The magical forest

-

Annual Trail Rides: 125/200 (Bareback 6/12)

It was a special day starting with a terrible forecast of thunderstorms and showers that never really materialized. I went to the barn, in part by habit, in part because I was going to be locked up in my office the next few days and I just wanted to have some ME time. I had no plan, no agenda, didn't even know if I would ride.

When the BO asked me to tag-along on a walking ride with her 9 year old niece, I said sure. We headed out with a few family members on foot, me in the lead on Q, and the young rider being lead lined behind me on our half-draft steady eddy.

The ride itself was relaxing and uneventful, and the woods were quite magical in that post-drizzle daze.

We took a detour on our E trail which I now have nicknamed Gallery Row. The city employees have been busy doing artwork with tree stumps and so I told our young rider that she had to spot 5 works of art before the end of the trail. She spotted 8.

It was all rainbows and unicorns, as the little girl was tremendously excited whenever she would see a dog carving, a fitted bench, or even our new additions: the two-step mounting blocks. And when we got to the end of the trail, there was our two city employee carvers waiting for us. We got to say hello, squeeze by the truck and a tree, and then return home by practicing straightness through puddles.

One last dash for work, and then vacation begins in a few days.





Comments

  1. DomJuly 16, 2021 at 7:43 AM

    It sounds like the BO's niece added a lot of joy to this ride. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nat DJuly 16, 2021 at 8:03 AM

      True! It is such a gift to connect with our inner child! 🥰

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Q gets acupuncture

-
Image
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
Read more

Come ride with me, in five sections

-
Image
I thought I would share some pics and video from our trail system that surrounds our barn. Known as one of the best places to ride in Eastern Canada with 300 square miles of trails in natural woodlands on protected, municipal and private land. Our surrounding land owners contribute to almost 60% of the trail network and we are forever grateful. Q wondering why we are stopping... In the winter time we share the trails with x-country skiers (they have their own trails that intersect ours) and skidoos, and atv bikes and joggers/hikers all year long. The motorized vehicules have their own trails, but they intersect ours. And of course on private land, we might encounter anything from atvs, fat bikes, dog sleds, etc. The network is split into five sections and Ive become familiar with all of them after riding on these trails for almost 30 years. Below is a picture of the trail map. Our barn is smack in the middle of section 2 and where I spend most of my time these days. Section 2
Read more

Gloomy November

-
Image
I feel like I am in good company when I say that life and work has taken me away from riding these last few weeks. I finally made it back to the barn during an epic windstorm with over 1,000,000 homes without power. No surprise that I didnt ride that day. I did make it out to the woods yesterday for my first time in two weeks and boy has the scenery changed. From golden colors to barren trees, from sandy trails to muddy bogs, from blue skies to hail storms. It’s time to be well dressed, with jackets, gloves, and good socks. I have been dutifully practicing the long reins every day for 15 minutes, and Q is a quick study. We now do nice transitions between collected walk to collected trot, and during one of our teardrop turns Q offered me a leg yield to my squeal and delight. He stopped and raised his head to me, saying that if I was going to squeal that much he deserved a mint. I obliged. He also taught me a lesson today. Yesterday, I was doing our standard trick at the fri
Read more

Preparing Patagonia

-
Image
I may come to regret this, but Im not as prepared for this trip as I was for Alberta’s epic trek last spring. In part because I havent ridden in 3 weeks. 😃 The days will probably be shorter (4-6 hours of riding) and its pretty slow riding because its over glacier rocks …. so maybe Ill be fine? Also looks like its just gonna be me and the gauchos as the other riders had flights cancelled last minute. So this trip will be Spanish (actually Castellano) immersion too. The last few weeks in BA has been momentous, from the run to the final of the World Cup, to the dozens of people who ran in the streets in defense of a small dog in a hit and run, to the amazing fresh fruit and vegetables, to the delicious food and mountains of gelato. BA is big, at times wild, messy and very passionate. I havent found much indifference here. But now, I have to figure out how to get my backpack to weigh less than 8 kg to fit all the clothes I need for weather ranging from polar sun to blizzard. Yes, I have l
Read more

Cold Sunshine

-
Image
Its that funny time of year where the ground is frozen hard, ice has formed on the trail, and we don’t have enough snow cover to keep our barefoot partners safe. But I was itching to enjoy the fresh air and took my surefooted Q out on trail albeit tentatively. It was lovely. I was happier walking cautiously for half an hour on the trails than any canter circles I could do in the arena. Sometimes you just need a little sunshine, even if its cold. This week concluded the fall term. I still have to grade final exams, and tie up loose ends with my consulting projects ... but it’s the beginning of the end of the year. As many bloggers do, I will also work on my end-of-year recap as it has been pretty epic. Much travels, first full year running my own business, bareback riding, and lots of solo adventures with my buddy Q. Right now Im looking forward to two weeks in a hammock on the beach in Costa Rica, and hopefully getting lost in a new romance novel every day. Until the
Read more