Equinpilot Foal Pool

Because I really love babies and it's fun to imagine what's coming. So here are my guesses for Equinpilot's Foal Pool.

So much chrome! (Photo borrowed from Equinpilot's blog)

Foal #1 (Castleberrys ReFflection x Castleberrys Dyma Hi)
Birthdate: April 13
Gender: Colt
Chrome: 2 high socks, 2 cornet, narrow blaze

Foal #2 (Castleberrys ReFflection x Castleberrys Rosalee)
Birthdate: May 12
Gender: Filly
Chrome: 4 stockings, wide blaze

Foal #3 (Castleberrys ReFflection x Hawkshill-Castleberrys Rosina)
Birthdate:  May 5
Gender: Colt
Chrome: 3 socks, 1 cornet, narrow blaze, belly spot
Colour: Bay

Foal #4 (Castleberrys ReFflection x Nebo Ffion)
Birthdate: May 22
Gender: Colt
Chrome: 4 stockings, wide blaze, belly spot

Foal #5 (Castleberrys ReFflection x Rhosyr Ebony)
Birthdate: May 30
Gender: Filly
Chrome: Star, snip, 2 socks
Colour: Black

I'm not sure if it's my love of chrome that wants 4 out of the 5 to come out with all white feet and white faces. But hey, it's all a bit of a crap-shoot, especially with a first foal crop.

Ritchie also has 2 babies hitting the ground this year. I can't wait to see what he produces this year. So far, each year has been an improvement.

Still my favourite Ritchie baby (even if he's currently a homely #littleasshole)

Dressage Queens For a Day

For the first time I actually rode in an actual dressage show! And had a ton of fun.

Dee and I have spent almost all winter focusing on dressage. This winter will forever be known as Dressage Bootcamp. Since Shimmer-E was taking Ritchie to a silver dressage show, I figured Dee and I should join her, especially since they also offered non-rated classes. Even better, we managed to convince the third musketeer that she needed to bring her pony and join us. For the first time in a long friendship all 3 of us showed at the same show.

We hauled down Saturday afternoon so we could school and bathe the ponies. As per usual, I warmed Ritchie up for Shimmer-E. The unusual part was he bucked me off. I was just walking him around the small ring and the first time we got to the judges table he spooked, reared and spun on his back legs and took of doing his version of bucking (no flying back legs but a giant amount of air time while humping his back). I came off right around X. I had two thoughts as this all went down. "Don't land on your bad foot" and "Shit, now there's going to be a loose stud in a busy arena". Thankfully I managed to land on the knee and shin of my bad leg, rather than the ankle and Ritchie headed right to Shimmer-E.

Double-duty Quick Wraps (I wore it all weekend)

After a solid lunge I got back on and schooled him in both rings before Shimmer-E mounted up and had a tense but successful ride. Since my leg was very sore I elected to just putter around on Dee. She remains Best Pony as she didn't put a foot out of place, no matter what happened (spooking horses and flapping pigeons didn't even rate a look).

I was super pumped to give her a bath. Her last bath was in September. As irritating as it is to have to use copious amounts of purple shampoo, it is rather satisfying to witness the transformation.

I had completely reasonable ride times that allowed me enough time to braid Ritchie, get on him for 5 minutes, watch her first test, braid Dee and then get on for my test.

I stuck with the minimal warm-up that served us so well last year. I was on for no more than 10 minutes before I went in. I mostly walked, did a few walk-trot transitions and did not canter.

We proceeded down centerline for T-1(and remembered the first halt!) and had our most relaxed test to date! I had a solid flat-footed walk. On the video (which my mother keeps forgetting to send me) you can see a mile wide grin on my face while we are walking. I didn't care what my score was, I was super happy with our ride.

The next test, T-2, was about an hour later so I put Dee in her stall to chill. The second tense felt more rushed and tense to me but was still light years ahead of anything from last year. (Except the stretchy trot circle, that was a hot mess).

I texted this to my dressage coach and my very reserved and proper Russian instructor sent me 3 exclamation points!

I was super pumped to find out we had scored 60.4% in T-1 and a 62.5% on T-2, earning us a second. The judge is traditionally a tough but fair critic so I was really pleased with our scores. And it didn't say 'tense' anywhere on our test, for the first time ever.

Look at how white those legs are!

The best part of the weekend was this picture though. Does it get any better than showing with your besties and everyone coming away super successful?
 

Favourite part of the weekend. Smiles, pretty ears and satin

The Old Man is Going to Discover the Joys of Alcohol

So my old man has been getting progressively lamer. Some days he's almost completely sound. But some days he's so lame he's basically crippled.

When he came home this fall I was told that he had an intermittent minor lameness and their vet figured it was arthritis in his shoulder. My vet took two seconds to laugh at that diagnosis. Chase very obviously has ringbone in the front left (his crooked leg). The game plan was Previcox to keep him comfortable and Bute when we wanted to ride him (mostly walking trail rides).

That plan was no longer working so I scheduled an appointment with my mom's vet, who focuses on sports medicine and soundness evaluations. I made sure the Boy stuffed Chase full of cookies and apples before we left because I wasn't sure if I would be bringing a horse home. I am not prepared to dump thousands of dollars into an 18 year old pasture pet if the problem is only going to get worse and he would continue to be uncomfortable.

Dr. Chad went straight into X-Raying the front leg. I'm not super educated about what a normal X-Ray of the lower limb should look like but I could tell right away that it sure didn't look good.

The whole lower limb shows a fair amount of arthritis. He's got narrowing of the joint space between P1 & P2.

Dr. Chad figures this is why some days he's crippled. Basically if he takes a funny step, trips or is too exuberant he can squish the nerve between the two bones and it causes extreme pain.

There is also evidence of degredation of the tendon's where they connect to the bone (I can't remember which ones, the superficial digital flexor for sure though).

The good news is that Dr. Chad thinks the joint is well on it's way to fusing. If we can get it to fuse then Chase should be pasture sound for sure, and very likely riding sound. Since surgery is not an option for me (too expensive and too risky) we are going to give injections a go.

For comparison's sake, this is Ritchie's 4yo X-Rays from his Stallion licensing.
(The vet said they were some of the cleanest X-Ray's she'd ever seen)

We went ahead and did a cortisone injection. We need to see if we can get the pain and inflammation under control before moving onto the next step. In 45-60 days we will do the first of a series of ethyl injections. We will then likely do a series of 3-5 injections, each 45 days apart. At that point we will do more X-Rays to see if it is fusing. Dr. Chad sent me the research that has been done and it appears that ethyl injections (it's basically Everclear) have been quite successful at fusing joints.

Stabby Stabby

It's been almost 2 weeks since the cortisone injection and Chase still has good and bad days but the bad days aren't nearly as bad and there are fewer of them.

I'm really glad I got to bring the old man home and that we have a game plan to make him comfortable. Even if we never ride him again, just seeing his face every day makes me immeasurably happy.

Who wouldn't want to be mugged for cookies by this face?

All the Back on Track!

There are plenty of things I do for my horses that I do because they make me happy, not because the animals actually require it. Supplements, blanketing regimes, tail bags, and BoT (all the BoT!).

I liked the concept of Back on Track and purchased a mesh sheet for Merlin while I was competing him. I noticed that my stiff  old man took much less time to warm up after wearing it (which was a blessing because he really wasn't as fit as he should have been). I picked up a couple saddle pads but never really contemplated getting much more.

Fast forward to February 2013. I had just gotten the half cast off of my trashed ankle and my surgeon allowed me to have a walking boot, on the condition that I put absolutely no weight on it. The boot allowed me to shower and wear socks, to combat the stench and the frigid Alberta winter. I figured that BoT socks couldn't do any harm to my healing ankle so I didn't really have anything to lose.

For the first few weeks (I was non-weight bearing for 16 weeks!) I didn't really notice a difference but as my ankle started to heal I did notice a small reduction in swelling after wearing the socks. I continued to wear them for the entire healing process.

No weight bearing required to ride (getting on was a nightmare though)

I became a huge believer after I was back to walking. Any surface that is not flat and level caused me a huge amount of grief since I had almost no mobility in the joint. I started wearing my BoT socks again and found a huge difference in how my ankle held up. To this day, I need to wear them while walking a XC course and then to sleep at night as well. It cuts down on my limping. It's not a cure-all but I do find that it helps a ton.

Based on this, I may have gone slightly crazy with the amount of BoT products I own.

Dee and Ritchie both have mesh sheets. I wish the fit on these was better but any performance horse of mine will have one.

Mesh sheet, no-bows and bell boots

Dee and Ritchie both have a full set of no-bows. I find that these take a while to break in. When you first start using them they are stiff and more difficult to wrap. As they break in they become just lovely. I find that I always have tight and cool legs in the morning.

Actually, out whole show contingent has a mesh sheet and no-bows. Matching for the win!

Dee has a full set of Quick-Wraps. I just got these in November and haven't used them much. I won't be using them as a substitute for my no-bows (I refuse to leave anything that goes past the fetlock on overnight).

Only photo I have of the Quick Wraps

Dee has a saddle pad (that I hardly ever use since she really needs a non-slip pad). I loved this for Merlin with his stiff old man back.

The Red Mare modelling the BoT saddle pad

Dee has a rain sheet. The fit on this is better than the mesh sheet. Dee's has held up well. I've had it as long as I've had her and it needs zero repairs (but she is easy on her blankets, being the undisputed top mare).

Dee has bell boots (that she wore for 8 months straight after her collateral ligament injury). I have no idea if these helped her injury but they made me feel better. I had planned to leave them on her until they fell off, but they are surprisingly sturdy. She lived in them 24/7 until I pulled her shoes in the fall and after a quick wash are still in excellent condition.

Dee has front polos. I love these as polos. I find they have the perfect amount of stretch and I really like how the inside is not fleece.

I have at least 8 pairs of socks. These stretch out quite a bit but I will continue to buy them.

I have 2 ankle braces (since I inevitably misplace one right before a show). I wear this anytime I have to traverse less than ideal ground conditions. And always on XC. It's slim enough not to really affect the fit of my boots.

I have a scarf. I've had this for years and wear it all the time. I don't really notice any difference but it does keep me warm and it's sturdy.

I have a sweater. Mine is about two sizes to big so it makes a great layering piece. I do find it exceptionally warm.

I have a polo shirt. I don't wear it that often since it is white and the piping isn't super flattering on me.

I have riding gloves. This is one of the few BoT products that I truly dislike. I should really sell them because I never use them. They are lined, but the lining moves around. I find that they are just too think to get a good feel and I find them clumsy.

So much dislike

I also used to have a set of the exercise boots. I hated these. I found they were poorly constructed and never fit well. They turned and slipped no matter how tight or what horse they were on.

I had considered buying the open front jumping boots but one of the girls at the barn has them and they seem super cheap. The BoT lining is nice but the rest seems like a $20 boot that you pay $150 for. Do better Back on Track.

It's a little overwhelming when I list it like that. I don't even want to know how much money I've spent on BoT. But I've got happy ponies and it makes me feel better, so really, I have no regrets.

Welcome Drifter!

Since we moved to our lovely little acreage I've been harassing The Boy for another dog. Jill is very much his dog. She loves me, thinks I'm great and all, but will always chose him if he's around. I basically just harassed him until he finally decided that I was going to do it anyways, so he might as well get on board. (Because obviously being financially and emotionally responsible for 4 horses and 1 dog isn't enough in my world)

Jill likes me just fine, but she adores The Buy

I'm a huge fan of adoption but I have been burned in the past. A dog we got from a local rescue ended up costing us thousands of dollars in vet bills (the rescue had her for a year, there is no way they didn't know about the issues) for a systemic issue that was already prevalent when we got her.

When The Boy adopted Jill it was from a rescue that had brought her up from California. My friend Anne had been fostering her for a couple months so we felt comfortable that any known issues had been disclosed. Jill has been a fabulous fit for our family. She's happy to sleep on the couch all day. She's just as happy to spend the entire weekend on the go, at a horse show with me.

So when Anne went to Mexico on vacation and came home with a foster dog, I was super interested in meeting her. She's a 3(ish) year old WeimaranerxLab (best guess).

I just couldn't resist her. She's so sweet. We brought her home on a 2 week trial (her and Jill had a bit of a rough start).

Being a barn dog is exhausting

The first week involved some scrapping and some accidents but was overall a success. Needless to say, we are keeping her.

They both have the sad and pathetic look down pat.

Best of all? She picked me. She's my shadow. If I can't find her outside, it's likely because she is directly behind me.

Welcome home Drifter.

Moving On...

I've been riding with the same eventing coach for the past 5 years. I've also been boarding at her house during the summer months and buying the majority of my equipment from her tack store. I joke that I might as well just sign my pay cheques over to her.

There has been ups and downs but lately it's been mostly a series of downs. I don't feel comfortable airing all the issues but it all comes back to the level of service. Scheduling has been a bit of a nightmare, communication is basically non-existent and I've been left out of a few activities that I would usually have participated in.

Cute pony pictures to break up all the text

She makes me feel like she is constantly doing me a favour, when in fact, I am paying for a service. I expect to be treated with consideration and respect. While we are friendly, I wouldn't call us friends. I'm not saying you can't be friends with your coach, but to me the coach part of the relationship is more important than the friends part.

So I've decided to move on.

I've been riding with a dressage instructor for the past few years and will continue. to ride with her, on both horses when I can get in (she only comes to our barn on Fridays and her schedule is always packed so I'm the first on the cancellation list with Ritchie).

I've also started hauling out for jump lessons on Dee. I've only had 2 lessons so far but I'm really enjoying them. My new instructor is strictly a jumper and is quite direct. She does not sugar coat anything but all of her students ride really well and are competitive. I'm excited to see how she will improve both of us.

This leaves me in capable hands for everything with Dee, except XC. Which is a little daunting when attempting to move up to Training this season. For now I'm going to just focus on clinics and try and haul down south to ride with Sandra Donnelly and my back up coach who is also down south. I may continue to catch the odd XC schooling with my old coach if the schedule works out and I am in the mood. But I will definitely not be making any extra effort to make it work out.

I'm also undecided what to do about jumping Ritchie. One of the new girls at the barn is bringing in her own jumping instructor so I may give a few lessons with her a whirl. For now, I'm content to just pop around the small stuff and build his confidence.

Dee's new (only) trick. 

In an effort to not burn any bridges and make it uncomfortable at the barn I have not spoken directly to my old coach. I've broached the conversation a few times and she just brushes me off or changes the subject. I don't normally avoid conflict but this is a fight I'm not going to pick. I'm going to just let it go away quietly and will address it if she ever brings it up.

I'm not sure it's the right course of action but for now it's how I'm moving forward. Have you ever had to break up with a coach? How did you do it?

Creepy Crawly Ick

I was born and raised in Alberta. Other than a brief gap-year in Ireland I've always lived in Alberta.

Alberta is pretty awesome. We don't have rats. No really, we don't. I never appreciated this fact until I lived in Ireland and the rats were the same size as my cat.

Another fact I've been pretty grateful for, especially as Lyme disease comes more to the forefront of the news, is the lack of ticks.

I'm not claiming Alberta doesn't have ticks, we do, but they are not very prevalent, especially in the Prairies. As you move north into the forest and west into the mountains you are more likely to encounter ticks.

Because of this I've managed to go nearly 30 years without ever personal experience with a tick. When I pulled Dee's blanket the other day I had to go get someone else to confirm that the black spot I found was in fact a tick. With some help (and the handy travel size tweezers in my purse) I managed to successfully remove the creepy little thing.

I'm not overly bothered by bugs. But something about a creature with it's head buried under the skin and still being able to see it's legs wiggle gives me the heebie-jeebies. Ugh. Just typing that made me vaguely uncomfortable.

Alberta has a Submit-A-Tick program in an effort to track and asses the risk of Lyme disease. (Most Alberta doctors refuse to admit we have Lyme in the province and as such it is nearly impossible for sufferers to get treatment, but that is a completely different story). I dropped off the tick and within a week they called to let me know it was a Winter Tick, likely transferred from a moose, and not a carrier of Lyme disease.

I still have no idea how Dee managed to pick it up and have it appear under her blanket in the span of 16 hours.

Here's to hoping I don't have any more tick encounters. Apparently I can never move. Sandra was telling us horror stories of her time in Virginia where they had to remove ticks from legs every single day. Just no. Ick.

Sandra Donnelly Clinic - Day 2

I'm a terrible blogger. I wrote this post, scheduled it and then went on my merry way. Blogger ate it and I couldn't summon the will to rewrite it. Every time a post disappears it kills my desire to blog. I may need to switch to a new platform.

Ritchie

Day 2 of the clinic started off with Ritchie. Shimmer-E was able to come and watch and get an education in jumper land (she is my favourite DQ).

Our flatwork started with going over the differences in full seat, light-seat, 2-point and driving seat. Sandra then put us through our paces, having us change our seat and demand a reaction from our horses. Turns out my light-seat has disappeared. 

Full seat? No problem. 2-point? Rock solid. Driving seat? Effective. Light-seat? Completely gone. I couldn't for the life of me allow my hips to move with him. Sandra told me that she's not surprised. Dee doesn't really let me practice light-seat without some fireworks. My homework is to keep working on it with Ritchie until I feel really solid in it. Then to work on it some more before I try and transition it to Dee.

Moving onto the over fences work, Ritchie really showcased the fact that Saturday's challenges were more of a test of my determination than fear or confusion. We jumped a skinny, brush boxes, a one-stride, a two-stride, planks and lattice. All which was new to him and he didn't say boo. We did have one drive by, the first time in the one-stride, but it was definitely a steering problem, not a jumping problem. 

It wasn't always pretty but we did everything successfully. And we did our first real courses!

My main goal for Ritchie during the clinic was just exposure. He stood quietly while others had their turn. He couldn't have cared less when the other riders forgot I was riding a young stallion and parked themselves quite close to us. I was super proud of him. For a young horse who's had very little exposure to new experiences and places he really couldn't have performed more admirably.

A somewhat accurate portrayal of our set up

Dee

For the first time ever with Dee we completely mastered the flatwork and weren't the remedial child! Sandra had us turn down the center line and leg yield back to the wall, and then do it the other way. We started out walking and she had very little to say to Dee and I that wasn't super positive. Next came the trot, still super positive. 

We then started asking for a walk transition while continuing to leg yield. This turned out to be super helpful for me because Dee and I really struggle with downward transitions (Dee is convinced we should only ever go faster). It was critical to keep her body straight while doing this, no allowing her to fall in (or out) in her right shoulder. When we were straight we had some incredible transitions.

Same exercise at a canter. Dee and I haven't schooled canter leg yields but you'd never know it. It was the most magical flatwork. If it hadn't been a clinic I probably would have called it quits there and floated around on cloud nine for the rest of the day. That's how good it was.

I normally go first because I am really good at remembering courses. Except here. This is not the course I was supposed to do. For the first time in well over a year I forgot my course.

We moved right into jumping. It wasn't long before Sandra had the fences set at 3'3" (and even one that was sneakily 3'6").  We were able to jump around and successfully nail a pace and keep my nerves from interfering. I was super good about not looking down because I picked a spot really high on the wall and did not take my eyes off it (otherwise the fences started to freak me out a little, which is silly, we are both more than capable).

We even jumped a giant (think 3'3" with a 4'3" spread) triple bar. Considering I've been scared of oxers and petrified of triple's and hog's back's I was really happy with how it went.

Ritchie is a very physically demanding ride. So by the time I rode Dee I was a little tired and my legs were very sure I shouldn't be doing anything. I ended up running out of steam near the end. It really showed up coming into the triple on one of our final go's. I had a good pace but was nervous and Dee backed off as we came to the base. I just wasn't able to add enough leg and we came to a graceful, if abrupt halt in front of it. Sandra told me she thought we had it and that Dee could have helped me out a little. We got it done in a second try but it was becoming obvious that Dee was backing off and I just didn't have the gas to really get it done.

You can see how it's starting to fall apart here, but we still get it done

Because Sandra is awesome she lowered some of the fences so we could end on a better note (the second fence in both of the related distances stayed up, but the first fence got lowered). It was completely the right thing to do. It was also really nice to know that it wasn't anxiety or panic that necessitated the drop, just a lack of fitness on my part. I can work on that. #goalbreeches 

Overall it was a great clinic. I couldn't have been happier with both horses. I can't wait until it's show season.

Sandra Donnelly Clinic - Day 1

We hosted our annual Sandra Donnelly clinic this past weekend. Apparently I'm a sucker for punishment because I signed up to ride both horses (and really who needs money?)

Dee
On Saturday I rode Dee first. Since the clinic didn't fill up there were only two of us in my lesson. It was me and Dee and barn-mates Isabel and Martini. They've been showing Training for the past couple of years and are schooling 3'6".

Dee and I had only jumped twice since the Jessica Phoenix clinic in November. Nothing like joining the big guns to up the ante.

As always, Day 1 started with flatwork and flatwork exercises. Sandra hasn't seen Dee and I since July at Herron Park and was very impressed by our improvement on the flat. All that Dressage focus is paying off!

We started with a simple 20 m circle in the center of the arena. We focused on the quality of the gaits. Sandra had me use counter-flexion to encourage Dee to stretch her neck and relax. Keeping a consistent rhythm was also a main topic, reminding me not to just coast along and let Dee pick the pace, but to insist that she keep with me.

We then moved onto the poles exercise. There were two tiny cross rails just over 90' apart. We had to canter down the line(treating the cross rails as canter poles) and count how many strides. Then we had to come from the other direction and get the same number of strides.

Turns our Dee has a bigger step going to the right. It required a much more aggressive half halt to get the 10 stride to the right. After we came through and had to add a stride. To the left it was easy to get the 11. To the right I ended up over correcting and getting a 12. So I got to do it until the 11 was easy.

Next we had to get one less than original. I was apprehensive about it, but turns out once I just softened and opened the step, the 9 was just there. I felt like the 8 was even doable. Considering Dee has really only had two speeds, turtle and zoom, this felt like a huge breakthrough.

We then moved on to jumping the diagonals (blue to brown to blue). Sandra almost always has us schooling angles. The first time through we did both lines in a 4 to a 4. I had to work at pushing Dee out around the corner and not letting her drop her shoulder and motorcycle around the corner. The 4's proved to be easy so we then did a 5 to a 4 on each line. Opening up the stride was not a challenge but it did result in some funky distances while we figured out exactly how much to open it.

Once that was smooth we moved onto doing a 4 to a 5. This is where I really struggled. The closest I ended up getting was a 4 to a 4 1/2. Sandra let us leave it there because I was able to compress her more than she initially believed I'd be able to (Dressage bootcamp for the win).

We finished up with going from the diagonal lines to turning up the center. (Let me tell you, that turn was super hard if Dee was not stood up straight). The last few times through the center the first jump was 2'9" and moved up to the oxer being 3'3".

I barely had an anxiety about the height of the jumps. I think I was too busy trying to put all the pieces together to focus on how terrifying the last oxer was.

Ritchie
Ritchie was in the last group of the day. Our group of 3 included a barrel racer who jumps a few times a year because it's fun and a barn-mate who has been jumping on a regular basis with her mare this winter (but had a wreck in the summer that shook her confidence).

The lesson started the same way. 20m circle with a focus on alignment and gait quality. Sandra had me really focus on Ritchie's uphillness. Apparently he cheats, he gives me a big moving pretty trot that is still on the forehand. He just has so much movement in his back (especially compared to Dee) that he can fake being light in the front by flinging his legs out. She had me focus on bringing the shoulder in and out in order to lift his withers. To successfully lift his withers I needed to lengthen the base of his neck. I once again used counter flexion to help with this.

When we moved onto the canter poles/cross rails Ritchie decided he didn't want to play. He stopped. Since everything was set small enough he could walk over it, I just kept closing all the other doors. Forward was the only option. He deer leaped over it. We came around and he stopped again.

Rinse and repeat. The jerk refused a ton. Now I know he's green over fences but  nothing was bigger than 12" and he's done a ton of cross rails in the lat month. Finally Sandra told me that Ritchie was bullying me. She said he knows the answer and was just testing me to see how determined I was. She told me I needed to be tougher, not meaner, just more black and white.

I don't care that it's blurry. Look at the cute, interested pony!

Two reins in one hand and a good solid crack with the whip in front of the fence resulted in Ritchie leaping over the little vertical we were at. And he didn't refuse another fence all weekend. That one piece of advice made the whole clinic worthwhile.

We proceeded to school the angle lines and then jumped his very first oxer. We never did get into a good rhythm and he spent most of the lesson deer leaping, but we did end on a very successful note.

Riding in the Dark

Dee and I have been having some less than stellar rides lately. I think we are both sick and tired of going around in circles in the indoor.

Don't get me wrong, spending the last few months focusing on dressage has been great for both of us but lately I haven't been feeling that excited for our rides. So last night when it warmed up to an unseasonably warm -4°C I grabbed my headlamp and quarter sheet and went for a trail ride.

We've got about 2km of trails that loop around the back of the property and lead to a field that we can ride in. I started with my headlmap on but turned it off once we go to the field. There was just a tiny sliver of moon, but it was enough light that I could make out the fence line. Other than that I let Dee figure it out.

On our way to the trails

We had a blast. I did not ask anything of Dee except which gait we were in. No collection, minimal contact, and no circles. It was so nice to just get out and play in the snow. I don't have any idea how long we were out there, or how far we went but I can tell you it was a much needed break.

Ritchie is new and exciting but Dee is still Best Pony. When I got back a couple of other boarders commented on how brave I was to ride in the dark. But I trust Dee so bravery isn't really something I factored in.

I took this at 5:46 and it was pitch black out already

I've forgotten how enjoyable riding in the dark is. Something about it just soothes the soul. There is nothing but you and your horse. It's like hitting the reset.