White Horse Pilgrim

Duality

Doru embodies duality. In winter he is chocolate brown. In summer he is a light roan. Round about now he is changing.

I was reminded this week in conversation how important it is to accept the duality within us: between good and the latent potential to do evil; ability and inability; courage and fear; energy and laziness.

I took Brena out at the end of the day as the wind rose. Plastic bags blew across the land, and the newly planted saplings that are supposed to civilise the place whipped about in their plastic tubes. I hadn't the energy or inclination to push a snorting Brena through all that.

Later I felt bad at having given up. I need to accept the dark side of duality that played out, and go back tomorrow to take her (and, more to the point, me) successfully along the same route.

saddlebags

I've been getting gear out to photograph it for the book that I am editing. That process has passed page 200 of 350, which is welcome as editing can be tedious.

Here are the saddlebags that I designed and had made. I bought eight pairs for my guest horses.

These bags sit over the horse's neck immediately in front of the saddle.

A leather loop is secured with the girth at each side just by the buckles. These hold the bags in place provided that they are loaded with an approximately even weight on each side.

An adjustable strap then goes around the front of the horse. This needs to be set so that the straps and bags are not strained when the horse puts his head down to graze or drink.

The straps are, in fact, continuous from the girth to the breast. I learnt to make them in this way when too short an adjustment caused fittings to be ripped out.

The flaps at the top buckle down over ears secured by velcro. These, together with stout leather construction that I kept well oiled, made the bags quite waterproof.

A stout leather inside reduces the risk of a lumpy object causing a rub. Even so some care is needed to put softer and flatter objects on the inside next to the horse.

I found it really convenient to have bags readily accessible in front of me. It was easy to reach a camera or a water bottle. The horses didn't seem to mind these bags, which were not heavily laden. Indeed they were one of my best purchases in eight years running riding trails.

Arrival

If I drive slowly up the track to the field then Brena ambles down to see me.

But if I drive a little more quickly she canters across bucking as if my arrival is the most exciting thing.

Either way she comes over to meet me with enthusiasm. Then in the field she follows me about, making it quite difficult to take a photo with correct perspective. It is such a pleasure to own an affectionate horse.

We've been taking some short rides whenever the opportunity arises. My aim is to make getting on and riding her completely normal for me, and to make it completely normal for her to be ridden by me. That new familiarity is leading to calm and fluency.

For me this is an exercise in getting back where I used to be, when riding was as normal as walking across the room. Being ridden often used to be normal for Brena, though not many times by the same person. So for her it's a matter of getting back into the habit and discovering that it's nicer to have just one rider who cares about her.

We had a good trip on Sunday, going away by trailer to ride on the hills. Nothing concerned Brena, not other horses or bicycles or model aeroplanes - though the one that 'arrived' (as pilots describe a bad landing) in a cartwheel made her stiffen for a second. We started to work on maintaining a good steady trot, finding that Brena responds well to use of my weight as an aid.

Oddest thing I picked up riding

I found this on a high ridge in the Eastern Carpathian range. I took this hoof capsule because it showed very clearly just what was inside, notably the lines of the laminae and the inside of the frog.

The remains comprised just a very smelly skeleton picked clean by bears at the point when I rode by. The locals did dispose of carcases up there. I suppose that this came from a brood mare as, oddly, there are no marks from nails. All the working horses were shod.

Even wrapped in a plastic bag it stank in my saddlebags, and did so for the rest of the trail ride. Afterwards I soaked the hoof in water at which point its odour assumed more benign proportions.

The ridge of the Obcina Mestecanis was a wild beautiful place frequented only by shepherds, woodsmen and horse breeders. 

It was a high terrain of alternating rough pasture and dense coniferious woodland. The ridge-top track was associated in folklore with the Tatars, and indeed some residents of the deep valleys possessed a dark swarthy appearance that spoke of well-travelled ancestors. The Mongol Horde had passed that way, and so had its successors.

From there the land fell away to the northeast in a succession of ridges that ended only at the march of the steppes. Scarcely a trail was direct amidst the jumble of high ground dissected by myriad streams and cut by powerful rivers. Yet in its remote mystery the Obcina was a rewarding landscape to visit.

We rode those trails three or four times a year, basically whenever I could draw together a group for a two week trek. Three days we journeyed to get there, and three back, crossing a seven thousand foot mountain on the way. Four days we ducked and dived amidst a terrain fractured and fascinating. In all that time we crossed two metalled roads.

There it was far away in a place visited by no other tourists that I collected this dessicated hoof of an unknown horse. Perhaps my guests thought it a strange scavenging? However I am a collecter and a hoarder of curios.

Finally, looking at this body part and pondering how far off the beaten track I found it, I begin to realise the bravery of that business and of those trails. It was a pioneering venture in a wild place. I was lucky.

Saddle pressure

After I returned Brena to the pasture on Sunday she rolled. In the remains of her winter coat she had become a little moist with sweat although our ride was not strenuous. Mud stuck to the damp areas but not to the dry parts where the saddle had applied pressure. This permitted a useful assessment of saddle fitting.

I measured the area on each side. The total dry area is about 125 sq.in. On average, if only the dry areas are weight-bearing, I'm applying comfortably less than the 2 lb./sq.in. threshold above which blood supply starts to be restricted. Plus my saddle has a soft deep lambswool stuffing so pressure will be relatively even across the whole area.

Also I verified that the two dry areas were symetrical. They were, meaning that I am sitting straight and my saddle is evenly stuffed. I was confident in my saddle and my riding - now this is confirmed by evidence.

Trailer work

This weekend I fitted the new double width breast bar to the trailer. The trailer came with two half width bars that attach to a partition. However Brena is a bit too wide to fit into just half of the space.

The new bar is made of a steel box section measuring about one inch wide by two inches deep. I wondered whether it will be strong enough, however she did not bend it on the first outing.

It seemed quite angular so I decided to pad it. I used an old army blanket for the padding. First I laid the blanket out on a flat concrete surface. Then I applied glue to one flat wide surface of the breast bar. Having fixed the first strip of the short side of the blanket with glue I reinforced the attachment with duct tape.

Next I applied glue to an inch-wide strip of the blanket up both edges. Then I rolled the bar over the blanket.

At the end I applied glue to the final inch of the blanket and fixed that in place making a complete sausage of material around the steel bar.

The final stage of the weekend's work was to cover the whole in duct tape so that Brena does not rub the joint open.

Later on I will cover the duct tape with a tube of fabric. That will be aborbant therefore less sweaty if Brena presses against it.

Also visible in the picture are the two ropes used to cross-tie, each equipped with a mountaineering karabiner.

The work was a success. Brena walked right into the trailer today and travelled without any problems.

Food and faces

Here is Doru who has just been fed.

That expression says something like: "I am Doru, lord of the pasture, do you dare approach me whilst I am eating?" In general it is better not to. He will pull nasty faces and even bite to defend his hard feed.

See how his light summer coat is beginning to come through. That is a sure sign of the coming spring. It's warmer now, however I've been told that it is the longer hours of daylight that provoke the change of coat.

This part of the field hasn't been rolled yet. The barn manager dragged the roller up here but had some problems pullling it behind her truck. Now the ground is too dry to be rolled successfully. We'll have to wait until traffic wears down the humps and ridges of packed earth. That may take a while. Meanwhile I hope that the grass grows back too.

Brena gave me a generally quiet ride. Here she is afterwards. She will let me handle her whether eating hay or hard feed.

I discovered one thing out riding. Brena does not like sheep. Maybe the problem is that sheep come in great flocks that move about unpredictably? They run about, not necessarily away from her. Deer jump up and run away, and that's alright. Dogs are not a problem. She's met goats without incident. However she becomes nervous when passing the fields containing sheep.

The answer is going to be controlled exposure to sheep. I'll need to lead her up to flocks and take the time to allow her to calm down and accept them.

There's always some sort of challenge where horses are involved. When selecting a horse one chooses a set of problems to overcome.

One lesson today is that I have a better idea of Brena's typical shying distance. It isn't very far, just a few paces, and there tends to be some warning as she tenses up and perhaps snorts.

Brena and Doru have a new mutual neighbour, a gelding whose pasture separates the pair of them.

He belongs to an equine veterinarian who lives nearby. I was surprised to see her at the barn today, and she was curious to see Doru. We were all acquainted since she had treated Doru's lameness when it first appeared.

Doru, of course, came cantering across the field bucking and not looking at all lame. His hay had been put out just as the vet showed up. Why walk across the field when one can career across like a mad thing?

It is encouraging to have a veterinarian amongst the boarders. If anything does go wrong then she may be there. Plus advice can be asked for even if appointments need to be booked and paid for as usual.

Admittedly on past form at the yard it might be more useful to have a paramedic or two amongst the boarders. Incidentally the barn help who broke her back has been discharged from hospital. She is fully mobile which is a blessing.

As well as riding I got the new breast bar fitted in the trailer. I've made a pad for it using an old blanket. I'll take some photos and post them tomorrow.

Feet

Today I worked at home, getting a fair volume of paperwork out of the way. What a great thing it is to be able to log onto the work server remotely. Well, good for them and good for me anyway. That is fair enough.

I did slip over to the barn at lunchtime. I love the way that Brena trots or canters down to the gate. She seems so happy to see me.

I parked up, slipped throuth the fence with a carrot to catch her, and tied her to the ring on the field shelter. She's dusty but otherwise clean therefore simple to groom. Soon a saddle was fitted and we were ready to go. We did have a nice short but quiet ride around the farm prior to a fairly prompt return to work.

I am pleased at how her feet are turning out. The first shot shows her left front last October.

The second was taken yesterday. To start with her heels are less under-run. The angle of the foot is better now that the hoof has had five months to grow out. But it will take another six months for a complete new hood to have grown.

I do like her good hard strong feet. It's so good to have a robust healthy horse.

Last Sunday whilst riding out a passer-by noticed that she is unshod. Not many people pick up on this.

We should go out again over the weekend. One last piece of the trailer breastbar has been made. I didn't take the measurement quite right. Explaining this I asked for a modification to be made by the maker and a bill sent. But he did the work and has sent the piece sans bill because I owned up to what I had done. Most people, he said, would claim that he made the mistake.

 

First evening ride of 2011

Finally this evening it was light enough for long enough to go and ride.

It was a great pleasure to drop my work at 5pm and slip off to Brena's field.

Above the sky was a clear blue, the sun confidently shining through a thin haze that blanketed the horizon. It was nearly the first warm day of spring. Already the ground is hard. By the fencfe and shelter mud has given way to dust.

I found Brena eating the remains of her afternoon hay. It seemed a pity to take her away from food. But it would have been more of a pity not to ride at all.

Despite being taken away from her hay Brena was good natured, indeed quite lively and curious about all that was going on around us.

I can find that bubbling energy at the start of a ride a little disconcerting. A part of that relates simply to being tired at the end of the day. There is a feeling too that she could take off if she wished. (But any horse could do that.) For the first few minutes I concentrate on relaxation.

I've written similar words several times. The cure simply is more riding, basically a lot of hours in the saddle. That way Brena and I will get to know one-another better and we'll both settle down. With the new trailer for transport to wider open spaces than the farm can offer we can achieve this.

After a circuit of the farm we returned to the field. Brena got on with the important task of consuming the remaining hay whilst I lay down on the ground to perform the stretches that keep my back as supple as possible. It was a peaceful few minutes with a contented horse for my companion.

After that I addressed a ragged fragment of the edge of one hoof with a few rasp strokes. Indeed the ground has all of a sudden become hard and stony. How nice though that Brena stood and let me work on her foot without fidgeting or objection.

The sun was setting, transforming the hazy margin of the sky into a broad band of crimson. How wonderful to see this after a quiet ride.

In a few days time the clocks will change. That will be the key to months of evening rides. I am excited.

By appointment

It is a very British peculiarity that, when a firm supplies the Queen and her household, it can advertise the fact on its wares. Usually one sees the "By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen" on goods such as foodstuffs and beverages - normally superior brands of course including those products of her son's farm that are sold to her subjects.

The Queen was a rider in her younger years and would have required a plethora of tack. I ride a saddle bearing a stamp of the Royal crest and the "By appointment to..." rubric. It is, of course, quite a respectable saddle.

However the rule applies also to trains. Hence these signs appearing on the side of a Royal train locomotive that was parked in the freight sidings at my local station this morning.

I have no idea what it was doing there without the Queen's carriages.

The odd thing, of course, is that Deutsche Bahn - the German State Railway - now operates the Queen's private train.

Given the greed and lack of customer focus shown by our privatised train companies some people have called loudly for a return to state ownership.

Well now we are seeing state-run trains again. However it is the German state that has bought into a train company. Soon it seems that the French and Italian state railways will join them.