What a busy month it has been already! So much to write about..I barely know where to start! I guess starting at the beginning is the best... April and Piper heading up the Blue Ridge enroute to the river. My wonderful riding buddy, April, came over with her horse Piper for a “Ride to the River” at the start of the month. We had been planning this ride for well over several weeks, so we were slightly discouraged to be met that morning with a cloudy skies and threatening rain from a departing cold front. It was raining where April lives, but fortunately it held off in my area to just present us with an overcast, yet cool day. As it turned out, the weather was perfect. We had a BLAST riding the 22 mile ride. Piper and Drum are super good friends and match each other in striding – even though Piper is 8 inches bigger (at 15.3 1/2h) than Drum (at 14h). April and I gossiped and yakked and talked, and talked even more, the entire way to the river and back. The total time on the trail was 5 hours 33 minutes. Certainly didn’t set the world on fire (an endurance Limited Distance ride of 25 miles give you 6 hours) because we really took our time, stopping several times to just let our boys graze. But we did trot them up the mountain going and returning, so got in some fabulous conditioning. Drummer and I standing in the Shenandoah River for a photo op. I took my camera along and April and I traded it off to get photos of each other. She is such a happy person – always laughing and smiling. It is wonderful to have someone like her to share a trail – always willing, cheerful, and ready to ride. Drum did a fabulous job for his first "long" trail ride – smooth, responsive, quiet, mannerly. Arrived back home with plenty of gas still in the tank. I was soooooo pleased with him. He is a billion times more comfortable than Itchy – I felt just as good at the end of the 22 miles as I was starting out. What a JOY my darling little boy is to ride and enjoy. A true joy!!! The following weekend was devoted to driving the pair at a club picnic drive drive at 1PM at a beautiful farm near Front Royal where The Massanuttens were in glorious view in the middle distance! Spent the whole prior day getting the carriage and harness cleaned and ready, and the next morning loaded everything into the trailer for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the picnic drive meet on a thousand acre farm on the edge of Clarke County and Warren County The people who own it are related to the Anheuser-Busch family, as evidenced by a herd of beautiful Clydesdales in one pasture. Driving Flag and Libby at the PDC picnic drive at Oxbow Farm There were 5 turnouts for the drive, and we got better than the "nickle tour" of the estate -- we got the $15 "bells and whistles" tour, being lead by Anne with her pair of super-fit Friesians who really let no moss grow under their feet! My pair hadn’t been out for months so they were sweating in no time in the warm sunny afternoon. But they are strong ponies and did a super job. I can't tell you how glad I am that Flag is now 100% sound from the tear in his superficial flexor tendon he suffered this spring. Having the whole summer off to let it heal was the BEST plan of action. Libby and Flag enjoying a well deserved lunch after the drive and a nice bath The drive was over an hour on rolling hills and grass pathways with just the most stunning views everywhere. We trotted almost the whole time, with only short breaks of walking when the ground got too rough for the carriages. Ann certainly was taking advantage of the day – I thought she was never going to head back to the trailers! Took lots and lots of photos, and son Tim (up from Virginia Tech for a visit) took video that was fun to watch afterwards. After several miles of traveling the beautiful farm, we returned to the trailers where we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch. We left for home about 4PM because Tim was planning to leave that evening to head back to Blacksburg, but ultimately he decided to stay over and leave the next morning. "Before" picture of the gooseneck loft. While all the driving and riding during the weekends was fun, my weekdays were filled with my current project -- my horse trailer Living Quarters renovation. Call it "This Old Trailer", or whatever -- this is an ongoing project to covert a standard stock 4-horse gooseneck into a custom enclosed trailer with an open floor plan for hauling the carriage and ponies that also serves double duty as a cozy, comfortable living quarters in front with 2 horse straight load stalls in the back for endurance riding. So... with the wood paneling finished in the front body of the trailer, it was now time to frame-in/insulate/panel the gooseneck to convert it into a super insulated, super quiet "bedroom". A year or so back I'd glued indoor/outdoor carpeting onto the ceiling and sides to prevent condensation and provide a bit of insulation for when I used the trailer for sleeping overnight. I decided to leave the carpeting in place and frame over top of it. Dealing with a "not square" trailer that also incorporated bowed and curved metal corners meant that I spent a lot of time (and I do mean a LOT) just studying and measuring every inch of it to make sure my framing was both accurate, even, and square. There is limited head room in the gooseneck loft, so to maintain enough roof clearance for me to sit up without banging my head I made sure the framing was flush with the ceiling ribs with just enough room for foamboard insulation to be packed between the ribs. Framing the gooseneck loft. Once the framing was up, and the insulation in place (foamboard on the flat ceiling and side walls; fiberglass on the angled ceiling part) it was time to run the electric for the nose side lights. Once that was run, all that was left was to cut and screw the wood panels into place. The sidewalls and angled ceiling pieces were an easy one-person job. I had to enlist Owen's help, however, to help lift the large (full size) panel for the ceiling so that I could screw it into place. Once that was done, all that was left was to install the lights and hang the curtain rods and new curtains. What a difference! The gooseneck is now so silent -- it is like sleeping in a tomb!! Not a sound makes it through those well insulated, tight walls, and for the first time ever I have been able to sleep without earplugs! I love it!! "After" picture The rest of the month, and next, will be spent framing and paneling the ceiling in the rest of the trailer -- with wood in the LQ area, and white plastic wallboard in the stall area, plus running the electric for the overhead lights. The carpeted foam boards I use as temporary walls to separate the LQ area from the stall area will need to be re-cut and re-modeled once the ceiling panels are in place, but I will continue to use them because they are so lightweight and easy to put-up/take-down for fabulous sound-proof insulation to use when I am camping at endurance rides. I was happy to have finished the gooseneck in time for the 2-day Fort Valley endurance rides on Oct 23rd/24th -- our final endurance event of the season. Itchy and I wsere signed up for the Friday 50 mile ride which gave me the option to also doing the Saturday 50 if I desired. Itchy was clipped and I put his new shoes on him three days before we were set to leave. It was a smart move not to wait until the last second to clip as my 30+ year old clippers finally gave up the ghost as I was doing a final trim on Itchy's back ankles. Guess I got more than my money's worth out of them. (sigh!) Time for a new pair. Since Owen had to fly to the UK for business, and my dear friend Becky (who always takes care of my dogs when Owen and I are both away) is under the weather from dealing with her cancer treatments, I decided to take our two Shelties with me. It was such a treat for them -- a field trip and a chance to romp in new fields and meet new people. With my wonderful neighbor, Karen, to take care of my at-home ponies for me, I packed up and headed to the endurance ride on Wednesday to meet my endurance buddy, Karen, who would be my crew for the ride. The ride took place in the most scenic part of the Fort Valley with the best access to the trails from a ride camp set in a lovely flat field next to Passage Creek -- the perfect spot for camping. Both Wednesday and Thursday were actually hot - sunny, bright, and clear skies. Plenty of time to relax, meet with friends, take a small ride just to stretch our legs, and plan out our strategy for the ride on Friday. The forecast had rain scheduled to move in late Friday afternoon, with the bulk of the rain on Saturday - enough to discourage my plan for riding a second 50. 170 riders had entered, and a good many of those switched over to Friday from Saturday. Seems like no one wanted to ride in the rain! Flora & Itchy on the 3rd loop of the Fort Valley 50 mile Endurance Ride - Photo curtesy of TheViewFromHugh.com Friday morning dawned overcast and cloudy, but cool and inviting. The 50 mile division was sent off at 7AM. Itchy and I lingered at camp for a few minutes until most of the riders were gone. Only a few of us set off at the back, but I was quickly joined by a very pleasant gal riding her new horse. She asked to ride with me for a while, and I was happy to assent. We rode together up and over Milford Gap and down to the valley floor where we moved out at a good clip, both our animals fresh and willing to go. In no time we had covered about 8 miles and were heading back up the mountain to loop towards Milford Gap again to take us back to base camp for the end of the first loop of 18 miles. We separated heading up the mountain, as I decided to stop and let Itchy munch some carrots and grass until we were alone once again. But not for long! We were jointed by the delightful company of Jennifer who stuck with us for the remainder of the loop, enlivening our ride and our enjoyment of the stunningly beautiful fall trail. GPS track I was wearing my GPS to collect the track -- it did a fairly good job except for once where it failed to collect the proper data points on the road next to the river (which we hand-galloped), but instead showed me swimming across the Shenandoah River and back again -- which I can assure you I did NOT!!!, and then when it took a straight line down Milford Gap on the end of the 2nd loop - impossible by any means whatsoever. Those "misses" shorted me by 5 miles. Grrrrr!! I was not happy when I saw that. Maybe it is time to buy a more accurate GPS if the cloud cover just got to be a bit too much for this unit to be accurate. Once back in base camp I was met by the Best Crew In The Whole World who had my pony's blanket at the ready, and who happily jogged my pony for me for the vetting. What a luxury! I was super pleased to see that Itchy not only pulsed down immediately - which he never did in the past - but was also willing to eat - a problem that I have struggled with him for years. Seems that foxhunting has certainly changed him for the better as the "drama" of the endurance ride is a whole lot less than the high drama of the hunt field. Once you've been hunting, everything in life seems tame by comparison! Or maybe it just took him 10 years to figure out..he needed to eat and relax!!! 45 minutes later we were back on the trail, this time a 19 mile loop back up Milford Gap and down to the valley floor where we would turn right, head along the road to the Golden Cliffs, and then turn back up the mountain through the Indian Graves trail. We rode this loop on our own, not being pulled along by anything other than our desire to see what was over the next hill. We met the photographer at the top of Indian Graves to learn that two horses had had a problem with the huge boulders on the trail -- one of them actually falling down the side of the mountain! Yikes! Itchy, however, handled the trail without blinking an eye, hopping up over boulders with easy abandon. Karen (The-Best-Ever-In-The-World-Crew) chopping up carrots for Itchy while the two Shelties, Katie and Sterling, keep watch on the ridecamp from their safe haven under the camp table. The skies were getting heavier and the rains started coming down as we made it back into camp at the end of the 2nd Loop. Again, Itchy pulsed down within 2 minutes, trotted out quite nicely for Karen, and ate with a bit less gusto, but...at least he ate. He looked a bit sleepy, so we let him snooze under the canopy, not disturbing him except to feed him an apple or carrot now and then. From being a sleepy pony it was surprising to see how wide awake he could become as soon as it was time to hit the trail again for the final loop of 12 miles down in the valley. It would have been nice if this trail had been all lovely grassy fields like it was at the first and last miles. However, at least half of the trail mimiced the rocky trails on top of the mountain, making for slower going than I would have hoped for in the off-and-on drizzling rain. The multiple loops were a bit tiring too, as you finished one you were directed onto the next by a spotter person who was there to ensure you did all three mini-loops. I was so glad to see the end of those loops, and to continue on to the final 4 miles of the trail. It was wonderful to see the finish line, and trot across with plenty of pony left underneath me. My Best-Ever-In-The-Whole-World-Crew, Karen, had already neatly packed up Itchy's paddock, making it super easy for me to finish packing up the rest of my gear so I could leave before the rains began to come down in earnest. Once I replace my old 2 wheel drive truck with a 4x4, I won't have to worry about driving around in wet or muddy fields. As of now, however, I live in fear of getting stuck -- so I was on the road heading home before the rains and before the awards and placing were announced. I still don't have any idea where I finished in the ride, but...that's fine with me. Itchy and I are now only riding for the miles, and the joy of seeing the trail. Now that our endurance rides are finished for the year, we're going to concentrate on enjoying the closing carriage drives, and riding to the hounds for the formal (winter) season of foxhunting. We also hope to enjoy a few more weekend rides with friend April before the snows fall and send us indoors to plan and look forward to next year.