I really thought that my girl wasn't fit... Really... Since we fell, she was off work and got fat and lazy until she healed, and even then I barely rode her in favor of riding my gelding. She is literally a 'pasture puff' except on Sundays... on Sundays, my friend and one of his brothers or his cousin comes over to ride. My friend rides his mare, I ride my gelding, and whoever he brings with him rides Gypsie. Normally, we walk, trot, and maybe a little cantering on some trails... not enough to ge tthe horses 'fit' in my opinion...
But apparently it's enough in my mares opinion. I rode her today and had to hurry and get home because it was getting late... We were at a friends house about exactly two miles from my house (we've measured the distance before). My girl took off from my friends house when I asked her to and swept straight into a really fast canter, almost a gallop. Her speed stayed steady and constant the ENTIRE time and she only slowed down when we passed our pasture boundaries and my gelding came running down to see us, but she still didn't stop, just slowed down to a slower canter.
When we got up to the barn, it took me about ten minutes to untack her because it was almost dark and I was going slow (I usually untack my horses in less than five minutes). She wasn't even breathing very hard at all when I unsaddled her and just had sweat under where the saddlepad was, nowhere else. By the time I had her feed fixed (about seven minutes later) my girl was breathing normally.
I can't believe I thought she was unfit... guess I'll have to up her riding when I ride her... because I like working my horses into a sweat/dripping sweat/foaming lather when I ride...
But apparently it's enough in my mares opinion. I rode her today and had to hurry and get home because it was getting late... We were at a friends house about exactly two miles from my house (we've measured the distance before). My girl took off from my friends house when I asked her to and swept straight into a really fast canter, almost a gallop. Her speed stayed steady and constant the ENTIRE time and she only slowed down when we passed our pasture boundaries and my gelding came running down to see us, but she still didn't stop, just slowed down to a slower canter.
When we got up to the barn, it took me about ten minutes to untack her because it was almost dark and I was going slow (I usually untack my horses in less than five minutes). She wasn't even breathing very hard at all when I unsaddled her and just had sweat under where the saddlepad was, nowhere else. By the time I had her feed fixed (about seven minutes later) my girl was breathing normally.
I can't believe I thought she was unfit... guess I'll have to up her riding when I ride her... because I like working my horses into a sweat/dripping sweat/foaming lather when I ride...