The wider world

[glenatron]

Today Zorro and I went out for a bit of a longer hack than we have before, calling in at my parents' house to say hello and steal mum and the dog ( who is still terrified of horses ) so we could go for a bit of a bounce together. My theory is that if Pippa the puppy gets to be out with the horses from time to time she'll get more confident around them. Certainly she seemed to enjoy running with us when we trotted and cantered a bit, although it did make her pretty barky when we stopped.

I decided to take us down a hill that I have known for as long as I can remember as "Steep and Stony" which is fairly steep and quite stony. Zorro paused a couple of times where tree-roots created steps and he thought it might be easier to stop and perhaps turn round and find an easier route but we managed it and I was very pleased with him.


Looks steep. And stony.


Zorro pauses to pose for the camera. And to wonder if I really need him to step down off this one root.


Continuing our descent. Small anxious collie is running about ahead of us.


On the way back- a lot of you guys have more mountains and dramatic lakes, but we have old timberframed cottages with roses around the windows...

I can't help myself, I have to sometimes get bits of video when we're ambling along- I blame harnessphoto and Ozzy for giving me the idea. This one turns into mostly just hair when Zorro decides to pick up a little, but order is restored near the end.

Comments

[serennig]

Ahhhhh so jealous of gorgeous scenery and trails.

I have. Fields. Flat ones. In all directions. And then the city, which it true prairie style has no gentle suburbia, its just *wham* urban. Oh I guess there's the river ("THE" river... the South Saskatchewan River -- there are no others) but the only access to it doubles as an off-leash dog park which makes it dicey for riding through.

THough we might trailer a pair of ponies out somewhere nifty next week for a Poker Rally. Never done one before, so kind of intrigued and also kind of not sure what to expect!

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

ooo, that is one gorgeous canter run. Lovely pics of Zorro looking handsome, as always.

Call that steep though? Piffle......

hehe

[harnessphoto.livejournal.com]

You guys make me so proud, and you already know I love your scenery. Hacks are the best :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Are your ponies good at poker?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

It's hard to give an impression of steep with a camera because you're always looking up or down and it sort of tends to flatten things out.

I suspect the hill is actually less steep than the one down to the stream by the boys' field, but it still feels noticeably downhill when we are walking on it.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

:)

[serennig]

Guess we'll find out!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

When horses play poker do they still have a hand of cards? Or is it a hoof? Or a nuzzly top lip of cards?

[penella22.livejournal.com]

It's always so neat to see the scenery where other people ride...I love seeing how different places look. I think this should serve as your inspiration to start an international horse video webpage or TV show. Or it could be like wherethehellismatt.com only with horses...

I know I know...I could do the webpage myself...(if I do are you posting this video?). :D

I love Zorro's mane. I have to say, Sage's almost total lack of mane is somewhat disadvantageous whenever we get into a tight spot.

[serennig]

They cheat by having over a dozen hands. For example, Faran has 16 to choose from.

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

Riding down steep stuff is definitely up there as one of the scarier things to get used to when you're trail riding. I got cured of it when I lived in France though - we used to canter down slopes like that in the Alps. And occasionally have to dodge low hanging trees at the same time. Now THAT truly WAS terrifying...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Zorro has so much mane you risk getting tangled when you need a quick escape :)

Ooh a "riding around the world" site would be cool- I wonder if we could get right the way around...

[skiesfirepaved.livejournal.com]

What are these steep and stony 'hills' you speak of? :| I hate my part of the countryside. Can we swap?

First photo is my favourite! :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a swap per se, but you're always welcome to come visit on a try-before-you buy basis :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Until very recently the idea of that would have totally given me the willies. Now I can stand thinking about it, but in practice I'd probably have to close my eyes and hope...

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

It gave me the willies too. Probably not something I'd choose to do again, personally. The hardened French mountain riders had a bit of a macho gung-ho thing going on really. They did all that sans-hat....