Getting excited

We have ride times for Cobblestone! I think they will be really good for us, dressage late morning and cross country in the early afternoon with stadium the next day in the early afternoon. It sucks to drive out twice but is so much cheaper then getting a stall. Plus Joy can relax at home afterwards and that will be better for her anyway.

I have to get the truck registered today, really should have gotten on that first thing this morning. But I was super sleepy and slept in. I also need to get new tires put on the beast, maybe tomorrow, Hoping to get a schooling session in with my friend's trainer in on Thursday but that hinges on if we got everything done early, it will be ready for Saturday..

I went on a trail ride yesterday with eventer friends, we went swimming in the river and then to Dairy Queen. The weather was perfect, great company and we all had lots of fun. There were tons of people at the launch point with canoes and floaty thingys so walking the horses to the river was good desensitizing. The horses were all really good and Joe built a chicken fence while we were gone :)

Joy has been getting a wet mouth when we ride now, recently started and it's surprising because she never used to. She is also connecting through the back and yielding to the bit way more then she used to. I rode her a couple days ago and was wondering why she felt on the forehand and then realized she was just stretching into contact like a good girl.

I also am borrowing a saddle that might work for jumping, it is a Wintec and still slides up a bit but she seemed to like it and it is way better then my Collegiate all purpose that pinches her shoulders.

I had better get to it, I have a list of errands a mile long.

Taking the path less traveled.

Today was actually really nice, despite it being late November so I wanted to trail ride, not having an indoor arena really limits my options in winter, I usually trail ride bareback (for warmth)

We headed out and she was being a bit of a snot, not real forward and at the turnoff for the trails she wanted to go the other way towards her buddies. We got on the trails and kicked up some deer and canterd up a couple hills. She was doing the flat back"i'm an aryab and I go wheee" thing up the hills and she just didn't seem happy to be out.

I usually ride in the metro park, there are lots of nice safe bridle trails, I generally do a two mile loop and to get to the other trails you have to ride half the loop. I have been trail riding a ton this summer, primarily because my horsey friends like too. The park has been clearing out some trails nearby and on a whim I ducked down that today, and suddenly I had a diffrent horse, she was forward and happy. We trotted through the woods and jumped a good size pile of brush, likely our biggest jump to date. Joy handled everything like a champ.

Which got me thinking about what we have done lately, excluding the dressage show in October it's been mainly trail ride in a group with a few jumps thrown in over logs and such, we have have had fun but she is bored with it. It is so easy to get complacent and stop looking for new adventures.

I think when I get bored with things I stop trying as well, I guess that is a pretty much universal. Riding on your own changes things too, since you have to be the one to keep it interesting instead of relying on an instructor to do it for you. I also think some horses get bored easier then others. I am going to set my arena back up and keep riding in it until the footing gets bad, which could be any day now, I am also going to plan out next years goals to keep me on track through the winter.