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We lost the lake to a parking lot. The first picture was taken two months ago, and the second picture was taken today. Not a lot of logic behind this move, but I suspect its to provide more accessible parking for residents that want to walk in the park. Unfortunate because these last few years the water got deep enough for the horses to swim in the summertime. Usually it was just like a swollen creek and a great place to train young horses on water crossings. Ive been working up to being ready to tackle swimming with Q, but it looks like this wont be happening. Taken June 2019, serene and beautiful watershed.  Taken August 2019, a potential parking lot? Anyways, had another good trail today mostly walking and trotting with BO poneying her baby and fellow boarder J. I was kind of surprised at the top speed since it was some pretty slow trots. Ill have to go out on my own soon and see what my top speed is trotting. Its probably pretty high as I can trot while most oth...

As the summer camp theme and brilliant weather continues, I went on two very different trails today with different people. I also downloaded the app Horse Globe on my phone and so far the results are brilliant. Im anxious to see what I can get my top speed to, but for now Im trying to stay safe and in the saddle. Parked and waiting for tack. My butt contusion is sprouting rainbow colours from my tailbone towards my hip. Im still trying to figure out the sequence of motions that had me fall butt first on the inside of the turn. I remember having knocked my nose, but cant remember if it was on his neck as he slammed the brakes and spun, or if it was on his shoulder as I fell down. Today was the second time I rode post fall, and it was a good day. The first ride was with M and her chunky paint. It was a more sedate ride but Im convinced we still rode longer and faster than she originally intended, only because she knew I was tracking it on my app. We even cantered for ... 10 st...

Wow, convalescence yesterday was so boring. I guess the epsom salts, alleve, and ice packs helped because I was itching to get back to the barn today. I was a bit nervous to fall again and do more damage, knowing that the hematoma on my rear that feels like a hot tennis ball in my pants would not fare well under more trauma. But I figured I would just do a solo loop in my favorite part of the woods, geriatric style. But as I was tacking up, I was starting to thing that it might not be such a geriatric trail after all. Sure enough, once in the saddle and confident that I was not in any pain, we were off. Mostly trotted and cantered, but practiced some nice canter departs with proper leads and worked on some connection through a working trot. Impulsion is always so much easier on trail. Less than an hour later we were back to the barn, Q barely cracked a sweat. In fact he was spry. Such a fun horse to ride and his fitness is better than ever. Much riding planned this coming week...

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...

It takes time, at least for me. Let's go! It all started out about a year ago when I discovered Tristan Tucker on youtube and watched his free videos on problem horses and an interesting way to teach them to relax under pressure. But I was super impressed by the ability to teach the horse to “present themselves to the mounting block”. So the next day I went to the barn, took a dressage whip and a pocket full of mints and had Q doing a haunches in on both sides in just a few minutes. Wow. Then I applied the haunches in at the mounting block, fences, tree stumps, etc. Cool. Then Q started showing me he knew the game by doing it before asking. Then he progressed to walking to the block without me holding him. And then we tried to do it from afar. I asked D of our barn crew to hold him while I got on the mounting block and called to him. The first attempt was a fail. The second was a success. We have paused on saddle training these days and are putting ...

I finally did it! I found the courage, time, and circumstances to go for a trail ride bareback in a halter/lead combo. I felt like I was 12 years old again. Awesome! Ive been practicing without stirrups for months now, having graduated to trotting on trail behind M and her chunky paint this last month. I hopped on bareback earlier this week for a quick spin in the parking lot. Having had two massive trail rides this week, and with the heat sucking any excess energy out, I figured it was a now or never event. I did a test run in the outdoor ring to see if I could trot and brake without falling off ... and while I was definitely wobbly, I figured I was good to go with M and her supersafe paint on a quiet stroll. M then pulled into the parking lot, saw me doing my shenanigans and was up for the challenge. It was awesome! Actually felt better than stirrupless riding as the contact between my skin and the horse created heat and suction. We even trotted. Twice! And on the second trot...

The weather was so pleasant today that we did the big loop from section 2, through section 3, and section 4. Its about a 20 km loop that took us 3 hours to do. I had water bottles, an apple, my phone, and a few peppermints for Q. The first 30 minutes was solo as I went to pick up trail buddy C with her azteca mare. Much of section 4 is on gravel residential roads, or on trails next to residential homes with pools, trampolines, treehouses, and all kinds of stuff sitting in someones backyard. Its a good test for how desensitized your horse is. Q was awesome, occasionally trembling when a dog lunged at us but quick to get settled again. Lots of pretty homes and horsefarms in this neighborhood, and very polite drivers. We got to visit lots of backyards and gardens. Trail is on the right. Oh and it must have been garbage day! They were all over. Q did fantastic with the traffic, on the buckle most of the way. It was a quiet weekday, but those pools and trampo...