New Goals

My riding plans for the rest of this year and the first third of next year have been curtailed. Due to being on blood thinners now for the duration of my pregnancy, I am forbidden from riding Gwyn. This may or may  not work, I expect a bareback ride here or there on property, but my trail riding days are at an end until the baby arrives.

I don't want Gwyn to languish for the next 30 weeks, however, so I want to have a plan in place to work toward so I keep her engaged and keep her skills present and sharp. I see no reason why I can't ground drive her. The big danger is me falling and bleeding internally. If Gwyn is an idiot, I can release the lines and let her get over herself while I stay safe.

Things I want to work on through the winter with Gwyn:

• Going on walks
• I think I'm going to try handwalking her on the pollyann trail. That way we're still getting off property. 
• Being tied on a high line
• For camping purposes
• Ground driving
• Maybe this will work out some of our steer issues that we have, or at least allow continuous work
• I've purchased driving lines and I already have a surcingle, so as soon as those arrive we can get started
• Pulling small loads around
• Earn her keep using the arena drag, dragging pastures too
• Obvious snow fun on skis or sleds (for the following winter.... >.>) 
• work up to driving training
• Tricks - Useful or Fun
• lay down 
• smile 
• bow
• line up with a mounting block
• pick things up
• ground tie
• pick feet up with a point
• lower head on cue
• Painting

Two rides!

I got two rides in the past week.  I'm logging them here to have record. The first was a bareback ride around the arena, it was short and sweet and then I rode into the lower front pasture to change things up. We practiced walking through the wet part of the pasture.

1.01 miles

The second ride I used my saddle and the new jumps! Kaylee was in the arena too and she was my not so helpful jump crew, lol. 

1.53 miles

October Birthday Plan

I had settled on riding the color ride, local to me on the Polly Ann trail October 10, the day after my birthday.

But I just made reservations for a campsite at Oak Leaf Run 2.5 hours away for that weekend, Friday to Sunday. I'll need to talk to Eric about it the morning, but oh man... oh boy.

I need to teach Gwyn to high line.

LIebster Award Blog Hop

I was nominated by Grace over at The Horseback Artist. Woohoo! Now, I am significantly delayed in writing this, but I blame being sick and also not ever going downstairs to use my computer. As it is, this is being written over several days.

There are rules....

The Liebster Award Rules

1. Notify all nominees via social media/blogs
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. Answer the questions given to you by the nominator
4. Nominate up to 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees

The questions posed to me were this:Questions for my nominees: 
1. Why do you blog?

I blog because I like having a written account of things that I do in my life. I use this blog in particular to track the progress I make riding Gwyn and share that progress with a social network of people I'm 'competing' against for a Distance Derby.

2. What is your most popular blog post?

My most popular blog post (with the most pageviews, at least) is the August post where I catalogued every nearby place to ride. It is a handy list!

3. Which is your favorite blog post?  

My last ride in Washington. It was an amazing day and one that I will remember and treasure forever.

4. Which bloggers have you met IRL?

If we include Livejournal, which I think it totally legitimate given that I crosspost things from here to there, I have met several people from the likely now defunct LJ equestrian community. Some of them have moved on from LJ and I've forgotten their usernames, but I'll just list 'em.  Lindsay, Jean, and Cheri.  Cheri was Florida (and who I got Gwyn from), Jean was Washington (and an excellent bodyworker!), and Lindsay is Michigan. 

5. Describe your horse(s)/pet(s) using one image or gif.

6. What is your riding discipline and why did you choose it? 
I suppose right now I'm just a pleasure rider. I'm not actively competing in anything, or even training with anyone. I'm enjoying my dabbling in endurance. I feel it's something I can do on my own without relying on a professional in order to succeed. Broadly I ride english. Broadly. Ultimately I want to get back into eventing. I loved doing it as a kid and I'm working on meeting specific goals that will let me compete again. 

7. What is the most expensive horse-related item you have ever bought?
Probably my Thorowgood saddle. I had a saddle fitter personalize the fit and it was purchased new. At just over $1000 it's the most expensive item. The most I have ever paid for a horsey -thing-, however, was the shipping to move Gwyn from Florida to Washington. That was a little over $2000. The move to Michigan was cheaper at $1400. 

8. What is one tack/horse-related item on your wish list? 
A safety vest! I need to lose weight first, for this, but it's one of the necessary items I'll need if I want to even school for cross country and 3 day eventing. I'm not sure which kind I want, likely tipperary, I'm not sure I want the air canister ones that inflate because knowing me I'd forget when I go to dismount and I'd inflate it every time. 

9.  What is your favorite riding memory?
Riding in my first endurance ride in Spokane, WA. It was exactly a year ago, at this point, that I went to the Mount Spokane Endurance Ride and did the 15 mile trail ride Saturday and decided to do the LD on Sunday. It was an amazing experiene, even if I had my period for the ride, which was a major suck. But I completed! And Gwyn did it too and it was amazing! We were riding on the side of a mountain the whole time and the views were spectacular. 

10. What is your scariest riding memory?
I was pregnant with Kaylee at the time and took Gwyn out on the pipeline trail that my barn at the time was on. It was a gorgeous winter day, the kind where everyone and their mom gets outside because it's a sunny day and a break from the rain. We were out alone, though there were people on the trail everywhere and Gwyn got overstimulated (my theory) and lost it. She bolted for home and was uncontrollable. I could steer, barely, and we topped out at 19 mph (I had my gps running) I had visions of us hitting muddy patches and her breaking a leg or of us crossing an upcoming road and just getting killed by a car.   
I finally got her under control and slowed down, but not after flying by people on bikes, walkers and baby strollers, shouting that I had no control. We crossed the road safely, thank FSM, but then she spooked again at the top of a steep hill. I got off at that point and just lost it, yelling and crying at her. I sent her backwards and everytime she got 'up' I sent her backwards again. I kept yelling, "I AM SCARIER THAN ANYTHING ELSE OUT HERE." 
I didn't ride alone while pregnant after that again. I would not get on unless there was someone else on the ground who knew I was riding. Ever since then I have major anxiety about even cantering in open areas. It takes a lot for me, though Gwyn has improved significantly and we haven't had a repeat, but it's stayed with me.
11. Share one of your riding goals. 
I mentioned it above, but I want to get back into eventing.  I don't care about competition level, I just want to get back into it, even if I never go bigger than Beginner Novice. Just like I'm pretty content to stick doing LDs in endurance!

Huron River Endurance Ride - Novice 13.66 miles

Despite a niggling throat itch that was requiring frequent coughing, I got up early Saturday morning to load Gwyn up and head over to Kensington Metropark. It's about 1hr 15 away so it isn't a place I've been able to explore yet, though I was aware that it had a great network of trails.

Addison Oaks County Park Ride

Today, by stark contrast to my ride on Tuesday, was absolutely glorious!  The deer flies were minimal, I saw about 10 and we didn't have a swarm following us whereever we went.  The trails were groomed to perfection, nothing was below face height and the paths, even the more 'wild' ones were wide enough for at least 2 horses side by side.

Additionally, despite the park having multi-use trails, mountain bikes never shared an equestrian trail. They crossed paths multiple times, but no sharing. I can't tell you how safe and happy that made me feel.

Anyway, today I almost didn't go. I woke up and everything looked wet outside. Then I checked the weather, and while the forecast listed cloudy and cool (mid 60s F), rain wasn't even being considered until the afternoon.

So Gwyn got loaded up and we repeated the routine, dropping Kaylee off, practicing grocery shopping, then drove over to the park. It was a little bit further away from gymnastics, but only about a 20 minute drive (max).

The parking lot was completely empty! I was super excited. Of course they also have camping here so there could be campers using the trails, but this was 9 am on a weekday, unlikely, lol

Gwyn was concerned about our location. Golf carts of park staff were going by regularly. When I went to put on her bridle she 'took off' toward a bunch of facility staff in a VERY up walk. It felt like she was evaluating for spooking, but never actually spooked. I eventually got her bridle on in the middle of that parking lot and took her back, very embarrassed.

The park has this gorgeous facility for rental for weddings and other events. It's well taken care off.

Everything is nicely marked too! You know if your trail is a horse or bike trail.

I got a water bottle holder and tried it out today. More on that later. I did keep my park map, camera, phone and a small pair of clippers in case I came across face level branches that needed trimming.

The trail started out with a low grade climb. It was PERFECT to make Gwyn walk up. She was huffing by the end. We need to do this more!

Once we got past the scary pavement, she settled into a very forward working walk, loose rein, happy ears.

Occasional hay field. At the time my thought was, I wonder if I can ride in that for some cantering?

What I think these pictures don't accurately capture is how -pretty- it was this morning. Everything was still wet from the rain, but it wasn't humid. The wood was dark, nearly black, while the green was super vibrant. It was magical.

Half wet, half dry

Pond just off the path

Then we got to this field. And the path went ALL THE WAY AROUND IT!  WOOOO!  We totally cantered.

At one point the field dipped down and came back up. We cantered down and I guess Gwyn felt really good because I felt her hind end come up a bit. Nothing unsettling, I laughed at her, but she had to get a wiggle out!

Heading back to the trailer. I'll mention here that she was great on the trail, and has been great on all the trails. But crossing black pavement was almost too much for the Goober Pony. It was the ONE spot we had a discussion about going forward. She did go, but it took a bit....

I can see the trailer! And my mounting block boulder, lol

When I got off and looked at my gear I was horrified to realize that I was literally 3 threads away from losing my phone, camera and super nice Fiskars trimmers. WTH TOUGH-1?!?!?!?!?!   Not really living up to your name. Now I need to figure out a different way to attach it for my ride saturday if I want to use it. Grrrr. The company WILL hear about this because that's ridiculous. One use and it falls apart? 

See? Held on by THREADS ALONE

Loaded up while I went to pee since we had a lot of time before we needed to leave. But better that than to be late.

My bumper stickers for the trailer. I need more.

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.