Santa Fe ACTHA Weekend ~ A Pictorial

 

Camper’s packed and hitched up. Ready to go.

 

Apache Mare loaded and comfortable.

 

Cowgirls discuss directions because………Y’all know that Cowgirls Don’t Get Lost.

 

Arrive at Caja del Rio National Forest, set up corrals and camper.

 

Hey! Nice views from inside the camper.

 

Kicking back relaxing until dinner time. Temperatures are dropping, clouds are rolling in.

 Brrr! Down to low 50’s and it starts to sprinkle. After dinner we head off to bed and it rains steady from 8:30pm until 6 am. This is not normal weather for New Mexico this time of year. We’re so glad we packed two extra sleeping bags to keep us warm and toasty.

 

Woke up Saturday morning to hungry horses who knew we were within earshot. “Yes, hay burners, we’re on our way out. Hold your horses!” Afterwards we crawled back into the warmth of our sleeping bags. Brrr! We could see the steam from our breaths!

 

ACTHA ride was delayed until after 12pm due to the greasy, slippery mud. The Forest Service shut down the entire area to protect the dirt roads from becoming deeply rutted and the natural environment from becoming destroyed. No vehicles in and none out. Shelley, the ride coordinator had the arriving riders and vehicles park a few miles up the road in a parking lot near some baseball fields, and stand by until the ride was to begin around noon.

But the ground did eventually dry out enough to head out after the 12pm Rider’s Briefing. (That’s Shelley in the red jacket)

 

One of the Junior Riders, K, a very talented young lady who has been doing ACTHA rides as long as I have. We are actually neighbors and only live a couple miles from one another. Her horse, Laddie was trying to get her attention. What do you think?

 

Olga and her lovely Haflinger. These two normally do Dressage and this was their first ACTHA Competitive Trail Ride.

 

 

Hey! Check out the Helmet Cam! Olga has a blog and shares ride videos with her readers.

 

Two of my local horse friends, Roni and Laurie.

 

Hand Grazing Apache out on the Caja. She sees Roni and her mare Halley in the distance.

 

After the ride was over it was time to visit with horse friends, like Matt and his Clydesdale, from the NM Mounted Search and Rescue. This was their first ACTHA ride as competitors, although they have volunteered as safety riders a few times in the past. They were hosts of our last ACTHA ride at Founders Ranch, that Apache and I rode in, too.

 

Olga’s Bucket List included “Riding a Clydesdale”. Now she can cross that one off.

 

Posing for a photo with Matt and Prince. Apache dreaming of what it would be like to be a Draft Horse. I’d say that Prince and Apache really hit it off well.

 

We also found some time to visit with Theresa and her handsome Lipizzaner/Hungarian Warmblood, Zeema. Who, as many of you all know, is one of the 5 contestants from New Mexico in the running for America’s Favorite Trail Horse, which you can watch on Dish TV on HRTV every Tuesday night at 6pm Mountain Time. You can also catch each week’s episode on ACTHA TV for FREE!!

Remember to vote for Zeema #223 on September 20th!

 After visiting with everyone, Roni and I decided to take a sunset ride on the Caja together.

 

And my friend, Shelley played Peek-A-Boo behind my Apache Mare, who couldn’t figure out what that strange giggling lady was was up to, crouched back there. 

And after a delicious Potluck dinner around the campfire at THE END of the day, it was time to head to bed.

(Go ahead and sing it. You know you want to……………….”I Like Big Butts, and I Cannot Lie!” lol!)

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The next morning dawned bright and sunny and much warmer. Ranchman threw off the blankets and jacket and donned a short-sleeve shirt. And I prepared myself for a day of Judging Obstacles.

But first there was the Rider’s Briefing, which was a special one that day, because it was the 10 Year Anniversary of 9/11 and the theme of our ride was Ride for the Heroes.

 

Donna Woods, one of the 5 New Mexico Contestants competing with her mare, Elektra, for the title of America’s Favorite Trail Horse, may not ever win an American Idol contest for her singing, but her rendition of the National Anthem still brought out a few tears from folks at the Rider’s Briefing, and even gave me goose bumps. Especially on a very emotional day, such as 9/11. 

 

There were quite a lot of horses wearing hoof boots that day. There is something endearing about a horse wearing boots, over a horse wearing metal shoes, don’t you think?

This horse was so relaxed in her pretty hoof boots. I really wanted to ask this mare’s owner for some tips or advice to get my mare to the same point when she wears her own hoof boots.

And I just fell in love with this gelding’s tack. He and rider looked so good together!

 

               Oooh! La! La! And Bitless, too!

 

Olga and her Haflinger were ready to go! And don’t you just love her friend’s horse’s hoof boots? Stars and Stripes. The American Flag! Perfect choice for such a special occasion.

 

And Theresa and Zeema were all decked out for the theme “Ride for the Heroes”!

Don’t forget to watch Theresa and Zeema #223, on America’s Favorite Trail Horse on Dish TV on HRTV on Tuesday Sept. 20th, at 6pm Mountain Time. You can also watch each episode on ACTHA TV for FREE.
The First Episode, from last Tuesday, which is an introduction to ACTHA and America’s Favorite Trail Horse, is ready and waiting for you to view! Check it out: ACTHA TV

Then it was time for Shelley to take both Karen and I out to the obstacle we had been assigned to judge.  Karen and I set up the obstacle and after Shelley took care of a few things back at Base Camp, she came back to hang out with us.

Of course we had to take a few photos of all the fun we were having. (It’s tough to pose for a photo when you’re tall and someone else is…...not).

 

Shelley is one of the funniest, coolest, and most go-with-the flow people I know. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. I just love her.

She and her handsome Mustang, Macho were one of the 5 New Mexican’s chosen to be in the finals to compete for the title of America’s Favorite Trail Horse!! Their Episode airs in November, and you can be sure you’ll hear more about that when their time gets closer!

 

Obstacle #6 “Celebration” was our obstacle. It was the last one of the day. ACTHA rides are usually 6 miles with 6 obstacles. This one required Pleasure riders to weave at a walk around the balloon covered poles and then turn around and walk past them to the exit. The Open riders were required to weave at a trot around the poles, trot over to the tree covered in inflatable beach toys, grab one off, and trot back to a judge and hand it to them, then trot to the exit. And Shelley was there to do the Soundness Check. (Oh, and yes, some of the balloons managed to pop as riders were maneuvering their way through the poles...)

 

This is Mike B. His horse’s name is Chester. Mike adopted Chester from the horse rescue, Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue, where I am a volunteer. He and Chester are truly awesome. They have placed in the top 6 and won First Place several times during ACTHA CTRs. They have a beautiful bond together and are a real team. It just goes to show that a rescued horse really can go on to do great things.

Notice the pilot’s uniform? That’s not just any uniform. That’s Mike’s pilot uniform that he wore when he flew F-18 jets! Notice the pockets on his legs? They used to be filled with Official Pilot Flight and Safety Equipment.

But I wonder if Mike ever imagined, when he was flying those F-18s, that those same pockets would one day hold Horse Cookies?

 

And here we have our own Dun Appy of the Bluewater Ranger Bred Blog. Just to see DunAppy riding on Sunday made me happy, because it almost didn’t happen, due to serious truck troubles that caused them to be stranded on the side of the Interstate, in the rain, for several hours on Friday night. She and her husband couldn’t ride on Saturday because they had to take their truck into Santa Fe to get those Radiator Repairs done permanently. It was a very stressful situation and caused her husband to give up the opportunity to ride in his very first ACTHA CTR. She still came prepared as a true hero on Sunday, wearing her official Fire Fighter uniform, while riding her sweet little Appy mare, Baby Girl.

DunAppy’s friend Linda rode the famous, talented and beautiful Lady Bug, DunAppy’s usual mount, because Linda’s horse seemed to have a lameness issue during Saturday CTR. 

 

After the CTR it was time for everyone to gather under and around the Base Camp Shelter for lunch and awards. (Did I mention that there was green chile pizza? Yum!)

 

This Jr. Rider and her lovely horse were practicing some trust exercises, and caught my eye.

 

This young lady, A, is a volunteer at the horse rescue where I volunteer, Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue(WNCR). She bought her little Mustang mare, Sadie, last year, from my friend and mentor Colleen, also one of the founders of WNCR. She and I have ridden together over at Colleen’s ranch and she is boarding her horse at Jessica’s ranch, where we have taken Group Lessons together. She is a very talented young horsewoman and she and her Mustang mare, Sadie, were participating in their very first ACTHA ride……and won FIRST PLACE in the Junior Rider Division!!!! Isn’t that totally awesome???!!! I’m so proud of them!  

 

I really enjoyed the entire weekend, despite the cold, the rain and the mud. Everyone seemed to have a great time riding, camping, and visiting with wonderful horse friends and making new ones. But, all good things must come to an END.

Don’t forget to watch America’s Favorite Trail Horse every Tuesday night at 6pm Mountain time, on Dish TV/HRTV, or for FREE on  ACTHA TV! Support the 100 Riders from around the country as they compete for the highly esteemed title of America’s Favorite Trail Horse!!

Ten different horse and rider teams will compete each week!!

Visit ACTHA after the September 20th Episode and vote for Zeema #223!

Bikes Don’t Faze Her, But Boots Do!

 

In preparation for this weekend’s Santa Fe ACTHA rides on both Saturday and Sunday, one of the things I wanted to test was Apache’s tolerance for mountain bikes, because these are something that can often be seen up at the Caja del Rio and I had no idea how Apache would deal with them.

So, I asked my twinling Jax to ride his bike around Apache’s paddock just to see if she had a reaction to it.

As soon as we entered her paddock, she surprised me by walking right up to us and right up to Jax on his bike.

She never once spooked, shied away, or bolted. I think she may have thought we were a little bit weird for even wasting her time.

So, yeah. I think we’ll probably be alright if a mountain biker approaches us from behind……

or from the front.

 

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But, hoof boots are a totally different ball game…..

I was so excited to get Apache’s Cavallo hoof boots today. I had ordered them on Friday night…..a holiday weekend no less, and received them on Tuesday, via Fed Ex. Now that’s fast!

My farrier recommended I get some hoof boots for Apache because he feels her hoof walls aren’t strong enough for metal shoes and he doesn’t want to weaken the walls by hammering nails into them. But she gets ouchy when I ride her over sharp gravel and large rocks.

I ordered a Size 2 because that’s the size that matched up when both my farrier and I followed the instructions and took Apache’s hoof measurements 2 weeks ago. I chose the brown boots because I figured they would look better on Apache than the black. And I decided to go with the Cavallo Boots because I had $50.00 in ACTHA Bucks to spend and Cavallo is one of their sponsors. And with the ACTHA Bucks the boots would only cost me $79.00.

Well, we had a few problems with these Cavallo hoof boots.

I asked my twinling Jax to help hold Apache’s lead while I tried the boots on her, because I wasn’t about to tie her after what happened with my previous horse, Baby Doll when walking up to her with a tube of wormer. I definitely didn’t want a Repeat of that Performance. And something told me to put my helmet on, so I did.

First I placed an old towel on the ground for her to stand on, in front of a pile of hay, and then I wrapped her hoof in some thin plastic wrap. I spent a few seconds just getting her used to the sound of the velcro on the shoes ripping open, and she wasn’t even concerned. So I commenced with the hoof boot fitting, not thinking that anything could go wrong.

I’ve done hours of research while learning about hoof boots, comparing brands, and reading reviews. I’ve read the Hoof Boot company’s instructions for sizing and putting the hoof boot on the horse’s foot.

But not once have I read anything about the possibility of a horse reacting negatively, essentially “freaking out”, when wearing a hoof boot for the first time.

Yeah. That’s exactly what happened.

I fitted the hoof boot easily on her foot and she wasn’t concerned at all……until she placed her booted foot onto the ground. Then all hell broke loose!

Seriously, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes!

Apache’s head shot up high and she sprung forward in the stall. I scooted over to the right, as did Jax.

Jax was still holding the lead rope, which happened to be behind me now because he had been standing by her head as I placed the hoof boot on her foot, and when I stood up, he leapt to the side. Apache had me cornered with only her large water bucket protecting me from her being on top of me. The thought crossed my mind to try and remove the hoof boot, but Apache was too far gone, just quivering with fear and wanting to take off, to even consider placing myself down there by her hooves.

I yelled to Jax to drop the lead rope and he finally did, and Apache turned and ran out of the stall, still wearing the one boot and trailing the lead rope behind her. And on she ran down to the bottom of the hill in her paddock, where she finally slowed down and took some tentative slow steps while glancing down at the hoof boot and stepping on her lead rope.

Jax and I watched her and figured we might have to walk down the hill to get her, but she surprised me when just after a few minutes, she turned and walked directly back up to the barn, and then into her stall, and just stood there staring at me, calmly waiting.

I wanted to be sure she wasn’t going to lose her mind again and bolt away before I got close to her and removed the hoof boot. So, I stood beside Jax and we talked while observing her behavior. She just stood there, watching us, and waiting. A few times she licked and chewed, but mostly she just stood there at the door to her stall with her head down.

Finally after about 5 minutes, I walked over to her, and stroked her shoulder, her neck, face and her back. And she seemed relieved and relaxed for the contact. So, I moved my hand slowly down her leg, down to her foot, and played with the straps. All good. So then I picked up her foot, and wiggled the hoof boot and quickly discovered that the boot was too big because it’s supposed to wiggle a little for the natural expansion/contraction of the foot, but it’s not supposed to swivel around the hoof, like it was doing on Apache’s foot.

So, still holding Apache’s hoof, and remembering to breathe, I removed the hoof boot, and then reached my arms around Apache’s neck and stroked her cheeks. She still continued to stand there at the door to the stall, until I walked away from her and called her over to finish eating her hay. Then I just stood there for a long while just stroking her back, shoulders and neck. After she finished her hay, I led her back to her paddock, where I had asked Jax to leave her some more hay, and then I released her. She still seemed a little uneasy, so I stood by her for a few more minutes while she settled into her pile of hay.

I checked out the boot when I returned to the barn, and thankfully the inside of the boot was still clean due to the plastic I had wrapped around her hoof before putting it on, but the bottom of the boot did have some dirt caked on it. So I brought it back to the house and cleaned the bottom off really well with a toothbrush and water and wiped everything down, and it looks brand new again. I can’t even tell which hoof boot she had on. So hopefully I won’t have any problems returning them and getting my money back. But, unfortunately Cavallo does charge a $10 restocking fee. bah.

So, has anyone ever heard of a horse freaking out over wearing a hoof boot for the first time?

Not me.

After the adrenaline rush subsided and my legs had turned to jello, I decided to do some research and only found one listing where someone’s horse reacted behaviorally negatively to the hoof boot while riding. Basically, the horse was acting reactive and spooky to things on the trail that would normally have never bothered him before.

Here’s the link to that situation: "Unusual Problem with Hoof Boots" 

But I have yet to find any information online about a horse reacting negatively or fearfully while wearing a hoof boot for the first time, not even from the hoof boot companies themselves. Is my horse the only one that has reacted this way?