Sunday, August 1, 2010

Pleasant Surprise

Weather this morning was almost perfect so after my morning coffee,  I breeched up and headed to the farm.

My intention was to do more ground work with Rosie, then some mounted seat work.  Turning off the seat bones, half halts walk/trot transitions with one canter tossed in to just keep the lead work fresh.

However, when I arrived several other boarders were saddling up for a trail ride.  They asked if I wanted to join them.. well SURE!

Told them I'd be riding Rosie and asked which level of trail we were riding.  Was told Moderate to Hard !

Well I was game for it.  This would be Rosie's first ride of more than hacking around fields since last summer.  

We had 5 riders total, and one of them was on her purebred Percheron gelding.  It was nice riding with someone the same size as me!

There is NOTHING like the feeling of 2000 pounds of 17 HH horse RUNNING up a hill!!!  

At one of the water crossings the water was deep enough that the horses decided they just wanted to hang out.   Rosie started pawing and splashing, which got the other Percheron doing the same!  Lots of water spraying and lots of fun!

All in all was a really good trip out with her!  She only hard spooked once and never ever refused anything I pointed her at!   We were out for a little over 3 hours.

No pictures because of the difficulty of the trail I was worried I'd drop my iPhone...  I really need to buy a small camera for trail riding.  Anyone have any suggestions?


Oh as a side note.. I tacked Rosie completely including removing halter to put bridle on, ground tied!!  All my ground work is really paying off I think.

8 comments:

  1. An excellent day all around!

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  2. Rosie is amazing and so are you - 3+ hour trial ride, rated difficult, WOW!. Wish you had pictures of Rosie and the Percheron playing in the water. Sounds adorable. Our draft cross Savanah likes to stand in the pond where we board for the winter :)

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  3. Lucky you!!! Sounds like loads of fun and Rosie was a good girl for you! Flies are still keeping me grounded. I did just hang out in the barn with the boys this afternoon and brush them, they really liked that!
    The little camera I use to take pictures when I ride is a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. it's about the size of a deck of cards but thinner! Takes GREAT pictures. I have a neck strap that I hang it on, it also takes great video too. I love it!

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  4. Wow, that sounds great. You sure sound like you and Rosie had fun today.

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  5. Never refused anything you pointed her at? Incredible. That's something I've yet to experience. Speaking of breeches, I went birthday shopping with my daughter today and came across "jeggings", which are jean leggings. At first I thought, "How stupid..." but then thought, "Wait a minute -- these are riding breeches!" So, I bought a pair. Ha ha.

    The camera I use is just an old, smaller digital camera I've had for years. I don't really care if I drop it. They have much smaller, flatter digital cameras that fit nicely in saddle bags or pockets.

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  6. Man do I hurt today!!! Even my HANDS hurt!

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  7. Wow ~ great fun!! Pleasant surprises like this are definitely one of the benefits of boarding. I was reading along and thought difficult ride, she'll switch to Bonnie - glad instead you had such a successful ride on Rosie. Running a draft does feels different, it's awesome! I miss it. Trail hours and arena hours are so different, sorry your sore - just think of the fun you had. Can you fit me in your saddle bag?

    I've looked into small pocket camera's, Cannon has some okay ones out...

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  8. What a great ride - thats the one reason I am reluctant not to board my horses - it's fun to get together with folks.

    Being sore just means you need to ride more, right? :)

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Happy Trails!

~Jeni