Giddyup

-
Trails were lovely today and the sun was shining. Our trail buddy was very tolerant of trotting up his butt, as I had little control with my phone in hand. I was lucky to not drop my gloves or phone in my filming sequences.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Hop: 2020 Covid Edition

-
Image
Alaina from Alberta Equest started this thread and I merrily follow in her footsteps, minus the creation of a baby human. Some great questions to ponder over this most unusual year. What's the best thing that happened to you in 2020? Personal: After years of being in the precarious position of a contract sessional at the university, I finally secured a two year term as a Faculty Lecturer. I will never have the tenure or permanency of a professor (no PhD) but this is a great outcome for me as I balance between teaching and consulting. Horsey: The summer of canter made a big improvement in my trail confidence and helped Q learn to relax into a beautiful cantalope on the buckle. What's the worst thing that happened to you in 2020? Personal: Had to cancel some pretty cool travel plans, but in the big scheme of things this seems pretty benign. March was supposed to have me spending time in Tajikistan and Istanbul, and then there was a plan to return to Europe in the late spring. At ...
Read more

Stuck at a max speed of 19 km/hour

-
Image
It was a funny weather day. One minute black skies, next minute blue skies. I decided to abort my longer trail plans and stick close to home in case of thunder and lightening. Every time I would turn away from home the skies would darken. I did a pretty fast ride but am unimpressed by my stats, both average and max speed. I felt like my canter was pretty fast but it seems no faster than a good trot. Hmm. Im starting to think that I might have lost my mojo on my last fall and have returned to more conservative riding again. Hmmm. Well it was a humid day so we were both in a sweat when we returned. Q was happy to get a shower and some grazing. I was happy to end the day in my hammock. Tomorrow, a return to bareback in my new best friends pad.
Read more

Piriformus, go away!

-
With spring break and great riding conditions, our weekly riding schedule went from 3 to 10+ hours. Now, Im suffering on the sofa with a heavy dose of naproxen and the heating pad to ease the pain of this throbbing hip and nearby piriformus. With my yoga, stretches and anti-imflammatory diet I thought I had this problem nixed. But no, seems like the piriformus had a few more things to say about this. On another note, I think my horse is a little tired and sore too. Ive always had something in this area which I thought for the longest time was my sciatica. And while it plays a part, my trainer informed me that the sciatica passes through this tiny piriformus muscle and that the inflammation of the piriformus is the cause of the symptom. But the cause of the inflammation is an overloading of the piriformus because of poor quad development for the level of exertion required. The piriformus compensates for the quad, and then gets tired and irritable. So Im supposed to go to the gym a...
Read more

So I was trotting down this path when …

-
Image
This story shows how I was obviously oblivious and Q was paying attention but not threatened. His maturity on trail continues to exceed expectations! Q was excited and energetic. It was our second ride after weeks of confinement (due to icy footing) but our first time trotting. Footing was dry in certain sections and we were both happy to move out.  I tried to convince Q to give me his « traveller trot », an easy smooth ground covering stride that I can sit for long stretches. Some think he is gaited as I could sip champagne (or cava) when he moves at this pace.  He tried but his body was tense and in one section he lifted his head up and telescoped to the back right. I thought he might have seen riders behind me but nope. Added some leg to get his attention back, and while he never broke his metronome pace, he was still clearly bothered by something to our right. And then I saw it. I laughed and stopped to get a better look. I said hello but no response. Of course it was a bi...
Read more

The magical forest

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 125/200 (Bareback 6/12) It was a special day starting with a terrible forecast of thunderstorms and showers that never really materialized. I went to the barn, in part by habit, in part because I was going to be locked up in my office the next few days and I just wanted to have some ME time. I had no plan, no agenda, didn't even know if I would ride. When the BO asked me to tag-along on a walking ride with her 9 year old niece, I said sure. We headed out with a few family members on foot, me in the lead on Q, and the young rider being lead lined behind me on our half-draft steady eddy. The ride itself was relaxing and uneventful, and the woods were quite magical in that post-drizzle daze. We took a detour on our E trail which I now have nicknamed Gallery Row. The city employees have been busy doing artwork with tree stumps and so I told our young rider that she had to spot 5 works of art before the end of the trail. She spotted 8. It was all rainbows and unicorn...
Read more