Had a good ride in sector 3 and got some new flying mane pictures on 17 and N trails. The scent of the wildflowers was a delight, and we got surprised by a deer. 🦌
Me: Can we walk please? Q: But you said “zoom zoom zoom”. After yesterday's ride, Q decided to show me just how much he had a need for speed. Our first day of summer and it was hot and sunny. I packed a water bottle and set out on the buckle. As soon as we hit the last ravine and got to the first long sandy track, he was all business. I spent the whole rest of trail either on the buckle or on the handbreak. Not much middle ground with Q today. The last ravine of Section 2 before we get to Section 1 Each of these ravines has a bubbling brook at the bottom, some of them the horses can drink in. This sandy track is the official beginning of Section 1, occasionally called The Arches for a large wooden arch that used to stretch across this trail at the top but has since crumbled to the ground. This fork is actually a great loop through the forest. I started trotting down the right, and then came galloping up the left 15 minutes later. Mostly ...
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 ...
Like a Red Bull commercial. I was feeling chill and a little sore so I cracked out the bareback pad for a short ride followed by a shower (Q was a very dirty pig pen) and some grazing. Thought it would make for some lovely nurturing on this day of mothers. On my last bareback ride in November I fell at a canter and cracked my ribs on a tree, so it was with some minor trepidation that I swung my leg over. But with the courage instilled by my mother, I just got on with it. We got nervous at some new metal panels on the way out, and the double sleigh coming our way without yielding but overall it was lovely and I soon began to relax and breathe. Courage is not the absence of fear but the strength to face it. Thanks Mom!
Was a lovely day spent in an apple orchard with a deluxe food basket for two and a bottle of local cider. The weather was brisk but sunny and it was lovely to be surrounded by an abundance of ripe fruit! Q got the day off after five days of good rides. He will get all the treats tomorrow with some nice grass if all goes well.
Pixie Hollow appeared in our woods 2 weeks ago. Epic ride today in section 5 with trail buddy C and her wonderful homebred azteca mare. No pictures or videos to share because we were going too fast. It was a blast of 2.5 hours and now Im sore and tired. The track was dry and fast! We saw no one else riding. Q was on fire. So much so that I felt like I was riding a ticking timebomb for the first 45 minutes. He would not go past the pixie village that mysteriously appeared on a major intersection of the trail network a few weeks ago. And he was at a trembling dead stop when he sensed a deer 20 feet away. Q: "That's not supposed to be there. Must be evil fairies!" But it was when the pasture horses galloped past us behind a dense hedge and the neighbours dog leaped out at us at the same time that he decided it was time to go. 180 degree spin, and gallop off. Im so glad that I stopped him in his third stride. After two hours of trotting and cantering...
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