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. 🦌
After a mostly sleepless night I headed to the barn for what I hoped would be a good ride on what was turning out to be a spectacular weather day. Temperatures had cooled to 24C with bright blue skies and a slightly damp track for some nice footing after all these days of rain. My hip was still hurting so I was going to take it easy, but I did want to work a good canter stretch with some lead switching in a particular spot. Q had other plans. At our first trot and canter he clearly told me that THIS.IS.NOT.FAST.ENOUGH ! Then he started his usual “dragon mode” of tight back, hard bouncing, head in the air and increasing his speed at every stride. Ouch, my back! I didn’t argue with him, but chuckled a bit at his antics. I used all that energy for good (as much as my back would allow) and worked on contact, leg yields, transitions and shoulder in. It was the best lateral work he has ever given me. But we have a date, in the arena, for lots of canter circles and then we will go back on the...
Annual Trail Rides: 38/200 I made the mistake (?) during a Monday Blues episode to complain about being bored on my trail rides. Blasphemy with our incredible footing and increasingly mild and sunny days where we have regular unfettered access to our winter wonderland. And my horse has been just amazing these last rides. But sigh, you can not rationalize boredom away. So fellow boarder C (an international concert violinist, first chair and all) offered to tag along with me on her still somewhat insecure 17h Hanoverian hunter. And then BO asked to have me to babysit her baby stud on his first ridden trail ride (he has been ponied in these woods aplenty). So I got two trail rides today, each very different. In the first, I coached C on how to ask for a canter on her leggy beast with the 12 foot hunter stride while staying behind my andalusians 7 foot cantalope stride. We got it on the second try but it still requires a bit more work. In the second, I just led the way sticking to the narr...
Action, reaction. Balancing energy flow. A few times a year I have our acupuncture veterinarian come for a session with Q. Sometimes I have noticed symptoms, and sometimes I just like the second opinion of our friendly and wise acupuncture specialist. This time I wanted to confirm the saddle fit of the new western saddle I got last fall, and wanted to see what the “walking on eggshells while going downhill” was all about. Good news, the saddle fits great. And as for eggshells, yep, Q showed a pain response in both hind muscles. So out the needles came and I got to watch Q start getting all droopy as the acupuncture did its thing. It is fascinating to watch, and learn, as our acupuncturist explains the Qi (chee) and the meridians and the trial-and-error of finding the right spots to achieve the correct response. The good thing is that horses are intrinsically honest and quite responsive to pain. So once the needle is in the right spot, the pain response magically disappears. ...
The biggest news is I have a new phone and there is a clear improvement in the quality of pictures. The other big news is that I thought I broke my pony. 😢 Our club has organized a month long derby, based on distance goals. The competition ranks riders inside a category and gives the top mileage a prize … and bragging rights. Bunnies were under 50km, gazelles were 51 to 250 km, and the warhorse was over 250 km. I immediately signed us up for the warhorse. And then I did our first ride trying to crack 20 km in 2.5 hrs. I was sore for a few days, and Q started acting funny. At first I thought it was the hackamore I was trying out. He was bolting for no reason while we would be trotting or cantering on trail. One day he bolted 5-6 times. 🤷♀️ Then I noticed his back was sore when I went to brush him. I took 10 days off riding, and walked the trails with him instead. I booked him a massage, and she confirmed what I was thinking. Q is sore on the left hind and in the left lumba...
I should have lunged first. But the arena was busy and I decided to take my chances on the trail. Some recent snow made the footing better so we trotted out for a nice solo ride. I was feeling pretty chill on the first afternoon of my holiday break and enjoying the warm weather that had the snow on the treetops melting into raindrops. It was nice. I head down the ravine and take a picture of the lovely scene before we head up the hill. In that blind turn ahead a walker appears. A nice older gentleman I have seen before. We share smiles and pleasantries and cross paths. Ten feet later as I start heading up the steep hill on the left at the apex of the blind turn, a loose dog pops out. I didn’t see much as everything else happened in a flash. It seemed like a medium size tan dog. Q did a 180 and galloped down the ravine, across the bridge and up the ravine. I lost my stirrup in the process and was pulling on reins and screaming whoa. Somewhere by the bridge I realized he wasnt going to s...
Comments
Post a Comment