Ridecamp: [RC] The Rubberband Hour

Well, Braveheart and I have decided that if we have anymore rides like
today there won't be anymore Rubberband/Cadillac stories because there
won't be anything worth writing about!  Talk about an almost perfectly
boring ride!  But, there were a couple of incidents worth chuckling over
that I thought would be worth sharing.  So, here goes ...

Even at 8 o'clock in the morning it was hot.  Cadillac came out of her
stall wanting only to be scratched - in her privates!  She did the 3
legged dog routine to let me know where she wanted me to focus my
attention (when that hind leg comes up and looks like she's about to go
pee on a fire hydrant she wants her udder scratched).  So, I reached my
hand down her belly and came to 2 enormous lumps just in front of her
udder.  That was either one giant horse fly or she fell asleep on an ant
hill.  And she was loving every minute of that scratch too.  Just to be
on the safe side I asked Braveheart to come over and feel the lumps to
reassure me that it wasn't anything serious.  She felt the same thing I
did ... bugs of some sort, probably ants.  Caddie was very upset when I
stopped scratching her.  She would pick up that hind leg whenever I came
near her.  But, alas, it was time to go.

As I mounted up I told Caddie no antics today because I was wearing
tennies, not my boots, and had no ankle support.  I like my ankle
support, but can manage without it.  Both horses decided to stop and grab
some grass as soon as we mounted, and it took some prodding to get them
out the gate.  Caddie fell into her normal "I'm not warmed up yet" plod,
and RB strutted out in front like he was leading a parade.  It was a
short parade.

Just a couple houses up there lurks 2 very evil dogs that thoroughly
enjoy leaping out from behind the trees and rushing the fence snarling
and snapping at any horse that goes by, and this morning was no
exception.  RB, however, was prepared for the attack.  He slowed way down
and started looking for the dogs before we even got to the house.  He was
so intent on finding the dogs the person that stepped out of their car
scared the pants off of him.  Caddie just kept plodding.  We spied the
dogs, so their lunge at the fence didn't startle anyone.  That must have
been a huge disappointment to them because when we passed by on our way
home they didn't even acknowledge our presence.  So, we got all the scary
stuff on that block out of the way, and stood at the street waiting to
cross.  

When the coast was clear we headed out and RB decided now was the time to
stop and investigate the red, white, and blue stripes Norco painted down
the middle of the street after 9/11.  That wouldn't have been all that
bad except cars were coming.  Traffic halted while RB studied the
stripes, finally coming to the conclusion they weren't all that
interesting.  However, the flag flying on the house at the street
crossing has been of great concern to him in the past.  He glanced up at
it and decided the bright yellow ski-doo parked under it was a greater
threat.  Fortunately, this time he  managed to go by the whole mess
without venturing out into the street.  An improvement.

Now, it seems that RB has taken Caddie's advice to heart because this is
the second time out the gate that he has decided against marching his way
down the street.  There's something to this notion of consumption of
energy that he may be beginning to understand.  The 2 splendid looking
steeds, with their utterly captivating passengers, were quite the sight
to behold walking peacefully together down the street - they would have
been arm and arm if they had any.  A couple of big German shepards came
running up to the fence, and both horses decided to stop and chat.  When
they stopped, the dogs stopped barking.  What fun is that!  Everyone was
just staring at one another, so Caddie decided it was time to go.  Four
men had just gotten into a car parked across the street and were watching
us.  Caddie was in front with RB sauntering behind.  Caddie decides this
would be a good time to leave some road apples in order to find her way
home if it got dark.  So she stops and lifts her tail and grunts her
satisfaction of a deed well done.  "COOKIES!!!  Fresh baked, straight
from the oven.  Oh, Mom, can I have some?" pleaded RB.  Braveheart tells
me I should see this, so I turn around and much to my surprise there is
RB parked in front of Caddie's pile, straining against the pull of the
reins to stick his nose in the poop.  Braveheart gives him a kick and he
takes one front foot and moves it over in front of the pile, but
otherwise remains glued to the ground in front of it, straining to get
his nose into it.  The men sat transfixed, watching the whole show. 
Braveheart kicks again, and RB picked up that forward foot and moved it a
little farther forward.  She kicked again, and again he just moved that
one forward foot.  The whole time he's trying to get his nose in the
poop.  Braveheart said, "If I let go he'll eat it."  RB is now
practically bowing down on his knee to get to the poop, so Braveheart let
go of the reins.  Down goes the nose, the mouth opens and RB picked up a
fresh from the oven cookie!  He could have eaten more, but they aren't
really on his diet!  The men in the car are laughing, I'm eeuwing,
Braveheart is proclaiming "No kisses for RB", and RB is coming down the
trail with this great big grin on his face!  Caddie turns around to
continue on and RB stuck his nose right under her tail asking, "Got any
more?"  

The bond between the 2 has now been cemented.  Poop plastered.  Love at
first bite.  I'll never look at a cookie the same way again.

We stopped at a favorite snacking tree (mulberry, yummmm).  Caddie
reaching up and pulling the tree down on top of us.  RB hesitant at
first, but since Mom isn't going to hand feed the leaves to him anymore,
up goes the head to grab a mouthful of branch, shake the head a few
times, the branch snaps off, and there he has a huge mouthful of mulberry
leaves.  The leaves wagging right in front of Caddies nose were too much,
so she decided to partake of RB's mouthful as well.  Braveheart and I
figure we're doing the tree owner a service by keeping his tree nicely
trimmed.  Since we're probably the only ones that do it, his tree isn't
in any danger of being over pruned.  Time to move on and down into the
riverbed we go.

With RB in the lead we take a different trail to the first river
crossing.  Neither horse is in any hurry today.  RB especially surprising
us without showing any desire to take off when we got into the riverbed. 
Caddie always pauses for a few seconds before entering the river.  She
always wants to double check with me if that is truly the way I want to
go.  I was about to say, "Why don't we see if RB is willing to go first,"
when Caddie just stepped into the river.  No hesitation whatsoever. 
Totally caught me off guard.  So much for my thought.  RB hesitated for
maybe 2 seconds and then just stepped in.  He took 1 trotting step and
then decided it wasn't worth the effort and walked up beside us.  We
stopped in the middle of the river for a drink.  RB also likes to check
out the bottom of the river.  Last week I forgot to mention that he will
stick his head all the way up to his eyeballs to run his nose along the
bottom.  If we had been in a deeper spot he would have done the same
thing today.  But it was only mid-nose deep.  This time when it was time
to go, and RB wouldn't get out into the mud, we decided Caddie should
wait and see if Braveheart could convince RB to lead us through the muck.
 It took a little coaxing, but RB finally stepped out first.  He tried to
skirt the mud, through the bushes, but when Braveheart asked him to get
down into the trail he complied.  He tried to pick up his speed through
the narrow strip of trail, but Braveheart said no, and he actually did as
he was told!  Hmmm ... me thinks something is afoot.  Can it be possible
that this horse actually learned that leadership holds certain
responsibilities?  Naw ... just a fluke, right?

We came to the second river crossing and the hesitation was so fleeting
it isn't worth mentioning, but I just mentioned it, didn't I.  They
stopped once again and drank a little, but mostly just stood in the
water.  RB finally took the initiative and moved on.  Caddie falling in
behind.  Right out of the water was a towel or a lost shirt that had RB's
rapt attention.  Caddie was more interested in the horse that was coming
down the trail in front of us.  RB was so intent on that cloth he didn't
see the horse until it was almost on top of him.  He liked to have jumped
out of his skin when he finally saw the other horse.  With Caddie behind
him, and that cloth next to him, and bushes on the other side, the only
place he had to go was straight up and then down.  He was a little
rattled, but he hadn't turned white, so he wasn't scared quite to death. 
We continued on at a nice walk.  Caddie would have preferred a slightly
faster walk, but she was willing to walk behind, pouting silently.  Her
normal is to push from behind, nipping the ass of the unlucky leader if
the speed she wants isn't being maintained, or pretending she's a
lippenzaner (sp?) doing her airs above the ground and providing me with a
most unpleasant experience.  Today, though, I think she finally found a
horse she is willing to follow.  I mean, after all, he ate her poop.  Is
that a proposal of everlasting devotion, or what.  After a little while
she stopped pouting and actually fell in behind RB at the perfect spot. 
And RB just kept walking on.  Even when the trail widened way out he made
no offers to speed up.  He didn't throw any tantrums, or make any
refusals.  I was very impressed.  His body was perfectly straight, but he
was looking around him.  Moving his head from side to side, but not
throwing his shoulders from side to side as he turned his head.  I like
to think Caddie taught him how to be the leader these past few weeks, and
he finally wanted to show us that he was ready to prove he'd been paying
attention.  Class dismissed!

We came to the 3rd river crossing and RB took his place up front for the
long trip through the creek.  He offered to get out of the creek a couple
of times when there was a little sand showing, but except for one jump
(Braveheart thought Caddie bit him, but her head was turned away at the
time) a branch smacked him in the rump and it startled him.  Anyway, he
did a really nice job.  We left the creek (neither horse wanting to get
out) and stood for awhile letting the horses scratch their noses.  RB
demonstrates on a regular basis why he has been dubbed the Rubberband,
but watching him scratch his nose this time really drove the nickname
home.  Picture this, hind legs slightly spread, left front leg way out in
front being used as a scratching post, right front leg propped up on its
toe with no weight being put on it whatsoever.  Now, imagine not just the
nose being scratched, but the entire head and behind the ears!  RB snaked
his neck over to the outside of that scratching post, rotated the head so
he could get the neck behind his ears, and started rubbing back and forth
like a bow over a violin.  With each stroke of the bow his body pushed
his elbow closer and closer to the ground.  By the time he stood up his
elbow was less than 2 inches from the ground, and in that whole time,
that right front foot never bore any weight.  His rump straight up in the
air.  Braveheart just sat there.  Where is a camera when you need one?  

We continued on.  RB doing an excellent job leading the way.  At one
point they stopped and RB didn't want to take the lead.  His mind needed
a break.  Caddie took the lead for about 2 minutes, and then RB was
rested enough to come back in front.  Caddie even relinquished the lead
without any fuss.  We came to a nice open area and both horses asked for
a trot, so we let them.  Caddie broke into a canter and RB followed suit.
 But this time they were both in well controlled canters.  Neither trying
to make a race out of it.  RB was just in front when something made him
jump sideways right in front of us.  Caddie had to check herself to keep
from running into him, and that's when I felt something happen.  A sudden
stop of one of her front legs.  It was over very quickly, and she never
really stopped her forward motion.  I looked back, but didn't see
anything.  She wasn't limping, so we continued on.  We rode for about
another hour before coming to the final river crossing.  Most of the time
we were just walking, but every once in awhile we'd do a slight trot.  RB
was showing us he learned the meaning of long slow distance very well.

The final river crossing had us waiting for a huge trail ride to pass us.
 Two horses with the trail ride refused to cross the river.  One rider
went back to help, but Caddie got tired of waiting for them to come
forward, so she took the lead and came up out of the river.  We turned
onto the 'back road' as I like to call it.  The back side of the nature
preserve.  A nice long straight dirt road.  Big enough to ride side by
side, and great for letting the horses stretch their legs.  RB let us
know that he was ready for a good trot, so we obliged him.  Caddie fell
in behind, but soon broke into a canter.  Something wasn't right.  I
asked if we could stop a minute so I could look at her feet.  I thought
maybe she'd lost a shoe.  I couldn't tell and had to have Braveheart fall
in behind us to look.  Sure enough, she'd lost the right front shoe. 
Tore a big piece of hoof off with it.  Damn.  And a few other expletives.
 I knew something had happened back on the other side an hour earlier.  I
should have followed my instincts and looked at the foot back then, but
instead I allowed her to convince me nothing was wrong.  Big mistake. 
Braveheart decided she was going to fall in behind us, letting Caddie
pick the pace.  RB was totally PO'd because he wanted to take off.  After
a few minutes of 'Knock it off' and one good smack of the hand from
Braveheart, RB settled down and dutifully followed behind.  When the
trail opened up I told Braveheart it was OK if they took off for a romp. 
I'd keep Caddie to a walk.  So they did.  Keeping Caddie to a walk wasn't
possible, but she danced and pranced her way in fine style.  RB realized
we weren't with them and he slowed down.  Caddie was on a mission now,
she was walking out with "HOME" tattooed on her forehead.  

We walked side by side now.  A quick stop to say hi to the sheep.  One
last leap by RB, one of those 'coon leaps' as Braveheart likes to call
them.  Once again some dogs snuck up on us and took us all by surprise. 
An Aussie was the culprit.  I pointed at it and said "Bad dog."  It
cringed and stopped, so my feeling is this one is trainable.  Enough "Bad
dogs" and he'll leave horses alone.

The weather had turned from hot to really hot hours before, and when we
got back to the barn it looked like we had been the only ones there all
day.  Both horses got a good soaking with the hose and some green grass
time.  Both Braveheart and I were in dire need of something cold to drink
and nourishing to eat (not cookies!).  So, we headed to the Saddle Sore
Saloon and had lunch.

If you don't believe my story is true, go ask that blind man, he saw it
too!

Chickenshit

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