La Canada Parade Pictures

Finally, some pictures from the La Canada Parade that Max and I marched on Memorial Day:

Max and I marching down Foothill Boulevard. Unlike the earlier Burbank parade, the street was far narrower because of the center divider so the noise was a lot closer to Max.

The Front of the procession.

Color Guard- A little practice at the starting area.

Memorial Day Parade

Yesterday Max and I participated in our second parade, this time in La Canada/Flintridge, for Memorial Day. This was a very challenging parade both for Max and I from a number of aspects.

We had to load up at 7am so I wound up getting up at 4:30 (whew, haven't done that on a regular basis since I was in the Army!). After showering and a light breakfast, I proceeded over to the stables and got there by about 6am. I thin had to walk Max over to my friend's house to load him on the trailer.

The loading process worked out alright except for wrenching my right shoulder while loading Max when he suddenly pulled back and decided to back out of trailer before I could secure him. Boy did that hurt! When I went to load him a second time, Max balked at getting in the trailer so I had to growl at him and then had no further issues (thank god!).

Out staging area was on a grass athletic field at a school just south of Foothill Boulevard, and while this made an ideal place to tack up, it was a struggle to keep Max from grazing (we were discouraging the horses because of the possibility of herbicides).

After tacking up and getting my outfit on (I was going as a Revolutionary War soldier), we mounted up and began to work the horses on the field to get them tuned up. The maneuvers went well and there were no serious issues with mis-behaving stallions or miniature horses.

Finally, after about an hour and a half or so, we began to form up for the parade. We had to walk up a side street and then make a right turn onto Foothill Boulevard. Unfortunately, we had to run a gauntlet of various noisy vehicles, a couple of bands playing on the backs of trailers, and skateboarding kids. Max was definitely not happy with this and especially the music blaring through the amplifiers (Max was on the side of the street closet to these).

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, we began to move forward and make the turn onto Foothill Boulevard. Max wasn't too thrilled about walking on the side closest to the crowd so we moved to the inside of the street where there were less spectators- Foothill Boulevard is divided by a median and while there were some people there, it wasn't anything like the main curbside.

Throughout the parade, Max kept pulling down on the bit and it was a struggle to keep him balanced. It also didn't help that the parade was proceeding on a downward slope so Max kept trying to speed up into a trot. What a pain!

We proceeded to do a number of standard maneuvers as we proceeded down Foothill Boulevard although it was pretty tight in places. Max did not want to approach the crowd when we would do either a left or right flank to face the crowd. I found that I had to force Max forward by using a combination spur and pushing hard into my seat by using a combination of breath control and folding my pelvis- basically half-halts. I found that after awhile, it was easier to get Max to move towards the crowd so I figured Max was slowly getting used to it.

I was actually able to alternate between using both hands and neck-reining and while there was a lot going on, Max seemed to not have too many issues (at least he sucked it up and soldier on). The parade route ended at Gould Street and Foothill Boulevard and it was here that we had most of our issues. It seemed that the parade organizers didn't really have any sort of an exit strategy and the various parade participants either wandered off or made a U-turn on Foothill and head back the way they came.

We initially proceeded to make our way back up Foothill Boulevard but we then had major issues with a Chinese group that was playing drums and waving large banners. The closer we got, the more Max didn't want to proceed and he started to dance in place (basically he was refusing to go forward so he was going up...). Finally Max attempted to back up so I had to spin him in circles and I eventually wound up on the sidewalk. At the same time, two of the other horses managed to get their bridles and bits tangled up and one of them actually got their bridle torn off.

While efforts were made to resolve the bridal issue, I had to work on getting Max under control and it wasn't looking good (the idea of landing on concrete was definitely becoming an unpleasant possibility) but by leaning back and forcing him in circles, I managed to distract him long enough until the Chinese had passed by.

The decision was then made to make our way back to our start point by side streets south of Foothill Boulevard. This was definitely the better choice although we then had to contend with rapidly moving vehicles- the drivers were clueless about horses and were moving way too fast down the side streets. Fortunately, we were able to avoid any collisions and eventually we were able to locate a bridal trail sandwiched between the backs of houses.

I have to admit, it was more interesting riding through the La Canada/Flintridge than it was riding in the parade and I was amazed by the opulence of the houses. Even more striking was the impossibly green lawns that were everywhere- Max definitely wanted to graze but I held him back because of the possibility of fertilizer/herbicides (how else do you get those impossibly green lawns?).

The bridle trail was interesting in that it snakes between the back yards of the houses and it was a stark contrast to the opulent fronts (some of the backyards were outright dumps). Definitely more my style and I let Max graze on the natural grass.

It was a long ride back and it probably took us about an hour to accomplish this, especially since we had to ask for directions to the bridal trail and we didn't know where we were exactly heading (but the horses seemed to know EXACTLY where they were going!).

Finally, we arrived back at the athletic field and we gave them a long rest before finally loading everyone up and heading home.

Overall, this was one of the toughest rides I've ever done and it really called for complete vigilance- anything could happen and you had to be ready to deal with it. I had to keep relaxing myself and not tense up, although this was not always easy- I need to work more on easing up on the reins. I also think that some better planning could have gone into our exit strategy.

On a good note, Max didn't bat an eye when six people on bikes rode by from behind at a high rate of speed. :-)

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, I decided to use this picture of the US Cemetery at the Meuse-Argonne Battlefield.

Here's some more detail:

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial is a 130.5-acre (0.528 km2) World War I cemetery in France. It is located east of the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon (Meuse). The cemetery contains the largest number of American military dead in Europe (14,246), most of those here lost their lives during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in September-November, 1918. The cemetery consists of 8 sections behind a large central reflection pool. Beyond the grave sections is a chapel which is decorated with stained glass windows depicting American units insignias. Along the walls of the chapel area are the tablets of the missing which include the names of those soldiers who fought in the region and in northern Russia, but have no known grave. It also includes the Montfaucon American Monument. This cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Out and About - More Night Riding

One of the best things about going into the summer is that the days are longer. These days, sunset is occuring about 8 - 8:30 and it's never been a better time to go riding (well, except for the hordes of insects maybe).

Last night I got together with a couple of friends to go out around Gabriellano Park and beyond. We decided to work our horses a bit in the public arena, especially since one of them seems to be having issues with cantering.

After an uneventuful ride over to the arena, we worked our horses and things seemed to go fine. One of the things we all worked on was cantering and trotting past each other while seeking to keep the horses' attention on the riders rather than what their compadres are doing.

While this may seem to be remedial, it's all part of countering herd-bound behavior and especially out on the trail where riders may have to separate or change position in the riding order. Each of these horses, including Max, are used to being around the other and sometimes they get a bit TOO attached to one another. One of the drills we'd do is for one horse to stand still while the other two either trot or canter past. This is always a good thing to train on, especially if you encounter some idiot with no trail manners like the Vaquero wannabe we encountered at Caspers Wilderness Park a couple of weeks ago.

We also used the arena as an opportunity work out some excess energy out of the horses. While this is not a major issue with Max since he's worked almost everyday, it is an issue with the other two horses (they're both mares) and sometimes they'll get so excited that they start spinning- it doesn't happen often but it's still underdesireable out on the trail.

After about 15-20 minutes, we decided to ride down the Haul Road towards Big Tujunga creek and then make a loop towards the stables. By this time it was getting dark and there was no moon out, so it got increasingly more difficult to see the trail. Not that this was an issue since we all know the area and the horses have an unerring sense of direction (equine GPS?).

Overall, it was about a good two-hour ride and it was good exercise for the horses. More importantly, each of the horses functioned on the trail with no issues and there was no drama (except for when Max encountered a pile of rubbish but that was easily handled- what a brave boy! :-)).

Not a bad evening ride. :-)

Test No. 2

Tonight I had to take my second exam for my Horse Husbandry class. My head is swimming with all sorts of information on equine nutrtion and parisitology...I never realized just how destructive Bots can be! Yeech!

Anyway, I discovered some gaps in my knowledge so score-wise, things might not go so well on this exam. I'm going to have to study harder for the final exam which is in two weeks.

Weekends... Back to the Doc

This last weekend was relatively uneventful from a horse perspective and I pretty much stayed close to home. On Saturday, Max and I worked on our drill as part of the Warhorse group although due to scheduling mistakes (not on our part), we weren't able to work as much as I would have liked.

Although there was a Trail Trial competition on Sunday, I opted not to go (I really didn't have fun the one time that I did it) and instead decided to check out the Doc Larsen Trail- it's been awhile since I've been up that way.

I was smart and got to the stables early to beat the heat (it got up into the 90s that day)- Max and I were out the gate by 8:15 and we were working up into a nice trot. I decided that I would try and trot Max as much as possible in an effort to build up his stamina and by the time we got to the Oaks, he was moving nicely with a good seat.

I then headed up a dirt road and rode up to the Shep Pens and then picked up the fire road and eventually picked up the Doc Larsen Trail. It appears that there's been some serious brush clearance going on and the Doc was a joy to ride. Not only did they clear the trail or brush and overhanging tree branches, but they also cut back the brush to eliminate most of the blind corners so we were able to trot in confidence that we wouldn't be trotting up on someone/something unknowingly.

The cleared portion went for about a third of the way up and then reverted to a much more overgrown state. At this point I decided to walk (plus give Max a change to blow out) and we pretty much did this up until the bathtub. We hit the bathtub by about 9:30 and I then gave Max a chance to drink and to let his pulse recover. When I initially pulsed him, it was at 72 BPM but after 10 minutes, it had gone down to about 46 BPM or so. Not too bad I think.

After about 15 minutes, I mounted up again and headed up towards the fire road. I then decided to simply follow the fire road and descent on the Foothill Boulevard side of the mountains and wind up at Jay-Bar Ranch. The ride was long but I was able to trot in places- primarily on the flat/uphill portions.

While making our way along the fire roads, we came accross what must have been at least a three-foot Rattlesnake lying right accross the road (Hell, the snake was almost as wide as the road was!). I saw it pretty far off and we stopped to see what it would do- eventually it crossed the road and disappeared into the bushes on the side. We then quickly rode past. Wheew!!

After descending on the fire road and winding up at J-Bar, we crossed Foothill Boulevard (very carefully) and then made our way home along a wide trail that follows the 210 Freeway. Eventually I made a turn on Orcas Avenue and headed back to the stable.

All in all, it was about a 3 1/2 hour ride and we both got a good workout. Max seems to be very fit and had no issues. Strangely enough, we only encountered one other person and that was another rider- the area was pretty deserted for a Sunday. Then again, most people are not morning people and up to about 11 or so, you pretty much have the trails to yourself most of the time.

Not bad for a solo ride.

Warhorse

Here's something interesting that's playing in London- Warhorse. This is apparently based on a children's book and the full-scale pupperty is simply AMAZING! Check it out:

More Caspers...

Here's a few more pictures from the Caspers Wilderness trip:

Looking to the north, up the valley


Heading down the trail- in the valley there were numerous oak groves to ride through. We even trotted through a few of them- very excellent!

Trying to take a picture with my cell phone...

Heading out for a day's riding...

Out and About

Tonight I decided to give Max and I a break (somewhat) so I decided to hit the trail and take one of my usual routes down the wash, accross the river, and loop back towards the arena at Gabriellano Park.

However, I decided to ride most of the way at the trot, where feasible, something that Max always reluctantly does- after all, he's a horse and he's naturally lazy! :-)

Everything went uneventfully and I got him moving out at a pretty good clip. We actually made better time than I thought we would so I decided to work him a bit in the arena at Gabriellano Park- it's been awhile. I did a combination trotting and cantering with some side-passing and half-passing mixed in. It was kind of funny- we actually had a small audience watching us (it was really a small family).

As we were doing our manuevers, I noticed a group of riders pass by the arena. Abruptly, one of them decided to gallup his horse at full speed along the side of the arena. The rider then stopped and he proceeded to spin the horse around in circles while yelling at it. It didn't appear that the horse was being disobedient or anything but what would I know.

It was kind of weird- there was no real reason for it as far as I could tell and it's not part of any training program that I recognize. Not sure what was up with that...strange.

After about 15-20 minutes, I decided to head home so I took Max accross Foothill Blvd. and up Orcas Ave. Max had no issues and we arrived back at the stables safe and sound. It's times like this that I'm really proud of Max- no issues and no grief but it took a long time to get there with a lot of training.

Take a Break

Last night I decided to give Max the night off from working so instead I spend some time actually grooming and cleaning up Max. Grooming, yeah I know...

I have to admit that usually, I'm not the most conscientous about grooming Max and especially with combing out the mane and tail. However, I didn't want to have to spend a lot of time doing this on the day before a parade, like I did with the Burbank parade, so I decided to get a jump on things.

Max certainly enjoyed it, especially not having to work, and I managed to get the mane and tail all combed out in about 30 minutes. I also brushed him down and even rubbed him with a pumice stone (it helps put a shine on the haircoat without supplements or anything). I then finished off by putting some Valentine's Hoof Dressing on his hooves.

Overall, not bad at all and hopefully this will save me some time in the long run.

Back at the Ranch

Last night I decided it was time to get back our normal training schedule so I gave Max a light workout consisting mostly of transitions and the like. I was really too tired to do anything real extensive but I did want to remind Max taht although we had a good weekend, it was time to get back into a regular regime, especially since there's a couple of parades coming up.

Besides the usual transitions, I also worked on some half-passes at the walk and a few attempts at turning on the haunches. Turning on the haunches is an area that I'm going to have to work on a bit. Sometimes we seem to get it and sometimes not...

More later. :-)

On the Road Again with Max

Thanks to some idiot setting a brush fire in Santa Barbara, our planned trip to Sage Hill was canceled early last Friday morning. So there we were, eight of us with trailers loaded and coolers stocked with food and drink and nowhere to go...

What to do? After checking around online, it turned out that all of the usual alternative horse camping sites were either booked up solid, not open for the summer, or located north of us where we would have to get on the 101 (traffic going north was horrible for obvious reasons with the fire). After some checking around, we hit on Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano.

I normally don't associate Orange County with horse camping since it seems so built up (Camp Pendelton, excepted) but it turns out that Caspers Wilderness Park consists of some 8,000 acres and the entrance is located off of Ortega Highway (I-74), about 7 miles east of I-5.

It turned out that there were some open equestrian camp spaces with pipe corrals and we quickly decided to get on the road. We made good time and arrived at the park at about 1 PM. After some confusion over reservations and negotiating with a somewhat cranky ranger, we found our camp spots and got set up. The only bad part here was that I was going to sleeping in my friend's large trailer but Max and I were travelling with another friend with a smaller trailer so my stuff was somewhat scattered (I love my friends but sometimes they move a bit too slow- next time, I'll take a small tent) but it got sorted out eventually.

The campsites were pleasant but we were scaterred about a bit so it was hard to gather together as a group. Also, as the weekend progressed, it turned out that there were woefully far too few restroom facilities in relation to the amount of people and the larger shower/restroom facilities were far away from camp (don't know what's up with that except it looked like poor planning). Good think I brought extra TP (but I didn't quite have to resort to digging cat holes).

We headed out for small ride Friday afternoon to get a feel for the place. Max was excellent and not only did he travel well, but he was ready to explore the trails and get into things. He was definately relaxed with all the travelling he's been doing for the past three weeks (five, if you count the movie shoot).

The park consists of a large valley that leads north and apparently this was all once a cattle ranch. Talk about California as it once was before all the developers messed it up! The valley consists of a combination of grasslands and groves of oak trees while the ridge consist mostly of grass and scrub brush- it's interesting to note that when you ascend one of the trails going up the ridges, you ascent above the "treeline", so to speak.

The trails consisted of a combination of fire roads and single-track trails with mostly dirt footings and basically you can either ride in the shade or bake in the sun. The weather was relatviely mild although a bit too humid for my taste but not a deal-breaker. The best time to ride the ridges was in the morning before the mist burned off.

While riding Friday, we came accross what I'd call "The Cathedral of Oaks" which was an area shaded by massive oak trees with little undergrowth. I wasn't able to get a picture of it (damn cell phone crapped out) but hopefully one of my compadres did. The way the light was coming through the trees was absolutely beautiful and we were the only ones there. To me, we could have been the original Spanish explorers seeing this for the first time. This is what California is all about!

Coming up on the "Cathedral of Oaks"

After a pleasant evening, we hit the trails early in the morning and explored the valley, travelling in a long loop for about 7 miles or so. After lunch, we headed out again, this time to ride along the west ride. The trail up consisted of a series of gentle switchbacks and we mostly trotted up the trail to almost the top. Then things get a bit steep and the drop-offs are pretty extreme. The trail was well marked, which was good, because there were a couple of places where it would have been very easy to take a wrong turn and fall off...(shudder).

Heading up the west ridge

Me on the west ridge



View from the west ridge

After making the ridge, we paused to rest and check our cell phones (great reception) and then proceeded along with ridege for about 5 miles or so. The only drama occurred when we encountered a mountain biker and Max had issues- we really need to work more on this. The issue was handled and I was able to get Max pointed in the right direction and managed to work him around the biker.

We then proceeded along the ridge until we linked up with a fire road that would take us down into the valley again. Overall, we'd ridden about 12 miles that day and while it wasn't as long or as difficult as some trails I've ridden, it was still pleasant and it was very neat to be able to ride through all the oak groves.

We had a pleasant dinner of tri-tip that evening and basically chilled out, although we did have endure a bit of "karioke night" from some of our neighbors...

On Sunday, we got up early eat a quick breakfast and decided to get in another ride before leaving (check-out is 12 Noon). This time, we followed a trail onto the eastern ridge. The eastern ridge was a bit gentler as a trail without most of the steep drop-offs. We encountered a lot of the local wildlife- a deer and a lot of rabbits (there's also a lot of fat squirrerels by the campground, no doubt nourished by the offerings of campers) and it was pretty interesting to watch. Max took it all in stride and ignored it. It seemed that the only thing he was interested in was grazing on all the grass (a lot of it was still green in the valleys).

Heading down the trail

The view from the east ridge

The one bad thing about the trails is that they're not really every long and there aren't a lot of them so after three days, we'd pretty much had seen everything. This is definately a good place to for a starting trail ride/horse camping excursion and in many ways it reminds me of Malibu Creek State Park without most of the people and their stupid antics.

As for Max, he had few issues and he was completely relaxed the whole time we were there. Except for the mountain bike and one vaquero wannabe who galloped his horse past us (so much for trail manners), Max didnt' really have any issues and even these were nothing. It was definately not like Morro Bay or even Vasquez Rocks. I stayed relaxed and kep Max's attention focused on other things like doing leg-yields and side-passes.

Overall, it was a good save for a weekend that threatened to be a complete washout.

P.S. For a map and description of the park, go HERE.

RE: Anza Pictures III

And yet some more...




Picking off a French straggler...



Charging in...

Anza Pictures II

Here's some action shots that some friends sent me:


Decisions, decisions...








Sparring with a lone French cavalryman.

More Max & I at Anza

Here's a few more pictures from our adventure at Anza:


Battle in the brush...

Another sharp clash...

Looking for the enemy...

Taking a small pause...

Max at Anza - Viva Max!

Last weekend Max made his debut in his first full-scale battle reenactment and he passed with flying colors. The particular event was a Napoleonic Era reenactment event (probably the only Napoleonic Era reenactment event west of the Mississippi) and it's set in Spain, circa 1808-13. My particular impression is loosely based on a Spanish guerilla and there were a lot of them on horse and on foot who harassed Napoleon's troops and otherwise made the their lives miserable.

Here's some pictures from the event. I'll have some commentary soon...

Me in my Spanish Guerilla impression. It's more of an "Old West" look but that's all I have at this time.

Looking to skewer some French soldiers...

Charge!

Charging! The sandy wash made the perfect surface for charges although it was a bit deep in places.

Charging with lance down. I really should have couched it...

Preparing to engage in action- at this point I was one of the "French" side. We only had six riders so we tried to evenly divide them between the Anglo-Spanish and French forces.

Trotting along...

The battle begins...this was one of the earlier battles and I was holding Max out of the main action. Later it was a different matter! :-)

Waiting with the Spanish guerillas on foot.

Scouting things out...

Manuevering with my compadres. Thank god for the stampede string- it kept me from losing my hat on several occassions.


Resting up after a long day of riding.

Max resting up after a hard day.