Polar Vortex

-

Its super stupid cold today at -30C, so its a “stay home and make soup” day. Italian wedding soup to be exact, and its coming together deliciously. Had some good rides this week, and after a good old fashioned free lunge and buck around session Q was an absolute mellow angel and we got back to loping all over the trail network.

Big snowstorm is coming on Monday which might, hopefully, dump a foot of fresh snow. So Ill look forward to cracking open some new trails this week.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love me those radar ears

-
Image
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...
Read more

Golden 2 0 0 🎉🎉

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 200/200 (Bareback 29/40) It was a big lofty goal, but today I did my #200th trail with Q, through all kinds of intemperate weather, discomfort and fatigue. Essentially I did a trail ride 2 out of every 3 days despite ice, scorching heat, wind storms, pouring rain and tornado advisories. We still have another month to go, so I can already consider this goal achieved. I still have my bareback goal to work on, but Im feeling pretty good about that one too. It was just a gorgeous autumn day, slightly warm at 13C with deep blue sky and bright sunshine. Not a cloud in sight. Footing was good too, so we cantered with much delight. We covered lots of ground and stayed out almost 3 hours to snatch some last golden pictures of Fall 2021.  
Read more

Not once but twice

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides 153/200 (Bareback 12/12) Anxiety overload. I had 5000 reasons why I shouldn’t do the thing, and only 1 reason to do it. I tried a few times, but it didn’t feel right. But this day, a stinking hot day, where the bareback pad was the only option for a short jaunt in the woods ... was the day. August 21, 2021. I did the thing I had not done in 30 years. Those blissful teenage years where your body is like a rubber ball, and you have no sense of death or serious injury.  I was feeling locked in to the bareback pad, with my sticky sweaty skin sticking to my sticky jeans that were sticking to my sticky bareback pad. We did a little trot and it felt good. And Q was feeling mighty chill in the sweltering heat and humidity. I had scoped out this section of trail two days ago and had deemed it acceptable. If I fell, and Q left me, it was a short trot back to the barn without any road crossings. If he stayed with me, it would be a very short walk of shame. Help was nearby i...
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

That split second decision

-
Image
That split second, after your horse has spooked, dropped and spun … when you are unseated but still are able to pull up the reins (partly for balance), when the horse could continue with a bolt, buck, or more spinning … but instead, in that split second, the horse makes the good choice. Ears back on you, head up, as you rebalance on his back, waiting. And then the horse proceeds to turn back on the trail and continue almost as if nothing happened (even if said horse is feeling a little “light” in the feet). As soon as I rebalanced myself, I let out a big YOUPPI in celebration for Qs maturity and good choices in challenging circumstances. And my ability to keep my almost 50 yr old non athletic body almost centered in the bareback pad.  It was pissing rain today, so I chose the bareback and fluffy hackamore for a nice short quiet walk in the woods while I washed his saddle pad and girth. It was a lovely colorful walk, even if we stayed in the protection of the conifers. It allowed fo...
Read more