March 18, 2020 · 8:22 pm

Happy 20th birthday, Miss Olena Chic (Mocha)!

Happy 20th birthday, Miss Olena Chic (Mocha)!

I met Mocha a few days after she was born. At the time I was just a lesson rider at the barn, and cautiously peered into the foaling stall to look at the little chestnut filly who was the much-anticipated result of breeding one of the barn owner’s well-bred mares to an up and coming young stallion, Chocolate Chic Olena. Mocha’s dam Annie had a show record of her own, but more importantly she was an extremely protective mother who would bellow at any horse led by her stall, so I had to limit my look to keep Annie from getting too agitated. I can’t remember if I helped lead Mocha in after Annie after a day’s turnout but I’m sure I did–she would not have been the only young one I did that with at that barn.

Memories of Mocha over the next few years are sketchy. I led her to and from turnout, but for the most part since she was supposed to be the barn owner’s personal horse, I didn’t handle her much. Then things changed slightly when Mocha was four. I realized she was up for sale, but wasn’t in the market. If I had been, I probably would have bought her older half-sister who was for sale at the time, Erika, a lovely dunskin mare who had gone through cutting and reining training down at Oregon State. But I was also just starting a teaching position, and wasn’t in a space where I could buy a horse. I do remember leading her in from turnout one day, and murmuring to her as I pulled off her halter “I wonder who you are for?”

A year later, the answer was ME. Circumstances changed. I went to the barn owner with a price range and told him I was looking to buy and what did he think about these possibilities I’d printed out from Dreamhorse? He offered me Mocha, with a price right smack in the middle of my range.

I’d forgotten she was for sale. So the next barn trip, we did the trial ride. I later found out that I was the first person up on her in ten months, ever since the last rider had dropped a rein and Mocha stepped on it, nearly cutting her tongue off. Nonetheless, she was docile, listened, and I enjoyed the ride. She was five and a half years old. Pretty green, but by this point I had been in lessons for a while and was actually looking forward to being able to leave my own impression on a horse rather than schooling rehabs or tuning up school horses.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that while she had strong opinions, she also enjoyed working under saddle and had a lot of energy. Her canter was erratic and I decided to spend some time working at her in walk and trot to build up her muscles–after all, she was coming off of a ten month layoff while her mouth healed. We started in a regular jointed snaffle, but I soon moved her to a French link and then later to a KK Ultra bridoon for snaffle riding. I bought a cheap Western saddle that fit me, figuring that I could buy a really nice new saddle later, once she’d had enough time under saddle for her back to muscle up. At some point, I bought a nice used Collegiate Senior Eventer saddle and started her going in English tack as well. Six months later, I bought the Crates Reiner I now use for her in Western.

One reason for buying the English saddle was that I decided it would work better for getting her into a better quality canter. We spent that first winter working on building up her hind end, and in the spring I started asking for lope. It got better. At the same time, we were in weekly lessons. Once I bought the reining saddle, we started working on reining work.

A few years later, things were such that I was ready to take her to a schooling show, and an opportunity opened when one of the other boarders wanted to take her horse too. The show was at a facility a few miles away from the barn. When we got there, we unloaded the other horse first. Mocha started trembling with excitement and I remember the other horse owner cautioning her husband to watch out as I turned Mocha and led her out, thinking that she would leap out.

She didn’t.

It was a huge show. We got a stall, and Mocha started calling to other horses and fretting. Eventually she settled, but she was still pretty wound up. I took her into the warmup pen because the show was proceeding pretty slowly. We rode around the pen in the crowd until she settled, and then I parked her on the edge so that she could watch what was going on in the arena. Right away she showed a lot of interest in staring at the other horses. This big show even had a couple of saddle seat classes with some high-stepping Saddlebreds, which made her sharp and alert. But the show drug on forrreeeevvvver, and it was late when we finally got to warm up in the big arena. I can’t remember if we scratched without ever getting into the arena or if we made it into one class, but nonetheless it had been a good experience for a first show.

We went on to do 1-2 shows a year for the next few years. I didn’t have a trailer so going was dependent on what other people were doing. Mocha started needing hock injections at age nine–to be expected with the extreme sickle hocks she has which are great for reining competition, but not so great for potential arthritis. These went on for five years at about nine month intervals. Nonetheless, even with only 1-2 shows a year, by our last big show she had the show ring routine down to the point that we left a three-day show with mostly first and second place ribbons.

Then disaster struck, about the time that hubby and I decided to buy a retirement place in Wallowa County, in Mocha’s fourteenth year. I went to the barn one day to find Mocha barely able to move around her stall. It took me at her head and the barn owner supporting her hindquarters to get her out. Her right hind was sore (we never did figure out why), and there was a HUGE hole in her left front hoof. Not an abscess hole, but in the white line between sole and hoof wall. The farrier was due in a couple of days. When he came, he shook his head.

“White line disease. That’s what killed her mama.”

She ended up going through a hoof resection, and having nearly a third of her hoof wall cut off. Support was provided by an oval-shaped bar shoe. She had to wear a bell boot over that shoe at all times, and for six months she was unable to leave the stall unless she was attached to a person. I could ride her with a bareback pad, but only at a walk. Toward the end of the six months, I ended up riding her in a short shanked curb with double rings that I could rig up as a Pelham, with snaffle and curb reins. Riding her bareback at that point was like riding a coiled spring. When she was finally able to go into turnout, she went crazy that first day, bucking and kicking and running.

I thought it was over. But it wasn’t. For the next year and a half, until we moved her to Wallowa County, I played whack-a-mole with that damned white line disease. It would get better, only to erupt in another hoof. I ended up buying a special soak called White Lightning to fight it and reinforcing gallon freezer bags with duct tape because that was cheaper than buying the specialized bags. Mocha was patient, but it was also obvious that she was tired of all this stuff. At one point, the barn manager pulled me aside to tell me that I needed to know that Mocha was severely depressed when I wasn’t around, that she perked up and would show less pain when I came. I knew that she looked for my arrival. Her stall was right by the barn door and she clearly knew the sound of my car. Many times I would either get a nicker or see her standing in the middle of her stall, ears forward, looking at the door. At this time we stopped the hock injections because the inner joints had fused, and the outer joints were getting too tight to easily inject.

Then we moved her to Wallowa County. For fifteen years, she had lived in a stall with occasional turnout and regular riding. She went from that to living in an outdoor pen 24/7, with broodmares, stallions, foals, and PIGS around her. It initially did not go well. She fretted and fussed, pacing her pen. She didn’t eat well. She was distressed. She lost far too much weight, to the degree that the new barn owner and I feared we might get reported. She colicked once. She had a minor case of laminitis followed by huge abscesses in both front feet. But…the white line was retreating, even though everything else was problematic. And then we x-rayed her feet, to discover that she had old rotation (i.e., not from the laminitis), and that the angle that she had been shod and trimmed at for years was wrong. She’d lost about a quarter inch off the tip of both coffin bones in her forefeet.

Thank God for good farriers, vets, and barn owners. We tried pads on her feet, but she hated them and wouldn’t move. I got frustrated about her not moving in the pen and being sore as a result. Movement, and she was less stiff and sore. I’d get her moving good, then put her back in the pen…to come back to a sore horse. By this time, the hay pasture had a handful of horses as the barn owner was moving the herd back home slowly from the various pastures around the area where they’d been living. I asked the barn owner if she thought throwing Mocha out into the big field would hurt her–after all, she had a lot of experience being the rehabilitator of last resort for injured horses who might get better on pasture. She said “turn her out.”

For three days, at feeding time, Mocha would come to the gate and call for hay. Then something clicked, and she realized that she had food 24/7, and all the grass she could eat.

Things got better from there. We learned that Mocha developed intense attachments in a herd setting. That Mocha grew a very thick and warm coat, so she didn’t need blanketing. That this little stall princess THRIVED in pasture life 24/7. After a year of pasture life, she made it known that she did not, would not, happily stay in a stall any more, thank you very much.

And then she did things like adopting an elk yearling as her baby.

About a year ago I started noticing that the strength she had maintained up until the white line struck had returned. Over the course of the last year she’s gotten stronger and stronger. We’re able to do things we’ve not done for a while. And she came out of this winter fat and sassy–a tribute to the good management she experiences.

On April 30th she’ll have completed her fifth year in Wallowa County, in better shape than she was when she came here. And she made it to 20 years, when five years ago I wasn’t so certain she would last a year.

Happy birthday, Mocha. Here’s to another lovely year ahead.

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· 7:13 pm

Riding log days 23 and 24

I’m getting a bit lazy about keeping up with these things. Nonetheless, riding is happening.

Day 23–3/16/2020. Western saddle and short shank curb, pasture ride

Today we rode with a couple of other people. I didn’t do much schooling and Mocha was full of herself, snorty and energetic. But we did two track at all three gaits, practiced getting over the making of faces and pinning of ears at horses coming up from behind her, and general light riding.

Day 24–3/18/2020 Western saddle and short shank curb, road ride

Somebody was a little snot for the farrier yesterday while getting the first hind shoes of spring, so today was an attempt to start working her a bit more covering ground. And to celebrate her 20th birthday. She was on her toes and full of herself today, and even after four and three-quarters miles that included trotting and then walking up a steep hill, she was still energetic and full of herself. I have thoughts about her birthday, but that’s a different post.

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March 12, 2020 · 7:56 pm

Riding log in the time of pestilence…day 22

3/12/2020. Western tack, pasture work.

Another bright sunny day, though the wind was sharp, indicating that we’re going to be getting a colder turn of weather this weekend. Mocha’s shedding has slowed down after the first application of the shedding blade. That’s probably a good thing. She’s drowsing nicely at the hitching rail while I groom her, though again, the PIGS did something to set both her and the mare on layup off.

She definitely moves more confidently through the mud with Western tack on. I’m not sure if that’s due to the distribution of weight by that evil, evil Western saddle* or if it’s the back cinch. Either way, it’s a distinct difference that seems to show up in mud.

*I just left a dressage group on Facebook after going through a round of “reining is evil, Western saddles are horrible, and the horse in that video is horribly abused” (based on a liberty video that was clearly a retired older horse that hasn’t been in regular training and has something going on, whether it’s navicular, hocks, or PSSM-2 variant). Of course, I guess that “classical dressage” or at least that brand of “classical dressage” can’t tolerate any variant from a certain type of horse and particular aspect of riding discipline. When the guru of the group chimed in with how evil reining is, welp, that was the handwriting on the wall and I left. Thankfully, I know that these people aren’t the end-all, be-all of the world of dressage, though I’m sorely disappointed because I had a lot of respect for said guru. That’s diminished now thanks to the closed-mindedness demonstrated by said guru who jumped right into the bashing.

So anyway, we did serpentine work in the Evil Western Saddle!!!! and Evil Short-Shanked Curb!!!!!. Mocha was moving a little short in her right shoulder at the jog, but a spell of working serpentines at all three gaits seemed to bring her out of it. She’s still full of beans but is listening and not pulling, which is one of her habits when she starts feeling that spring goodness. Flying changes seemed to be NBD today, even the left to right which can be problematic when she’s stiff. But then, by that point she wasn’t moving short at the jog, either. We also did two-track at walk and trot, backing in a figure 8, and bowties. Then there was a stretch of transition work. She’s getting sharper at transitions again, now that we’ve been schooling them, and she’s moving off the seat and leg better.

At the end I let her gallop because the footing was pretty good. She stretched out more than she has for a long time, still accelerating as we approached the fence. I think she tends to run harder in the Western saddle.

Oh, and I found my lost phone. No idea if it works yet. Unlikely since it’s been buried in a snowbank for a couple of months.

Anyway, at the end we did a few spins. Mocha gets pretty excited about those now that we’re doing them at the end of the ride. Oh wait. I forgot. We did the EVIL SPINS!!!!! (yes, the Guru and the followers were ranting about how ugly spins looked, how awful they were, and of course they are unnatural unlike canter pirouettes) and she was excited about doing them. Yeah, I guess I’ve got her all routinized and brainwashed and programmed. Never mind that this horse is a seeker of patterns (a mindset I think is pretty common amongst any Western pattern horse) and that once we start doing something like serpentines or other pattern work, she starts anticipating the next move. Of course their dressage darlings never ever do anything like that….right? I’ve brainwashed my horse…hah! I still remember several sessions when she decided that she knew better than me what we were supposed to be doing, and blew through leg, seat and hand to go in the opposite direction from what I was cueing her to do…yeah.

And then we did tight serpentines on our way back to the gate because my brainwashed horse was still energetic and raring to go…. yeah, well, I’d been getting diminishing returns from that group anyway.

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March 10, 2020 · 9:25 pm

Riding log–day 21

3/1/2020. Western saddle, curb bit, pasture ride.

Still bouncing back from being sick. But today was the first hot date of the season with the shedding blade, and the attempt to answer the eternal question…”is it a Quarter Horse or a big Shetland Pony?”

I got two big piles of hair off of Mocha, enough to make up two rabbits worth–and American Standard-sized rabbits, no MiniLops or Holland Lops. She enjoyed the scratching of the blade with half-lowered, blissed out eyes. Although at one point the mare on layup decided that the PIGS had done something snort-worthy, which set Mocha off as well.

All the same, after I shed the jacket because hey, today it’s spring, we set out through the mud in quest for some decent footing. Spring mud is not a novelty; the old barn had a drippy roof with slick spots so we’re both used to it. But it’s easier to deal with in the Western saddle, at least right now. We did a lot of serpentines at all three gaits–first time at the lope for a while. But hey, we had flying changes (kinda sorta a couple of times) and no irregular weirdnesses on either lead.

Mostly, though, we worked at a jog. Mocha’s back to being pretty catty in tight turns at the jog so the shoulder appears to have gotten through the worst of the winter without flaring too badly. We also worked in the bowtie at the jog, did two-track at walk and trot, and the forehand haunches turn lines. We also worked on transitions, and ow, ow, ow. They need work. Both of us need tuning up when it comes to that. OTOH, that seems to be a common March issue, so…I’m figuring things will improve as we work. They did as we went through the ride.

I’m still not pushing myself real hard with the recovery part. But it felt good to be breathing fresh mountain air, in the shadow of snow-covered peaks. Mocha is settling nicely into regular work again, which is nice to see. I’m very happy that we’re back to the type of work she was doing before the white line disease. Maybe I should have asked for it from her sooner, but somehow I just don’t think she was really ready until last year. Well, she was sick for a while, there, and had joints fusing. It makes sense.

In any case, it was a lovely spring ride and at the end of it I decided that she was more Quarter Horse than Shetland. Which works for me.

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March 8, 2020 · 8:53 pm

The catching up riding log post–days 18, 19, and then sick before day 20

Yeah. I kinda slipped there after the first post after coming back from RadCon and the flying trip to Portland. I was going to write up days 18 and 19, and then bam! Got knocked flat on my butt with what I think is the flu but who knows?

Anyway, day 18 was 2/24/2020 and day 19 was 2/26/2020. Snaffle and English saddle, road rides, and the dragon was snorting. The roads are wet and soft right now and were better footing for work at trot and canter than the icy field. She was full of herself and wanting to go. I had vowed to myself that the next ride was going to involve the Western saddle and the short-shank curb. Someone was going to get her little brown rear end ridden off because she was full of herself and raring to go.

Yeah. Excellent plan. Except that when the next riding day rolled around, I was flat on my back sick. Fever and chills, headache, bodyache. Some mucus production in my nose with lovely post-nasal drip. I lay in bed for three days straight, sucking down as much water as I could, taking Tylenol and Tylenol-3, running the diffuser with OnGuard oil, and occasionally checking my temperature before the next Tylenol dose. At one point it got up to 102.5 F, and I was taking sudafed as well as hitting the asthma rescue inhalers to keep everything clear. When something like this hits, I’m team keep the passages clear as possible simply because a.) congested sinuses in me leads to a nasty circle of infection/allergic reaction to infection/infection etc, etc etc (I am allergic to upper respiratory bacteria) and/or b.) secondary bronchitis infection. So I don’t muck around with it. And I keep track of hydration and temps with my personal criteria of “okay, at this point I go to the doc.” Didn’t help that the news about COVID-19 kept getting more and more dire as I got sicker.

But after three days the fever broke, and then it was pretty much post-infection sucky post-nasal drip, cough cough cough, probable allergies flaring from something as well (I am using inhaled nasal and lung steroids as well as taking Claritin right now, yeah, I got this). Then it was a matter of clearing the brain, which took another two days before I could brain well enough to write.

The last “getting back to semi normal” piece was reminding Miss Mocha that yes, she is an owned horse, and that happened today.

So. Day 20, 3/8/2020. Short shank curb and Western saddle, in the pasture. I got the “who are you” treatment not only from her but the whole herd. Tribute of apples and carrots reminded Mocha that she was an owned horse, though when I tied her to the hitching rail, her head shot up and she stared off toward the pen where there are now, yep, her ultimate nemesis, the PIGS.

Now I already knew about the PIGS because the barn owner had posted pictures of their arrival, complete with a disgusted expression on the face of their neighbor the sheep. Trust me, the sheep let me know of its disapproval of the new neighbors when I arrived, along with sheep’s neighbor, a mare on injury layup who was staring at the pen with an expression matching that of the sheep.

However, grain and then brushing served as a sufficient distraction. I groomed a bunny’s worth of hair off of her, then took her out to the truck and tacked her up, whereupon she once again heard (and smelled) PIGS. She danced out to the field and started blowing big roller snorts. I laughed at her but was damn glad I had the Western tack today. Climbed on, put her on contact right away, and we headed out.

I did not have ambitious schooling plans for today, but with the antics, it was clear than light serpentine schooling at the walk needed to happen to get focus and all. So we did some easy walk serpentines, then crossed to the other side of the field and did a lot of slow jog serpentines and such. Two stretches of easy lope because the footing’s mucky, the line of haunch and forehand turns, and then spins.

A couple of miles shorter than our usual rides, but I’m not pushing. The cool air was good for my cranky nasal passages, and for all that Mocha huffs and puffs like a dragon, after a couple of coughs I think she got the idea that maybe I wasn’t up for big energy. Gotta love a smart mare.

I’m not as wiped out as I feared, but I’m still on the tired side. Gonna be a little sore tomorrow, too. Oh well. Slow and steady. We’ve been through this before, with all the years I spent teaching and picked up various respiratory bugs. There was one time when my cough was so bad she would stop dead while I hacked up a lung–and she was greenbroke at the time. So yeah. Good horse, even if she is a cranky and opinionated old mare.

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February 23, 2020 · 11:41 am

Writing process: THE RUBY PROJECT

One thing that any novelist worth her words soon discovers is that every book has its own process. Even though I have a more-or-less coherent and somewhat consistent process of outlining after fourteen or so books, I’ve discovered that each story warps that methodology in its own unique way. Just in the past year, Beating the Apocalypse effectively defeated me because in trying to take the novella/borderline novel Seeking Shelter at the End of the World to a larger story, I discovered a hole deep within the storyline and had to put that book aside because I wasn’t getting anywhere with it and I had other books to write. Choices of Honor (Amazon, Draft2Digital) refused to fit into my usual outlining mode after the first quarter of the book–and I figured out at about 60,000 words that this was because there was another story in the Goddess’s Honor series and I couldn’t finish the series with Choices. Judgment of Honor (Amazon, Draft2Digital) was reasonably well-behaved and fit the process, cooperating nicely with the scene-by-scene outline and not pitching me any big surprises (well, except for some of the things that Katerin learns about her parents).

And then I learned about an opportunity and came up with The Ruby Project. From the beginning, Ruby has had an energy and life of its own. Instead of my usual scene-by-scene outline and detailed worldbuilding and backstory processes, Ruby demanded that I start writing quickly. So I started with a rough outline. This changed to a synopsis once I’d finished three chapters because I was pitching the book.

Thank God that particular email got lost and that the particular person it’s going to understands the writing process. Because yesterday, on the verge of 40,000 words, Ruby jumped off of both the rough outline and the synopsis, big time. Now that particular word count is significant, because it’s usually at that point in the game where a writer realizes The Book Has A Problem. It’s normally because she’s tripped over the Muddle in the Middle and needs to rethink everything.

Fortunately, that’s not my problem with Ruby. Because Ruby is near-future science fiction with significant extrapolation from the rapidly evolving field of agricultural technology, I’m reading research as I write (literally, new things are being released weekly which affects the book!), which has…introduced some interesting plot twists that I didn’t foresee when I wrote the outline and then the synopsis. I had some rough ideas but the details are coming into focus. At this point, not only have conflicts shifted (and a new character I didn’t foresee introduced), but I now have a stronger concept of how the storyline specifics play out. But…while I have a general idea of where the story is going, and where it will end up, I have completely invalidated the current road map as expressed in both outline and synopsis. And with a novel like Ruby, which is literally ripping out of my fingers, not having a road map is somewhat…immobilizing.

I’m not a pantser–that is, I write much better when I know where I’m going, in part because I like to write twisty plot lines that require tracking details. Most of the time, the story innovations that evolve as a part of the writing process do not require significant modification and at about 60,000-80,000 words, I’m somewhat accustomed to throwing away the outline because the story has changed enough by that point that I don’t need it to write those last words. The only other story that has veered this much since I started the detailed outlining was Apocalypse, and it had other issues.

I finished my words yesterday and looked at the synopsis and went “oh, shit,” followed by many other swear words because I realized that the projected synopsis was completely invalidated by words I had written over the past week. Don’t get me wrong. They are good words, there’s some great plot twists, but…because this is a complex and twisted plot with a logical progression, in order to avoid plot holes and the need for an extensive rewrite once I was finished, I not only needed to rewrite the synopsis (which I need to resend), but because I’m pitching the book, I also needed to revise the first chapters to match the new synopsis. Now I’ve been scribbling extensive notes on the synopsis about projected revisions. I suppose the first symptom of “hold on, we’re going someplace else” was when I started crossing out entire synopsis paragraphs because I had already dealt with that issue. I realized that I had some pacing considerations to keep in mind, but the biggest thing was that with all the new stuff (that has emerged over the past week).

I literally had no idea where I was going to go with the words today.

So I went to the gym, fiddled around with stuff, and let things simmer. Then, about 11 pm last night, I sat down with Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel and a notepad. By the time I was done, I’d scribbled six pages of specific notes about Ruby backstory needs, things that needed to go into earlier chapters, things that needed to be cut, and…most importantly…where I was going to go with today’s words. And it was 2:30 am.

I got up at my usual time. My brain is sluggish, but I had promised myself that not only would I get my words down today advancing the story (fortunately I think I’ve got 2-3 days worth of notes), but that I would go back and polish up those first chapters and then revise the synopsis. Now that I’m done with this blog post, I’m going to post, then the rest of the day is all about the words.

Wish me luck.

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February 22, 2020 · 6:39 pm

Riding log day 17–Feb. 21

Riding log day 17–2/21/2020. Snaffle, English saddle. Melting snow with some ice.

Back to a reasonable approximation of normal life the day after getting back from the RadCon/Portland trip disruption. The horses were up around the fence, and Mocha’s head shot up when I called her while pulling her halter off of the gate. She walked partway to me, then waited because the yearlings had decided to mug me for scratches and beg for cookies. They got their scratches but no cookies. This batch is very friendly and social, and will walk up to me to have their heads scratched as well as their neck and withers. The fact that it’s warming up and that long hair is getting itchy doesn’t hurt, either.

Mocha’s still not releasing any more than a handful of hairs yet, but it’s clear that shedding is not far off. Her coat just has that look. I decided that the next decent sunny riding day is going to start by not just clipping her bridle path but trimming the long hairs on her throatlatch, windpipe, and chest. It’s time, and those are the places that sweat the worst on warmer days with any exertion.

We started off by shooing away a new horse who apparently LOOOOVES Mocha. He nickers at her, tries to follow us, and when she was turned loose, trotted out to join her and her buddy. She seems to tolerate him when it’s just her and Sweetie, but if I’m around and dispensing treats, ear-pinning grouchy mare happens. When we were done discouraging him from trailing along behind us, though, Mocha let it be known that she was in March Mare Mood and did not want to settle into work. She wanted to run. I did let her do two fence lengths of canter, on opposite leads, and March Mare Moment meant she wanted to take the lead SHE wanted to take, so discussions happened. Then we settled into serpentine work at walk and trot, followed by two-tracking before a spell of loose rein. Then we did a decent backing in figure 8. Even though she was grumpy about it, at least this time the circles matched…yay. Followed with spirals in and out and bowties, with appropriate long rein walk spells. Ended with the line of shoulder and haunch turns, and then it was four lengths at the canter. Of course she wanted to insist that the leads were HER choice, not MINE, so we Had A Discussion. All typical March Mare. Ended with spins, still better going to the right than the left.

But she was not gimping like last time, and she had good energy throughout.

I attribute March Mare to itchy skin and seasonal hormonal stuff. She’s sweating enough that combined with hair that’s ready to shed makes her really itchy. I pulled off her halter during the post-ride groom to give her face a thorough brushing. Horsey bliss, with half-closed eyes, soft expression, head extended toward me and leaning into the brush.

Overall a good day.

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February 17, 2020 · 10:00 pm

RadCon 2020

For the second year in a row, there’s been oddball weather around RadCon. Last year it was a late and heavy snowfall that made it difficult for people from the west side of the Cascades to arrive (the Canadians and east side folks managed to make it, however). This year was a dramatic set of floods that could have affected us if we hadn’t known about the alternate routes.

Nonetheless, our usual route over Tollgate (OR 204) was closed due to washouts and landslides from the weekend before. Amazingly, this was done by a small seasonal creek that dries up during the summer. While it did open up again during our stay at RadCon, it’s only open with a pilot car and one lane traffic through a narrow track around problems and road work. Having seen what even a small creek can do during a flood when I was young–the impact of the Christmas Week floods of 1964 on Highway 58 over Willamette Pass–I was not surprised that a seasonal creek could wreak such havoc, especially after hearing that the flows in the Umatilla River were the highest on record. Lots of wet, heavy snow-frozen ground-hard rain and fast temperature rise…yeah. Also elements in the floods of 1996 on the Willamette and 2011 on the Sandy.

But the other difficult stretch was the washout area on I-84 between Stanfield and the intersection with I-82. One lane traffic at 45 mph, and the morning we left, I saw a picture of the damage. A road worker stood at the edge of the freeway, reaching up to touch the road surface with one hand at full extension. Not sure how tall he was, but that suggests at least seven if not eight feet of washout. However, in spite of the weirdness of our GPS, we managed to find our way through Stanfield and Hermiston to hook up with OR-730 and make our way to Washington through the Wallula Gap, so we avoided that area.

Once we arrived at the Best Western (the other hotel, much quieter and with a much better breakfast that’s free) and got settled in, it was time to think about the con. And writing. I’m actively working on a new book in first draft right now, The Ruby Project, and wanted to hit 30,000 words if not more by the end of the weekend. That meant I needed to get at least 2000 words in for at least two of the four days of the trip. I finished off the 2000 for Thursday after we got to the hotel, and Friday I easily hit the goal. Saturday was 1000 words, maybe more since I did some writing in the Green Room. Sunday was nothing, but I did get 3000 words in today, so I’m still on track, more or less.

I had ten panels for the weekend, one of which was a group reading. Most of the panels were heavy on the writing side, with a lot of editing discussion. Fortunately, with the exception of Sunday, my panels started later so I had time to wake up/eat a leisurely breakfast/visit over breakfast with friends/get my words in. Sunday I started early, but since it was the last day of the con, I wasn’t too worried about that. I was more concerned about dealing with the Art Show, since I hadn’t really worked with this Art Show in person (years ago I shipped jewelry to RadCon for a couple of shows. But that’s an entirely different process).

The panels were all fun. I didn’t walk out of any of them feeling like there were issues. Alas, the Social Media panel had light attendance due to registration hassles (3 pm on Friday with long lines at Reg….yeah). I was surprised at how pleasantly well the “I’m A Liberal and I Own Guns” panel went. Nothing toxic happened, but then again, the general consensus was that “yeah, it’s a tool, yeah, we take them seriously, and OMG the muzzle discipline of some of those protesters!!!!” It could have been different, but then this is a convention being held in an area which is still pretty much rural. Most of us had tales about scary moments–all of us were female, and our tales either involved isolated camping incidents or else intruders in an isolated area. The Horses panel went as such things do, with anecdotes and repetition of “horses are NOT motorcycles, LEARN about them before you write about them.” But we all had funny stories.

I didn’t do the party scene at all this year. I am finding that pacing myself and having quiet evenings really does make a difference, as I’m less likely to feel just totally trashed out and half sick if I get back to the room and chill out before crashing. Plus I was running the infuser with an essential oil that the son’s girlfriend gave us for Christmas. At the very least, introducing a little humidity into an otherwise dry hotel room is a good idea.

So overall, a good time. I had one of the cool moments, too, when after a panel a fan introduced herself to me and said “I came to this panel so I could meet YOU.” SQUEE. SQUEE. SQUEE. It doesn’t matter what side of the panelist table I’m on, those moments are still SQUEESQUEESQUEE and make my day. I hope I never get so successful that I get jaded by these moments! I’m so grateful when they happen.

And…I sold a book, and three bowl cozies in the Art Show. SWEET.

A good con. I came home with new books to read, and caffeinated marshmallows to nibble on as needed over the next few weeks. Heh. I ate one before a panel on Friday and started gibbering a little bit later, to the teasing of some of my fellow panelists. That’s all right, it was fun. And they helped me through a late night panel.

I have a nice glow after RadCon, which is always the sign of a good convention. Smile.

 

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· 9:24 pm

Riding log day 16

Riding log day 16. Snaffle, English saddle. Slight and occasional gimp on right fore, but not consistent, occasional step at the trot and seemed to work out of it though she trotted off with a mild bob when turned loose that didn’t stop her from cantering on her right lead when she figured out where her buddy was. It may just testify to the need for the latest Adequan shot, which she got today. Last I saw she was assembling her Windbreak of Friends.

Fresh snow last night that thankfully waited to fall until after we got back from RadCon. New horses in the field, one of whom appears to want to pester Mocha. Well, that one learned later that pestering Mocha with a rider on her is Not A Good Idea. Mocha gets pretty enthusiastic about herding other horses if they want to chase her when I’m up. Luckily, said horse also took a clue pretty easily.

She’s not in full shedding mode yet. I managed to loosen a few hairs but no, no sign of shedding. Probably a good thing if the current long range forecast holds, especially in light of tonight’s temps that are supposed to be in the low teens.

In spite of the gimp she moved out pretty enthusiastically. We are getting better at consistent serpentines at both walk and trot, including serpentines with counterbend. Oh, there’s still a few wobbles, but judging by the evidence in the snow, we’re improving. She’s becoming straighter at the two track in walk, with less of that issue of leading shoulder than it’s been. Backing in a figure 8–well, the circle to the right is still smaller and funky, but not as bad as the last time. And the spiral in and out at the walk was a bit closer in size than it was last time. Our bowties are consistent in trot for the most part (just one stretch of one of them was a little rushy, but improved).

She was really thinking about using herself during the spirals, with the low head, focus, and light contact on the rein with a little bit of stretching that goes along with it. I was having to make some minor corrections, but a lot of that felt more like she needed the support of rein or leg rather than any actual resistance, which is good. After a week off due to convention and other stuff, I suppose it’s to be expected. But it felt good and it felt to me like she was using the exercise for what it is supposed to be. Yay.

And I am really, really liking the snow this year for how our riding patterns are coming up. I guess it speaks to the lack of actual schooling that I was doing before that I only noticed how well snow holds working patterns. Either that or I wasn’t really focusing/paying attention to the patterns in previous years, which is also possible since I was focusing on straight line conditioning then. The serpentines looked a little bit like a DNA helix when we were done with them (well, except for the later trot and canter across them), and the spirals looked pretty good. It is a lot easier to track patterns in snow than in dirt, even freshly tilled dirt. There’s a lot more contrast in snow.

Mocha felt comfortable enough with the footing to stretch out in our finishing canter. Right now I am reluctant to do schooling work in canter…but a nice rousing canter that might edge into a gallop…well, the old gal still likes that. And today’s spins to the left were much better, once I waved the right rein a little bit.

We finished off with ground schooling. She’s starting to get back to the pattern of stopping square or close to square again. Consistent work, that’s what it takes.

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February 11, 2020 · 8:48 pm

Riding log day 15

Riding log day 15: bareback pad and snaffle, short pre-farrier ride.

I always like to get out and ride the arthritic girl around a bit before her farrier comes. Even though she’s out to pasture and does get meds to help with the arthritis, getting her moving beforehand just loosens everything up.

She knows what’s going on, of course. Different halter. And while I do ride her occasionally in the bareback pad, that usually comes out just before the farrier. Even though her spine has a nice bit of padding on it…she’s still a sharp-spined horse and not as comfy as, say, a Shetland.

There were drifts in the little triangle right-of-way (the old road used to have very sharp curves and is now sharp but still gentler S curves). Deeper than what we’d encountered in the pasture but a good pre-farrier workout. We’d done some warm up walks and were starting on serpentines when the farrier came. Because the main area was very icy (Mocha minced across it with the clear attitude that she didn’t trust the footing), we shod her under the patience tree, on the mats. Safer for everyone involved, and easier to clean up (although this guy is much, much neater than others I’ve encountered in the past).

I don’t know if it was the location or the workout through deeper snow, but for once the old lady was pretty chill. She rested her muzzle against my hand and drowsed a little bit. Of course she did her usual thing and touched her nostril to the farrier’s back–just that gentle brush she does to handlers she likes, and she does really like this farrier. Even if he gets after her if she’s being a stinker (which does happen sometimes).

Still winter shoes in the front only, but odds are that next time in March, she’ll get shoes on all four hooves again. Then we can start road riding in earnest.

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