And the wild lilac bloometh

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Every spring I make a special detour to a section of trail where the wild lilac trees are. With all of our warm weather of late, I was sure that the trees would have bloomed so I did the detour three times in the last week. No blooms yet.


But today was the day, and she was glorious. We were surrounded by the scent. It was lovely.

About ten years ago I came cantering down this trail with my other horse Jazz and my friends in tow. Where I came around the bend and saw these surprising blooms I came to an abrupt stop and my friends almost crashed into me.

Since then, every spring I make sure to come see how the lilacs are doing. This year the blooms were particularly generous.


This year I have a new budding friendship with our new barn intern C. A lovely young lady who is happy to follow my lead as I show her the trails. I get the benefit of good company and the safety of a friend, and she gets to discover all the sections. She was particularly giddy at our long fast trots as she learns the big bold gaits of her borrowed horse for the summer.

It all works out in the end. With Bs horse starting his summer headshaking, he will probably be mostly out of commission for a good part of the summer. And while I love the great conversations I have with M, the rides are a bit slow and short for me. And I do enjoy riding solo, just not every day.

So I shared my plan with C today and she seems game. Ill spend the next couple of weeks showing her all the sections, and then she can pick where she wants to ride. Each section has a different flavour. And some trails are best suited for hot weather, wet weather, cold weather, mosquito season and deer fly season. Some trails are great for trotting, others great for cantering or jumping.

It sure is fun showing the trails to someone new. Makes you appreciate them all over again.

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