planBE

Annual Trail Rides: 22/200 We have had seven consecutive days of -20 to -30C and it’s been all about layers, heated boots, proper scarfs and mitts and managing ride time and speed. Ive found the trick for riding in this weather is to never walk longer than 10 minutes. Trotting is preferred to cantering (although I do cantalope a few times) as we can do longer distances and it keeps everyones blood pumping. The trail footing has been stupendous. Really fast tracks on both the wide trails and narrow forest tracks. Most of the debris has been removed or cut down by our volunteer groomers and so nothing much gets in our way. A little spook at the occasional branch or twig remains particularly when cantering. Q gave me some beautiful cantalopes on the buckle today which is a testament to his level of relaxation and general contentedness. He is also getting better at picking the right lead without contact so Im pretty happy about that. Ive also gotten bolder about where we trot and have star...

Annual Trail Rides: 20/200 We have been blessed these last few days by some amazing weather and footing. I rode every one of the last four days and hit the big 2 0 milestone today with a beautiful 90 minute ride in great company. I have had two solo rides, and two accompanied rides this week. Some of the rides were short and fast, some were long and slow ... and one of them was long and fast. I was so tired from that ride that I needed epsom salt bath, heating pad, and alleve to deal with my aching lats. I was back out there today and had a blast with three other riders. With the amount of snow hanging off the trees, we had to do lots of ducking and dodging, and we ended up with our saddle seats filled with snow a few times. Here are a few snapshots from my rides these last few days. I continue to be in awe of the winter wonderland. Sometimes the fields are lit up like diamonds, other times we go through tunnels of trees loaded with snow, and sometimes we canter on fast track with the ...

Annual Trail Rides: 16/200 Self steering horse trotting down the trail of a winter wonderland. Mild weather at +3C. Did my familiar loop in my best time of 39 minutes. 10 minutes of walking, 20 minutes of trotting, 9 minutes of cantaloping.

Annual Trail Rides : 15/200 With the wind chill it is bitterly cold today at -20C. That with some sore muscles after yesterday’s ride makes me very happy to take today off. Yeah, working day! The woods are exceptionally beautiful this week, and the footing is crisp and crunchy. Ive been seeing mirages of the Rocky Mountains through the treetops as the snow has hardened and created stiff peaks. I find it fascinating to be transported to a different world by a light change in perception. Maybe you see it too? Had a good ride out with the BO yesterday. We are reconditioning one of her riding horses, so the pace was 33% slower than usual but we still got in some lovely jogs and lopes. Q continues to express his displeasure with his radar ears and body tension when the other horse edges too close. But a little heat of my calf takes away some of his worries (although there are probably lingering “bunnies in the basket” as per Warwick Schiller . He prefers to lead, or follow ... but this sid...

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.

Annual Trail Rides: 12/200 We had a wet dump of snow and mild weather which made for quite the enchanting forest. The boughs of the trees were bending over to create tunnels of mystery. Q has become quite the trooper about walking over fallen trees and he really proved his worth today! He even picked his way through deep snow and fallen tree trunks down a hill without batting an eye. His surefootedness is improving with age! The trails were littered with fallen branches and trees and the occasional wind gusts of 50 km/h were prompting more trees to fall. A big pine tree fell near us, with a KaBOOM and Q had quite the start (me too). I almost turned around but decided to go just a bit further. I tightened the reins, and no doubt communicated my nerves which had Q jigging and jogging most of the way. By that point I didnt mind because we were headed home and as far as I was concerned, the sooner the better. Our volunteer patrollers were out in force cleaning up best they could. Lots of w...

Annual Trail Rides: 11/200 I arrived at the barn after a day of rest for Q. As I walked across the parking lot, Q popped up his head as usual and approached the fence. We began the first steps of our greeting ritual. He is second from the bottom in the pecking order of the three geldings and one stud colt, but he is BFF with the alpha gelding. So when I arrive, the others usually give him a wide berth as he races to the gate. I clip on his lead, he slinks out, I shut the gate, he gets a treat, and we move on. Lately the geldings have been barging him while at the gate, which spooks him and he abandons me. So these last few weeks I have tried a new trick with him, doing all the steps except not clipping his lead. This allows for a faster exit from the paddock, but does mean that he is loose. But since he is waiting for his treat, he sticks to me like glue and I just clip on his lead on the outside. One of the boarders caught me practicing this new trick and was totally amazed. But as us...