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.
I’ve been exposed to some bad human behaviour of late. Lies, disceptions, misdirections. I did not expect it, and was surprised by a certain turn of events. But now it’s time to turn the page, Seger-style. This week is the excitement of a 2 day despooking clinic and I just received the pre-read workbook. It seems like the course will be emphasizing a certain level of equitation skill through group drill exercises. Sounds like fun, and smart. First we develop basic control over pace and direction, then we add obstacles while actually focusing our attention on the group drill work. That should keep us distracted from the fire, smoke and sirens. Because, this is despooking, the mounted police way.
The breeder told me many years ago that I would have to be very consistent with drawing the line on acceptable behaviour as my Q was a sneaky cheeky foal that would take advantage of me very quickly. Being smart and dominant, this could be a slippery slope. Four years later I can absolutely confirm that he is a cheeky fellow, but also adorable and charming ... so it’s easy to let the lines blur. A beautiful stretch for a canter He is also a pleaser, and he tries really hard to figure out what I want and give it to me before I ask. He has allowed me short cuts in training that I never imagined possible and he has bolstered my confidence like no other horse before him. He also makes a ton of mistakes. Most of the time he would not consider them “mistakes” (he is the benevolent king after all, and does not admit to mistakes lightly), but just testing the lines of yes/no. They are not mistakes for him, he just thought my request wasn’t serious and he wanted to offer another optio...
What a funny country. Somewhere stuck with one foot in the past and a delusion of the future. No wonder they have the highest number of psychiatrists per capita in the world. They seem to suffer from fatalism, and its contagious. Being a huge metropolitan city of 15M, public transit (and subways) are the backbone of transportation. While taxis are very cheap (2$ for a 15 minute ride), transit is even cheaper at 0.10$ and abundant for us as we are downtown. With rampant inflation and deflating currency, the government wisely decided years ago to remove cash payment and replace with a transit pay-as-you-go card called a SUBE. That way they could increase prices on a monthly basis and it would be seamless. But finding a place that will sell you the card? Turns out, thats the problem. For locals, its no big deal since they keep the cards forever. But tourists? Good luck. I had heard echos of this problem online, particularly exasperated by the pandemic. But Argentina had also shut down bor...
Annual Trail Rides: 170/200 (Bareback 21/40) Our on-the-buckle trail lope is increasingly solid, which is a surprise to me because I never expected my pretty andalusian to be such a steady eddy when he grew up. My intention back when I started my search in 2015 was to just have a cool and spunky trail horse and I ended up with something completely different but also incredibly fun, and cool and spunky but in a different kind of way than what we horsepeople generally mean. Our tremendous mileage of 2021 has really highlighted the good, the great, and the incredibly annoying that is my wonderQ. This beautiful, friendly, generous and willing partner turns into a cantankerous pony when given the opportunity to eat (hello branch!) or stop on the trail to poop. He can be so obnoxious when given the chance. And then, when Im just thoroughly annoyed at his yanking me all over the trail, he gives me the most amazing lopes on the buckle with an easy glide from walk to canter and a steady pa...
November was rough. I will close that chapter and look to December for the romantic wonder that is the arrival of winter. I will embrace patience and kindness. Rain was in the forecast, but I was going to meet B in the woods for a trail ride. I was still working this morning and left late, but I was able to make good time on the road. The fog was quickly setting in thick and driving was getting dangerous as I got deeper into the countryside. There is always more fog in November and I was grateful to no longer be doing this drive at night time. B will ride in all kinds of weather. But NOT rain. Especially cold winter rain. But I figured we would be back before the rain began. I was wrong. As I approached the barn, the fog was still very thick and I was excited to ride in the fog and maybe take some cool pictures. But none of my pictures did the fog any justice. I went straight to Qs paddock with a bag of carrots, but herd dynamics have changed recently and the beta bully was blocki...
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