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. 🦌
I was waiting at the barn for the custom western saddle maker, when the english saddle fitter shows up. Surprised, but delighted to see her, I show her the growing white spots on Qs withers and she says “uh oh”. I told her about some other issues (how everyone tells me the saddle is tipping left, and this weird spongey bump that appears after very long rides), she pokes, prods and measures and tells me that this will be a bigger job than usual (she refits every 6 months on my growing boy). So we got a surprise fitting, she took the saddle and said it would be ready in a week. No problem for me, because I had a very busy work week. Well I picked up the saddle a few days ago, had a magnificent ride and !surprise surprise! my left hip did not hurt afterwards. Huh. So, clearly hindsight is 20/20. But next time I will call saddle fitter sooner. Meanwhile, the custom western saddle maker came to test the tree. A perfect fit. It was cool to see the tree on Q in advance and imagine what is...
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 unicorn...
Annual Trail Rides: 66/200 Its been a good week with some solo and accompanied rides. I preferred my solo rides this week, to be honest. I think I needed the quiet of a no pressure ride where I didn’t have to worry about somebody else. Cases still on the rise here during our third wave, and so confinement rules are rising with a shutdown of interprovincial borders. Qs canter is continuing to improve, especially for his leads and steady pace. Sometimes he gets too slow and drops to a trot, so I usually need to prime him with my inside leg to keep going. Or at least keep that leg ready to prime. The spring sillies have mostly abated, but probably because I rode so often this week (six times). Today I went out with a new boarder friend and we had a fabulous time riding the trails for 2 hours and learning about each other. We met lots of families walking out, and as usual we were asked if they could take our picture. My standard reply these days is yes, if they send me the pic. So today we...
Annual Trail Rides: 176/200 (Bareback 23/40) The weather is gorgeous and the forecast plans for much of the same for the next five days: blue skies, warm but cool, just barely sweater weather. Despite my reluctance to cross the busy highway when riding solo, I gave myself an extra boost of courage and giddy upped. I have only gone to sector 5 twice this year, in part because nobody wants to cross the highway ... but it was just too gorgeous a day to ride my regular routes. The second issue is the possibility of falling ( Ouch ) and being solo, that my horse abandons me to high tail it home, crossing the highway at a gallop and ... tragedy ensues. But my steady Q has been hoof perfect these days, so I squashed those fears and carried on. I got some lovely gallops in and then got to the long track where I had my big fall in 2019. With some trepidation, but armed with all of our amazing galloping of the last two years, I asked and Q was OFF like a QH racehorse. I pulled him back a bit bec...
Well the terrible winter is on its way out, and spring is here, along with Qs 11th bday. We got some good saddle time this week finally! And while the trails are still recovering it has been a blessing to get out. Puppy is doing well and 6 months old! Potty training is done, and she is a magnificent walker. We graduated our second obedience class and puppy agility. She just rocks those tunnels!
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