Trail Riding - Inside & Outside

Choctaw Lily No Responses »
Nov 292009

This weekend, the skies were positively celestial.

This weekend, the skies were positively celestial.

Lily and I have been out at Mt. Pisgah riding further each time on a rather little used trail, number 3. It starts at the north trailhead and crosses behind a small hill, then along the west side of the mountain to the back entrance of the park, crossing the main hiking trail leading to the summit. Once you pass the hiking trail, it is not used much and fades to a, sometimes washed out, single track. The views are well worth the challenge.


Fabulous blue skies in late November ... what a treat!

Fabulous blue skies in late November ... what a treat!

On the way back, I was coming down the trail to an intersection and heard, “It’s a horse!” Three girls about the same age waited, while the adults and a couple other kids moved on. I heard an adult say, “Careful! Stay out of the way.” Lily had popped into a canter by that time. The girls were so focused on Lily, rapt with attention. I stopped and invited them to come pet her. It was quite magical and reminded me how much I take for granted. And also how special the touch of a horse can be.


This video is the switchback portion of #3 through the woods, where there is the most elevation gain and also where the footing was the most slick. In the open, the sun had dried it out pretty well, aside from the portions that are little streams. Those, the midday winter sun turned into gleaming silver threads, inviting me on.

This is one of my favorite shots. That's Sky (Trakhener/Arab X), Diamond (Kiger) and my Lily.

This is one of my favorite shots. That's Sky (Trakhener/Arab X), Diamond (Kiger) and my Lily.

As well as having a blast out on the trails lately, we hauled to the Oregon Horse Center to practice inside on their National Championship trail course. Yes, inside. I met Romina and Megan there to practice.

Lily was wonderful and got past several of her issues, from ditches to water with weird, man-made footing. We can now walk, trot and canter through any of the ditches, as well as back down and up. The only thing still to work on there, is backing in without walking through forward first. We played follow the leader with Lily in front over the whole course. I practiced backing and sidepassing in all different sorts of places.

Lily helped Sky and another horse past their water issues when I ponied them. And she got several inquiries from bystanders. And, of course, a few people asked what kind of horse she was. A couple of old timer types watched her very carefully. One commented as we were leaving on what a tough horse she was. That made me smile.

Our favorite part was trying the course at speed! We did a fast run of one side of the course, cantering through ditches and jumping logs. If I can save the $$ for entry fees, I could see taking her in the speed competition next year, along with entering a division or two.

All the photos of the OHC practice are here.



I have to say that I find riding out on the trail truly sublime. Being out alone with just my mare, I can be taken to a timeless place, where human and horse are one, like so many times throughout history. Then to switch gears and try our hands and hooves at the technical challenges of a championship course … what an interesting balance.

And here are the rest of my Pisgah shots… with some more sky images, among other things.

If you are on Twitter and you found value in this post, please retweet. Thanks!
Posted by Simrat at 9:33 pm Tagged with: , ,

Heavenly

Choctaw Lily 2 Responses »
Nov 232009

This is about where we turned around.

This is about where we turned around.

It was supposed to rain all day yesterday. Instead the sun shone and I had no problem picking up a ton of hay across town. Hargobind came along for company and Gurunam and Shabd met us to help stack. In time, I will be able to take one of them out riding with me. Vinnie needs a bit more under saddle time first. The rest of Saturday’s photos are here.


My helpers left and I went for a ride! Lily is so game to get out that it makes riding 100% more fun. I ran into Lisa and Laura, so we swapped my camera for photos. I’m really having fun with this new point & shoot. That it takes video is an extra bonus.

Lily is out of shape, so we didn’t go to the top of Mt. Pisgah. I did dismount and lead her part way up the gravel walking trail, so we passed lots of hikers and dogs. I think that we were out for nearly three hours. We did quite a lot of wandering around. It’s quite fun to let Lily see where she wants to go. It’s usually farther away from home, instead of back to the barn.

Mohter & Son - with no time to comb manes

Mohter & Son - with no time to comb manes

Sunday, I zipped out of the house when the sun showed it’s face. This time, I took Vinnie out too. He had no issue being ponied down the road with cars passing, including trotting across the bridge. I didn’t want to tackle the single track trail right away, so we rode down below in the gravel road and in the meadow. The road is .6 miles and I wanted to see what pace we could keep at a big trot. We did it in 3 minutes. By my calculation, that is about 12 mph. Not bad, considering Lily broke to a canter a few times. That slowed us down, as it was not as fast as her trot. I also had to contend with Vinnie mostly cantering alongside.

In the meadow, we had a nice gallop. That’s a rush while ponying another horse! Both of them seemed to enjoy it, though I did see some competitiveness showing up. Not the best thing to occur when one horse really needs to stay behind the other. We ended with some controlled slow canter. All the while, rain drops were starting to spatter down.

Window

Window

Thankfully, they let up as we headed up the hill. The small window of blue that I saw from the meadow opened up to this dramatic sky. Many of the trails there are small streams this time of year. Under the water in most places, it is solid and sound though. Vinnie did well following behind on the single track and through the woods, twists and turns. At the first meadow, I took a break and let them graze. They enjoyed the view at times along with me.


This all was well worth missing laundry and dishes for. I’ll just stay up a bit later tonight and get that done too. Trail euphoria will carry me though…


Today’s photos are here.

Posted by Simrat at 12:02 am Tagged with: ,

Incredible weekend

AR Cirro, Choctaw Lily, Paisano 4 Responses »
Sep 132009

Vinnie had his second and third rides this weekend. I had brought Paisano up to Tired Dog Ranch for Amanda to ride. I put Vinnie in a nearby paddock to keep Paisano company for the weekend and because I knew I wanted to work with him. He called some to his friends and relatives down below, but was nicely settled down after a night near Paisano.

Saturday was his first ride in a saddle. I used my old Simco western that I’ve been trying to sell for the last year. It seemed to fit him fairly well. I got on in the 12×24 pen. He was okay, but a bit antsy. I had Amy Jo open the gate and rode him around the orchard area for maybe 20 minutes or so. At first, Amanda helped him move forward leading him with the mecate, then we went solo. He did really well. The only sticky part was him not really knowing that leg means forward. He turned and stopped just perfectly. And he looked very smart in the brown tones of the saddle, my wool pad and bosalito with mohair mecate. All the photos are on Amanda’s camera, so I’ll have to wait to get them from her.

Sunday morning, we tacked up again. This time, he took a couple of bucks in the pen when the saddle was cinched up. His pal, Cornelius was on his way up the hill to join us. I’m not sure if that’s what set him off or that maybe I cinched it too tight at first. Either way, I took him out and lunged him for a few minutes before getting on.

We went out on the loop trail through the wood around the property. If you were at the SMR meeting, you might remember that trail. It’s narrow, windy with roots and downed trees to step over. He was a CHAMP! He followed Cornelius, slowing when I asked. The bosal had rubbed a little while lunging, so I had switched to his web halter with reins attached. Paisano and Amanda followed us.

Vinnie with saddle sweat marks after our trail ride!

Vinnie with saddle sweat marks after our trail ride!

When we got to a straight stretch, we trotted. He has a nice long trot like Lily. Then he led the group for a while, even at a trot! By the end of the ride, he was trotting on leg cues and going off on his own. He went in the middle, at the back and in front and I dismounted and mounted back up a couple of times. I was nearly speechless. I knew that he would be easy to start, but this was almost too easy. There is still a lot to be done with him, of course, but to go out on an hour trail ride on his third ride was pretty darn cool! And it was a great feeling to ride my first bred Spanish Mustang.


Amanda did really well with Paisano too. I think that they will make a great pair. He will likely go stay with her for a while on lease.

I was thinking of selling Vinnie, but now I am not so sure about that. I’ll do everything I can to keep this boy. He’s a really nice ride. We will need to work on standing still and not fussing and getting into everything. He’s a real busy body.

I also took Lily out for a short ride this afternoon. I haven’t ridden her in months. She was just fine leaving Rita, who is three months old now and quite independent. Rita looked concerned and called a little, but had aunts and uncles to take care of her.

Lily was SO ready to go and gaited so very nicely. Amanda and I went about 2/3 of the way I had ridden with Vinnie. It was really wonderful to feel Lily’s energy again. She is such a game mare. If all goes well, we should be able to do a couple of LD rides next year and have a blast!

It was very special to have all three of my horses out on the trail riding this weekend. It’s been a long time coming.

Posted by Simrat at 10:29 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

I used to dream about this...

Paisano No Responses »
Aug 142009

Gurunam with Cora & Lily one of the few times we trailered over.

Gurunam with Cora & Lily at the summit of Mt. Pisgah in 2007. This was one of the few times we trailered over. I didn't take a camera today, so this will have to do.

I had a great two hour ride at Mt. Pisgah, alone with Paisano tonight. We rode LOTS of hills, mostly trotting. We didn’t go to the summit, as he is not really conditioned yet. He was all sweaty, poor boy! Then he still had the energy to spook at a deer and end up half off the trail down a steep hill. Goof! He was looking at everything and had a couple of milder spooks earlier in the ride. He never totally relaxed, but we he did end up with some nice, long strided walk at the end. The weather couldn’t have been nicer with temps about 65-70 and breathtaking views.


When I moved to Eugene, during my long period of no horse activities, we used to go out to Pisgah and hike to the top. Every time, I would wistfully think about how much nicer it would be to ride, rather than walk. I had no plan to get horses. It actually seemed like rather an impossible idea at the time.

Then when I did get horses, I didn’t board close to Pisgah and didn’t have a trailer for a few years. Then I did have a trailer, but not a horse to ride. They were either too green or bred. Now, incredibly, I have the trained horses, the trailer and I board as close to Pisgah as you can get. You would think that I would be ecstatic. I have to remind myself how lucky I am, as it already feels so familiar as to be ordinary. And that itself feels wonderful! It’s interesting how something that I wanted for so long, has taken a very short time to get entirely used to.

Back to the pragmatic side, today was our first long ride trying out my FreeForm saddle on Paisano. It left a very nice even sweat pattern and he seemed comfortable and moved out pretty well. It stayed in place both up and down hills. I had a breastcollor on and checked regularly to see if it was really needed. It never got snug, so the saddle really did stay where it was supposed to. We went down some pretty steep hills, so it was a good test. To the point that I would have appreciated some larger thigh blocks!

It is not my first choice though to ride Paisano in, as I feel like I am sitting on a table. On him, It is very flat side to side, without much twist. The result is that it is harder to get my leg on him. I’ll continue to use it on trails, as long as he stays comfortable. It rides better for me on Lily. With her it is my favorite saddle so far.

Tomorrow Paisano will get something short and easy since he worked hard today. The two days after that involve other riders trying him out. Sunday, Amy Jo comes down to ride him and Monday, a trainer at my barn will try him out.

Posted by Simrat at 11:25 pm Tagged with: ,

Bonita at Tired Dog Ranch

Bonita Piernas, Training 2 Responses »
Jun 072009

Bonita’s time with me is coming to a close. Yesterday, I trailered her up to Tired Dog Ranch for a ride. I tried out their new round pen, made from found materials. It works well! When the grass inside is eaten down, it will be a good area to work loose in. We will take care of that the week before the SMR meeting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday. Amy Jo took the ones of me and Bonita and I took the rest. Go here to see larger images.




After trying out the round pen, I rode Bonita in the meadow and we had a first few canter strides under saddle. She is VERY smooth! I did get a few little rocking bucks at one point, but she gave it up quickly and never offered any of that again. I continued to ride her around the meadow with Amy Jo on Larry following along. I wasn’t too sure about going out on a trail ride, but after a little more riding, we decided to go for it.

We went through a gate and into the forest. Bonita didn’t like it when Larry got too close or when Bob (dog) was right behind her. Other than that, she was great. She led the entire way, stopping when we had to wait for Larry, responsive and happy to explore.

We looped through the woods, ending on the gravel road past their property. Then we went down the forest service road a ways. She was sound on the gravel. Bonita could have gone a lot farther. She didn’t even begin to sweat and we were out for about an hour. She was okay going around several turns of the road alone without Larry too. Someone needs to take this mare home from the meeting and keep working with her. She’ll be a great, willing partner for somebody.

Bonita did well enough with Five O’Clock Charlie and Wonderful, that I left her there for the week. I’ll be back on Saturday with Paisano and will stay though the SMR meeting June 19-21. I hope to get in more rides on Bonita with Kay, her owner along. After the meeting, Bonita goes home with Kay to Day’s End Ranch in Camas, WA.

Posted by Simrat at 3:41 pm Tagged with: , ,
Older Entries
© 2010 Akal Ranch Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha