Ride stuff!

I've got lots to catch up, especially as I was tagged in a blog hop. But first things first, my venture to Ortonville State Recreation Area!

On tuesday I was up super early. Kaylee had woken up at 5 am and even though I got her back to sleep, I just could not sleep myself. I had the truck all packed the night before so all I needed to do was make sure that I could get everyone onto the truck and trailer and leave before 8 am. Simple, right?

It actually wasn't that bad, hah!  Kaylee was still passed out, so I went down to the barn and grabbed Gwyn. She loaded relatively quickly and easily. I drove the truck and trailer around to the front of the house, opened the side window and left Gwyn to her hay while I went inside to wake Kaylee up.

My plan obviously involved making Gwyn just stand in the trailer, but as my friend Cortney always said, it's good for horses to practice 'grocery shopping'.

Anyway, I got Kaylee dressed and fed, then we piled into the truck and were out the door perfectly on time! It normally takes 25 minutes or so to get to her gymnastics camp in Oxford and I gave myself more like 40 since I was hauling. I was still super early. Got Kaylee situated, then up the road Gwyn and I went to the state park. It was only 15 minutes away, I mentally made sure I was planning to be leaving by 30 min prior to pick up.

8/2 Adventure to a trail!!

This weekend I was itching to get out and go trail riding. I had thought we were going to have plans with family but they never solidified, so I had ended up missing out on riding with someone else from the Distance Derby. Instead, I went alone!

I tried to convince Eric to come and hike while I rode so I could have some safety cushion as I had no idea what Gwyn would do. But it was high 80s and he didn't want to hike. Instead, I went solo! I got the truck and trailer hooked up, loaded with my stuff and got changed. Then it was just a matter of rounding up Gwyn and loading her, which happened pretty quickly, considering where she's been with trailer loading. The donkeys looked confused, and maybe a bit worried as they watched from the barn.

But we headed down the road to the Addison Township Watershed Preserve, a mere 10 minutes away on the same road I live on (so convenient!)  There were people hanging out at their trucks in the parking lot and they watched rather curiously as I turned the truck and trailer around and got out to unload. Their dog came over to say high and decided against it when he saw Gwyn.  The parking lot is HUGE gravel, not ideal or preferred for me, but I'm in no position to be picky or make demands. I groomed and tacked up. Gwyn got a little concerned when the people left to go walk the trails but settled back down. I stationed her on the far side of the trailer from the road, and the occasional traffic noise wasn't an issue.

She was great and I found a picnic table to use as a mounting block. She stood politely and when I pointed her at the trails her ears pricked forward and BOY OH BOY I had a happy mare from that point on. The only time her ears weren't pricked forward was when she was shaking the flies off. I need to finish her fly bonnet so she has some ear protection. Or modify the one she's wearing to have some ears. The flies were nasty and I popped some full of blood. Ick. I tried to smush as many as I could, but it was obvious she was bothered. Next time, Goober, I learn, I promise!

She never hesitated on the trail today. She offered the trot and canter in places. She did not spook. We just motored down the trails and explored. I did mini loops and did cover most of the trails twice because of the network of them. There aren't that many, or at least total length is not that great, but we got over 3 miles and I would have enjoyed going for longer if the bugs weren't terribad.

I had previously brought Kaylee here on a hike and I made sure to take all the paths so I was familiar. I started on the north loop that I had skipped on foot due to incoming storms. It offered a nice view of a marsh and had decently groomed trail.

We found the beaver dam and then I encountered the people from the parking lot. They were having a joint subcommittee at a bench with a nice view of Slating Lake. I got a mini contact high from riding by.

Beautiful forest by the lake. 

We rode up to the edge of Slating Lake but I didn't trust the water and footing to try and get in with Gwyn.

The view you get up on a 16h horse is better than on foot!

Selfie! I actually didn't get bit by any bugs. I did put on fly spray and not even the crazy pyrethrin, just the natural oils kind.

A man made fishing lake. You can camp by this spot if you get a permit from the fire department.

Camp spot.

Back in the forest

And here's the comparison between bike mode on the fitbit and endomondo. A .06 mile difference. That's pretty good! I'm going to continue to double track it, but I'm feeling better about using the fitbit now. Now all they need is a horseback riding exercise option so I can keep my bike rides separate from horse riding. 

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.