First Snow

-

Surprise! Surprise! 

A bit early this year, but perhaps a sign that we might have a Green Christmas … because irony. Horse was way too spicy than he should have been, so we kept it to a long distance trot in mostly sandy tracks. Twas a good one. Such a good egg.







Comments

  1. TeresaAOctober 31, 2023 at 8:46 AM

    When I was a kid having snow at Halloween was not unusual. These days it feels wrong.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saddle fitting

-
Image
I was waiting at the barn for the custom western saddle maker, when the english saddle fitter shows up. Surprised, but delighted to see her, I show her the growing white spots on Qs withers and she says “uh oh”. I told her about some other issues (how everyone tells me the saddle is tipping left, and this weird spongey bump that appears after very long rides), she pokes, prods and measures and tells me that this will be a bigger job than usual (she refits every 6 months on my growing boy). So we got a surprise fitting, she took the saddle and said it would be ready in a week. No problem for me, because I had a very busy work week. Well I picked up the saddle a few days ago, had a magnificent ride and !surprise surprise! my left hip did not hurt afterwards. Huh. So, clearly hindsight is 20/20. But next time I will call saddle fitter sooner. Meanwhile, the custom western saddle maker came to test the tree. A perfect fit. It was cool to see the tree on Q in advance and imagine what is...
Read more

Wake up sleepyhead, its your birthday! 🎉

-
Image
Well the terrible winter is on its way out, and spring is here, along with Qs 11th bday. We got some good saddle time this week finally! And while the trails are still recovering it has been a blessing to get out. Puppy is doing well and 6 months old! Potty training is done, and she is a magnificent walker. We graduated our second obedience class and puppy agility. She just rocks those tunnels!
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

Planting a Trap

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 121/200 After six days of chasing a Kubota, I had gotten desperate. So I made an announcement on our Club Facebook that I was offering free chocolate to any volunteer who showed up with the club kubota at trail intersection GBD at 11 am. Lots of riders responded, so I figured I should buy extra chocolate. The pre-wrapped Lindt ball kind because ... covid. After my rides of the day before I was not really in the mood. But the sky was blue and I needed that Kubota pic. So I put the chocolate on ice in my pack, tacked up my tired pony and promised Q just a quiet walk. He sure was quiet all right. As I headed down the main drag that leads to the intersection I could see the Kubota ahead. It was 5 to 11. I started to trot and then I heard bells. Riders were coming out of every nook and cranny of our trail system, some wearing bells. It turned into a happy reunion of sorts, riders chatting and mingling. and eating chocolate of course. The funny part of this trail system w...
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