This is where the magic happens on a regular basis. So many beautiful trails from wide and sandy, to narrow and winding. Plenty of spaces to trot and canter and five ravines with little creeks at the bottom where the horses can sometimes drink. 95% of my trails happen in this section.
It was a stinking hot day so I came prepared with water bottle.
Double wide trails with trees growing in the median.
Crazy as it seems, Im often alone on these trails rarely seeing another rider, jogger, or dogwalker. Occasionally we see foxes, deer, goshawks, wild turkeys, and owls. Some have also seen coyotes.
Some of the trails are narrow and windy, shaded from the sun.
Some of the trails are great for long canters or fast trots.
These trails are shared in the winter time with cross country skiers and snowshoers. Each sport has their own trail, and so the riders lose about 50% of the trails in section 2 from November to April. I dont mind, as it helps me better appreciate the trails when we get them back in the summer. The winter trails are groomed with machinery and are accessible all the time, even for my barefoot Q. We only stay in during the ice storms.
Our barn is smack in the middle of section 2 with the best trail access in the whole region. We always have tons of options for 20-30-40-90 minute trails that keep us close to home. So many loops, so many choices. The challenge of course is getting motivated to go on the trails that are further from home.
Sometimes you literally stumble on something. Like the abundant grape crop impeding my husband from cutting the grass. Or the verjus I was offered to flavor my water at a recent outing in a farm-to-table and locavore restaurant. Because local means no lemon or lime. Verjus? Turns out, this is a thing. Its an old as time recipe, made from not quite ripe grapes, apples or crabapples, that reduces them to a tart juice to be used in recipes, water, to make jam. Compared to a lemon, but more like tamarind, its a flavour enhancer. Called verjus in France, verjuice in England, and sour grapes in Persian cooking. The longest part of processing is the labour intensive removal of grapes to stem. Then I parboiled, blendered, filtered to remove skins and bits, boiled down to make jam or used in recipes. The jam is downright delicious, and although the sugar content (2 cups white sugar to 5 cups of verjus) was low Im still planning on making another recipe sugar free with some of those blackber...
The funniest thing has happened these last few weeks. I have been reluctant to canter. At first it was the footing (ice), then it was Qs bounciness (spring sillies), then it was the footing (mud), then it was my goal to focus on long distance walking to build my endurance for long rides without taxing my horse. I finally cracked the barrier this week, but not without some serious eye rolling from Q. As we regained our broader trail network (cross country ski trails revert to all purpose trails on April 15th), Q would bounce to attention every time we would start a section we almost always canter. I would hold him back and he would toss his head at me. Its like he was saying “omg, woman, stop worrying, Ill take care of you”. Staying in context, I was loping long stretches on the buckle 5 weeks ago. What happened? I commiserated with a fellow boarder yesterday (similar age, similar riding pace/style) and she said we have gotten wiser. Our horses are very energetic these days a...
Annual Trail Rides: 129/200 (Bareback 6/12) It is the first day of my 6 week vacation and I celebrated by having a massive 3 hour trail ride with my best buddy B in the gorgeous sector 3 of my network. While I love sector 3 for the big skies (and deer flies), we need to cross a busy road with very fast traffic (90-100 km/h) and a blind curve. I really do not like to cross busy roads alone just in case I get separated from my horse and he decides to hightail it back to the barn on his own. Horses have been killed, and have killed, in our area for this very reason. Anyways, it was happy times, with a hint of thunderstorm in the forecast. But these days, weather forecasts are about as unpredictable as government confinement rules, so I decided to not trust the weather app and just proceed. I started with my usual backup routine, which includes the now very unusual pre-mounting leg stretch. I don't think anyone does this anymore ... and Ive even seen research that if done incorrectly c...
Annual Trail Rides 133/200 (Bareback 7/12) These last two years I put some focused effort on cantering more, more often and with more variations in pace. My trips and rides abroad taught me that I was riding way too conservatively on my baby green Q. Once that mindset shifted, I realized that the precision of my canter transitions left much to be desired. Q didnt always take the lead I requested, and I was sloppy about precision half the time ... Meaning if he didn’t take the right lead I didn't correct it. To be fair, in our first year or two of riding, Q would get supremely defensive and uptight if I micromanaged him. Since then Ive toned down the speed and harshness of my corrections, and he has become more agreeable to being corrected. Lots of “good boy”, neck pats, and letting go, make up for my occasional mistakes. Last year we made great progress on our canter transitions which have become smooth and accurate 90% of the time. I still get sloppy about correcting mistakes, so...
Annual Trail Rides: 130/200 (Bareback 6/12) It was a solo ride for this new milestone and despite our long ride of yesterday, Q was ready to go. We did a short but very fast loop of 7 km in less than 45 minutes. Lots of cantering, which was awesome! The deerflies are out but of course they cant keep up with us, especially at a canter. Lots of great pics thanks to some nice blue skies and pretty lighting.
honestly, you make me want to move to Quebec!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLa belle province!
ReplyDelete