solo horse travel books, gear & bags
Roxy got tired in Oaxaca. We rode 672 kilometers in 30 days from the top to the bottom of that Mexican state. Many days were above 35c by noon, and hardly went below 30c at night. The feed was bad, the pavement hard, the miles long, the temperature hot.
Roxy, a purebred registered MORGAN mare. NOT a mustang…A tough as nails, easy keeping, hard hooved, forward going horse from SHOW lines.
It’s been 275 days on the road, and we have covered 3300 miles, or 5280 kilometers. That’s 12 miles a day or 365 miles a month. 20 days of 30 each month riding, 10 days per month rest, which equals 18 miles per day ridden. Over the 9 months on the road, I’ve been riding 330 to 460 miles per month. The average is 365 miles or 584 km per month.
I started using the old Orthoflex Traditional at mile 970 of my trip. As I mentioned in a previous post about using memory foam as a saddle pad, I was getting some chafing in the rear loin area at about 700 miles into the new saddle.
This post is for the people who have no clue how I’m caring for Roxy. Those who assume I’m overusing her or abusing her. It’s also for the curious and interested.
As of mile 3000, I’ve gotten sick 4 different times on this solo horse ride from Canada to Guatemala.
Here’s my story about crossing into Mexico. To begin, here’s a list of the players that were on our team, to help us get across, easily and inexpensively.
Here’s my findings on using a single layer of memory foam under an orthoflex saddle with booties.
I am currently 2500 miles into a 5000 mile solo unassisted horse ride.
I first realized I would need to supplement feeding in October, about a month into the ride. I researched the best concentrates and ended up buying msm, mag oxide and curcumin. This lasted 3 months. I wasn’t sure how well it was working, so I the decided to get something made professionally. A concentrate for specifically for the hooves, joints and digestion.
I don’t know how many of you ride your horses barefoot. Since I got horses almost 4 years ago, mine have always been unshod. I invested in hoof boots to use occasionally but for the most part, I rode both of them barefoot. As the mileage went up in training pre trip then during this trip, I began using easyboots most of the time.
