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Annual Trail Rides: 160/200 (Bareback 17/12)

This ride (#160) was just for me! Q gave me a blast of an experience, finishing 20 km in under 2 hours which was a blazing pace for us given the terrain. Up, down, narrow, wide, rooty, deep sand, asphalt and gravel sections, rocky sections, bogs, creeks ... we had a little bit of everything. We trotted where others would walk, and cantered where others would trot. We would not have been able to tackle that pace accompanied. I put a saddle on for this ride, and warned the barn staff that I was going for a long one, thinking it would take me 3 hours. Q was a beast!

This ride also marked the official end of my glorious 6 week vacation, clocking in 35 trail rides. Thats a solid 5-6 trail rides a week, never once setting foot in the arena. And of course, Ive been blowing up my objective of bareback rides at 17. 

Now, I have 40 rides left for the next 3 months, and Im thinking of pushing the needle on the bareback portion. If I do 23 of the next 40 rides bareback, then I will finish with 40 bareback rides for the year, making bareback represent 20% of my rides. Seems like a Big Hairy Ambitious Goal to me. 😁

I really feel like Im on the edge of greatness with the bareback riding, and I want to keep working at the connection Im developing at an energetic trot. And once thats locked in, we can work on the canter.

A bunch of pics of our last rides and a little video compilation thanks to tik tok.




















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