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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...

Annual Trail Rides: 50/200 A nice time to hit our 25% trail objective. We finally got access to the trails (walking only) and it has been absolutely delightful. Ive also been using these slower rides to be social and go out with boarder friends, and that also has been delightful! Q was a delight on our first time out, as steady as an old cow pony. But yesterday on the way home he reminded me that the dragon needs tending. Navigating through icy patches between trees where the obvious path for Q is to hug the trees where the ice has melted, but that means my knees go knocking into the bark. So I picked up the reins to navigate better and he got fired up. All of a sudden his sides were on fire, and any heat from my leg prompted him into a trot. Which is not what you want on slick ice. So I stopped him. And we would start all over again. This happened 12 times on the last 1 km stretch home. Not fun. After some reflection, I realized that we were in a 12 rabbit situation. Being Florida-bre...

Annual Trail Rides: Zero Progress as trails are too icy 😢 Well that was amusing! Condemned to the indoor arena, and on a very cold and blustery day, we did some groundwork with the flag and then proceeded to ride. I wanted to test the Mark Rashid (and Ray Hunt) concept of energy with Q and see how he would respond. Q was feeling very relaxed and mellow so he followed me to the mounting block like a puppy and I got on. I took my time there, gave him a peppermint, put on my gloves, got settled. I then sat for a minute and tuned in to myself, breathed and stayed still. Then I raised my energy and directed it to Q. He lifted his head up and we walked on. The first few minutes were amusing especially when I tried to do my first halt, by energy only. First of all I realized that I am not very tuned in to my own energy. Second, Q was confused. Halting with energy eventually would happen, but several strides later. And it's really hard to keep your energy off when your horse is still walk...

Annual Trail Rides: 48/200 Thanks to Teresa and Gail of blogland, I found myself tumbling down a rabbit hole of Mark Rashid listening to the recent podcast with Warwick Schiller, and reading the book Life Lessons from a Ranch Horse. On top of that, I just watched 5+ hours of DVD horse training with Ray Hunt, the grandfather of all things horsemanship. I am hooked, and can't wait to start my next Rashid book (and oldie) "Considering the Horse". The idea of energy flow between human and horse, and the ability to tap into this flow to communicate, is something I am ready to dive into. Ive always been a big proponent of lightness and softness, but the concept of energy and mutual communication is not something I do consistently. My horse of course is impatient to get started as he showed me today while working in the arena just how good he is at side passing without me grabbing at the reins. And that brings me to my next tidbit: the trails are now inaccessible. The narrow t...

Annual Trail Rides: 44/200 Im happy to report that my mild hamstring sprain does not prevent me from mounting, dismounting, trotting or cantering. Im not ready to throw myself into deep snow just yet, and if my horse spins and dumps me I might be in trouble. But if I can manage the risk and be a bit conservative, I do not need to wait 3 weeks to return to activity. While my range of motion is still a bit compromised, I gained a good six inches of flexibility bending down today and I can almost touch my toes. Walking is doing me a world of good, as well as the anti-inflammatories, rest and heating pad. When I can bend forward with palms on the ground I will be completely recovered. It was a beautiful day for a solo ride in the woods. My horse made me giggle with his mind reading today. We were heading back at a relaxed walk and I was thinking it would be best to switch from the narrow slippy path to the wider groomed trail so that we could trot back. So I cued with some neckrein and the...

Annual Trail Rides: 42/200 Spring weather wreaks havoc on the trails. On Monday it poured all day long. I didnt even bother going to the barn. It was mild but oh so dreary. Then the wind picked up significantly and within a few hours we were deep in an arctic freeze. From +5C to -20C in 3 hours.  Wonder what happened to those beautiful trails? By Tuesday, despite the deep freeze, I went to the barn without any intention of riding. Somehow (?) after a few days of mild sunny days my body no longer tolerated -20C. I wanted nothing to do with it. I instead played with Q and gave him an extra long grooming session with lots of bananas and carrots. My arms were tired after that! Wednesday was announcing a lovely spring day with sunshine and mild temperatures above freezing. Yeah! Unfortunately there had been a good dusting of 3-4 inches of fluffy snow that layer treacherously on top of hard packed ice in the parking lot, so it was worrying. Incoming trail riders assured me that the trail...

Annual Trail Rides: 41/200 It started a year ago when the grocery shelves lacked yeast and flour. I started making sourdough and quickly depleted my flour reserves. When I went shopping I bought alternative flours to supplement: rye, buckwheat, corn. The experimentation began. But it all started with this powerful rye starter, my 2.0 (I killed 1.0 in the oven). I discovered the world of Hundo (one hundred percent whole grain) Sourdough and spent less time focusing on scoring the perfect artisan loaf and more time developing rye bread recipes like American Pumpernickel, Black Russian Bread, Volkenbrot, and Swedish Archipelago Bread. I also fell down the rabbit hole of recreating my favorite polish soup: Zurek, which is based on a sour rye broth similar to sourdough starter. The night we arrived in Krakow in 2019 I was sick with a cold and we went to the neighbourhood pub. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when this garlicky, smokey, tangy soup hit my lifeless tastebuds. What was t...