wear despite how little he’s been ridden this year. Flash was perfectly fine as well, despite it being his third day in a row. We went through the obstacle course again just for fun, and got back into camp around 1:30. I really enjoyed Alayna’s company this weekend, she’s easy to have a conversation with, and easy to be quiet with as well, a good combination in my book! She got packed up and left not too long after that, then I got busy starting to put stuff away for our departure tomorrow. I paced myself through the afternoon, but it really didn’t take very long, even taking the screen room down is getting to be fairly easy, despite the fact I haven’t used it in quite awhile. I suspect I may be using it the rest of the month, though, since my plan is to stay two weeks at the next three places, and I’d almost forgotten how pleasant it is to sit outside without getting eaten by bugs! I think Lola appreciated that too, even though it keeps her locked in a bit more. She knows she’s not supposed to leave the screen room, and did pretty well this weekend considering the number of dogs running loose, she only insisted on escaping a few times :-). I had a conversation with the last remaining camper from the group next door, turns out she’s into mounted orienteering, a sport I’d like to look into (and keep missing by a weekend whenever I find out about it), so we exchanged contact numbers and she said she’s keep me apprised. I need to get on their mailing list and check their schedule more regularly, I’d really like to give that a try one day. Anyway, I had dinner early, between chores, and finally settled down for the evening, with just about everything put away and the truck hooked up and ready to go. The next stop is less than 100 miles, so I should be able to get there fairly early, but according to their website, they have NO sites big enough for me, even though they say the site lengths are ofter 70-80 feet! Still trying to figure that out. Anyway, we’ll figure that out tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ve had my shower, and I just need to finish up before heading to bed! Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Wow, what a party the neighbors were having last night! I went to bed around 11:15, and it was still a raucous bunch, with some laughing really loud, and another singing at the top of their lungs, and the loud generator going strong. Thank goodness for earplugs! I put mine in and the world faded away, so it didn’t take me long to get to sleep. Woke up at a reasonable hour, got my chores and breakfast done, fixed one of the fans in the horse compartment, it had fallen off and pulled it’s wires out, so that was a chore waiting to be done. Alayna was supposed to be here around noon, but she had a lot of things not go right, so she was late and showed up with Sundance instead of Glory, which was fine, probably better, since Glory tends to make a fuss with the geldings, it was much calmer with two geldings. Anyway, she finally got here around 1:30, so we were on the trail by just after 2:00, and had a very nice 10.5 mile ride around most of the perimeter. Sundance is mostly blind, so he was having a little trouble navigating some of the steeper hills, but he managed pretty well. When we got back to camp, we decided to do the obstacle course, which has quite a number of interesting things to do. Steps, gates, logs to step over, and Flash managed most of them. Got back to camp, put everyone away, made a nice grilled salmon dinner that we ate at the picnic table, then settled down for the night. What a beautiful day! Because we had a cooler night last night, the bugs were a lot less today, and the weather, with a nice little breeze, was just perfect! And it’s supposed to be a great day again tomorrow, exactly the kind of weather I love to chase, seventies in the day, mid-50’s to low-60’s at night. Couldn’t ask for more beautiful weather! Hope it stays this good throughout August! Alayna has put up her tent, and we’ll be sitting around chatting for a bit before I hit the showers and head off to bed! So I’ll say good night early, my love! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Had a good night sleep, managed to get up before 8:00, got more chores done, had another one of Alayna’s grandma’s cinnamon rolls (mmm, mmm, good!), did a few essentials on my computer, then saddled up Flash and headed out for a ride. What a beautiful day it was! Perfect temps in the low 70’s, sunny skies, just fabulous! This is a fairly small park so it’s not too easy to get lost, but I did manage to get off-track from the route I had planned for myself. Part of the problem is that, whereas there are numbered intersections on the trails, those numbers aren’t on the map, so it’s impossible to plan accordingly. Also, the map is hand-drawn and bears no resemblance to where the actual trails are, my GPS is so far off it’s ridiculous. That said, I still managed to get all the trails I wanted done in, just not necessarily in the order or direction that I had planned, but no worries, it was still a nice ride. It got a lot cooler last night, so the bug levels were way down today, especially the mosquitoes, so that made it a lot more pleasant. That didn’t necessarily make Flash go any slower, though, he’s getting in very good condition, and he’s quite happy to go as fast as I will let him, which is as fast as he wants to go! Lola had quite a run for her money, too, she’s sleeping soundly in her bed. They have quite an extensive obstacle course just next to the camp, so I took Flash through most of it, and he did quite well, even with the ones he hasn’t seen before. One was this crazy spidery looking thing with a barrel on it’s side in the middle, and the point was to get over the barrel, but it was pretty big for Flash to step over, so he pop-jumped over it instead, which threw me a little off balance but I managed to stay on nevertheless. There’s one obstacle I just haven’t been able to get him to do, and they have the same one at Loretta Lynn’s, it’s a big wide tire on it’s side. This one is nice because they’ve even put a rubber stall mat on the top instead of concrete, but I still haven’t been able to get him up on it. I’ll keep trying, though! Got back to camp, got him settled in, then I went and filled up the water tank and redistributed it to the horses tubs and the trailer, with some leftover, which I may need for laundry on Sunday, or not. Settled in for the evening, watched a nice Reese Witherspoon movie and another Broadchurch (not sure why I’m watching those, it’s so depressing!), now it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!