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[RC] BSF Part 5 of 9 - April JohnsonFRIDAY (or RIDE DAY) I didn't sleep very well Thursday night. I kept getting awakened by a horse banging on corral panels. I got up 2 or 3 times to try to keep our guys quiet. Serts was probably noisy, and the horse across the way in corral panels like ours. We'll have to figure out a better way to secure the rachet straps separating Tanna and Serts in their pen. Serts would push on the straps, trying to get to Tanna's hay, and that made some noise. Tanna was an absolute angel. I love that horse. Well, he did manage to remove his halter. I picked it up off the ground in the middle of the night and put it back on him, wondering how in the world he got that off. That's why I put him in a pen instead of tying. He can untie himself (and his buddies), unclip himself, and now he's learned the trick of removing his halter! I think I'm going to get a neck strap for him. Let's see him get THAT off! At 6 AM, I hit the snooze and spent the next 5 minutes waking up. Yawn. When the snooze alarm went off, I shut it off and actually got up. It was chilly. We'd needed to get blankets in the middle of the night. Nice change from sticky humid heat! I lit the propane light in our camper, knowing it would warm the air some, as well as give me light to see. I dressed carefully in my favorite nylon/lycra tights, my microfiber sports bra, dark blue socks (over my tights), and my custom made t-shirt commemorating our Liberty Run accomplishment of our first 50 mile ride. I also pulled a long sleeve man's shirt on. It was chilly and I needed my arms covered! I'm not quite sure where the time went but by the time the water was boiling for oatmeal, it was 7 AM! My plan was to be saddling Tanna at 7 to be in the saddle by 7:30. I quickly mixed the water into the instant oatmeal bowls and scurried out of the camper. I'd just have to grab a bite of oatmeal while I worked. We swung one of the panels to close Serts in completely with corral panels, leaving a big gap in Tanna's corral. First thing I did was draw a big blue 'E' on Tanna's haunches on each side. (They only had green and pink at the vet in, but I wanted blue, so did it myself.) Daniel then accompanied me to the scales to weigh Tanna before saddling him. Tanna got on the scale without a fuss and weighed in a 780 pounds. Hmm, lost 4 pounds overnight. Nothing like his tanking up the night before Liberty Run when he gained 30 pounds! We went back to the trailer and I tied him next to the dressing room door for easy access. I gave him access to beet pulp, which he ignored as expected. With the gap in the corral fence, it was easy to go from Tanna to the dressing room to the camper and back again. Serts was not happy and paced and pawed and occasionally whinnied. Now one sees the need to completely box him in good. Tanna pretty much ignored him. Hehe. I pulled the rubbermaid container from under Tanna's saddle. Tanna started to quiver with excitement. I opened it and grabbed his brush. Everything was right at my fingertips. No searching, no misplaced tack. It was absolutely great! I put KY jelly on the heart rate monitor electrode to go under his saddle. I squished it in place, then took my woolback pad and positioned it. Next came the saddle. I saddled him from the off side, since the dressing room door was on that side and I wasn't going to walk around him for no apparent reason. He actually seemed to like that better. Imagine that. Tanna was still shaking, so I asked Daniel to drap a blanket over his rear end just to make sure he didn't get chilled. It wasn't all that cold, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Next was his girth. I had planned to use the soft neoprene girth, but at the last minute, I decided I wanted to use the tougher neoprene because it might slide better over his skin. Where was it?? Oh, yeah, in the vet check box. Sigh. I went ahead with the soft girth since the vet check box was already with the vet check trailer. I attached the girth heart rate monitor electrode. Then came the breast collar. I readjusted the breast collar in a couple of places, then hooked the heart rate monitor leads to the transmitter. After a few seconds, my watch blinked and read "37." Good. Perfectly normal. I've seen him as low as 33 when saddling for a training ride, but 36 or 37 is the norm. (I've also seen him as high as 80s when I hooked up the monitor, but that was only once and it was the first time we'd ridden since our 50 mile ride at Liberty Run. He was majorly excited!) Daniel put 2 1-liter bottles of weak gatorade/kool-aid in my cantle bag. He also attached my easy boot bag to Tanna's right shoulder on the breast collar. I wasn't sure how Tanna would react to that, but I needed the boots and that was the best place we could find. I slid his bit into his mouth after trying to warm it a bit. Then I put my hip pack on (carrying a mirad of items one might need on the trail). Then came my helmet. My helmet is very important. Where else can I put my GPS antenna and get that great reception?? Oh, yeah, it might protect my noggin in a fall, too. Multi-functional! :-) I checked my feet for my riding boots. Yep, there they are...wonder when I put those on? Oh, well, there they are. ...To Be Continued April Nashville, TN =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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