Stopping to smell the humus
Gave Clover 2 days off after SBF; took her out on a long hack tonight. I don't know why I let the end of summer get me down, in the past I've gotten a bittersweet bummed out feeling, about school starting, about winter coming, and not being able to wear shortsleeves. But then I realized, damn, it's the best time of year for riding! The sweltering heat has passed, the bugs are dying off and I can go ride out in the woods without being driven out of them again by swarms of horseflies.
Clover, for her part, did her usual attempts to crane her neck around and head home, like she tries to do when we go out without company. “Knock it off,” I told her, “I want to ride you on a loose rein for a while.” I gave up and rode on a shorter rein, until we got past the “you sure you don't want to head back home?” phase. We ambled down to the bridge, and took a right immediately after. I originally intended to head to the left up the steep hill on to the trotting trail to the golf course, but saw that the trail also went straight, along the stream.
It took a bit of navigating to get through some parts, some downed trees crossed the path, as well as a birch partially fallen diagonally across the path. It was too low to try riding under, so we bushwacked around and headed on. Eventually, we came to a dark area on the path, black mud, covered by dead leaves. Clover stopped dead, unsure of the footing, and it took me some moments to get her to cross over that part of the trail. I let myself have a spooked feeling about it, like it was a shallow grave or some kind of doorway to middle earth or something like that. Clover gathered herself underneath me as if to jump the black patch, so I closed my legs and gave a light squeeze on the reins, and she gingerly stepped onto the patch and hurried herself over with light and quick steps.
It wasn't long before the trail ran out, some serious trail grooming would have to be done before we could do any more trekking there. We doubled back and headed back up to the steep incline. I figured the walk work up hill would be good for exercising Clover. We moseyed up and down the trail, navigating around rocks and stumps, finally getting to the good footing. I closed my legs and sent Clover off on a canter, and let her break to a ground-covering trot before pulling her up to make a sharp turn on the trail. We didn't get much farther before I smelled fresh cut timber and saw a clearing. I tried heading down an old trail alongside a stone wall but couldn't, there was too much tree litter on the path. When we turned around, I saw a no trespassing sign, obviously someone laid claim to that spot.
As we headed back to the main trail and home, a small band of horseflies found us, so we picked up the canter for a bit while the good footing lasted. As we approached the steep hill back down, my heart gave a thump, I dunno why steep hills give me the willies, but they do, even though I've ridden up and down it at all gaits and speeds plenty of times. Finally back on the main trail I gave Clover a long rein, and enjoyed a long, slow walk back to the farm. For some reason, the horseflies left us alone once we got on the main trail, and I realized that it had been warmer deeper in the woods. It felt great going out and bushwacking around on horseback like I used to when I was a kid, it was a great way to unwind and get back into work with Clover.
Clover, for her part, did her usual attempts to crane her neck around and head home, like she tries to do when we go out without company. “Knock it off,” I told her, “I want to ride you on a loose rein for a while.” I gave up and rode on a shorter rein, until we got past the “you sure you don't want to head back home?” phase. We ambled down to the bridge, and took a right immediately after. I originally intended to head to the left up the steep hill on to the trotting trail to the golf course, but saw that the trail also went straight, along the stream.
It took a bit of navigating to get through some parts, some downed trees crossed the path, as well as a birch partially fallen diagonally across the path. It was too low to try riding under, so we bushwacked around and headed on. Eventually, we came to a dark area on the path, black mud, covered by dead leaves. Clover stopped dead, unsure of the footing, and it took me some moments to get her to cross over that part of the trail. I let myself have a spooked feeling about it, like it was a shallow grave or some kind of doorway to middle earth or something like that. Clover gathered herself underneath me as if to jump the black patch, so I closed my legs and gave a light squeeze on the reins, and she gingerly stepped onto the patch and hurried herself over with light and quick steps.
It wasn't long before the trail ran out, some serious trail grooming would have to be done before we could do any more trekking there. We doubled back and headed back up to the steep incline. I figured the walk work up hill would be good for exercising Clover. We moseyed up and down the trail, navigating around rocks and stumps, finally getting to the good footing. I closed my legs and sent Clover off on a canter, and let her break to a ground-covering trot before pulling her up to make a sharp turn on the trail. We didn't get much farther before I smelled fresh cut timber and saw a clearing. I tried heading down an old trail alongside a stone wall but couldn't, there was too much tree litter on the path. When we turned around, I saw a no trespassing sign, obviously someone laid claim to that spot.
As we headed back to the main trail and home, a small band of horseflies found us, so we picked up the canter for a bit while the good footing lasted. As we approached the steep hill back down, my heart gave a thump, I dunno why steep hills give me the willies, but they do, even though I've ridden up and down it at all gaits and speeds plenty of times. Finally back on the main trail I gave Clover a long rein, and enjoyed a long, slow walk back to the farm. For some reason, the horseflies left us alone once we got on the main trail, and I realized that it had been warmer deeper in the woods. It felt great going out and bushwacking around on horseback like I used to when I was a kid, it was a great way to unwind and get back into work with Clover.
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