7/26 ride and 7/31 ride

I got a new fitbit a little bit ago and it has a GPS component to it so I used it for my ride on 7/26 to see how well it would track my path in the arena.

It did pretty good when all was said and done but I really need to figure out the best mode to use it in to track my riding. It would be nice to be able to save phone battery for calling in emergency situations and use watch battery for ride tracking. 

I like the data that I get with the fitbit surge. It measures my heart rate, which gives me a more accurate window into how many calories I burn each day so I can really focus in on my eating and weight loss. I've been doing REALLY well lately, so it's quite encouraging.

 This was from tonight. Eric and Kaylee sat down to watch Finding Nemo and I headed out to the barn. I got chores done first, then tacked up Gwyn. She was a really good girl tonight. It was much cooler weather than our last ride (we had a thunderstorm in between) and very very pleasant to be out in.

I know we aren't doing a lot of mileage at a time. I just get so amazingly bored in this arena. If my previous post is any indicator, I am itching badly to get out on the trails. I can't wait to explore!

Tonight we did more bending and collection. I worked on my confidence at the canter. I really need to schedule a lesson. Soon.

Places to Ride an hour or less away

I'm starting to try and figure out where I can trailer to for some trail access. There's a decent amount of stuff in the area that's horse friendly, it's just me needing to know where I can go and where parking is that's holding me up.

This all was inspired by me looking for a place for Kaylee and I to go swimming that wasn't over 30 minutes away (Stony Creek). We ended up going to Metamora-Hadley Recreation area that's 10 miles away and was perfect, but that's another story.

Check it, any place that is listed as a recreation area is under the umbrella of the DNR and is a state park. It costs $11 annually for access to these parks. FUCK YES.

Anyway, places so far that I've found are:

Polly-Ann Trail
Technically if I trusted Gwyn on the road AND our road wasn't super speedy, I could ride to this trail from our house. We're less than 2 miles from an access point where it crosses a road. Polly-Ann is open to riders, but you're restricted to walking (though I can't find this verbage now on their websites...). From what I've seen of the points of access near me, no one uses the damn thing to even know if I might go faster than a walk. After my last debacle of trying to walk her along a road that had a high speed limit I'm not really interested in trying again until her brain gets rooted a bit more deeply. Especially with minimal shoulder.
What I really want is to make friends with the people who live right by the trail and ask if I can park at their place to ride on the trail. That would be ideal.

I did more research. There is trailer friendly parking down Rochester Rd in Leonard. Just nothing directly off Rochester Rd where it crosses, which is where I've been looking. Doh. Leonard is 10 minutes away. I'll explore tomorrow.

http://www.destinationoakland.com/parksandtrails/trailsoakroutes/Documents/PATMap2013FINAL.pdf
http://pollyanntraillapeer.org/
http://www.pollyanntrailway.org/

The Lapeer PAT group is doing a fall colors tour the day after my birthday in October! I'm SO ATTENDING!!!! Tentative info about the ride leads me to believe I might be able to park at General Squier Park, which is in Dryden itself. Dude. DUDE.  4 miles away. FUCK YEAH.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area
About an hour away, this place has the most trail mileage available nearby topping out at 17 miles. It also looks as though they have a good loop for big mileage from looking at their map. There's a campground for horse camping and they have a rental stable which might be bad since I've heard some things about avoiding riding when the renters are out and about.

http://www.michigandnr.com/Publications/PDFS/RecreationCamping/pontiac_lake_map.pdf

Addison Oaks County Park
This thing is just down the road. Not riding down the road, but...  20 minutes away. I had no idea it was there until today. (I'm serious).   There's not a lot of mileage, but there's a few separate loops of equestrian trail that I could do. And it's SO CLOSE!! Just under 10 miles of trail, which is pretty good, all things considered!

I might take Kaylee here tomorrow and go biking just so I can scout it all out and figure out parking and get a pass. Since this is a county park it has a different pass system. I wish there was an annual all parks pass for all the counties.
http://www.destinationoakland.com/parksandtrails/mapspublications/Documents/May%202013%20addison%20trail%20map.pdf
http://www.destinationoakland.com/parksandtrails/mapspublications/PublishingImages/AO%20East%20Trail%20map_2012.pdf
http://www.destinationoakland.com/parksandtrails/mapspublications/Documents/addison-connector-trail.pdf

Ortonville Recreation Area
At 25 minutes away (about 20 miles) is this lovely place with just less than 9 miles of trails, but from the look of the map, we'd be able to ride for a LOT longer just by doing mini loops. They also have an equestrian campground. I like that the equestrian trails are very much separate from the main part of the park so there's not really a multi-use conflict.

http://www.michigandnr.com/Publications/PDFS/RecreationCamping/ortonville_map.pdf

Addison Township Watershed Preserve
At 6 minutes away this is the next closest after Polly-Ann. I found it when Kaylee wanted to go hiking but 7 Ponds Nature Center was closed. I had remembered seeing this just down Rochester Rd, barely over the county line into Oakland County. The board at the front had no information about use but upon hitting the trail I saw a sign that said "Clean up your manure!"   Ah HAH!  Horses are allowed!

There's not a lot of trail here, but at 6 minutes away it's hard to beat, especially since there's no fee for use. Maybe 2 miles of trail but some nice hills and all woody with some lake views. And decent parking to turn a horse trailer around.

An article on riding in the park in the winter!
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/lifestyle/20140126/riding-with-a-mounted-trail-patrol-at-addison-watershed-preserve
http://www.twp.addison.mi.us/Portals/3/PDF/Township%20Parks.pdf

Elba Equestrian Complex
Free to day use riders, also has camping available. It's also 25 minutes away. I can't get details on length of trails, but it's got over 1000 acres of trails available. I'll need to investigate further before bringing Gwyn.

http://www.geneseecountyparks.org/images/contentImages/file/2015%20Elba%20Map%20and%20Rules.pdf

Far too long since I last rode... 1.79 miles

And it shows... Gwyn is getting fat! She's been out on all day all night pasture which I'm sure isn't helping either, so currently they are on the diet lot of just the runs off the stalls in the barn tonight, since sugar content is higher in grass at night. Poor thing thinks she's wasting away, given how I was greeted when I went out to give them their dinner. LOL

Storm clouds moving through.

I had braided her mane last night.

Last night I groomed Gwyn and Arwen and got this body shot. She doesn't look too bad just standing, but when I was lunging her I couldn't see any muscle any more, and you can barely feel ribs when you press hard on her barrel. So more exercise and less grass pasture it is! Just like me....

Today we worked on just lunging to assess then I hopped on. She spooked at a critter that ran out of the pasture near one end of the arena but settled in after that. I got some nice canter work out of her in one direction. Next thing is maintaining that canter and working into the corners. Since I had volunteered at a h/j show last weekend, I worked on the things the judge suggested to some of the riders, namely making sure the horse moves off your leg well when you ask.

We also worked on bending on her bad side since she was seriously falling in with her right shoulder. Lots and lots of leg and bending at the poll. She was so stiff on the right side compared to the left, I need to have a bodyworker come out and see her.

It was a good ride over all, and I intend to ride again tomorrow.  I've purchased a solar powered flood light to put in the arena so I'll be able to ride in the evening, which will be nice when winter comes around!

Silly Gwyn

The other day it was pretty hot. I went out to check and refill water in the pasture and Gwyn decided she needed to cool off. She positioned herself to get fully wet. Poor mare!

I haven't been riding much as we get settled into the house, but things are coming together and I'm not stressing over it. I did lunge her the other day, so that was good! As I figure out how to juggle Kaylee being present while I ride, frequency will increase. Right now it's good enough for me to see her every day and I'm loving it.

I have my own greeter whenever I go outside and when I come home down the driveway she walks with me and comes to say hi. 

Three rides over the past week and a half

I've been able to ride three times since we've moved, all of them short, and most have been good. I'm still trying to find my stride with how I want things to flow in the barn with Gwyn and the donkeys and dealing with herd bound critters.

I haven't yet written about how Gwyn settled in when I first moved her. I trailered her up on Friday, June 26th, almost two weeks ago now. She came off the trailer well, but definitely 'up'. I let her out in the back pasture and she was very spooky. She took off exploring the pasture and was very clingy when she didn't see any other animals.

It's long, bear with me....

Bareback ride in the arena on Monday

It was a warm day and I had lots of things I wanted to get done (namely loading straw into the trailer and making a run up to the new place) so I didn't want to get too involved riding.

I decided to ride bareback and just work on seat aids and transitions. We did a lot of walk-halt-walk-trot-halt-trot etc. It was relaxing and when I was done I just untacked Gwyn right in the pasture and let her go.

If I ride Wednesday, it will likely be the last time I ride at Hummingbird. I plan on moving Gwyn to the new house on Friday!

3.25 miles!

Today was a good ride. No pictures, but the weather was great. The insects, however, were nasty. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. ICK.  And the horse flies, oi! Unlike yesterday, there were people at the barn, so I was more bold in my riding. My goal for today was to do a lot of trotting and just stay in forward motion to build up my endurance.

I had lunged Gwyn first because she was really up after watching all her buddies get turned out to pasture for the day while she stayed in as I groomed her. She was NOT dirty today, and her coat was super soft! Lunging was good, I pulled out the cavaletti and lunged her over that, then pulled out the barrels for jumps when she started getting lazy with the highest height of the pole. She was really good!

I hopped on and set out into the fields. She started out with a nice, loose rein trot, it was FANTASTIC. I decided to try and be more upright while posting since I think I lean too far forward. As soon as I set my shoulders back, I noticed my elbows naturally bent. Oooo!! Light bulb moment! My leg also swung forward a smudge, but I think it's okay. Now I want to get this on video/picture to see if it did what I think it did. I did more for me on this ride, then for Gwyn, until we had our sticky moments with steering away from the barn.

We had no spooky moments by our spook point, which was good, but I gave it decent berth just in case. We also walked for a short time on the road and had a car drive past us, slowly, thankfully, and Gwyn didn't lose her mind. Hurray!

All in all, a good time. And our average pace was up since we did so much trotting. I put her fly sheet back on and sprayed exposed Goober Pony and went on my way. Such a nice morning.

Easy hack today, 1.61 miles

I kept this ride simple because there was no one at the barn. I was going to ride in the outdoor arena but it was a soppy mess thanks to the rain (see next photo) and then thought about the indoor but my GPS doesn't track well inside.... soooooo outside I went. I kept it at a walk since I rode bareback today and just focused on having a positive ride, and I had a great ride!! There were sticky steering moments but we worked through them.

I didn't get to ride yesterday because my truck wouldn't start after I dropped Kaylee off at preschool. WOMP WOMP. I drove it to the dealership instead and got a courtesy car. Turns out the car battery was a dud and it actually explains other issues I had. Truck is fixed, I picked it up this afternoon! YAY

Gwyn was DIIIIIRTY.  She apparently made use of Sunday and Monday mud. I had expected it to be hot and had worn my Kerrits outfit with my icefil tights and super light kerrits shirt, which is white. Figures Gwyn finally rolls in mud the day I need to groom her and I'm wearing a brand new white shirt.

The hay is up above my feet when I'm riding Gwyn. But it's been too wet to cut. Curse you weather!

It was a beautiful day, low 70s, much drier. Not nearly the amount of humidity we've had the past few days. It was very pleasant weather.

Green lipstick!

A post office truck drove up looking for someone that I didn't know. Captivated mare!

The horse flies were NASTY. So Gwyn got to try her fly sheet for the first time. 

Wolcott Mill Metropark Adventure!

Today was a GREAT day. I got the barn bright and early to get my truck hitched and all my stuff loaded. A group of five of us from the barn were all planning to head to Wolcott Mill Metropark to ride on the horse trails there. We took two trailers including mine. It felt really good to be able to provide my own transport! And help someone else!

I had long ago gotten my bridle tag to ride there, which didn't cost anything. You just haul in, sign in at the book and go. Super simple.

This is where I totally go first world problems though.... these trails sucked compared to what I could do in Washington. It was mainly edge of farm field riding and minimal woods trail. What forest trail there was was a sogging muddy mess thanks to all the rain we've been having so we didn't even attempt to go through the forest areas. I would have been happy with woods. I can ride on the edge of a field at the barn :/

I will go back though, because for distance it's pretty good and once it does dry out, it would be an easy place to just trot/canter FOREVER and get some good conditioning for endurance in. No hills though, it's on the wrong side of Van Dyke.

The trail from the staging area to get to all the loops goes under 29 mile road. Gwyn had no issues going through. I was really happy.

See? Flat

Farmland.

We trotted where the footing was good and made good time heading out.

There was a grassy place to stop with a concrete mounting block. I think it's for pictures. We could see the river below us. Good grazing for the horses and a nice break.

Then out and around and onto a powerline area with random paddle boat.

Maybe this place becomes a lake....??? It was crazy deep mud. I was not a fan but Gwyn handled it well.

Bridge with kids on it. Private land on the other side of the river so no crossing. Plus no rails, made me antsy just thinking about going over.  I didn't get pictures but we turned around just after getting to the next field past the bridge. We'd caught up with a guy out by himself riding a thoroughbred. He cantered across the field, turned around and just BOOKED it galloping back. Ellen's eyes lit up (she was on the paint) "I want to do that!!!!!"

So I rode out with her to the far field and the guy came with us, we lined up and just FLEW back. I decided to trust Gwyn and just let her go. Oh my goodness, the rush was amazing. We hit 24.6 mph, breaking our previous known record of 19 mph. The guy's horse still was faster but my drafty put up a good effort. I ended up losing my jacket off the back of my saddle bags in the gallop so we went back to retrieve it then headed back. 

We crossed paths with these girls right by the river access. Technically horses aren't allowed in the river. 

But we did it anyway. And then saw the girls watching and double back to do it too, lol. I was proud of Gwyn, she walked into the river with minimal issue. But she had major problems with all the puddles.

The original plan was to eat lunch and head back out for another ride before going home, but during lunch NO ONE EXCEPT ME TIED SAFELY.   Those horses were on a cross tie attached to their lead ropes. They were all over the place. Then they were just plain loose. THEN... one of the horses got too tangled in the long line and gave himself rope burn on the back of his pastern.  It was bad and his halter was nylon with no snap on the lead rope so SUPER UNSAFE. There was no way to quick release him and nothing to break under pressure. Poor guy. I felt bad not offering her a trailer tie to use initially because that's what I grabbed for Gwyn since it'd give way under that strain but... the horses could have also been tied to the trailers as well, and not those posts.

Thankfully because I'm keeping the majority of my stuff in my trailer tack room I had my full first aid kit so he got sprayed with wound spray and then slathered with Furazone. I also showed someone how to put on those professional's choice boots.

Since the poor rope burned guy was ouchy, we called it a day and loaded everyone back up. Gwyn was an idiot for loading, but not nearly as much as she's been in the past. We headed home and overall it was a good day!