No Stirrups November Level 10

I have a confession: I was already skeptical of the footing on our planned foxhunting route this weekend, so when I woke up to pounding rain, I made a sleepy game day decision and crawled back in bed. Im burnt out from real life anyway and needed a quiet weekend. But with that, my annual chance at foxhunting is gone for another year.

I need this for work.

By the time I woke up "for real" I was feeling pretty sad about the situation. I felt better when I got to the barn and it turned out none of our group braved the conditions. Then, the girl that owns Q mare and I came up with a consolation prize...a fun, hunting themed jump course in the indoor Saturday,  followed by a lengthy trail ride with plenty of gallops Sunday. Pretty much the same as hunting, right? (Yeah, I know, not really, but points because we tried?)

Because I think we were both feeling a little guilty,  we set up jumps as follows:

Yep, that's a circle of death on a 20m diameter, a bendy line, a one stride away from the gate, and Bridget's barrels of doom. Pretty much a low light reel of the things we've failed at this past year. Oh and it's no stirrups November, so that's fun.

Long story short, we've improved since last year. The level of fail was moderate and involved me picking a bad line once or twice and Midge powering through anyways. Much better than previous incidents of crashing into the arena wall (circle of death), rider falling (bendy 2 stride), stops (one stride away from the gate), and pony fall (barrels of doom, spooked and lost footing). I look forward to lesson nights this week, so we can get some coaching to help us be even more solid.\

Just a little trail ride

Our hack was a rainy, mucky affair, but fun and I thought a good opportunity to clock up some easy no stirrups miles. But, it's pretty slippery and rough out there right now, and creek crossings and hills that are doable in the summer are pretty intense right now. There are a couple of gullies in particular that had me wishing for stirrups - the ground was so treacherous and the horses both wanted to do it Man From Snowy River style, which was....interesting. Q mare in particular bounced and bronc'd up AND down a couple of them, and B wasn't much better. They're feeling quite fresh at the moment! I was very glad we opted out of the hunt and instead were able to cut things a bit shorter and pick the most reasonable routes home that we could. Still, it was a 2.5 hour adventure and a good workout for all involved.

Post ride treats being requested

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