#riding log

[ponyblonde]

another fun trail excursion from yesterday :)

we were taking a break on top of a hill and i let a family with little kids pet sunny bc he’s such a nice boy

[ahorsenamedphoebe]

Ride 30

Oh how I love this pony

We’ve had quite a slow start this year, and this was only our second ride off property. My trail buddy is wounded (knee problems) and is likely out for the foreseeable future. My regular endurance buddy has mostly retired her horse, Aster, and is currently looking for a new prospect. So both of the people I rode with regularly last year have not been able to ride. Since I don’t have my own trailer, I’ve been fairly stranded. Luckily, another woman at the barn has a new trailer, and she wants to condition with me. Based on gas prices we can only really afford once a week, so we decided on Sunday’s. Today was our maiden voyage.

And it went just about as perfect as it could have gone. This endurance buddy’s horse, Rion, is a mustang and is a bit wary of everything. He doesn’t have a ton of loading experience so I was told to expect an extended loading process. The trailer is a two horse straight load, just like my trailer buddy. So I sent Luna in first and she’s pretty much a perfect loader at this point. We then looped his lead through the window, and endurance buddy stayed in the back to shut him in as soon as he loaded. He went in and out a few times, but it didn’t take nearly as long as I was expecting.

Since Rion hasn’t been out nearly as much as Luna, I knew we would likely have to lead most of the way. I was definitely a bit nervous thinking about it, we haven’t had as many rides so far, and it was our first ride of the year at this particular trail. And Luna was perfect. She was brave, she was fairly forward, and she only had one tiny spook. Since Rion isn’t as conditioned we decided to try 1/4 of a mile trot for every 3/4 mile of walking. Luna led all of the trotting. I had to push a little harder than normal, she’s definitely more wary at the trot while leading. She had one short stint where I couldn’t get her much faster than 5mph, but the footing wasn’t great in that area and had a lot of speed bumps. The other times she kept it pretty consistent at 7-8mph with minimal encouragement.

Overall it really could not have gone better. We’ll have to skip next weekend since the horses have spring shots. Rion tends to get quite sore after his vaccines, so we’ll give them a rest weekend and think about going during the week instead. I am getting fairly anxious that I seem to have a lot less access to the trails this year. I’m trying very hard not to obsessively compare last year’s mileage at this point to this year. I’m just thankful to get out at all. First ride is scheduled for the end of July, so we’ve still got time to condition. I don’t think it’ll take much to get Luna legged back up anyway.

Gonna try to do a clip on Luna on Tuesday, and then we’ll be really ready for the ride season to start.

[baylone]

When my trainer told me I was riding her big, green, sensitive mare I was like “oh I should have strayed in bed today.” Nothing like putting me on a horse well above my level to make me feel incompetent! But... while the lesson started rough, it ended well and I had fun riding such a cool horse. Miss Lily is a very lovely ride despite her reputation for being a, um, firecracker (not exactly the word my trainer uses....). But not falling off or otherwise failing miserably was a nice confidence boost. Keep the bar low and you will reach hights well above your goals 👍

[horse-sauce]

riding log 05/26/2020

today was my first ride since the 23rd. we’ve been having a truly disgusting amount of rain lately, meaning that the ground at the barn is really wet. we dont have an indoor arena so my riding was limited (i also had to be out of the barn by a certain time)

so today’s ride was pretty simple, nothing too difficult. mostly we did trot work, started with ten-ish minutes of walking and then did some trot work in the field to check footing and such.

we went back up to the arena and did some more trot work (only in part of the arena though, considering the back half on one side is a lake right now), and excitingly: poles!

we did pole work today!!! very exciting. we did about a month of pole work a few weeks ago and only just started to ease off of that to do other things (like jumping), so this was our first pole session in probably two weeks or so.

he was a dream guys. a dream. he didn’t trip, he got back on his haunches, he went through the poles so perfectly and his trot was so well controlled. i remembered to use my half halts and had a much better time at keeping my legs on and my seat under me.

our ride was short but very productive in that he was actually able to get under himself (and i was able to ride from the seat and push him forwards with my seat, which i’m still struggling with) and move forwards without getting heavy on the front. i’m very proud overall of today’s ride!

and now i’m gonna go and make myself spaghetti and hopefully clean and oil my girth and maybe listen to a few chapters of harry potter

[trail-horse]

Rode Styles for the first time in what feels like ages tonight and ofc he was wonderful. We’re really getting there!

[lessonhorsestookmyheart]

It's amazing to watch the videos of my first ever ride from just over two years ago and to compare it with fairly recent videos of me riding. I've gone from looking like a potato with my hands high and an inability to signal trot to riding out on the hacks and being able to trot and canter without any help from an instructor or whip ( although I still look a bit like a potato sometimes). That just shows how much a good instructor and some perseverance can help , and not everyone stays crap forever.

[ahorsenamedphoebe]

I’ve decided to try for 4 different endurance rides this year. We’ll try a 25 at Bonecrusher in late July, a 25 at Huntersville Hundred the first week of October, a 30 at Hillsdale Fall Blast the second week in October, then a 30 at Field of Dreams Dash in early November. I’m kinda worried about doing two weekends in a row, but we did Huntersville last year, and it’s a flatter and easier ride than the others. Luna should be in prime shape by October, so I’m hoping she’ll be able to handle it. And if we get to that point and she’s not feeling it I just won’t do Hillsdale.

I’ve got two different people who are taking me to rides, which is why I have so many options this year. They both board and my barn and they used to go on endurance rides together, but they friendship broke up. They refuse to ride together anymore, but they both tolerate me, so more for me!

I worry a little bit about trying to coordinate conditioning rides with both of them, as they won’t ride together. Plus the rides I’ll have with my trail buddy. But I’ve had worse problems than having too many conditioning rides to go on. Luna and I have had a slow start to conditioning this year with wet weather and prior commitments and human injuries taking priority. But starting next weekend my new endurance buddy and I have a standing date for a conditioning ride every Sunday. So hopefully the miles will start piling up soon enough.

[ahorsenamedphoebe]

It is a beautiful 75 degree day here in the Midwest, so we are going to attempt our first trail ride of the season. We would ride the entire weekend but my trail buddy leaves tomorrow. I’ve been slacking pretty hard on the actual riding this season, so I’m a bit worried about how Luna and I will handle it. Luna also has a new boyfriend, and she’s been *very* expressive about her heat. She’s not generally nasty, but she can get a little spookier when she’s cycling. I really miss getting out on the trail, so I’m excited. I just wish I didn’t get so nervous