Trails are clear! Giddy-up!

-

Annual Trail Rides: 14/200

The volunteers were busy busy yesterday clearing the debris from the trails. We had some glorious outings even if the weather dropped to -10C. The snow hardened making for crunchy footing and stabilizing the trees. Just another day in our winter wonderland.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A treasure hunt on horseback

-
Image
It was a cold start on a bright autumn day. I was heading out to do the club’s first ever mystery word rally in the woods. From the start to finish, it was estimated to take 2-3 hours. Me with my adopted winning team. I was a little nervous before we began, as there was supposed to be 60+ rider and buggy teams on the trails with different start times and racing for a finish. But, I nicely asked the organizers to curb the cantering/galloping so it became a walk/trot ride. Much safer for all. Sometimes at these events we have horses that haven't been ridden much in the last few months and so they get quite excited with all that is happening. Loose horse panic galloping in the woods was something I was hoping not to encounter. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. In fact the organizers made the treasure hunt so difficult that you would penalize yourself if you did anything else but walk. I was in the first depart time, and I was nauseous. Having had a sleepless night
Read more

Stepping out in Hungary

-
Image
So its the last night at the ranch in the steppes, or grasslands, of Hungary. Its mostly quite flat in an undulating kind of way with patches of forests and marshlands. This national park is a bird sanctuary and we see the occasional deer along the way. While much of it feels familiar because of the sand and pine forests, there are a few notable differences. First, the sand roads go on for long distances which has us often cantering 3-5 km stretches. Thats 3-4 times the distance we generally do at home. Second, there are no electric high transmission power lines to mar the view. Third, the grass sections stretch out for miles in each direction with a view that is not customary. The ranch is great. We figured out a good rhythm after a few days that had us gathering in the sauna and jacuzzi in the evening because there is literally nothing else to do. The beat here is very relaxed, and we have all achieved a great zen state. We had a good reining lesson this morning when they p
Read more

Canter Protocol

-
Image
I do lots of different kinds of rides, with lots of different kinds of riders. But cantering always has me stumped. I have an established checklist of rules, but not everybody shares my view on this. Here is the short version I do not ride on trail with anybody who is not comfortable cantering their horse (at least in an arena). I don't want their first canter experience to be the spook and bolt when their horse sees a deer. I will occasionally make an exception to this rule for very short and controlled trail rides within proximity to the barn. I do not race. The order we start in, must be maintained until the end. No passing. With some of my trail buddies we will canter side by side, and it is glorious! I do not gallop. I have made a few exceptions to this rule with individuals that I trust, and on a trail I know well. The gallop stretch never lasts very long. I do not canter up ravines or anywhere I do not have a long line of sight. Again, I sometimes make exceptions to this on
Read more

The Incident and the Hunting

-
Image
I should have lunged first. But the arena was busy and I decided to take my chances on the trail. Some recent snow made the footing better so we trotted out for a nice solo ride. I was feeling pretty chill on the first afternoon of my holiday break and enjoying the warm weather that had the snow on the treetops melting into raindrops. It was nice. I head down the ravine and take a picture of the lovely scene before we head up the hill. In that blind turn ahead a walker appears. A nice older gentleman I have seen before. We share smiles and pleasantries and cross paths. Ten feet later as I start heading up the steep hill on the left at the apex of the blind turn, a loose dog pops out. I didn’t see much as everything else happened in a flash. It seemed like a medium size tan dog. Q did a 180 and galloped down the ravine, across the bridge and up the ravine. I lost my stirrup in the process and was pulling on reins and screaming whoa. Somewhere by the bridge I realized he wasnt going to s
Read more

Ouch says the ground

-
Image
Zoom, zoom ... ouch. Finally one of the coolest days is here. Sunny, blue skies, low humidity and temps in mid-twenties. Perfect riding weather. Particularly after our surprise storm on Wednesday that left tons of debris and fallen trees and branches on the trails. Surprise storm brewing a few days ago. Within a few minutes, there were huge circular gusts of wind, almost like a Tornado. The next day volunteer crews were out removing the fallen trees. But some trails still have significant debris. I was heading out with trail buddy C and her azteca mare to explore section 5. I told her I needed some media for my summer challenge. She was happy to oblige not quite knowing what other objectives I had in mind. Most of the trail was lovely and I even tackled the jump trail, with a series of cross-country log jumps, for the first time. Q was just simply amazing, leading sometimes or in the back sometimes. The two horses have a trot that is simply in s
Read more