Ride 16: The Other Half of West Grass

Last week was a cold, wet, muddy, colder, icy mess.  This week was lovely, but the horses had a hoof trim in the middle of it.  I was still trying to get all the caked mud off their coats and out of their hooves…once it dried neither horse felt I should be tugging at the mud lumps with grooming tools so it took a lot of energy and time.   And Tigger was not willing to give me his feet.  So Wednesday came and I spend most of the morning not feeling my best, let’s say, and the farrier came at noon, got them both trimmed, and then left with his wife to have lunch somewhere.   I never ride on the day of a trim (just in case their feet feel sensitive) and often not on the day after.  On the day after I still had the migraine and the gut rumbles and by the time that was gone it was time to feed at 4 pm anyway.  So today was the first ride for almost two weeks.

Rags was, on this slightly chilly morning with a breeze, a bit fizzy.  For Rags.  For Tigger, the energy Rags was showing would have coded “calm.”   R- needed to leave by 9:30 to pick up M- from the city  by 10:30,  and when I looked at my watch after leaving the horse lots for the Near Meadow, it was about 9:15.  So I didn’t try the full circuit around the whole West Grass, but took the south half.   (Rough halves; it’s actually a bit smaller, I think.   Kept Rags moving at his briskest walk…we left the Near Meadow by the rock crossing over the Old Ditch, and went straight up to the Dry Woods by the east trail, across the front of the Dry Woods and onto Center Walk, downslope to the west *almost* straight (used to be straight.  Then R- decided to mow around a stand of tallgrass he wanted to save), aiming at the Entrance Meadow.  When we came to the trail outside the creek woods that runs from the south fence to the north fence, I turned south.  R- had recently widened it a bit for me, so Rags can see the ground better.   It’s got Indiangrass (a tallgrass) on both sides, and a single pass with the mower isn’t quite wide enough.

Rags turned into it willingly…he should by now have a horse’s map of whether we’re heading to or from “home” (and Tigger) whether he’s somewhere in the West Grass or East Grass.   From his reactions, I think he’s got it now…riding the north section of the West Grass allowed him to see the whole layout and horses are usually very good at remembering where they have been, if they can see.    He had no spooks or stiffenings as we rode past the tall grass and the creek woods.  When we got near Cloud Pavilion  I turned him back east again, but made him stop briefly just beyond the east deck and wait while I got him a cookie and he ate it.  Then we came on back, riding along the Old Ditch, once we met it, to where we’d come out, and back into the Near Meadow, up the slope, into the north horse lot, where I got off with R-‘s help holding the stirrup down and letting me brace on his shoulder to help get that right leg back over the saddle.  We did that circuit in a little under 15 minutes, and R- got off in good time.

So…NEXT time we may try for a complete circuit of the West Grass…modified because of the Black Vultures being in nesting mode again, so we can’t ride on the North Fence Trail or even next to the field side of that row of trees (they don’t nest in trees, but under dense brush…but they get upset if you’re anywhere near, and their “near” is inconveniently far, from our POV.)  R- and I walked the “outer” E/W trail yesterday afternoon, and suddenly two Black Vultures were up in one of their “guard” trees and the other one on a post on the north fenceline, all of them giving us a hard look.  So I suspect Mama Vulture is already brooding on some eggs back under a particular patch of roughleaf dogwood.   When I did the circumnavigation of the north section, I rode just outside the trees and didn’t notice any vultures though R- had seen one on the ground near there the week before.  I don’t like that farther trail that much, after walking it–it’s got a lot of fire ant mounds, and I don’t want Rags to  get stung all over his legs.  Also it’s going to be hard to measure with the measuring wheel because I don’t want to be “throwing” fire ants if I run too close to a mound and they come swarming out.  Annoy the Black Vultures or enrage the fire ants?  (Fire ants don’t have an “annoyed” level of response; they come swarming out of their mounds spoiling for a chance to bite and sting.  Vultures aren’t that aggressive…well, the Black Vultures aren’t.  I’ve seen videos of African vultures at a kill…scary.)   I’m glad to have a pair nesting and raising young along the north fenceline, though I can’t claim the nest is on our side.   Their lookout trees are, and they use the fence posts and line braces we put in.   I will try to ride down the trail we rode before one time and see if they seem disturbed.  It takes them longer to brood and then bring the young to fledglings than most birds; maybe they’ll get used to a horse and rider if we don’t do anything but move past on the field side.

At any rate, a nice short ride, and pushing Rags to keep at his best walk made it more exercise for both of us.  Now to wash the breakfast dishes, switch paddock boots for running shoes, and go back out.