OK I'm trying to post a pic from Photobucket

[Sharon Leboffe]

Hope this works. Please be patient! Thanks. Sharon

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e320/purplehaze1945/delcantrail.jpg [IMG]

Yahooo! Here we are last Summer in full armor! That's Colette on Delgado and me on Canseco. Whew! :D

[Sharon Leboffe]

Hi everyone! Am so pleased that you now see us. That pic was taken during a trail ride and as you can see, Canseco was looking for the trolls under the bridge. I now feel more confident about posting more attractive photos. Now, hmmm, I need to figure out how to pic my avatar! :D Sharon

[CarolU]

Very nice...pretty horses, pretty women, pretty place! Looks like a great place to ride. (and a great place to find Trolls too! ;-) )

[Brigitte]

Great pics! And beautiful horses!

[Barbwire]

All 4 of you look as happy as pigs in poo, nice shot! One question, why the SMB's?

[Sharon Leboffe]

Thanks, Brigitte, we love them and Carol, one time there were kids fishing under the bridge, which to Canseco WERE trolls! Barb, what the he__ are SMBs? BTW everytime I see your avatar it makes me LOL! Sharon

[JennLM]

Wow, getting to ride through greenery, lucky you. We have brown desert and umm brown sand and umm brown bushes...

Eventually we will move to greenery, but for now I get my fix off pictures like this.

[Barbwire]

Thanks, Brigitte, we love them and Carol, one time there were kids fishing under the bridge, which to Canseco WERE trolls! Barb, what the he__ are SMBs? BTW everytime I see your avatar it makes me LOL! Sharon

SMB's = Sports Medicine Boots

[ErinC]

o we call them splint boots here, they protect from banging that bone with a hoof on nast trails. etc

[Barbwire]

SMB's are a brand of boot. I asked why the horse's were wearing them because I have not seen them used for trail riding except on John Lyons videos. I just assumed he had to put them on his wussy horses so they looked purty for the camera. :rofl

[Sharon Leboffe]

Barb, just forgot we had them on. We use them when it is especially nasty with bugs in the sand, ticks, etc. BTW we had a great trail ride today. It was so beautiful in Wharton State Park. We are very lucky as the footing is great and we have it almost to ourselves. Today there were a few fishermen and guys canoeing in the old cranberry bogs. We were seriously considering the Puerto Rican Day Parade, but think we will try to get in as volunteers or something. Don't have a trailer and not sure what our horses would do when the crescendo begins. The NY Puerto Rican Day Parade is amazing. The city closes down and the partying goes ballistic. I lived in Manhatten for 11 years but it has gotten steadily bigger every year. Would love to meet everyone from the board that is coming. Think I'll check out how we can be involved. Sharon

[appyday]

GREAT pics...now that you can post them post away...We love pictures..

[Ginamaria]

Sharon and Colette....
You have very nice looking Paso's!! Well worth the wait and searching, you both picked your forever friend! I hope we meet soon and ride together in the State Forest!! I need to get a trailer to come up there so we can RIDE!!! :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway:

[CarolU]

Now my curiosity is aroused....how do sports boots help with bugs?

I come from a reining world and know WHY they made and how they protect. I can certainly see endurance, hunt, others use them for strenuous, twisty kinds of sports. Are the trails you ride especially challenging?

I know people who use polo wraps riding religiously. I understand their thinking (don't really agree with it, but understand it).

But, what kind of bugs are you protecting from? :shock: Actually, I'm not sure I want to know...something really nasty?

[Ginamaria]

Hi Carol...
I wanted to thank you for the info you sent me!! Do you have any photos posted of your horses. The one next to your name is to small for me to see your Paso. THANKS!!

[CarolU]

You are more then welcome, glad I could help.

I have a web album of my horses...if you click on 'next' on the larger picture it will take you through them. If you want a larger picture, there is "View full size Image" in the lower right of that picture. There is a larger version of the picture in my avatar in the album.

http://pasobaby.tripod.com/PasoFinos/

I also have an album of mixed pictures at pethobbyist.com under the username "pasobaby". I'm not positive what all is there, definately the most recent of Bella.

Thank you for asking.

BTW - I have ridden in your neck of the woods at Del-Mar farms several years ago. I was TDY at Aberdeen for five months in 2000.

[Ginamaria]

WOW!! GREAT pictures!! Rosie is my favorite, she sticks out from the rest of the crew. Don't get me wrong all of your babies are great! The backgounds in your pictures are beautiful too. Nothing like that here in South Jeresy! How long have Paso's been your heart and soul? How many do you have anyway?

[Colette C]

Ok, this is my first replay after mostly being a "lurker" following my mother Sharon's posts....

To give our crazy explanation of the use of SMB's on the trail I must first explain how evil the flying bugs are in South New Jersey Pine Barrens....They are heat seeking, blood-sucking ,relentless bugs! Some call them Strawberry Flys (nice name, sounds friendly, but nooooo!) Ok, back to the SMBs....

Because of the beautiful soft, sand footing that is in the Forrest, also lives Sand Mites.... We have discovered the only thing that helps keep our horse's legs free of these mini-bloodsuckers is a light layer of Desitin (yep! the stuff that keep's a baby's butt protected) that acts as a barrier between the leg and the Sand mites, these buggers don't like the Desitin and it is also water-proof and the SMB's act as a second layer. Also,, our guys were getting a bit lazy after conditioning rides and banging legs against rocks and branches on the trail towards the end of our rides.

So, there is no real proven evidence about the Desitin, but it sure has worked for us and we have tested this in the jungels of South Jersey!!!!

Also. a very thin layer works well for bitting flys under the belly and "other" sensitive areas for our guys. :shock:

[CarolU]

Thank you Colette...I at least know ONE place I won't be moving to! OUCH!!! Your poor criters! Those sound like Sand Fleas they have elswhere. I can't stand bugs on my horses, you guys make me really appreciate where I live! Thanks!

Ginamarie, thank you so much. But, I won't be telling Rosie what you said, she thinks she's a little hottie too, and your words would go RIGHT to her head. Ever since I taught her to get on a pedestal, she thinks THAT is where she belongs. LOL

I have 7 Paso Finos and Bella is a Peruvian Paso rescue. Baby (the grey) is my oldest Paso, she's 19. Before Pasos I had a long history of QH's, Arabs, an Appy, some TBs, but mostly grade QH-crosses. Once I went Paso, I sold everything else except Tina, my old 'can-do everything' mare. I also train and take in outside horses. I prefer Pasos (of course) but there are many Fox Trotters in my area and I always end up with a QH it seems...this year will train hay-man's colt. So, I do end up with a lot more trotting then I'd like.

The backgrounds are mostly Utah, but I do ride in Wyoming and Colorado also. You really have to SEE the west to appreciate how much Federal land there is here to ride in. Over half of everything belongs to the government and is open to riding. Only watersheds are closed. We are very spoiled, our playground is literally MILLIONS of acres.

Thank you again...

Oh Colette, I just had a thought...what about mixing a little DEET in with your Desitin.

[DebbieS]

I love that bridge picture! We have bridges like that here. It's so fun to here them corto across the wood planks....

Thanks for sharing!

[Laura S]

Very nice pic. It looks like a jungle there! We have deer flies in Maine and they are aweful, they swarm and bite leaving welts. I always ride with a fly mask and sometimes carry a crop or get a branch to shoo them away. But they are only really bad for about 3 weeks in the hottest part of summer.

[CarolU]

You know Laura, I was riding in Colorado and got into deer flies really bad. I had used TriTech-14 on my horses and I found the deer flies would not touch my horses. They land on ME, on my tack, but not on the horses. It worked very well for them.

[TrueStepPaso]

Welcome Sharon & Colette!

So nice to see a fresh picture..and BTW, I am a total sucker for buckskins!!!!