Best Pony Goes Trail Riding

Isabel and I hauled out to Blackfoot Grazing Reserve to take the ponies for what was supposed to be a leisurely trail ride.  We started off in the fields and made the ponies walk calmly up and down all the hills.  Dee was game but Martini was pretty sure we should canter or trot.

I love fall rides

We ended up moving a little quicker than we thought, going 15 km in just over 2 hours.  It was the first big trail ride I've taken Dee on because I'm trying to bring her fitness up slowly.  I'm pretty sure she was getting tired (at the very least she should have been) but she was completely game to continue on.  I think she would power on until she dropped from exhaustion.  I never once had to push her, I held her back more than anything.  Turns out my little Saddlebred completely outwalks the 16.1 TB.

Sweaty Pony

The more I ride this horse, the happier I am.  I'm sure we will have rough days because nothing is ever smooth sailing but she's so willing and honest I'm having more fun than I have in a very long time.  We actually hauled to a XC course a few hours away just to get one final schooling in and it was funner than I could have hoped.  Dee and I babysat the greenbean 3 year olds in between schooling.  She jumped everything I pointed her at and then was content to stand with the babies or lead them over tiny logs. Not once was I scared for my life.  I had forgotten what it felt like to not be completely terrified of a XC course and Dee is giving my back my confidence.

Rain, Rain Go Away

So we are headed to our first event of the season this weekend and it's been raining off and on for the last two weeks.  It seems to consistently rain on Wednesdays when I'm supposed to have a jumping lesson.  So I'm feeling under-prepared for this weekend.  Mare had Monday off after the derby, Tuesday we went for a short hack down the road (4 miles in 30 min), Wednesday it stormed like mad, Thursday the arena was too wet to ride so we went for another jaunt down the road.  I'm hoping to get a jump school in this afternoon before I give her a bath.

Ducky photobomb!

I will also get to see Riddick at the Beaumont event for the first time since I sold him a year ago.  Here's hoping him and his new owner have had an awesome year!

It's going to be a great weekend and the mare is going to jump all the jumps!  (Wish me luck, I may need it(

Chainsaws, Shampoo, Sunburns and Tack

Saturday was a full barn day.  I stopped by the Beaumont cross country course to watch Sarah ride in a clinic.  Pony did really well and the clinician spent some time with Sarah working on keeping Pony out of his favourite spot, the deepest spot possible.

Sarah and Pony (yes, he has a name but no one uses it)

 

After I headed out to the barn to hack out the mare.  Since we had the x-country derby on Sunday I wanted to take her for a good ride to take the edge off.  We started off with a brisk trot and before I knew it we had trotted almost a mile and a half!  After a short walk break, which was more for me than my horse, we started back at the trot.  We were trotting by a yard when some idiot started his chainsaw no more than 5 feet from us!  Mare reared up, did a complete 180 and took off the other direction.  Thankfully she did it so gracefully I had no problem sticking with her.  I got her back under control and turned around to go back the way we were going.  I gave the guy a piece of my mind and all he had to say was "I didn't think it would scare her".  My response may or may not have been "It's a F@*^!ng CHAINSAW!"

After that incident my ride went downhill.  She just wasn't focused on me.  In total we went 9.4 miles in 1hr20min but it wasn't until mile 9 that she stopped acting like everything was going to jump out and hack her legs off.  Needless to say it was a challenging and difficult ride.

Beautiful day for leather therapy

Once we got back I gave her a quick bath because she's not great to hose off so I am aiming to hose her every chance I get (I also don't want her to get all sweaty, stand in the sun and turn a faded orange).  Bonus was it took off a bunch of the winter hair that has been hanging on.

I let her hang out and graze while I gave all my tack a deep clean and oil.  There is something therapeutic about cleaning tack.  I may have had a difficult ride and a challenging bath but an hour spent cleaning tack does wonders for the mood.

In all I think I was outside for about 4 hours.  I am a fanatic about sunscreen since I have the complexion of a redhead without the actual red hair.  I was wearing a SPF 30 on my entire upper body (I spray myself, then get dressed so that I don't miss spots) and a SPF 60 on my face.  My face survived the day with nothing more than a few freckles but my shoulders and back were not so lucky.  The picture is from shortly after I got home and the burn proceeded to get worse well into the evening.  I've now invested in SPF 60 for my body and have added a bottle to my brush bag so that I can apply right before I get on.

Not fun, not fun at all

Next up, the challenge of finding the right bra/shirt combo for the derby on Sunday that won't irritate my shoulder and back.

Busy Pony-Filled Long Weekend

So Friday saw the mare getting her feetsies done.  We had to put new shoes on the front since we wore the toes right down.  First thing my farrier said was "Well you've sure been riding".  As much as resets are much easier (her feet are crazy round and huge, so it takes a ton of manipulation to fit her shoes) I love her new shoes.  She's in a different shoe now, with clips that are much more forward.  My farrier would have liked to put her in a toe clip but he didn't have any shoes big enough so she got the fancy German shoes.  Hopefully we can get at least one reset out of them!

I wish I got pedicures this regularly

Saturday, Isabel and Erin came and picked me up and we were off to Blackfoot Grazing Reserve for the first big trail ride of the year.  Erin hasn't been out on an actual trail ride since she came off a year ago and broke her back so she was justifiably nervous.  But Spider was fabulous and we went on to have a lovely ride were we did a bunch of trotting and cantering.  We ended up going just over 10 miles in 2 hours.  So a little slower my normal pace but still quite a good clip.  It was so nice to actually get to ride with other people.  I've been hacking out by myself too much!

On Sunday we went cross country schooling again, this time with our coach.  Once again the mare was fabulous.  We had a few bobbles, but for the most part she was forward, brave and willing.  Even after our big hack the day before she showed zero signs of being tired.  We worked our way through pretty much every complex at Beaumont, including banks, ditches and the water.  We're back there next weekend for a derby so it was nice to have a chance to school beforehand.  

Isabel and Martini, Shelby and Sailor, Erin and Spider and Melinda and Ducky

I really need to work on not having a moment of hesitation.  All it takes is a split second and the mare will take advantage of it.  She's more than capable of jumping everything I point her at and I need to ride her like she's going to jump it or die rather than giving her the opportunity to make her own decision.  Especially since her decisions can include rearing and spinning.  Not fun :( I also need to remember to bring my corks.  We had a couple of slips that shook the mare up a little.  I have the holes drilled in so I can use them (when I don't forget my kit in the car).  

Straightness is also a new goal, especially on the banks.  She seems to have developed a wiggle and a preference for angles.  I need to be a better driver so that I don't set her up for a run-out, not after all our work to kill the run-out.  

All things considered for her second time on a cross-country course I was super impressed.  She's gong to make an eventer yet!

My favourite view.

Monday I had the osteopath out since her back has been bugging her quite a bit.  I've been putting her Back on Track sheet on every chance I get but she obviously needs some help.  I was running behind so they got started without me (he works with my mom so zero trust issues here).  They found quite a bit in her back related to that awful hematoma she had in March.  Also found some new stress in her jaw.  I hoped up on her to take her through her paces and see and even after two days of hard riding she WAS NOT TIRED.  She was spooky, reactive and just generally up.  I'd been on for 5-10 min and she took a misstep and was 3 legged lame.  I guess it's better for it to happen when the osteopath is there but I wish it hadn't happened at all.  Seems like she twisted her knee quite good.  After taking the stress out of she was no longer dead lame but she was short on it.  He figured it could take a few days for the tissue to recover.  Thankfully she gets Tuesdays off while I go to yoga anyways.  Fingers crossed!

Mom hopped up to she what she could feel

Overall it was a great weekend.  It was also my last free weekend until August so I managed to devour 5 books, hang out with the non-horsey bestie, and play the dog out completely.

Being a barn dog is sooo exhausting

Zoom-Zoom

So the red mare and I went for a hack down the road.  I figured it wold be interesting since she had 3 days off due to me being at the horse show, having a horse show hangover, and then going to ride Studly while Shimmer-E took a mini-family vacation.

My favourite view

I was not wrong.  We had FORWARD, and not much else.  I figured rather than getting into a fight with her it was easier to let her wear herself out.  So we trotted.  And we trotted.  And we trotted some more.  We went about 4km before she was willing to listen and do some work.  We managed another 6.5km of decent work, including a few decent changes on the straightaways.  Mostly though we just did transitions.  Both between gaits and within the gaits.  I've been focusing on really using my core to control the zoomy mare rather than getting into a pulling match (which results in her nose going to her chest).  My abs and back hurt by the time we got back.  I've also been working on lowering my center of gravity and having more weight in my calves, resulting in sore legs.

We also played in the water without any drama.

















All in all we both had a good work out since our 10.5km ride only took 50 min.

Let's Stretch Our Legs, Or Go 6 miles, That Works Too

The weather was crappy this weekend so I didn't get a chance to ride (think wind and snow).  So when I went out last night I figured the mare would be a little excitable, so the plan was just a nice quick hack down the road to stretch her legs.

Well she was feeling pretty good so my short ride turned into a 6 mile conditioning ride.  Turns out we did the 6 miles in 46 minutes!  Mare was barely sweaty and I wasn't struggling.  Apparently both our fitness levels are better than I thought.  I even had enough energy to go to an aqua-fit class after.

If we can just get jumping all things down we should have a stellar event season this year!