Festival des couleurs and Canadian Thanksgiving

-
What’s not to love? Gorgeous fall colors, blue skies, warm weather, lots of great food and wine! Favorite three-day weekend of the year.


Double families means double turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes. The first dinner had a stand-out turkey (best one I had in years, including the epic turduckin of 2017), the second dinner had epic wine and cheese platter.

And the beauty was we were guests at both. No panic preparations, cleaning, shopping or dishes. It was lovely. Hosting thanksgiving is a tremendous effort. In Quebec, most francophones (and/or + Catholics) do not celebrate the holiday. Its just an extra day off. But our families have thankfully been embracing the holiday for decades and it is my favorite.

So I was plenty free to have some nice rides in the woods and enjoy the warm weather and gorgeous colors. I had a lovely bareback trailride one day, a zippy warm up ride another day, a group carrousel lesson, and a dressage training ride in the woods yesterday. The beauty of training in the woods is that my Q is naturally forward and plenty of impulsion. Less work for me.

The pixie hollow village sprouted some squash and pumpkins for the season, and the pine trees were releasing their needles sometimes looking like a funny version of snow. Some of the trails are covered in carpets of pine needles and cones.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Barn Drama

-
Image
It sucks. The #1 problem with boarding is when the gossiping turns to hurt feelings, recriminations and the classic “if you dont like it, leave!” This was a completely avoidable situation but youth and exuberance often create misguided decisions that are steeped in miscommunication. So here we are, 10 days in to the most BS I have experienced in my 17 years at this barn. Ive since tempered my anger and hope that everything will return to a calmer state. To be clear, my anger is not directed to any of the recent changes in feed or management, but at the emotional roller coaster the barn has become where no-one must be caught talking to someone else for fear that they be labelled a traitor and gossip.  Ive put my name on a few waiting lists at other barns but I am really hopeful that I never have to use them should my name ever get called. Aside from the quality management, and the great trail access, Im also reluctant to make any changes to Q’s routine and break up the best thing he...
Read more

Horseless Rider (aka learning a new hobby)

-
Image
Teresa of Carmen recently noted in her post that the horsey blogland has gotten quiet, and I tend to agree. In fact I have had to diversify my social media content just to get my daily fix. In my case it's not just the lack of my primary subject matter (my horse) but the sheer volume of change and content that has jumbled my mind. Many days are still such an emotional roller coaster that I have a hard time completing an idea let alone a blogpost. Being horseless is really not so bad. A lot of bloggers and facebookers comment on feeling bad for us. Well, don't feel bad for me. My horse has incredible care and the barn owner and her team have really stepped up on all the extras giving my Q his best life. He has triple the turnout from sunrise to sunset with his two pals plus two colts that Q just loves playing with. He gets lunged and groomed a few times a week to limit how feral he might become. :-) Here is a quick funny video I created this month for the barn owner that ...
Read more

Does this work on humans?

-
Image
After four days of despooking clinic and some reflection time, I want to share my broader perspective on what despooking can teach us. Only humans dwell - sometimes you just need to go with the flow. Horses have wonderful lessons to teach us in this regard. Their desire to be one with the herd, to establish hierarchy and rules, and to be in the present moment forces us to reconsider our thoughts and actions. Being such generous and forgiving souls, horses begin every moment as a new one. They dont dwell on past issues, they dont cry over lost relationships, they dont get angry over spilled milk. They lock in to their surroundings, feel their environment, find the path that leads to safety and grass. They are fluid. Let us learn to connect with the “herd”. Dont focus on the obstacle, focus on what you are doing. Obstacles are everywhere, physical and psychological. Some are created in our minds (“Im not good enough, Im not worthy, I cant do that”) and we fixate on them. We give ou...
Read more

The pressure of time on my productivity

-
Image
I once heard that retirement means that weekends don’t mean the same thing anymore. No more cramming all the chores, shopping and social events into a 48 hour period. Every day feels like the weekend. And the impact is that the pressure of time, and productivity, is lost in the equation. Our COVID constraints and self quarantine have also meant that time has lost a key measurement. So every day, every week has felt the same. Why not procrastinate if it doesn’t really matter? As I have been back at the barn almost every day this week, I have noticed that the pressure of time has returned. And my productivity has skyrocketed this week. So not only do I have less available hours to do the work I have to do, but I have doubled my output at the same time. I did some long and slow rides this week, legging my Q back again. And this morning I was heading out for a short and fast one. It was very brisk, snowing, and Q was very fresh with a few spooks, stops and starts. Five minutes to wal...
Read more