Now that’s a ride!
Went out with Christine on her horse, she showed me some more of the trail system around her place. Oodles of snowmobile trails, and today we decided to check out the footing on the powerlines.
Clover was in a mare-ish mood, until we got to galloping she kept testing me to see if she could turn around and go back to my friend's other horse, Clover's booooyfriend. No dice, honey.
We galloped up the power lines a ways—the footing was great where it wasn't rutted—and stopped to ford a decent-sized stream. I attempted to take Clover over a trickier approach, a couple of steps down a bank to a narrower crossing. She wasn't having any of it: strange water crossing, step down approach, mare-ish stubbornness. After some balking and shoulder-dropping reprimanded with spinning and well-placed applications of the bat, I dismounted to convince her to at least step down and maybe in, but no luck. She started pushing her shoulder into me, and I responded with a smart crack of the bat to the offending shoulder.
I even stepped one foot into the knee-deep stream once I'd gotten Clover to step down the bank a few steps. Meanwhile, Christine had gotten Irish in to the much more inviting steam crossing that she decided to take, and came over to our side. Clover tentatively stepped in and over, and I remounted and rode across the more inviting crossing a couple more times before we rode off again.
Christine's dog was with us, so we didn't continue on down the powerlines to the road that would lead us back to the barn; we turned around and did some gallop sets back to the main trail we'd come from. Where the footing was clear and dry we galloped, It felt great. I made the happy discovery that I'm learning how to grip more with my lower legs, not try to cling on by my butt and thigh muscles.
By the time we got back it was getting darker and the temperature had dropped a butt-load. But it was good to get out and really do some riding, and get going on the cross country conditioning.
Clover was in a mare-ish mood, until we got to galloping she kept testing me to see if she could turn around and go back to my friend's other horse, Clover's booooyfriend. No dice, honey.
We galloped up the power lines a ways—the footing was great where it wasn't rutted—and stopped to ford a decent-sized stream. I attempted to take Clover over a trickier approach, a couple of steps down a bank to a narrower crossing. She wasn't having any of it: strange water crossing, step down approach, mare-ish stubbornness. After some balking and shoulder-dropping reprimanded with spinning and well-placed applications of the bat, I dismounted to convince her to at least step down and maybe in, but no luck. She started pushing her shoulder into me, and I responded with a smart crack of the bat to the offending shoulder.
I even stepped one foot into the knee-deep stream once I'd gotten Clover to step down the bank a few steps. Meanwhile, Christine had gotten Irish in to the much more inviting steam crossing that she decided to take, and came over to our side. Clover tentatively stepped in and over, and I remounted and rode across the more inviting crossing a couple more times before we rode off again.
Christine's dog was with us, so we didn't continue on down the powerlines to the road that would lead us back to the barn; we turned around and did some gallop sets back to the main trail we'd come from. Where the footing was clear and dry we galloped, It felt great. I made the happy discovery that I'm learning how to grip more with my lower legs, not try to cling on by my butt and thigh muscles.
By the time we got back it was getting darker and the temperature had dropped a butt-load. But it was good to get out and really do some riding, and get going on the cross country conditioning.
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