In which this is another post about horses, horses, and more horses

Here in the Swampland, we're a little bit confused by blue sky weather, but we know EXACTLY what to do when the sun comes out:

That's a (well-behaved) stallion off the port bow
...and Fiddle doesn't even care.

go riding, of course.

Photobomb!

Friday afternoon, Duana and I took a lesson.

In the outdoor arena.

Duana and Hana are making amazing progress together

In the sunshine.

It doesn't happen all the time, but increasingly often
riding the Dragon feels like dancing

O.   M.   G.

I had to take a break after 20 minutes and put on more sunscreen.  

Then it was Becky's turn for a quick lesson.  It's been two days, and I'll bet money that Becky is still feeling the sore muscles from Dory's warm-up routine.

This one builds core and inner thigh muscles.

But riding was only part of the excuse reason for Becky's visit:  she wanted to see some Standardbreds!  I'm sure she plans to blog about the trip in detail, so I'll only post a few teaser pics here.

Heart to Beat.  If she ever makes an endurance horse,
she needs to register with AERC as "The Roller Derby Queen"

We headed north, to the boarding stable in Langely BC that houses Greener Pastures Standardbred Adoption Agency.

We saw lots of standies, and each of them tried to convince us that she (or in the case of Chester, "he") was the most charming.

Yes, Chester is a red standardbred!

But the clear winner of the "charm" tiara is a filly called Red Star Vamp.

Alina takes seriously her responsibility to make standardbreds adoptable!

Vamp is only 2 years old (3 year birthday next weekend), so she's technically younger than Becky's ideal horse.  However, she seems to come from the same line of standies as Sky's mare Cricket, who convinced everyone that she was an adult horse at age 3!

I really hope Becky puts the video of Vamp on her blog.  If she doesn't, I'll post it here in a few days--nice moving horse!

"Take a picture of me looking too big beside this horse."
Huh?  Looks fine to me!

And she's a sweet one, too.

Becky and Vamp are both pretty sweet!

Too much cuteness and sweetness?  The Dragon has a cure for that.

I took her out for a final spin before I pack up all our gear for the Mt Adams Endurance Ride next weekend.

All business, no cuteness.
At least, not where anybody will see it.


Undeterred by the return of the rain, the Dragon and I had a great quick ride this afternoon: almost 9 miles in about 90 minutes.  Not bad at all.

But of course, Fee is proudest of her Eating Skillz.




All on a loose rein, obviously--my hands were on the camera!

It's.  Just.  All.  Good.

Comments

  1. Oh man, I love that video. What a good girl!

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  2. Thanks for posting a video! I didn't get a chance to ride this weekend (stupid truck needing repairs and fences needing built and such), so I'm definitely missing saddle time. At least I got to pretend for a minute...

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  3. Wow, your Dragon is a dancing dragon as that is some serious reach on her. I think I'm envious. Also, very impressive eating on command there. Rose always has to sniff around a bit, stare back at the trail, sniff some more, and then settle down to eat.

    PS. Between you, Funder, and a friend of mine who rides Pasos I find myself thinking more and more about a non-arab for one of my future endurance ponies for when Rose can't go down the trail anymore.

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  4. that's becky? she's skinny! she wants to join team sensible? exciting!

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  5. Lytha? When I say I love you, I mean it from the bottom of my "dieting sucks but it's working" heart.

    Aarene, I love the fact that you did that whole decelerate-chomp-accelerate hands free. That's a great video.

    Also, I posted the video on my blog... but not on the Greener Pasture's FB page. I'm not gonna do a darn thing to help market that filly. I'm hoping she's still around when I'm ready.

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  6. Love the photo of you and the dragon dancing! Excellent timing :)

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  7. The video was so helpful. I'm just starting to get into endurance riding, and I've read several books (including yours) that discussed the importance of getting the horse to eat along the trail. But, I was having trouble visualizing how it would work. Now I know! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad this was useful--good luck to you! We practiced this technique a LOT at the Mt Adams ride recently...details coming soon.

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  9. Farah loves the "bite" part, just not the quit eating part! :-)

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