Colours in my life

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whoa whoa pony, otherwise known as "Do I really want to change?"

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Yesterday was day four in a row of trail riding. Usually at this point my pony starts to whither. Everything becomes relaxed and easy, and we enjoy much time on the buckle. We spend our time practicing with leg aids and neck rein and a good time is had by all. We have also had four days of epic footing. The best footing of the entire year. (no rocks, no roots, no mud, no bugs) Trails are well padded and the track is fast. My Q that I thought was so lethargic 10 days ago has shown me that he is all go-go-go! But I still figured that by Day 4 of constant riding, he would start to slow down. I was wrong. Yesterday he was all funny faces and ears at his buddy Shadow when we trotted side by side, and he definitely wanted to blow past him several times. On one canter stretch where Shadow was leading and Q was accelerating up the hill, Shadow spooked at some branch and my buddy B stopped him. Well Q was having none of that, and literally went to pass him ... until I stopped h...
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Canter fail, again

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Every time I think Ive “got this”, Im proven wrong. In my defense, Q was so full of himself that he tried to balk and tell me that the trails were not safe today by shying at the trail entrance. I saw him coming, so I growled, leg on, and got ready for the 180 degree spin. That was the first time he did that, but my previous horse Jazz taught me everything I know about this stupid trick and it is SO much easier to nip these in the bud early on. Once in the woods he calmed down, but he was very very forward. Alone I had control, but once we met with B and started cantering all hope for control was gone. There was no cantaloping happening today. Even at a trot he was bouncy bouncy bouncy. Again, to his defense, his buddy Shadow was also high as a kite shying and spooking at every little twig on the ground which is not so amusing at a canter. So today we lunge, and then we ride solo on the trails and we trot and canter as much as we can. Footing should be good, and the weather is going to...
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Cheers 1 6 0

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Annual Trail Rides: 160/200 (Bareback 17/12) This ride (#160) was just for me! Q gave me a blast of an experience, finishing 20 km in under 2 hours which was a blazing pace for us given the terrain. Up, down, narrow, wide, rooty, deep sand, asphalt and gravel sections, rocky sections, bogs, creeks ... we had a little bit of everything. We trotted where others would walk, and cantered where others would trot. We would not have been able to tackle that pace accompanied. I put a saddle on for this ride, and warned the barn staff that I was going for a long one, thinking it would take me 3 hours. Q was a beast! This ride also marked the official end of my glorious 6 week vacation, clocking in 35 trail rides. Thats a solid 5-6 trail rides a week, never once setting foot in the arena. And of course, Ive been blowing up my objective of bareback rides at 17.  Now, I have 40 rides left for the next 3 months, and Im thinking of pushing the needle on the bareback portion. If I do 23 of the ne...
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Love me those radar ears

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Annual Trail Rides: 66/200 Its been a good week with some solo and accompanied rides. I preferred my solo rides this week, to be honest. I think I needed the quiet of a no pressure ride where I didn’t have to worry about somebody else. Cases still on the rise here during our third wave, and so confinement rules are rising with a shutdown of interprovincial borders. Qs canter is continuing to improve, especially for his leads and steady pace. Sometimes he gets too slow and drops to a trot, so I usually need to prime him with my inside leg to keep going. Or at least keep that leg ready to prime. The spring sillies have mostly abated, but probably because I rode so often this week (six times). Today I went out with a new boarder friend and we had a fabulous time riding the trails for 2 hours and learning about each other. We met lots of families walking out, and as usual we were asked if they could take our picture. My standard reply these days is yes, if they send me the pic. So today we...
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Less unsettled

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Annual Trail Rides: 194/200 (Bareback 27/40) These two weeks are busy with work and teaching so riding is taking a backseat in the form of showing up at the barn after several days of absence and then wrangling the fire breathing dragon for as safe a trail ride as I can make it. Somehow, though, and perhaps because of Qs advancing 8 years of age, his fiery reactions are now “less unsettling”. Last Sunday I showed up on a chilly but sunshiny day to find Q head butting me on the crossties, constantly pawing the ground. I tossed him in the ring for a run and he gave me some good bucks in the process. I thought all was clear, but his energy went straight up again once we were on the trail. I pushed into a trot mighty quick, dropping those reins and letting him stride out until he gave his first big blowing sign. I knew it would take 5-10 minutes. But he wouldn’t stride out, sucking back with his head up like a giraffe. I kept pushing for forward but he was stuck. And then he spooked and sp...
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