Didn't really get to ride much last week...rode on Sunday 4.6 miles in 70 minutes, handwalked for 45 minutes on Tuesday, and just jogged for about 20 minutes in-hand on Wednesday. So I was really looking forward to Saturday, because Jacke and I had made plans to ride together at her place.
Took a little over an hour to drive over there....but I'm not exactly sure how long because after seeing the angle of the driveway to the road that I'd need to back in I starting to panic slightly, and completely forgot to look at the time! But thankfully no traffic and I got the trailer backed in surprisingly successfully! Jacke let me use her bathroom and her home is just beautifully decorated. We chatted a bit and then headed out and I unloaded and tacked up Arabee, she got Phebes ready to go and we started off to ride her network of trails by her house.
It was the first warm day we've had really this spring, and not too breezy, nice and sunny - perfect spring weather! The trails were VERY muddy and VERY VERY slick, but breathtakingly beautiful - stunning views where you can view the creek, the woods with some stubborn snow that hadn't yet melted off, just gorgeous...words won't do it justice.
My horse really really impressed me - she was calm and very smart about putting her feet down just right and really did a fine job of taking care of herself footing-wise. I wish she would have drank some, but she never did..just wetted her lips several times as there was plenty of opportunity as the trail crossed water A LOT. We traveled down a VERY STEEP section of trail that I didn't think was possible and in fact it crossed my mind that Jacke was maybe trying to kill us (well...not really!) but she led the way with Phebes and watching her as she went down each time she picked up a foot and put it back down her hooves slid 3-4 feet each time! But we both made it! Confidence building, and grin-inducing once we finally got to the bottom without falling!
So we were out for 1 hour and 48 minutes, pretty much all walking except for a few short sections of trotting but it was a lot of uphill and down hill and watch your step because it's slick and winding in between trees and it was a GOOD workout for Arabee. Got back, she ate some hay while I untacked her and wiped off her super-muddy legs, put on her sheets, then we talked a bit before I loaded Arabee back up and I headed back home. It was a lot of fun to get out and ride, can't wait to do it again, hopefully tonight at home!
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2 comments:
Glad you guys had a good ride. It was really nice weather the whole weekend! I'm starting to see flies buzzing around today. That's one of the downfalls of the warmer weather, but I'll take bugs over snow any day!
Michelle
Nicole,
I'm so used to riding those hills that for the most part I don't think about the slipping. I just point her straight and we either walk down, or we sliiiiiiiiiiide down. I have in fact layed her down once on one problematic hill when she put herself sideways. I avoided using that hill coming home as it is by far the worst to go down in the mud. That is why we crossed the super dooper downed tree and went through the bog instead *LOL*
You absolutely have to come ride the trail some day when it is dry. It is so much fun to fly up those hills....trot until you get the pulse back down and then fly up another one.
Phebes was not on good behavior at all. Actually the worst she's been in awhile. You saw evidence of how she goes about unseating me by rolling back. That was an easy one. Sometimes she spins back with so much velocity that I've hit the ground before I know what on earth happened. These episodes are getting fewer all the time, but very unpredictable still. And her crawling gait going out? Absolutely dragging her fanny and not wanting to go. I could have out walked her the first couple of miles! Thank goodness Arabee was in the walking mood :)
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