Cooley Ranch Adventure Pt I

Hello everybodies, how are you? I am super fabulous cos for going on vay-cay this last weekend with Cyd to learn more about doing enduring. We went to Cooley, where ponies can do two days of enduring, 25 or 50 miles each day. Firstly though, I had to get washed. Cyd was trying to clean me so I looked presentable, but the more I got brushed the dirtier I was getting. Okay, time for a bath!

You missed a bit...

Then I got to hang out in my super snazzy fuzzy cooler from Aunt-E (get your own at HnW) while I got dry and Cyd got the pony trailer all packed. There was a bit of a pony trailer kerfuffle, but it all got done and ready so we could leave super early in the morning.

See, super shiny now

Cyd came to get me really early in the morning, and put my alien mask on me to keep some of the dusts out on my long trip, and so that the flies stayed off me once I got to my destination.

Once the last of my things were packed, and I was tucked in safe in the pony trailer, we set off to Simcha, where Rascalpony and Trevepony were waiting to join me, and the Lady In Red was going to drive us to the camp. Cyd had to go to her people job during the day, but as soon as she was done there she hopped in her truck and zoomed down to where us ponies were already unpacked and hanging out. I got an A+ on my report of how good I did getting there without Cyd's supervision. Mostly ponies camp attached to their trailers, or in portable pens, but I got my very own corral with my name on it cos for being super special. Thanks Aunty K for saving me somewhere to sleep safely!

Like I'm famous!

Rascal and Treve shared my pen with the portable fencing dividing it in two littler pens so we couldn't hurt each other. Next door were four ponies, some who I've met before, and the other next door was a pony called Kaz who was very nice to me and became my new friend. 

Safely in my half-pen

Friday morning Cyd came to see me early in the morning, and gave me a sloppy bucket of mash foods. She said to get my energies ready cos for us going pony riding, and it's hillier here than at home, and can get very hot. I slurped up my food, then just observed all the things happening. More pony trailers were starting to arrive, but it was still quiet. After the peoples had their breakfast, they came to put our halters on, and Cyd put my go-faster booties on. She said it's rocky here so I should wear all four booties for extra protections. I was excited so got a bit squiggly. Then we went to the pony trailer to get our saddles and our bits and reins. I was ready super fast, but waited patiently for the other ponies.

I was a bit bouncy when Cyd first got on my back, and even popped a wheelie cos for being super excited. Trevepony had to go back for his breastplate so me and Rascal walked about to keep me calm. Our job today was to ride along the road to get to Blue Loop Number Three, and then follow the ribbons to make sure the enduring ponies wouldn't get lost.The Lady In Red carried some extra ribbons just in case, but the marker people did super good and we only added one or two ribbons. At one point Cyd looked down to check on my go-faster booties, and I only had three, and one bare hind hoofie. We all had to turn around and go back for it. Once it was securely back on my foot we took off again, a bit fast to make up our lost time. Except then Cyd looked again and the other hind hoofie had lost it's boot. This time I stayed with Treve and Rascal cos for being by the creek with water for drinking and snacks for eating, and Cyd did running to go find my bootie. It was all the way back where we fixed the other one. Once she came back to us she just took off the other back bootie and strapped them to my breast plate and asked if we could please go a bit more slow on the rocky bits so I didn't get sore feeties. She thinks maybe they didn't get put on me properly cos for me being a wiggle-butt and her being in a hurry, but we didn't want to make our ride super long and annoying just for my go-faster booties. (Don't worry, I still went quite fast, and my feeties didn't get owie.)

The pony ride was really very pretty, with lots of water for us to drink. It got quite hot, and Cyd drank her whole two liter pack of people water. I learned how to be sponged. Cyd has a sponge wrapped up in wool that Aunt-E made, and it has a long rope so it can reach the water without Cyd getting off. She carefully lowered it down to the water, dipped it in, then pulled it up. The first time she squeezed most of the water out and patted me with it. Each time there was a bit more water in the sponge, and it felt really good to be washed off. I drank loads on my pony ride, and ate a ton of snacks every time we stopped. We were doing lots of trottings and canterings. I was starting to get a bit tired, and there was a down hill bit so Cyd got off and led me. Even just doing walking and not carrying Cyd I was still breathing quite hard. When it seemed like I wasn't cooling down like I should be, we all stopped by a water tank and thoroughly washed me and let me drink, and I had my pulse taken. It was quickly down to 52 beats per minute, but my breathing rate was still high. The other ponies were breathing hard too, so we all waited in the shade and had water put on us. Cyd was a bit concerned cos for this not being normal for me. She didn't get back on when we set off again, and mostly it was downhill, so she stayed off for a long time. We offered to let the other ponies go faster, but they said they'd walk with us at least for a while longer. There were some more great views so we took some pictures.

I wanted to eat, not pose

After a couple of miles of walking I was feeling better and being my usual playful self. Since it was still mostly down and flat Cyd kept doing walking for a while. She got back on when we got to another creek. We were nearly home, but there was a big long hill up the road to get back to camp. Soon the other ponies left me to do trotting up the hill but we just did walking. I got a bit stuck when I had to go around a cattle grid, and it took a long time and quite a stern discussion but eventually I did it. After that, Cyd got off me and led me the rest of the way up the hill. She got really hot, and was just as happy as me to see the water trough that is two thirds of the way up. I had a drink, and Cyd put water on her head. I was getting a bit reluctant to keep moving, so needed some encouraging. We were both super happy to get to the top of the hill. Then I looked down and got a bit excited. There were lots more people than when we left. 

They weren't here when we left

Look down there!

 We got down the hill, and pulled over on the grass to let a pony trailer go by. But there wasn't ponies in the trailer. They were mules. Mules talk funny, and they both started making the mule noises and I did jumping. I've never met mules before. We were nearly back at my corral, and I just stopped in the road and stared around at everything. Lucky nobody as trying to come through so I could take a minute to absorb all the things I saw. Once I got to my pen I was still doing a lot of looking. Cyd cleaned my sweats off and gave me another sloppy mash bucket but then she had to go to work helping all the ponies get checked in at their vet exams and get numbers painted on their butts so the organisers can keep track of them. So far it had been a great start to my adventure!