Found a flaw, and lost my water bottle

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Yesterday it was summertime in November. Blue skies, sunshine and 22 degrees! A record high for November and it was wonderful. My new buddy T and I left the barn at high noon in t-shirts for a long trek in sector 3. Given the record temps, I packed my little water bottles around my waist and some peppermints in my pockets. We were going to be gone for 3 hours with plenty of trotting and cantering involved.

The footing was mostly dry as we had six consecutive days of dry warm weather. Sector 3 can be boggy in spots, so this was very helpful. Somewhere along the way, most probably in one of our canter stretches, I lost one of my little water bottles. But once I got back home, someone from our club posted its location on our facebook page so I should be able to find it again.



T and I did have some struggles at speed. When she had her mare in front, the mare would spook and stop and was generally slow as molasses. It helped when we cantered because the mare trips less when in front, and also takes a more moderate stride. When T would get tired, we would switch and she would follow. But then the mare would get super anxious and toss her head and start bucking. So we would switch again.

Unfortunately the mare completely changes gears when heading towards home, and she takes on a long hunter stride of probably 14+ feet, which has my Q doing double time. To keep up with that stride, we need to be at a hand gallop. And for the most part, I would lose control.

What a complete reversal from my lovely solo trail of just 2 days ago. Here I was on the home stretch after 2+ hours on the trail, and I had a raging bomb below me. T had really created quite the gap between us as each stride increased the gap by several feet. Within a minute she was 100 feet ahead. Q was no longer listening and started popping upwards in frustration.

So I have found a flaw in my previous canter bliss. Its all good when we are alone, and even on our regular trails he will keep his nice steady pace behind another horse with increasing distance. But when the front horse is heading home, on unfamiliar trails, and starts accelerating ... all hope is lost.

Something to work on. Stay tuned.

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