Weekend of Riding

Tacking Up

OK, I did other things, too... like took the dog to Petsmart, completed homework, rented two movies (which never happens), cleaned up around the house, and raked the whole yard (Chris did most), BUT I ACTUALLY rode both days of the weekend for once! I decided against the combined event at the farm, but instead, I went trail riding with a friend. We went back to the same place where the hunter pace was. It was a bit foggy in the morning and it rained a bit, but it ended up being a decent day to ride less the dampness that made it feel colder than it was. The ride was great, but there were a few spots that were a bit mucky and slippery due to the rain. We rode about 8 miles in two-hours and it was great to get out. Spyder was an angel (and wasn't ridden for a week), and the two got along nicely!

One of the wider trails

I got up early to ride on Sunday because it was set to be almost 70! I think it got up to about 60 during my ride, and Spyder had a little bit of a sweat going for once. We rode about an hour with w/t to warm up (after we went up and down the long side of the track with me in two-point... ouch!) and moved to canter with a crop. Man is my life easier just holding it! We had two kicking out episodes which were controllable with the smack of the crop, and it seemed that he was more responsive throughout the ride because of it... take that! We moved to jumping, and it was decent (except he hit his toe once). We started with just an x-rail turning left then taking the same x-rail and turning right. It's AMAZING thinking back to when we could hardly steer. Now, we're steering over jumps... I'd say it's a plus! From that jump, we kept going right to go over a small vertical - from there, we went left, then right. We added a third jump - right over x-rail, left over vertical, small white fence. We took this jump to the left, and so there was a fourth added that was in that direction the next time around. X-rail, vertical, fence, brush box thing. We weren't all that straight going to the brush box so we went over that a few more times until it was nice. Finally, some jumping!

I am almost positive that I'm going to school xc in Maryland this coming weekend, and I am both excited and nervous being that we haven't done many xc jumps yet. They have elementary jumps so we'll start there, but the facility is beautiful in itself to even work on water and banks if all else fails. Oh, and I finally snapped a photo of the stall name plaque that Chris's dad made me for Christmas last year. We stopped by the farm with the pup and Chris put it up for me. It looks great on his stall!

Following the leader

New name sign