Colours in my life

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Rashid is Messing with my Mind

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Annual Trail Rides: 52/200 Well that was interesting! We are in the shoulder season of winter/spring, where trail conditions change by the day and hour. I have managed to sneak in a few extra rides this week despite the general icy conditions in the forest. I also finished Considering the Horse, and Im anxious to start my next Rashid book. After my last challenging ride on Q, where he released the dragon on the way home, I thought about my own reactions. Rashid, in pure zen/martial artist fashion, is a big believer in not letting your context (or your horse) drive your actions. Unfortunately, when pressed between a saddle and a tree, I became a bit too sharp and anxious in my reactions ... or the Rashid equivalent of micro-management and emotional reactivity. So the following day, I tried again, but just SLOWED IT DOWN. Everything soft. Everything slow. And lo and behold, so was my horse! He was literally an old cow pony. Soft, thoughtful, slow ... wise. Things that make you go hmmm. S...
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Q gets acupuncture

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There is a wonderful veterinarian-turned-acupuncturist that works in our area, and Q gets an exam and sometimes a treatment once every six months. With our latest saddle restuffing, I thought it was good timing to take a look. This lovely older gentleman has over 30 years of equine acupuncture practice (in addition to 20 years as an equine vet) and many a story to tell but the biggest stories come from his patients and his magic hands. While I have never tried acupuncture on myself, I have been successfully treated for many ailments with osteopathy and I believe in the body as a system that can often heal itself. So today was the day, and I watched him do several treatments before it was our turn. Q had no back pain or soreness, but his weakness in the left hind was flaring up and probably connected with the increased work on collection over the last few weeks. So, he got some needles and then I watched him slowly drift to sleep as he licked my arm slower and slower. After these ...
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Canter or lope on trail

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I must admit that my lope is not competition ready. Nowhere near in fact. I have done practically no consistent arena work with Q in two years. I do quick tune-ups occasionally but for a horse that is not professionally trained, our training time since the beginning is probably an abysmal amount under 50 hours. And very little of that is doing lateral work or canter circles. A great spot for a cantalope The mere thought of canter circles, with the requisite shoulder-in, haunches-in, narrowing coils, transitions, rollbacks ... it all makes me want to vomit. Bottom line is that when I bought Q I had a very simple vision: find a really cool trail horse that was fun to ride. So my arena work has only had the objective of safety and malleability. One of the resident trainers said to their client that I was training for the purpose of insurance. That is, in the event of a potential wreck or accident, that we might increase our odds of “walking away”. I think the analogy was correct. Insuranc...
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Crazy 8 0

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Annual Trail Rides: 80/200 On this special trail I got an unexpected surprise of riding with a fellow boarder and kindred spirit. We dont ride very often together (maybe once every two years) because she usually rides with her friends who walk the whole way. But on this day, she offered and I accepted. She took her OTTB and off we went. We trotted, cantered and there was a stretch of a hand gallop too. She was exhilarated about how much fun it was to do more than walk. And I was exhilarated by that hand gallop. Q got a little strong at that point and just blew through my aids in order to match pace with that pretty chestnut mare. She sure was pretty! I celebrated this milestone by forgoing our trail the next day in favour of a walk in the woods accompanied by my husband. It was hot, bugs were out, and I was tired when I got home. But lovely just the same. Ill have to keep this momentum of 5x a week if I want to hit my milestone of 200 rides by end of November. Ill probably start cracki...
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The guilt is real

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A few days ago the government allowed for horse owners to have limited, scheduled, controlled access to their horses for the first time in six weeks. Heavy biosecurity protocol was enforced and everyone was asked to stay 50 feet away from each other. I showed up at my barn to find a chubby, happy and freshly shampooed Q who was excited to see what treats I brought for him. My barn owner greeted me with a smile and a bucket of suds and sponge to wipe down anything I touched.  I had a nice handwalk in the woods on my first day, and then on the second day a quick ride to find my buddy winded after a few minutes (that has never happened) despite his being lunged at least twice a week while I was gone. And we did a short stroll in the woods. Q had a nice spring in his step for his first trips off the property. It was awesome. But I felt so guilty at being happy. Other horse owners showed up to find horses that had lost 150 pounds because the BO stopped feed...
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