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.
It has been over twenty-five years since I did a solo trail ride bareback. Today was the day. Q was amazing, and gave me the confidence to ride on the buckle most of the way. When we came up to a road crossing, I got nervous because I could hear an unseen car climbing the road and was afraid it was the roadster sans muffler that had been gunning it up and down the road earlier. So I asked Q to trot, and he steadily complied with the smoothest transitions. Comfy and confident! The last time I had done this was with my first QH Rocky that I moved from Canada to Costa Rica (in the winter - bad idea) to live on the Pacific Ocean with me. We would go ride on the beach and in the ocean and bareback was the way to go. It was mostly walking around and I honestly don’t remember galloping bareback since my poney days as a teenager. Of course my new best friends bareback pad is amazing. It provides a little cushion, gives a stickiness to my seat with the suede-like top and adheres to Q...
What a great ride yesterday! Q and I accompanied our past trail buddy who switched barns last spring and really struggled this summer with what appears to be seasonal headshaking. Bummer. I also tried something that seemed to work, but not sure if it's just coincidence. When his horse started violently headshaking (clearly in pain), I stopped and turned around to face him. The horse looked at me, stopped headshaking and I gave him a peppermint. In all, I gave him three peppermints during the ride (not when he was actually shaking), and it seemed to distract him? We also worked hard on keeping the pace low-key and the horses on the buckle. I did have to remind my friend to drop the reins several times, but I think his horse appreciated the lack of pressure. The headshaking seems to be light sensitivity, and perhaps some allergies as well. The horse wore a dark flymask to protect his eyes from the sun, and it seems to help. The symptoms disappear at night, and will likely disappe...
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.
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...
This has been a great week of returning to campus. New students, new classes, new programs, new shoes. After months of “summer camp” spent mostly playing around on horseback in the woods, it was an abrupt pivot to more intellectual pursuits. But I did miss the barn and my wonderful horse, so I was ecstatic to go back today for a short jaunt in the woods with Q and fellow boarder M. I think my horse literally rolled his eyes at me when I hugged his face and kissed his nose. But he was happy to go for a ride, and get lots of peppermints and carrots for his efforts (and patience). Tomorrow is a rest day (post osteopath treatment) and then it will be a nice long weekend of trailrides and searching for hidden fairy houses. Happy labour day weekend!
honestly, you make me want to move to Quebec!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLa belle province!
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