It’s deer hunting season, and today on a trail ride we ran across fresh entrails from dressed deer.  Of course, Montana spooked and would have nothing to do with them.  Cedar walked right up to them like it was no big deal.  I tell you, Cedar is worth his weight in gold.

A few months ago, Elizabeth ran across a dead animal while riding Montana, and spent quite a while (over 1 hour?) using Clinton Anderson groundwork techniques, similar to Parelli’s squeeze game.  It didn’t work.  My experience with my two high-strung horses is that the strong Clinton Anderson techniques don’t seem to work well, as they upset the horse even more.

Today, I instead kept Montana very calm and used very gentle approach/retreat methods.  We spent about a half hour, and Montana was able to at least approach the pile of guts, whereas originally he spooked about 10 feet away at the smell.

On the way back home, we ran into another fresh pile of entrails and Montana was able to go right up to them and sniff them.

It’s amazing at the number of things on a trail ride horses can be scared of.  A bomb-proof trail horse (like Cedar) is really tough to find.

I’ve been cantering Montana in the wide open fields and letting him run, spook, shy, buck, and bolt. Previously, I’ve always shut him down with a one-rein stop and brought him back to a walk, where he’s fine. But for the past couple weeks, I’ve ridden through it to see what happens and see if I can somehow get him over it. He is particularly bad if Cedar goes away, as he is quite buddy sour. In those cases, when riding away from Cedar, Montana won’t go forward much but continually tries to go sideways. He also will throw a temper tantrum, which can get quite nasty with lots of head shaking, and he will bolt sideways 5 feet in a split second like an agile cat. Those sideways bolts have almost gotten me off. Then, when riding towards Cedar, he’ll take off like a rocket.

Today, after a 2 hour trail ride, I took Montana over some small jumps in the ring, after first walking over them. Party time! A couple times he ended up bucking several laps around the ring after the jump. Of course, even though I took him into the jump at a controlled trot, he would canter a stride before and jump really high. I’m trying not to discipline him too much, as he’ll throw another temper tantrum, and I hope more exposure will settle him down. (If this approach doesn’t work, I’ll have to get a bit more corrective with him.)

His bucking isn’t enough to unseat me, and I must admit it’s somewhat exciting and fun for me, so I don’t shut him down or discipline him harshly when he does it. I’m hoping he’s just young and eventually he’ll settle down. However, he’s not a horse that our friends can ride, nor does my wife enjoy riding him, so he’s somewhat useless beyond me.

It’s tough being a horse owner when you’re allergic to horses. I’m allergic to them. Actually, according to my allergy tests, I’m allergic to grass and mold, but for some reason dust on horses really triggers my allergies. Probably because they’re rolling in hay, eating hay, etc. Who knows, all I know is that after I work with the horses, for 3 days afterwards I’m miserable and taking Clariton, Zyrtec, and using up boxes of Puffs Plus.

I started wearing an N95 dust mask when I work with the horses, and it’s fantastic! I no longer have my allergies heavily triggered. I don’t wear the mask when riding, and it seems to be OK. It’s only grooming, tacking up, trimming, and other dust-creating activities that seem to give me problems. I also wear the mask when I have to go deal with the hay, like rolling out a new round bale, etc.

The 3M masks that I use are only about $1-$2 each, so I have them everywhere and within reach. I order them online by the dozen. I’m always careful to get N95 (or even N100) rated masks, and not just generic dust masks. Great stuff!

For a while I was using prescription nasal steroids (Nasacort) to control my allergies, since I was congested whether or not I was around horses. It worked great, but I don’t like using medicine. After I switched my diet to no-gluten and low-card, my allergies seemed to abate (if I didn’t get around horses). So I was able to stop the medicine. The only problem was horses, which was only on weekends, and sometimes every other weekend. Dust mask: problem solved.

In response to the comment on which brand/model I prefer, I use 3M 9211 masks.  Why?  Well, I read a review on a bird flu forum that said they were the most comfortable model, then I bought a couple boxes which I’m still working through.  Are they my favorite?  Not really.  They’re pretty flimsy so they take 2 hands to put on, and you have to pull the bottom part under your chin.  I’ve tried other 3M masks that are firm and in the shape of a half sphere, and they’re easier to put on and off.  I do like the “flap” on the 9211, which opens as you exhale, but other models also have the flap.  At $1-$2 each, N95 masks are cheap enough to try different models.  The only problem is if you order them online, you typically need to order them by the dozen.  To be honest, there isn’t enough of a difference between the ones I like and the ones I dislike for me to have a strong opinion.  I won’t buy the ones that are $5-$15/each, as I’ve tried them, and they’re no better than the cheap ones.  I also won’t buy regular dust masks that are not N95 rated, as the N95 ones are the same price.  I’ve tried N100, and I haven’t noticed any difference to my allergies.  I’ve also tried masks made for oil, and though they seemed a tad thicker, they also didn’t seem to make a difference.  As for the brand, I use 3M simply because it’s a recognized brand.  I guess advertising really does make a difference.

Today was our first ever judged pleasure ride, the Manassas Battlefield (Virginia) fall JPR.  Over 100 riders participated.

It was a blast!  Better than a simple trail ride, and without all the hassle of a formal competition.  There were 10 total obstacles and about 8-10 miles of trail.  It took us 4 hours total.  Lots of very friendly people.  We hooked up with a lone rider and the 3 of us had a great time together.

It also poured rain for about a half hour at the beginning of our ride, which was annoying, since we were wet the rest of the ride.  Luckily I had a raincoat and was able to keep my video camera and cell phone dry, but barely.

Montana both did both better and worse than I expected.  On some of the obstacles, he even did better than Cedar!  But during the trail ride portion, he had multiple spooks.  One time he even went up in a full rear due to a horse fly, and fortunately I did not come off.  He also had a mini freakout after the ride in the trailer when Cedar wasn’t there, and cut his head on the ceiling and somehow cut his hind foot (probably stepped on it).  He was leaning back on the butt bar hard in the Brenderup, causing the entire divider to bounce up and down.  Elizabeth said she saw the entire trailer shaking from the outside.  He also reared when tied to the side of the trailer and Elizabeth took Cedar to the other side, out of sight.

The strange thing is that one time on the ride, when nature called, I took Montana away from Cedar.  He was a gem and gave me no problems at all.  But when Cedar leaves him, boy, look out.  I can’t say I fully understand why this is the case, but I’ve heard about the same behavior with other horses, so it must be a common issue.

I definitely need to work out equipment issues.  I typically go on rather short trail rides (1 hour) in sunny weather, so I don’t have to worry about rain gear, video equipment, food, water, jackets, etc.  At the last minute I decided to bring the video camera slung around my neck.  That didn’t work out so well with it bouncing around everywhere, plus it almost got wet in the downpour.  My water bottles slipped out of my fanny pack and fell on the ground as well.  My jacket does not zip around the fanny pack.  In general, I think I need saddle pads and waterproof cases for any electronic equipment, including cell phone.  I mean, it really poured and everything got wet.  I think waterproof pants would have been nice as well.  My nice think soft endurance reins got sopping wet from the rain and very heavy.

Same issue with Montana’s fly mask.  When it started raining, his mask did more harm to his vision than good, since there weren’t any flies.  I didn’t have a good method of storing it, so I ended up tying it around his neck.  Before I did that, I tried to hold it in my lap, and I ended up losing it.  Fortunately, a rider behind me picked it up.

Finally, I really need some sort of waterproof chest harness where I can place things like a map.  It was a royal pain trying to access a folded up map in my front jeans pocket, especially with gloves on.  The map ended up getting wet and destroyed in my pockets.  Luckily the trails were well marked.  But if I needed that map, I would have been in trouble.

The obstacles were interesting, and I think with some practice, very doable.  There was no obstacle that was insanely difficult.  That doesn’t mean, of course, that we didn’t have trouble.  We had lots of trouble.  Side passing while straddling a log over to a clanging bell?  Nope, Montana would have nothing to do with that one, since he was scared of the bell.  Going backwards in a tight area for a full 180 degree turn?  Nope, failed that one also.  Stepping onto a piece of carpet?  We got halfway there.  On the other hand, he had no trouble standing still as a pile of paint cans were dragged in front of him.  He also had no trouble going right up to various buckets and other containers where I needed to reach in and grab something.

I also had a lot of trouble with being out of shape.  Once I had to mount up from the ground, and was surprised that the movement put me out of breath for the next 10 minutes, and I never quite recovered after that.  After that I was in a daze for the rest of the ride.  Am I just out of shape?  Is it the Lyme disease?  Or, the last time I was in the saddle for several hours I also got the same light-headed feeling, like I was going to pass out.  I think that somehow sitting so long in the saddle causes the blood circulation to stop, and doing something physically (even mildly) exerting somehow exacerbates the situation.  I drank plenty of water, though I admit I didn’t have much to eat since we were late leaving in the morning.  I also noticed I felt better if I got off the horse and walked around.

My butt also hurt around hour 3.  I think I’m going to bring the Cashel gel saddle pad next time.  No need to be uncomfortable.

All in all, it was fun, and I definitely think we’ll be up for more judged pleasure rides.  Moreover, it got Montana out and about, and he really needs more exposure to things to grow up and be a man.

My most recent project rewiring a utility trailer really brought home the need to have the right tools to do a job.  With the right tools, a job is easy, and often fun.  Without the right tools, a job is pure frustration.

For the trailer project, I ended up using an angle grinder, voltmeter, and fish tape.  These are not typical tools the novice do-it-yourselfer has around the house.

One game I play with myself is that when I do a DIY project, I let myself buy a new tool.  Usually, DIY plus the cost of a new tool is still cheaper than hiring a pro.  And typically I end up using the same new tool in future projects, so I consider it an investment.

When we had the floor in our Brenderup horse trailer replaced, the shop also fixed some wiring issues.  When it came time to fix wiring/light issues on my 4×8 utility trailer, I thought I’d fix it myself rather than pay a pro.  I mean, how hard could it be?  I have a degree in electrical engineering and do much of the house wiring.  Yeah, right, 2 weeks and 8+ hours later…

The first challenge was replacing a broken light assembly.  This is the second time I’ve done it, and the first time was an unbelievable pain.  The trailer lights have 2 bolts that don’t have a slot for a screwdriver or a head for a socket.  They’re smooth.  So when you try to unscrew the nut, the entire bolt just turns without unscrewing.

The first time I changed one of these a few years ago I used a hacksaw blade wrapped in a rag and held in my hand to slowly and manually saw through the bolts.  A hacksaw or other powered saw wouldn’t fit in the cramped space.  It took a few hours of painful labor to cut through those two bolts.  I swore I would never do that again, which is why the second broken light stayed broken for years.

Then I stumbled on this wonderful invention called an angle grinder.  It spins a cutting wheel which lets you cut right through rusted bolts, metal, anything.  It even throws out a shower of sparks making you feel quite manly.  Below is the cheapo angle grinder I got for around $15.

Angle Grinder

So with my brand new angle grinder, I was albe to cut those bolts off the broken light in about 10 minutes.  I figured the rest of the wiring/light overhaul would be a cake walk.

I attached the new light assembly and connected up the wires.  I then tested it by turning on my truck turn signals.  No lights.  Hmm… that’s odd, maybe I have a short in the wiring.  Off to get the volt meter.

Now one thing they teach you in Physics 101 is that all circuits have two wires, one that is hot and the other for ground.  When I saw the two wires coming out of the light assembly, I just automatically assumed these were the two wires.  Oh no.  I’ll save you an hour or two of fussing with a voltmeter and the wiring harness and explain that the trailer frame itself is used as a ground, while the two wires are both hot (one for turn, one for stop).  This becomes obvious if you open up the light assembly and trace the ground to the bolts which are attached to the frame.  Until I figured this out, I did a lot of head scratching with the voltmeter results.

Somewhere around hour 4 I decided I must have a break in the wiring I couldn’t detect, since I wasn’t getting any voltage at the light assemblies.  It was old wiring, after all.  A sample of the wiring with cracks and exposed wire is shown below.

Old wiring on utility trailer

I bought a replacement wiring kit at Tractor Supply.  I also turned the trailer on its side so I could access all the wiring.

The new wire went in without a hitch.  I even hooked up the ground wire to the trailer with a bolt.  (By the way, it took me a while to figure out I even needed the ground wire, which I originally thought was redundant.) The angle grinder did a great job of removing the surface rust and ensuring a solid electrical connection.

I hooked up the trailer to the truck, turned on the turn signal, ran back to the trailer, and expected to see the light flashing.  And like the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive in The Empire Strikes Back, again the darned light remained off.  I was now at hour 7 in this project, where I probably could have purchased a new trailer if I was doing billable software development work at my day job.

Back to the voltmeter.  I verified I had power at the truck’s plug when the trailer was disconnected.  But then with the trailer plugged in, I wasn’t getting voltage at the light assemblies.  And I had brand new wire.  Weird.  I then disconnected the light assemblies from the trailer wiring and checked voltage at the end of the trailer wires.  Voltage!  Huh?  Looks like the wiring is fine.

Could the light assemblies be somehow shorting out the circuit?  That was the only explanation, since without them attached, the voltage was fine on the wiring.  I spent the next half hour carefully going every nook and cranny of those light assemblies, looking for anything that could be a short.  Nothing.  I even wondered if the bulbs could somehow be shorting out the circuit.  Perhaps I had bad bulbs?

I pulled the bulb out and checked the voltage inside the light assemblies.  Now it’s fine.  So somehow the bulbs themselves were shorting out the circuit.  Just about when I was going to buy new bulbs, a little voice in my head reminded me of many hours troubleshooting electric horse fences.  A typical problem with electric fences is grounding.  This just smelled like a grounding problem.  And it made total sense that the voltmeter would detect voltage, but there wasn’t a strong enough connection to ground to run the current needed by the bulb.

I took a pair of jumper cables and connected the ground from the trailer coupler back to the light assembly, as shown below.

 

Running ground to the lights

The lights worked!  OK, I had a grounding issue.  But what was the issue?  I then noticed that the utility trailer is a tilt trailer and is made of two separate pieces.  Hence, the frame is not a single, solid piece.  It became obvious that the electrical connection between the two pieces must have deteriorated due to rust and wasn’t good enough to power the lights.

I ran the ground wire from the truck plug all the way back to the second half of the trailer frame.  Voila!  The lights worked, and I learned quite a bit about trailer wiring.

Our neighbor recently had a horse break his toe in a couple places when it stepped on his foot. This incident reminded me again on how easy it is to get stopped on. In fact, my wife and I own 4 or more pairs of steel toe boots. We started getting them after she had her foot stepped on a few years ago and had bruises for several weeks.

I’ve heard all the arguments about the steel cap getting crushed and having to have your toes cut off. I don’t have all the numbers with me now, but I discovered the amount of weight needed to crush a certified steel toe is far greater than what a horse can generate, even if it stomps its foot hard. After all, these boots are made to withstand things like car engines being dropped on your foot.

In reality, I’ve been stepped on half a dozen times or more, and it’s never been a horse stomping his foot on mine. It’s always been a horse taking a step on top of my foot. The frustrating thing is the horse just stands there on your foot unaware, and you have to push him off. I’ve always worn boots when this happened, and can’t even imagine the pain if I had sandals or flip flops (the horrors!)

The funny thing is that now I wear steel toe boots around the horses, I never get stepped on anymore. My subconscious is so well trained that I instinctively keep my feet out of harm’s way.

Writing the previous blog entry about the tie ring reminded me of a near disaster I had when I first started using it with a previous horse a few years ago. My first mistake was using a rope that was only about 10 feet long, which isn’t long enough. My second mistake was having a knot on the end of the rope to prevent fraying. My third mistake was having the tie ring attached to an eye bolt that wasn’t secure.

So my old horse Aethan was standing fine at the garage tied to the tie ring. For some reason he spooked, I don’t recall why, and started pulling the rope through the tie ring. I didn’t worry, because I knew he would calm down once he had some slack, or so the tie ring marketing literature said. This was back when I first started using the tie ring and didn’t have much experience with it. Well, Aethon kept on pulling rope through the tie ring. So much for the marketing fluff. He pulled all 10 feet through until the knot on the end of the rope got stuck in the tie ring. And he kept pulling. Suddenly the siding on the garage peeled back as he pulled out the eye-bolt that apparently wasn’t set deep enough into a stud. Uh oh, not good.

I had visions of him running down the street with a 4×8 sheet of T11 siding chasing him. I jumped up and grabbed the rope and was able to get him to stop pulling. Whew, disaster averted.

After that, I moved the eye bolts and ensured they were sunk deep into solid studs. I also now use looong ropes, and never have a knot on the end. And I make sure a horse learns to tie before I let my guard down.

I’m starting to discern the difference between Monana’s temper tantrums and his panic attacks.  I used to think all his shenanigans were due to fear, but now I realize some of his behavior is just him being a jerk because he’s not getting something he wants.  He is such an obedient, friendly, and sensitive horse (albeit fearful) that it took me a while to accept that he could have a temper tantrum.

For example, today we got back from a trail ride.  While Elizabeth was untacking Cedar, I was trotting Montana around on the grass.  It was clear he wanted to be back with Cedar, as our circles were egg-shaped, with Montana racing when facing home, then slowing down when facing away.  While I kept working him, he would throw a temper tantrum every 5 minutes or so.  He would toss his head and squeal.  Sometimes he would do a mini-bolt and darted in a different direction suddenly.  Sometimes he would do a little buck.  Whatever his behavior, it was always very sudden and typically disconcerting (though I’m getting used to it).

I kept working him, and then took him across the street to a field where he could no longer see Cedar.  He did not like this at all, and had a couple more temper tantrums.  By the end he was standing still facing away from our property.

I need to work with him more when he’s not with his buddy, Cedar.  Trail rides with his buddy, while fun and enjoyable for both of us, are like playing video games with one’s children.  You don’t really know where you stand until you tell your children to clean their rooms or go to bed.

I also may need to use the crop more.  Typically I don’t use the crop with Montana because he’s a very sensitive horse and can be easily traumatized, which has happened before.  But I think as a result I’ve been letting him get away with things I shouldn’t have.

I taught my wife and her friend how to back a trailer this weekend. They did great, considering that backing a trailer is not intuitive. I hitched up a 4×8 utility trailer, put the truck tailgate down, and had them look over their shoulder so they could see the effect of their steering on the trailer. I don’t believe in memorizing clever rules (like putting your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel), because they only work half the time. Rather, I like thinking of a trailer like a big wheelbarrow, and simply steering the back of the truck to where the wheelbarrow handles should go. I don’t even mess with “turn the steering wheel left or right” since we all know how to drive. Rather, I say move the back of the truck left or right.

Both women figured out pretty quickly that you have to steer the opposite direction initially to turn the trailer. And both initially had trouble steering too much and over-correcting. The little 4×8 trailer can be quite wiggly since it’s so short in length. The rest was practicing getting the finesse down and slooooowing down. (Why do people want to rush backing up?)

They started out just backing in a straight line down the driveway. Then they backed around the driveway circle. Again, both did great. Finally, they backed the trailer into a parking space that is perpendicular to the driveway. I’d say it took about an hour and a half of practice to get this far for 2 people.

I also taught them that if the trailer and truck get too out of alignment, it’s easier to pull forward, get both lined up, then start reversing again. (It’s not a failure to pull forward!)

I didn’t teach them what I call the “double turn”, which is when even after pulling forward to straighten out the truck and trailer, you’re pointing both in the wrong direction. That’s when you turn the truck first hard one way (to get the trailer lined up), then hard the other way (to get the truck lined up). That’ll be the next lesson. I’m not even sure I can describe it, to be honest. Somewhere somebody must have coined a term for this maneuver.

Also for the next lesson we will be using the side mirrors and the real horse trailer. It’s hard backing up the utility trailer using the side mirrors since it’s only 4 foot wide and not visible in the mirrors. I put an 8-foot long piece of wood across the trailer to make it wide enough to be visible in the side mirrors so my wife can practice before our next session.

Fun stuff!