Taylor Mountain Hill Work 9/8/19

Now it's been over a week ago, but Cortney and I planned a weekend outing to give Gwyn's butt a nice workout. Taylor Mountain is Tiger Mountain's neighbor with far FAR less mountain bikes and much friendlier to horses in general.

It almost felt like getting together to ride wasn't going to happen. For some reason one of my truck tires was low on air and Cortney had hit a pothole the previous day and the entire frame of her trailer broke from the impact. Thankfully, adding air to the tire was the solution though I've been keeping an eye on my pressures ever since. I loaded Gwyn then drove to Cortney's house to pick her up.

Good news too, Cortney now has a brand new trailer and it's so pretty :D

It was a beautifully cool day with on/off drizzling rain. The colors were just starting to turn and really it was the start of the PNW fall season, I think. Perfect to kick off.

This is a popular spot for local endurance riders to condition. Cortney recognized trailers, lol. By the time we returned, these three trailers were gone and three more had arrived. 

Today was my Scoot Boot stress test. We were planning on a lot of elevation and about the length of an LD loop. We weren't necessarily aiming for speed either. The goal was to get Gwyn just climbing and Taylor offers several options depending on how gradual you want your climb to be. We took an easier route. Haha.

Stress testing did not go as smoothly as I hoped it would. The previous rides didn't show any issues but this was both longer and harder. Plus Gwyn now has scratches from standing in bog water all day (I'm looking for a new spot to board her which is a whole other post) and her pasterns are a fungusy mess.

The first section where we opened up into a ground eating trot I lost a boot and never knew. We crossed a stream not long after, I looked down to check feet and boom, needed to backtrack. We did find the boot and lost the second as we were heading back. I stuck her boots back on and snugged the pastern straps up a bit more. They proceeded to mostly stay on the rest of the ride but I was paranoid.

Gwyn's appy nature shines through a lot on rides like these. We started with the hill climb pretty much off the bat and she will take breaks when she gets tired. Amira is pretty much 100 mile fit, and easily 50 mile fit and couldn't understand the breaks. She got her comeuppance a week later when Cortney went camping and rode the PCT. Amira had to take breaks, haha.

"Why Mom, why?"

The trails were gorgeous though, and as we climbed we entered the cloud ceiling so everything was softly lit, misty and green. It felt like we were riding through a fantasy novel. It's my favorite kind of trail riding weather.

Must outrun the Nazgul and bring the ringbearer to Rivendell! 

It was funny because Amira has Opinions about what trail rides are like. They are either lots of trotting at speed (her favorite) or slow poke walking with quarter horses. Gwyn fit neither. We were doing good speedy trotting but also needing walk breaks. That picture is her confused face.

Beaver Pond and sneak peeks of fall color through the clouds

We opened up and had a nice canter on a slower gradient and when I asked for a half halt I lost a boot again. When I went to put them back on I noticed some HUGE rub wounds from the heel straps. After that I was torn on getting Gwyn back to the trailer (we still had several miles to go) or going slow to minimize further injury to her heel bulbs. We theorize that she clips herself during half halts and pulls the boots off. They fully came off, with everything still attached. It was weird.

"Mom.. really, WHY?"

The day started to warm up and the sun even made a bit of an appearance. We tied up our rain coats with glee.

Then back to the trailer where I could make more assessments on the feet situation.

She's since healed completely and I've ordered gaiters and am talking to a rep about the fit.

Amira was perplexed by the GIANT trailer she had so much room in. 😂

As we drove back to Cortney's house, the skies opened up and it POURED on us as we unloaded. Fun weather for the day! As I was driving back to the farm the classical radio station was playing music from the Goonies and paired with the weather, it was just... perfect. Definitely have your sound on ;)

Canter Departs

After the success of the prize ride the collective three of us determined that coming to Bridle Trails for the lesson would actually be a decent meeting point. It's the least driving for Jim, which Cortney and I both don't mind facilitating. It's not too bad for Cortney and it's super short for me. Plus the footing is a lot better than at Fall City. 

 We worked in the dressage arena, again continuing my focus on maintaining a good connection with Gwyn and bend. Coordinating myself to keep the horse together is still a struggle for me, but I'm getting better each time. It's going to take a while to teach my muscle this new memory for riding. I'll get there. I've got a litany of reminders in my head:

thumb over the whip

bend elbows, lift weights

close fingers

contact on the mouth

let her stretch and maintain contact 'wringing' the reins

inside leg

indirect rein of opposition

control the shoulders

core to control the pace

Tail swish attitude

 Gwyn and I worked on our canter departs and keeping them quiet  and drama free. This is is the first organized cantering (I don't really count trail riding) since her bodywork. Jim is seeing a need for strength so we've been 'prescribed' climbing Taylor Mountain, which coincidentally, will also help with other plans I have for the end of September.

We managed to have loads of quiet canter departs without a rushing trot, but then I was apparently slowing her TOO far down and she didn't have enough march to really push into the canter and slow canter is HARD yo and I was not coordinated enough to prestidigitate (Jim's favorite word for the evening) and let her move forward to maintain the canter more than a few strides.

But honestly, even this is progress if you look at the quality we were getting instead of a flat, out of balance running start. I'll take it if it means I get a good canter out of this mare in the end that's rateable and stays in dressage courts.

She was tired.

Reign is Not Having the get hosed off at a place that's not home. Silly 4 year old.

And then I continue out of saddle fitness ventures today!

LWSC Equines and Vines Prize Ride

Cortney had mentioned wanting to ride on Saturday and I knew there was an event at Lake Washington Saddle Club today for a prize ride.

For those not in the know, a prize ride (sometimes called a poker ride depending on how it's run) is a trail ride of a set distance where you have stations you hit and draw numbers. You pay for more draw opportunities. Prizes are then distributed for highest, lowest, second highest, second lowest, etc. First rider out was at noon and last rider was out at 2. We planned to meet at Bridle Trails at noon and leave around 1pm. That's not quite what happened, but it was still fun despite the change of plans!

 There's not a lot of parking at Bridle Trails for day use if it's a big event. It is decent size parking though and they have stabling for horse shows. We got parked super close to every rig and someone was there directing parking, especially since the park is also open to pedestrians.

 It's super odd because it's this giant state park in the middle of the city, about half the size of Central Park in NYC. There's about 25 miles of trails total, several riding rings and is just generally a really nice public facility that requires either a day use fee or a Discover Pass. I purchased a discover pass last minute.

Lake Washington Saddle Club hosts several shows here and now that I know where it is, I'm going to be coming here a LOT I think. It's about the same drive time as going to Lord Hill (20 min to Lord Hill, 25-30 min to Bridle Trails, which is ridiculous that I thought it was an hour) if there's no traffic and there's nice arenas for use. I still need to revisit Hollywood Hill Saddle Club arena to evaluate drive time because that arena is also free to use.

 The original plan was   that we would be riding with Cortney, Cortney's mom, and Jim. Cortney was bringing a horse for Jim to ride. Trudy couldn't make it so it was just me, Cortney and Jim. Jim was teaching lessons from 12-1 so we were going to get the horse ready and head out at 1. He ended up teaching late and going until 1:50 so we were one of the last groups out on trail, much to the organizer's dismay. That is, until we told her that if it was less than 10 miles, we'd be back under 2 hours. They really wanted to get prizes distributed.

I didn't need the boots on these trails (so NICE!) but I did want to continue stress testing before planned endurance rides in September and October....

Warmup ring and show ring to the back left

 I did run my go-pro but it didn't last even the whole ride womp womp so I switched to phone pictures. It was just so pretty in this park. I will be returning, especially in the winter since the drive won't be as harrowing getting there compared to the hill at Lord Hill.

 Since Jim hadn't ridden in a while, we weren't making endurance time on the ride, but it was still a good ride. Cortney was on her 5 year old, who still needs more exposure to events like this, Jim was on her been there done that arabian mare, Splendid, and I had Gwyn, who benefits from the distance.

Green green green: This picture will likely be unchanged in winter

 We did hit a patch of ground bees at the end, which induced a minor panic.

Coming back to the finish

 I ended up getting lowest draw of numbers and like third highest. I came out of this with a $50 gift card to the Gift Horse, the local tack shop, and a new purple helmet bag. I am thrilled! Now I can justify a pair of Roeckl gloves.... Totally worth the entry fee.