End of the year

-

Seems fitting to end the year of confinement and hibernation with a month of summertime sunshine and sunsets. Q is on vacation too, but getting the occasional grooming so he doesn’t turn feral. 5 weeks of bliss and then its back to winter.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Ouch says the ground

-
Image
Zoom, zoom ... ouch. Finally one of the coolest days is here. Sunny, blue skies, low humidity and temps in mid-twenties. Perfect riding weather. Particularly after our surprise storm on Wednesday that left tons of debris and fallen trees and branches on the trails. Surprise storm brewing a few days ago. Within a few minutes, there were huge circular gusts of wind, almost like a Tornado. The next day volunteer crews were out removing the fallen trees. But some trails still have significant debris. I was heading out with trail buddy C and her azteca mare to explore section 5. I told her I needed some media for my summer challenge. She was happy to oblige not quite knowing what other objectives I had in mind. Most of the trail was lovely and I even tackled the jump trail, with a series of cross-country log jumps, for the first time. Q was just simply amazing, leading sometimes or in the back sometimes. The two horses have a trot that is simply in s...
Read more

The Complexity of Trail Access

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 34/200 A century ago, local farmers in our town west of Montreal were tired of the sand left in the spring thaw that clogged the streets and ditches and created floods and ice dams to prevent passing. So the farmers got together with the town and the province to fund a reforestation project which we would later call the "Nursery". The reforestation would cover most of the old sand dunes that had been left behind many millennia ago by a retreating glacier. The old sand dunes were a popular place for local families to go for a picnic, or some fishing in some of the creeks and lakes that popped up from underground springs. Our history books show groups of families with their farmhorses pulling big sleighs or wagons filled with children. But it was time to stop the constant erosion the sand dunes were having on the local farms. So in the 1930s began the massive reforestation project. At the time, the population of this town was under a thousand, as there was o...
Read more

Humble Pie

-
Image
I fell at a walk. My horse took off as I was screaming obscenities at the nearby dogwalker that let her dog chase us through the bush. Unleashed of course. My horse didn’t get very far as he stood twenty feet away from me, watching me with both eyes. The seconds before the fall are very blurry. I remember seeing the dog walker at a distance, but didn’t think anything of it. Then I heard the dog tearing through the bush to get us, the horse we were following bolted off, and I was not paying attention as I was putting on my gloves. My horse spun 180 degrees and literally left me hanging into a dead pine tree. I hit the ground fast but not so fast that I didnt shout six or seven swear words before my back hit the branches on the ground. I think my horse was spooked at his buddy bolting off, and all my screaming and swearing. I was so angry. But I do learn an important lesson every time I fall. Lately my lessons have been about my lack of awareness and my taking my horse for granted. On th...
Read more

View from the ground

-
Image
Annual Trail Rides: 204/200 (Bareback 31/40) Well I was having some thoughts on the way to the barn ... I haven't had my unplanned dismount for 2021 and I only have 3 weeks to go before we leave. And so today, I had my ONE for 2021. Everything was going really well, but I was determined to try a planned canter bareback (as opposed to the involuntary bolting gallop bareback that happened the day before). I trotted some, felt pretty good. And then I hit a spot with a slightly sloping hill and asked. Unfortunately Q didn't think I was very serious (or stable) so he only hit stride towards the top of the hill. The first few strides felt good. As we crested the hill I was leaning forward and on top of his shoulder. Q did a sidestep right leaving me hanging mid air over where his left shoulder was. He then moved more right and I was a goner ... heading straight for a young tree that bisected me in the chest. I saw the tree coming, thinking, oh shit. I was hoping to not crash my head ...
Read more