Rides so far in May

Now that the weather is improved getting out more frequently for rides is easier! I've moved the animals to the front pasture at this point though I might toss them back and forth depending on how the grass keeps up.

So this past weekend...

Friday we had a giant windstorm that blew down the top of one of the pine trees that lines the neighbor's driveway that we use to access the barn. (We all have easement access)  Rear neighbors were at their son's college graduation so front neighbor came over with his chainsaw and helped me break down the tree.

Totally blocking the driveway.

Where it came from

5 year old for scale

Sunday Morning

I kept eyeing the thing and thinking, "This would be PERFECT for a jump". So neighbor helped me trim down the branches and then cut the central trunk into two pieces. And voila, my schooling cross country log jumps were born! On Saturday  I propped them up with some log pieces we have from behind the shed to give them more height and started plotting how I would go ride after Hazel was in bed. I even wore my riding pants to nurse her with the goal of immediately heading out while I still had light.

And then that was completely foiled. The kids took priority but by the time everyone was actually in bed for good it was 10pm and there was no way I was going to test my new jumps. I legit cried, much to my poor, bewildered husband's confusion.

So I went to bed in my still clean kerrits riding tights and vowed to ride first thing in the morning on Sunday.

Which I did :D

I rode in that front pasture and Saffron chased us and bit at Gwyn's flanks, the naughty donkey (though I wonder if she's jealous?)  and we even did a line from my larger log to my cavaletti. Gwyn was great and I was super pleased and just totally in a much better mood than the night before.

Then I went and looked at a pony. Maybe details later, I haven't decided how I feel.


Then today, Monday, my work schedule got switched around a bit and my major Monday project got moved to Tuesday. So by 2pm I was twiddling my thumbs. After prewriting my post for Gwyn's birthday (This Friday!) I finally gave up after husband prodding and left at 4pm. Thank goodness for being part time hourly. So much flexibility.

The difference of an hour meant that the kids got fed immediately and then went to play outside. Both adults were present for dinner making (by which I mean we bought a roast chicken from Kroger) and by 6pm I was thinking... I could ride!

So I did.

It was a beautiful day too. Gwyn is blowing out her coat finally. I can see her darker summer coat in places now.

 I tacked up after giving Gwyn and Saffron their grain. I got my der dau boot stretch which I didn't realize was just an alcohol spray. But I used it on my new Ariat terrains to see if they'd help them break in for my wide feet that ariat refuses to cater to.

And then we were off! I'm still planning to do the event derby and we need to maintain/improve endurance conditioning so I thought doing some trot and canter sets in the farm fields would be a fun idea. I've been visualizing our canter lately and she's very much an on the forehand kind of canter but I feel like my arena is too small to give me a chance to rock her back while still maintaining impulsion before we hit a fence. The fields are much more open and I have a lot more confidence in how she'll rate with me.

So I let her canter, which ends up kind of being a hand gallop and I realized that I'm usually up in two point bracing against her and that can't help with her being on the forehand so I took a deep breath and made myself sit back and down and by god wouldn't you know it that was effective. And I know Megan at A Enter Spooking just wrote about the Landau reflex which I knew about from having two human foals but indirectly applying it tonight and then later on reflection realizing this is what she meant was a huge light bulb.

DUH AMY. It's like Jim always says. The rider forms the horse.  So now I really want to get back up into those fields and work on developing her strength so she can rock back into that nice canter and maintain it because there at least we have the distance to really focus on it without worrying about bend. That can come later.

 With all the cantering and the extended trotting we definitely maintained an endurance ride pace and she was sweaty by the end. I hosed her off and then we posed for pictures. LOL

"Someone" tried digging a hole by the gate after we left. 

And for fun :D