cronan firsts

I am fully taking advantage of the lull in our winter to get some rides in. California weather does this almost every year, a false spring, but after the deluge of December and early January I'll take it!

filling up before the ride

This time Miles and I teamed up with Rocky and S to explore Cronan ranch. I've been there many times but not with Miles before. I was happy to be showing S around as she'd been, but not on very many of the trails. And Rocky is the absolute best boy! Such a good role model for Miles. The parking lot was packed with cars, I'm assuming runners and bikes, as we were the only trailer there.

love this conifer section by the creek

We first split off the main trail out and do a nice single-track trail called Gerle Loop, then head out on the still-misspelled "Connecter trail" (sigh…). There is a long, fairly narrow bridge across the creek now, I've never done anything like that with Miles. I had him go first, and I'm not sure if it is smart or foolhardy, but I just assume he can and don't worry about it and he does! He certainly takes leadership from his person, but is naturally brave anyway.

love this viewpoint

good boy drinking

at the river for the first time

The views are always beautiful. I practiced having Miles both lead and follow, at the walk and trot. A small storm was rolling in, the wind increasing as the day progressed, but the footing was great and we headed down to the river. We followed the river trail, seeing from debris piles how high the river was in January. There were quite a few people on the trails but there are many miles of trails and everyone was pretty spread out. And everyone was so nice. We gave trail when we could and graciously thanked everyone who stopped for us. (And Miles even got a treat from a cyclist, his favorite thing!)We headed back into the valley floor. There is a nice, long level trail that we worked on some leapfrog exercises as well as trotting side by side (Mr. Competitive showed up for that one).

good hair day riding

and good hair walking too!

We came to the steep Up-Down Trail and hand-walked the horses down. Bikes came past, slowly both directions, and the only glitch was a loose dog, luckily friendly, but really? (This park is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which allows off-leash dogs, but the owner should be in sight at least!!)

Rocky following, this looks epic, I love it.

Back on Connecter trail we headed home. Miles was a bit more forward but I made him wait when his faster walk outpaced Rocky. The funniest part was when we got to where the Gerle Loop split off. He was convinced we had to go back that way, and I let him lead just to see what he'd do. He turned across the trail and started heading that way! We can literally see the parking lot in the distance, but he knew the way we'd come, so it must be the way we had to go to get home! He grudgingly walked down the main trail, but I still don't think he figured it out till we were almost back. He won't forget again, he is very smart about finding his way home.

threatening skies

heading home

Back at the trailer the boys were grateful for their haybags while we had a snack too. This was a good adventure for us all. Rocky was pretty full of it (for him!), S is learning a lot, and I am lucky to have a good training partner. Our ride home was extra long due to a traffic accident, but we can all sure talk horses for a long time! The rain started just as we got everything unloaded, perfect timing for a successful ride.

I'd like to request more alfalfa please

Miles: one year

One year ago I decided to risk it and take a chance on (another) young, bay, Arab gelding. 

February 15, 2022. Looking a little cautious.

We've both learned a lot, and have a lot farther to go. (Though we did go 575 miles this year, I was surprised at that!)

So here is to many more trails, happy Gotcha day Miles.

two times

Staying off of delicate trails while they dry is so hard when the sun is out and it is perfect riding weather. Luckily the roads in Auburn are great for that, though maybe not as interesting. I rode very similar trails twice, and I rode two different horses. Both of them were Miles, but first was Miles with Beau, the second one was Miles by himself. I sure like the second Miles better (we have work to do).

remembering to follow at a respectful distance

it was icy in the shade

We went out with Beau to explore how dry the trails were and how the boys would behave together. Short story: they don't very well! So we will need more practice with others (which I knew). Beau has not had enough work after pulling from Tevis last year, and is full of it. Miles just feeds off of all that. So there was walking and circling and lagging behind (on purpose), separating and dealing with it, for horse and human! Going home Miles finally settled down. It was half walking and half riding, but we have a lot to improve on.

now that we're home, can I play with Beau?

Then we headed out the next weekend by ourselves (also in a new-to-me saddle, having fitting issues). Beau was at the trailhead with another horse, and Miles didn't care at all. We left and rode our own ride, and damn, what a good boy!

obligatory weird barrels, just cool

heading down to the river

can't we just stay out here?

all the green starting to peek through

He was forward but rateable, went everywhere and at everything I pointed him at, no spooking or much silliness. Best part: he drank out of everything he saw. Random weird spring that funnels into a tiny bucket, sure! Old trough with running water, sure! Puddles? Ok!

weird spring, yummy!

roadside trough, all good!

Plus is was just gorgeous out. The river trail has really good footing, and the rest was gravel roads. We could have stayed out longer but I'm cautious of bringing him along slowly, We did 11 miles with 1300 feet of elevation gain, and he was never tired, though he was very sweaty!

dam view does not get old

going up

looking downstream

what else are we doing? We're done buddy.

I think moving forward a balance of rides with others to trainhis brain to that and rides alone will be a good compromise. The weather still looks perfect for another weekend, so off to find more trails!

drying off after eating grass snacks

miles monday: hello

 Miles would like to say hi to everyone out there. 

And do you have a treat?

 

sun recovery

Miles is done with it

The deluge is abating. Almost 15 straight days of rain, and not just a little, buckets and torrents! And intense wind storms, thunder and lightning (which we almost never get), pretty much all of our winter packed into two weeks, with more to come! Miles is done with it, as he proved by running, bucking and sliding about when I turned him out into a less muddy pasture yesterday.

During the storms Miles seems sensible if irritated, staying under cover for the worst of it. I visited with a wet mash, though chunky boy doesn't need it, the water and salt are best during weird atmospheric rivers. He wholeheartedly approved and I just watched him eat in peace, me sitting in the drizzle on a wet chair, surveying the mud (after already digging lots of ditches, diversions and bringing in sandbags).

muddy mess, but mash!

There was one clear afternoon last week and I took off work early and got Miles out. He was quite spicy, so a little lunging to remind him that he does actually have a job, and he was pretty good. I rode in the arena (wet but drains well) and then just up and down the graveled lane. I did go to the creek crossing and about 30 feet into the woods, just to see how it was. The trail was a slick mess and we turned around before we rode the slide-and-slide any longer.

trail slip-and-slide

But the damage has been done. I haven't seen much of the trails but what I've seen (I went hiking on one of the rainy days, just to get out!) is a mess. A huge tree across one of our main access points, who knows how long before state parks can come to clear it.

huge pine blocking the trail

lots of water (there is a trail under there)

this is a trail access, now a dangerous deep (about 18 inch) eroded gully

And the erosion! Usual puddles fed by trickles are now streams of water cascading down hillsides, and across the trails, turning them into eroded, dangerous holes.

mossy manzanita and old stacked stone

mushrooms and moss

my new favorite, I'll call it Clam rock

But there were some small moments of nature looking her best. And the sun looks to be shining for a few days. It will be a long process to get the trails cleared, and winter isn't even close to over. Sigh. But this too shall pass. 

Wesley is just going to stay in his hammock…

 

blunders

“You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is to never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second is to never argue with your mother when you're supposed to slow down!” (apologies to the Princess Bride).
 
Poor Miles, that he has to put up with my ridiculousness. He just gets very silly coming home, so we circle and back and sidepass. He seems to doubt that I will actually circle him on a single-track muddy blackberry-lined trail. But I know he is very good with his feet and just needs a reminder to slow them a bit before we slip-and-slide. So we circle and he stops after a bit of disbelief and then we continue on, often with no repeat (he remembers pretty well).

low lake (not for long!)

end-of-year adventure

We had a nice ride before Christmas where he was very good for about 95%! Coming back the trail was slippery and downhill and he wanted to be home already so I made good old Rocky stop and wait while we worked it out. Then we just carry on!

high tides made for some great waves

sometimes the coast is a bit foggy!

stairs down to the beach

My Mom's super cute naughty dog, Archie!

But that was the last ride for a week! It rained (a lot!) between Christmas and New Year. I went to the coast to visit my parents, celebrate a bit, and came home to a muddy mess. New Years’ day dawned blue skies but the trails had six inches of rain in two days. No riding (bad for the trails) so it was just welcoming the new year with a good walk and treats.

still wearing a new year's eve party hat…a stick!

too muddy for riding, though some did, we turned around on this walk

I'm muddy and bored

But more storms are coming and I hoped to get a ride in before Miles goes feral. Luckily the trails drain very well, so I headed out yesterday hoping for just an easy ride. We stuck to the decomposed granite upper trails. The footing was nice enough to trot on the ridgelines to the overlook spot. From there I can still see the lower lake trail unsubmerged by the rising lake, but not for long!

the lake rose 30 feet in a week!

anticipation ears, are we going home now?

But from there all trails lead “home.” While Miles found it a bit hard to contain himself (there was some enthusiastic jigging, argh) he was very good, even marching through the center of the puddles (because I seem to have won that battle for now). We were heading back on the final single-track with too much enthusiasm and also slippery mud, so he needed to slow. He fell for the blunder of trying to argue “let me do it we’re almost home!” We stopped, backed, and turned around, retraced our steps about 30 feet and tried again. My, it IS possible to walk through here!

quietly standing in the last big puddle crossing

He can be very smart when he decides to listen. We got to the final water crossing, where I, his dreadful owner, made him stand and wait. And he was good and patient so we finished the ride nicely. Some grass snacks on the way home made it all worthwhile. Now we’re looking at an atmospheric river or pineapple express or some such storm with lots of rain coming for the next couple weeks, oh boy.

I don’t need to go up a girth size on my already porky pony, so hopefully I can get Miles out for some January adventures, and keep learning from our blunders.

 

Wesley and Jack like MY new fireside pillow (but not together!)