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2019 rides! Happy trails

95K views 1K replies 48 participants last post by  whisperbaby22 
#1 ·
For the first time I actually rode on January 1st! What a great start to the year :biggrin:

It was pouring rain all day yesterday, which did nothing to improve the footing on the property. Wet, muddy and slick all around; but since I had to work, hauling to drier trails was not an option. My pony was apparently still riled up from all the fireworks last night and expected a monster behind every bush and in each puddle, making the ride interesting :Angel: And she was definitively not amused, when our perceived "shortcut" to avoid lots of standing water resulted in a water crossing that went far over Raya's knees :rofl:


Poor princess got wet and dirty and was only allowed to walk :cowboy:
Canidae Dog Dog breed Fawn Carnivore



Edit: no idea why the picture is suddenly sideways :|
 
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#53 ·
It stopped raining yesterday about mid-morning and by the afternoon, dry enough on the gravel roads around the ranch to walk the ponyface under saddle. I thought after a few days of standing around doing nothing, Mitch might have been strong and rarin’ to go, but he was absolutely perfect (pranced a bit at first, but settled quickly). Took him out again this afternoon and we did quite a bit of walking.

And I think I have to sign up for Tackaholics Anonymous. I just got another saddle tonight. It’s a Wintec Pro dressage. And it cost me all of $60. I think I’m going to take the sheepskin off the Bates Isabell since that’s on indefinite loan from a friend and put it on the Pro. At this rate, Mitch is going to have a saddle for every day of the week. :lol:
 

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#54 ·
Having only a sane horse available to me for riding, stories have dried up a little bit. Today was a bit different as we started the ride with a bolt out of the driveway, and ended the ride with a bolt into the driveway. For some reason, there was hardly a spook in between! In any case, I'm further experimenting with my new approach towards bolts: doing nothing and seeing what happens, provided he's not running towards anything dangerous (trees, traffic, lakes, etc.) Turns out that a bolt lasts about 2-3 seconds after which he either slows down to a walk again (on the way out) or transitions into a "regular" canter as though I had asked him to, at which point it is a straightforward downward transition form there. You can really feel it in the canter when the spook is over, so that was kind of cool to experience.

Just one more thing: On the way home, there was an iffy, icy spot on a driveway/dirt road. I directed him towards the edge where the dirt showed continuously along the ice patch, but for some reason, he still caught ice with both hind feet, and both hind feet slid out from under him. (From what it felt like, I think both feet were slipping forwards and his butt went down. The front feet were on dirt.) Well, not only did we not fall, I never lost my balance either, helping him to regain his, and I did it all on a loose rein!

So yes, the little knucklehead can still surprise me now and then!
 
#58 ·
I got to go down to Florida for the Winter Gallop last weekend. The whole story is in my journal.

The first day I rode Mu:









The second day I rode Fluffy:









I also got Duroc out for a ride off the farm:


2019 mileage
...
1/11 mu 2.33 miles 46 ft climb 3.8 mph 61F 49.69 total miles
1/12 mu 25.20 miles 521 ft climb 5.2 mph 72F 74.89 total miles
1/12 fluffy 1.79 miles 36 ft climb 5.6 mph 72F 76.68 total miles
1/13 fluffy 25.59 miles 523 ft climb 7.1 mph 68F 102.27 total miles
1/14 duroc 5.90 miles 19 ft climb 6.0 mph 75F 108.17 total miles
 
#59 ·
We got 8.5 inches of rain during the week. The first day of sunlight we went on a long ride. It would have been shorter but some of the trails were washed out, so there was a lot of turning around and retracing our steps. We attempted to end our ride at the new In N Out hamburger place, but we couldn’t get around the constriction femce. We were within a 100 yards of our goal. 18 miles that day. I came home and ordered a fleece butt saver after that ride! LOL
 

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#60 ·
From Celeste
I actually like all riding stories. You can share your uneventful rides too.
Just about all my rides are uneventful, but I will take you at your word. I got 3 young girls out to ride yesterday, so all 4 of my horses got to ride together. It was mild, about 59 F, but supposed to get steadily colder. I reminded the girls that it was going to be colder when we got in from the ride, but they all said they were too warm and would be glad if it got colder.

Because we had rain the night before, we had lots of puddles on the sides of the dirt road, and I like to use those to water train the horses that don't like to cross water. We rarely have any water on our trails, so it is hard to get them water broken. Windy doesn't mind water a bit, and Chorro is older and has done lots of water, so they went right in to eat the lovely green grass on the other side of the puddle. Acicate is getting better, so after a brief hesitation, he went in, and when Isabeau saw the others chowing down on yummy green grass, she finally gave in. We let them eat for a bit as a reward for crossing the puddle, then it was time to ride on. The others crossed the puddle readily enough and headed out, but Windy said, "Nuh-uh, naw, no. Not me. I like eating this grass. Not goin'." My daughter booted Windy, and she rose high up on her hind legs and just hung there for what seemed like forever. Then she did a Lipizzaner leap on her hind legs and launched herself over the puddle, catching up with the rest of her group. Happily, my daughter was not scared. She thought it was funny and laughed. Well, Windy is very funny, all the time.

About a quarter of the way home from the ride, the wind stiffened, the temperature dropped dramatically, and everyone got pretty cold. I was the only one dressed for that temperature drop. The girls got VERY cold!
 
#62 ·
I did get a bit more saddle time at the end of last week. The whole story is in my journal.


Friday, I rode Hombre.





On Saturday, I cajoled DH into riding in the morning. First up was Phin.





Next up was Raven.


2019 mileage
...
1/18 hombre 6.41 miles 937 ft climb 3.6 mph 25F 159.09 total miles
1/19 phin 8.17 miles 1733 ft climb 4.2 mph 21F 167.26 total miles
1/19 raven 1.17 miles 15 ft climb 3.3 mph 21F 168.43 total miles
 
#65 ·
Bad Isabeau Ride

It's very rare for me to have a bad ride. I was riding Isabeau solo this morning. One of the things I love about Isabeau is that she doesn't spook. She'll startle in place, and then ride on. Last week I had her out solo, and she did a monster spin bolt. We were in the woods, and came upon a small herd of deer. I didn't get too upset because we don't normally see deer there. But it was her first spin bolt ever, and it was bad because it knocked my helmet over my eyes, and we were tearing through the pines and underbrush when I couldn't see. But Isabeau is easy to stop, and she did, without much trouble.

But today was really bad. I have to ride a mile on the road to get to the trails. She did a terrible spin bolt on the road when an ordinary motorcycle went by, almost unseating me. Only because she stops so readily was I able to stay on. And after that, she reacted violently to every car and truck that went by. At the dirt road into the trails, there was a sign displaying a marble and rock contractor who must have been putting something nice in my neighbor's new house. Isabeau acted terrified of it, and when I rode her up to it so she could sniff it, she pushed it down and stepped on it! So embarrassing and completely unlike her. There is a big hoof print on the bent over sign.

As I headed into the woods, my neighbor and his son were driving down the dirt road from the new house they are building in the woods. Isabeau flipped out, spinning and jumping around. Completely out of character for her. Terribly embarrassing for me, as they are friends from church.

And more and more of the same on the ride. I was so disappointed in my girl.

I think it is a case of "horsepen-itis". I think my horses are sick of living in the sacrifice pen and want to get back in their pasture. I only have 10 acres, so in the winter, they live in a large sacrifice pen. I give them hay 4 times a day, and this year, I got really good quality hay. Perhaps the nutritious hay is contributing to horses' being so "up." Windy was bucking and carrying on yesterday.

Hey, one good thing! Isabeau's former modus operandi was to rear. Rear when she was upset, rear when she didn't want to do something, rear when she was angry, rear when she was scared. But today she never got the slightest bit light in the front. Guess she has decided since she wasn't allowed to rear, she'll spin bolt instead. Never a dull moment with that girl.
 
#632 ·
I love this thread! I'm getting such a kick out of seeing everyone's photos and hearing about their rides. Still working through all the pages. Haven't gotten to ride much myself this year - between weather, my injury, my horse's injury, and other life stuff going on, we've only been out a handful of times. :'( Hopefully this fall will be better now that we're both back in good health.




And more and more of the same on the ride. I was so disappointed in my girl.

Hey, one good thing! Isabeau's former modus operandi was to rear. Rear when she was upset, rear when she didn't want to do something, rear when she was angry, rear when she was scared. But today she never got the slightest bit light in the front.

I'm sorry you had a bad ride. Sometimes they just get a bee in their bonnet and things just don't go right. I've had plenty of those rides. (Once during a Pro Rodeo Grand Entry in front of about 2500 people :eek:)


At least the no rearing is a plus!
 
#68 ·
Had a longer lunch break at work Monday and managed to squeeze in a nice ride with a work colleague on her lovely Peruvian :wink:
Temps overnight were in the mid-20ies, which is really cold for MS, but despite a breezy wind the temps rose nicely during the day thanks to sunshine...

I fully expected my pony to be silly (not worked, cold and windy) but she was behaving perfectly. Forward and eager to go, but always manageable on a loose rein. :love:



Horse Mane Pasture Sorrel Grass
 
#70 ·
We’ve had awful weather here as well... snow/ice over the weekend followed by a bitter cold snap with 20-30 mph gusts and a real feel of -20. The horses were stabled from Saturday evening until mid-day Tuesday.

Today is finally a bit warmer, mid 30s... so I thought I might go to the barn this evening and give Chase some light exercise in the ring....and notice that it’s supposed to start raining as soon as I can leave to go, aaaand all day tomorrow :(

This weekend I might be able to get some saddle time (I hope), but it will be a mess and he will probably be crawling out of his hide after being inside the majority of the week...so wish me luck [emoji849]


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#71 · (Edited)
As a longtime resident of New Hampshire, I was more than surprised to see this proposal in the paper today, since it's such a "don't tell me what to do" kind of state: "Manure bill would require 'pick up or pay' on NH trails"
This part was the funniest:
My theory is, someone’s riding, the horse poops, you get off and get your shovel out, scoop it up and throw it in the woods. You don’t have to carry it with you,” Harrington said. “That takes less time than it does for me to clean the horse poop off my boots once I’ve stepped in it.”
All you entrepreneurs out there, better get working on a shovel scabbard so riders everywhere can bring their shovels with them while out on trail :rofl:
 
#72 ·
No trails for us so far this year and I've only ridden indoors 2 or 3 times. Our weather just stinks. It either too cold or too warm and therefore muddy outside.
Saturday and Sunday we got about 18" of snow, yesterday it was 40 degrees and it is a slushy mess. My truck and trailer are parked for the winter :(
I love snow but not slush. Once again riding vicariously through all of you.
 
#73 ·
@egrogan we had a similar thing happen in our area. A non-horse person started raising a stink about horse poop on the trail and streets. Wanted us all to pick it up or have those bags under their tails like carriage horses do. None of the neighbors would back him up, so he took it to our local politician. He found out that horse poop is considered a fertilizer and does not need to be picked up by horse owner when the horse poops in the street or trail. We all had a good laugh about that one. At least the guy has stopped posting pictures of horse poop on FB.
 
#74 ·
The Visibility is Gettin' Better All the Time

When I was scuba diving a lot, my friends and I discovered that the more things that went wrong preparing for the dive, the better the visibility was on the actual dive. So whenever things started to go wrong with whatever we were preparing to do, we'd say, "At least the visibility is getting better."

Last ride I had on Isabeau was a real disappointment. She was spooking all over the place, covered in sweat, and dancing anxiously the whole ride. I was eager to get her out again and prove it was an aberration. So, today was her turn. I led her up to the tack room, holding her bridle, and put the saddle pad on her. She reached down to eat some hay that had fallen, and I thought, "That's good and will keep her occupied as I put on her saddle. But when I let loose of the reins to pick up the saddle, instead of continuing to eat, she bolted wildly, bucking, kicking out, and racing around. This is totally out of character for Isabeau. She thinks she's a queen. She never does anything giddy or silly. After a bunch of crazy running around, she came right up to me. So I put a largish rope halter on over her bridle and tied her. When I put the saddle on, I discovered the cinch had torn halfway through, I'm sure due to the wild spin bolting she did last ride. I had a new cinch in the horse trailer, so I went to get the cinch. As I came back, I saw her start to pull back wildly on her halter. Isabeau has never EVER pulled back. That's so gauche, she would say. She pulled the hitching post right out of the ground and started to drag it. I was quite concerned that she was going to get badly hurt.

Of course, it was a rope halter with the leadrope attached so I couldn't unclip her. Of course the safety release knot was pulled so tight it wouldn't release. Of course the leadrope was over her head, and after I untied the rope halter, I could not free her. But happily Isabeau IS queen and usually quite dignified, so she stood calmly while I worked at the safety release and finally got her freed.

Got the saddle on, and the new cinch was too small. I'd have to change around all the fittings to make it work. Of course, the temp was 35 degrees F, and gloves had to be off. I had a larger cinch also in the horse trailer, so this time I put her in her stall to grab the other cinch. All the time I'm thinking, "I probably should ride another horse. This is NOT going well. Nah, it's going to be great once I get on her. The visibility is getting better all the time."

The second (third) cinch was too big, so I did have to adjust the other fittings. Because Isabeau loves a saddle that doesn't fit her well, I have to have a fat-man strap on either side of the cinch. Both of those needed to be adjusted and were rusty and stiff. And my hands completely numb with cold.

And all the time, Isabeau was dancing around frantically, and I wondered if I was really crazy for climbing on this horse.

I did decide to do one smart thing and that was to ride her in the fields and woods right by my house instead of heading down the road to the nicer trails. That way, she wouldn't have any cars to spook at, and I could easily walk home if she got me off. But just as I hoped, once I got on her, she rode off beautifully. We rode 2 hours and didn't have a bit of problems. She was wonderful. The visibility was just great!
 
#81 · (Edited)
Chase and I got out for a somewhat eventful ride today. We had scary stone patches, cows, ice, and deer - oh my! Lol The whole play by play is in my journal.

But... considering how we haven’t been out in a few weeks, it went well enough and ended on a good note so I’ll call it a win.





2019 miles to date: a whopping 9 [emoji849]


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