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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...

It's finally warmer than the Arctic Circle and we can RIDE!

Yay for finally warming up and not snowing or raining so I could ride!  

Boo for all the rain that occurred last weekend and created ice under this week's new snow!  :-(

Yes, it's true.  I finally, FINALLY got to sit on a horse again this weekend since Christmas Day.  Hopefully the below zero temps are behind us, there is more daylight in the evenings now, and I figured maybe this could be a start to slow legging up!  

But, not so fast!  We had rain last weekend and while it did a great job of knocking back the snow to near bare ground, it also created a TON of ice.  And we had more snow just a few days ago, so now the ice is all hidden under the 4" of new snow.  So, while generally my fields are safe for winter riding, the ice is now everywhere and I cannot see it to avoid it.

Well, crap.
Looks nice out there but there is a ton of ice underneath that snow.  :-(

So, on Saturday I had to stick to the barnyard and gravel paths around the barn and to the pastures. It wasn't horrible, because yay, I got to ride, but it wasn't exactly fun times in any sense of the word.  Mostly, we just worked on walk, halt, and baby lateral steps, like moving sideways/hind leg underneath when I ask with my inside leg (she had forgotten that's a thing we do haha).  Miss Ellie was a little "up", and while I cannot blame her since she has been sitting for a few weeks, she was actually pretty darn good even though she wanted to be a wild child.  We worked on not bulging one's outside shoulder out on a circle and remembering what the outside rein can do (she wasn't entirely convinced I have ever taught her anything about controlling her outside shoulder).  It was all good baby stuff, just not exactly what I imagined we would be doing this weekend.  I just wanted to walk and trot a few laps around the fields, not do picky things haha.  ;-)   I also clipped her bridlepath because it was out of control.  I am so proud of her for remembering that clippers are Not Scary and there are plenty of treats for afterwards.


Part of the path from Ellie's paddock to the big field that was safe (and boring).
Sunday was a much better ride.  Ellie came in from the pasture and was totally calm and remembered that she's a big girl.  Repetition and consistency works, of course!  The paddock/ring was actually in better shape than it had been on Saturday, so at least we were able to ride "for real" instead of being stuck in the barnyard.  Still not safe enough for trotting, but we practiced walk/halt transitions, backing up, turn on the forehand, and turn on the haunches.  Zero bulging of the shoulder, we remembered how to halt, and she completely remembered how to horse again haha!


Yay for no ice in the ring!
We also tried out a new bit, which I ordered right after Christmas and had 30 days to return.  Welp, seeing as I was unable to ride (and didn't WANT to ride in the sub zero temps), I guess I now have one week to decide if I want to keep it LOL!  I will do a full write up on a different post, because it's not as though I have much blog fodder at the moment.
Smooshy face
Everything seems better when I can ride.  I don't even care if it is two or three times a week, just something!  It is times like this when I really wish I boarded at an indoor, but like I always do, I just tell myself to get over it and be happy with what I have!  ;-)  I am almost tempted to ask our sanding guy to come up and sand my ring.  I can't imagine he'd charge much more than what he does for our super long driveway!  

Comments

  1. I'm like you- a few rides make all the difference in my mood.

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    1. There is definitely a correlation between the number of times I ride in a week and my attitude LOL!

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  2. I hear ya, everything is better when you can ride! We have tons of ice too. I spent much of today trying to chip ice from my walkway. So fun!

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  3. she is sincerely the cutest. LOL I love her ears and expression. SO CUTE and what a good girl. I hope it stays a bit warmer for u so stuff melts some.

    We had no ice but the ring was a sloppy sloppy mess when I rode (from all our rain and ice and snow which is mostly gone) and the end of the ring was still under snow (it gets very little snow) so we too had to be careful and take our time and I didnt even try cantering!! (We did trot at least). It was a mess. Ready for spring :) HA! Glad you got to ride!!

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    1. I can't even handle her cuteness. I feel like that is all I talk about sometimes haha but she is so darn cute haha! The messy footing, whether snow, ice, or mud, is such a pain! SOOOOOO ready for spring! :-)

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  4. That's so crappy about all the ice formations! Ugh winter stahp. Love that you got to ride around on the barn roads tho! I totally resorted to that one winter with Isabel. It was kinda boring on one hand, but on the other hand totally worth it to at least be able to sit on the horse and remember what riding was like!!

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    1. Yeah, ice totally sucks and ruins winter riding up here (without an indoor!!). Some winters I am super lucky, but not this year. And today was an ice storm, on top of what we already had for ice, so ya know......yay Maine. LOL

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  5. She is adorable. Yay for riding!! Sometimes I fight myself just making it to the saddle, but once there I feel so much better about everything. Come on spring! Hurry up!

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    1. She's seriously the cutest, isn't she, and I know it is annoying how much I say that haha! ;-) I always feel better when I ride! Spring is less than 60 days away!!

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  6. Agreed! I always feel better after a ride too, even if its just some walk work (all walk work is good tho!)

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    1. Yes! It was much more productive for Ellie to work at the walk than for me to just bop around with her the snowy fields like a little kid haha.

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