I wish I came here more often. It has so many beautiful sections. It is plagued by some boggy trails with mosquitoes and we have to cross a busy road to get here. But once here, Im always happy!
We found some wooden trails with occasional muddy spots to go trotting in. I took this video with my trail buddy J and her big percheron mare.
Buffet! I struggled to keep Q on the path and focused.
Much galloping happens on this path!
This section has a few streets that we have to cross. But there is practically no cars here.
Q enjoying the view!
The hunt field is one of my favorite spots. And the sun was out in full force with a cooling breeze.
It was a gorgeous day, and the sights were beautiful. With the tardy summer, the trails were a bit muddier than usual. My friend with her big percheron mare struggles with her soundness, and did not like the muddy trails one bit. She would have much rather stayed on the tried and true section 2.
But I am glad I went, and I am looking forward to going back. Perhaps solo. Q is getting to be quite solid going solo and I think we can do this.
Boy does it make a difference to ride a few days in a row! Q was an absolute delight today, trotting and cantering on the buckle until ... until I would ask for a walk. He gave me a forward rocking canter and was hoof perfect in some of the less-than-perfect footing. I continue to be amazed at how steady he is with uneven footing. If I were ready to devote more hours I would consider doing some short distance competitive trail rides because his endurance is outstanding. Instead I will just enjoy him for myself. Today was the day before the Noreaster blows in with a “wintery mix” which means we might lose our powdery fluff to treacherous ice. As I have no plans of putting winter shoes, that means we will likely be condemned to the indoor arena for ... maybe a week or two? Fingers crossed that the weather pattern skips right over us. So we had to make the most of today, and that we did. Two hours of mostly trotting and cantering with our buddy B and his awesome TB gelding. The patt...
Annual Trail Rides: 94/200 Lots of cool riding these days, as temperatures are below normal. Skies are blue, forests are green, but it is a daily challenge to figure out how many layers to put on. Temperatures shift 10C degrees between shade and sun, so in part in depends on where you plan to ride. Q has been acting a little weird in the backend. He started by pooping in his water bowl a few weeks ago. He did it again last week. And then he was observed sitting on the fence. Yes, sitting. Today, he was sitting in the water bowl in the outside paddock. So he got another tail bath, and I covered his tail in green listerine. It seems like the itchiness is coming from the base of his tail, and not the more common top of the tail. I scrubbed the tailbone quite thoroughly, and even washed it twice (and rinsed very thoroughly). However, Im wondering if perhaps the problem is actually not in his tail? Maybe he has a bean in his sheath? And his discomfort is having him behave unusually?
Annual Trail Rides: 204/200 (Bareback 31/40) Well I was having some thoughts on the way to the barn ... I haven't had my unplanned dismount for 2021 and I only have 3 weeks to go before we leave. And so today, I had my ONE for 2021. Everything was going really well, but I was determined to try a planned canter bareback (as opposed to the involuntary bolting gallop bareback that happened the day before). I trotted some, felt pretty good. And then I hit a spot with a slightly sloping hill and asked. Unfortunately Q didn't think I was very serious (or stable) so he only hit stride towards the top of the hill. The first few strides felt good. As we crested the hill I was leaning forward and on top of his shoulder. Q did a sidestep right leaving me hanging mid air over where his left shoulder was. He then moved more right and I was a goner ... heading straight for a young tree that bisected me in the chest. I saw the tree coming, thinking, oh shit. I was hoping to not crash my head ...
So its the last night at the ranch in the steppes, or grasslands, of Hungary. Its mostly quite flat in an undulating kind of way with patches of forests and marshlands. This national park is a bird sanctuary and we see the occasional deer along the way. While much of it feels familiar because of the sand and pine forests, there are a few notable differences. First, the sand roads go on for long distances which has us often cantering 3-5 km stretches. Thats 3-4 times the distance we generally do at home. Second, there are no electric high transmission power lines to mar the view. Third, the grass sections stretch out for miles in each direction with a view that is not customary. The ranch is great. We figured out a good rhythm after a few days that had us gathering in the sauna and jacuzzi in the evening because there is literally nothing else to do. The beat here is very relaxed, and we have all achieved a great zen state. We had a good reining lesson this morning when they p...
Its been a rough go these last few weeks between a significant increase in work, brutal cold snaps, icy trails and skating rink parking lots. Ive only ridden a handful of times on those rare occasions where the universe converged. This has made for a spicy pony and while it makes me more prudent on how I engage in speed when the brakes are fairly absent, it also makes me super appreciative that this spicy horse does keep his excitement under wraps most of the time. Clearly Q is fit and feeling good, and his daily turnout with bestie Chester is absolutely insufficient in expending energy. Especially since these two lazybouts just stand in a corner watching the world go by. We went out today after a little snow fell to cover our thick ice. Footing was good, and it was our first outing in over 10 days. The strategy is always the same: long steady trots for 5-10 mins until Q starts relaxing and blowing through his nose in loud bursts. During the first stretch we kept on trotting throu...
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