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.
Got back to Buenos Aires at 2 am this morning, after a week at the southern tip of South America in the borderlands of Chile and Argentina in the Los Glaciares National Park. Stunning scenery, rustic outposts of the neighboring sheep farm where we cooked meals on wood fires and slept in shacks barely protected from the howling winds blowing down the Dickson and Perito Moreno Glaciars. My little firecracker of a criollo mare Achicoria was stupendous. We herded wild cattle and scrambled over rocks, logs, and steep descents in between long gallops. I took a nap in a glacier field between the Calafate Berry Bushes and the wild grasses, drank mate and learned how to make empanadas with my guide Juani. To say the trip was epic is a disservice. Being disconnected for so many days in the grandiosity of the Andes glaciers, drinking water straight from the streams, was a return to a lifestyle we have never known. As Juani and I did our last race back to the barn we were intercepted by a gaucho w...
I had a plan. My horse had another. I wanted to canter. My horse wanted to bolt, spook, and gallop! So we trotted and cantered up hills and across trails until the poor guy was winded. I let him walk and catch his breath, which of course is a little challenging when he is still jigging. I thought he had calmed down and we could start practicing canter transitions when a pheasant startled in the bush. Poor Q was wired! So we kept on trotting until finally 10 minutes later he asked to walk. I got this little clip after thirty minutes of trotting and just before he asked to walk. He is looking a little sedate, finally. Eventually I got to do some canter work on a wider stretch of the trail. At first the circles were ovals but eventually Q figured out my game. Which got me thinking ... will I ever gallop? My old timer cowboy trainer told me many moons ago to be very careful about never “opening up” my QH on trail. So we kept our speed to hand gallops in closed spaces. But many trainer...
Annual Trail Rides: 160/200 (Bareback 17/12) This ride (#160) was just for me! Q gave me a blast of an experience, finishing 20 km in under 2 hours which was a blazing pace for us given the terrain. Up, down, narrow, wide, rooty, deep sand, asphalt and gravel sections, rocky sections, bogs, creeks ... we had a little bit of everything. We trotted where others would walk, and cantered where others would trot. We would not have been able to tackle that pace accompanied. I put a saddle on for this ride, and warned the barn staff that I was going for a long one, thinking it would take me 3 hours. Q was a beast! This ride also marked the official end of my glorious 6 week vacation, clocking in 35 trail rides. Thats a solid 5-6 trail rides a week, never once setting foot in the arena. And of course, Ive been blowing up my objective of bareback rides at 17. Now, I have 40 rides left for the next 3 months, and Im thinking of pushing the needle on the bareback portion. If I do 23 of the ne...
The last 24 hours have been a collection of creature comforts and happiness seeking as I sought to repair the damage of the anxiety-ridden last 10 days. I watched “Its a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, had a great ride in the woods after a long absence, and finally got a good nights sleep. Today I took a mental health day. And the sun was shining. The last 10 days have required my attention on professional matters that otherwise would have taken a downward spiral. The situation had me doubting myself and putting much credence on my naysayers. I chose to address it head on, and take the high road. It took the form of a public apology in a large forum while watching the confusion of my audience most of whom were left dumbfounded. It was a great big serving of humble pie. I experienced a wide array of emotions leading up to that moment and after, including guilt, doubt, defiance, anger, fear, mistrust and embarrassment. I came home after a trying day to a husband who listened and ...
Annual Trail Rides: 24/200 After our arctic chill week, we had a nice blizzard blow in that made me a shut-in for 3 days. My horse Q got his daily turnout with his friends but didn’t do much aside from standing around and whipping his big buddy Chester with a stick. Chester is the alpha in this herd but Q loves to use him as protection from the silly bully in the group. Nobody wants to play with the silly bully, so Chester gets used as defense a lot. The plan on Friday was to enjoy the balmy 0C weather for a more adventurous ride of crossing the big field (a treacherous feat in -20C with windchill), cross the road and into another trail sector to visit a long time friend we haven’t seen in a year. Normally this plan is no big deal. Im not a fan of going far when alone, especially in winter. But this time I had a buddy. So it should be no big deal. I warned of snowdrifts in the big field, and that the footing might not help our plan. Caveats aside, we set a time for our Friday departure...
honestly, you make me want to move to Quebec!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLa belle province!
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