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glenatronSome days you ride far and slow, taking it easy and just expanding your horizons, some days you spend in the school building up your skills and your teamwork, developing finesse and engagement. Some days you just need to go out and rampage a little. Today was more like that.
The bracken and birch trees are really on the turn now, the mile or so of road down to the common gives a nice warm up so almost as soon as we got there we were trotting ( working with my new much-reduced leg cue ) most of the way along one side of it. Zorro wasn't worried by dogs crashing about in the bushes and when we passed a family of four all out on horseback going the other way he didn't even think of turning around to follow them as he would have until recently. We walked down the long hills but on the more rolling sections I asked for a steady trot that could stay consistent on different gradients and when the path levelled and opened up a bit so did we, Zorro generously offering a gradual acceleration from a measured lope to a much more flat-out canter so I could practice keeping up with him going faster. We worked a bit on our transitions between trot and canter as well, switching between them a little.
Zorro rather appreciated my photographic moments as an opportunity to mooch along or pause while I found the angle I was looking for. Here the black scorched pine, pink scots pine and white silver birch caught my eye.
We went up some paths we haven't really explored on our solo hacks before- on one we discovered tree roots to be nature's trotting poles, on another I spotted this view:
Although photographically unremarkable, I realised today that the bumps visible here, exposed still three years after the heath burned are very probably round-barrows. The two recorded tumuli in this part the common ( which are a few hundred metres further in the same direction that this was taken ) have been dated to the early/middle bronze age or something close to 4000 years old. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these were likewise ancient.
Beyond that trail was the hill we know as "rampage hill" because it's great for charging up, a smooth sandy curve around the contours of the hill, it's only a couple of hundred yards long but it's brilliant fun.
All in all it was one of the best rides we have had together, fun and relaxed and brisk. Zorro was a bit sweated up when we got home, a combination of faster work and his growing winter coat- it may be that this is the year he finally needs to be clipped. It worked as a schooling exercise too, practicing the discipline of reducing my leg cues that I picked up in yesterday's lesson and managing to make a significant change over the length of the ride. A real pleasure.
The year is really clearly on the turn now, the bracken is turning yellow and russet and the birches are a mix of green and yellow leaves that make for some appealingly mosaic-like pictures:
The bracken and birch trees are really on the turn now, the mile or so of road down to the common gives a nice warm up so almost as soon as we got there we were trotting ( working with my new much-reduced leg cue ) most of the way along one side of it. Zorro wasn't worried by dogs crashing about in the bushes and when we passed a family of four all out on horseback going the other way he didn't even think of turning around to follow them as he would have until recently. We walked down the long hills but on the more rolling sections I asked for a steady trot that could stay consistent on different gradients and when the path levelled and opened up a bit so did we, Zorro generously offering a gradual acceleration from a measured lope to a much more flat-out canter so I could practice keeping up with him going faster. We worked a bit on our transitions between trot and canter as well, switching between them a little.
Zorro rather appreciated my photographic moments as an opportunity to mooch along or pause while I found the angle I was looking for. Here the black scorched pine, pink scots pine and white silver birch caught my eye.
We went up some paths we haven't really explored on our solo hacks before- on one we discovered tree roots to be nature's trotting poles, on another I spotted this view:
Although photographically unremarkable, I realised today that the bumps visible here, exposed still three years after the heath burned are very probably round-barrows. The two recorded tumuli in this part the common ( which are a few hundred metres further in the same direction that this was taken ) have been dated to the early/middle bronze age or something close to 4000 years old. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these were likewise ancient.
Beyond that trail was the hill we know as "rampage hill" because it's great for charging up, a smooth sandy curve around the contours of the hill, it's only a couple of hundred yards long but it's brilliant fun.
All in all it was one of the best rides we have had together, fun and relaxed and brisk. Zorro was a bit sweated up when we got home, a combination of faster work and his growing winter coat- it may be that this is the year he finally needs to be clipped. It worked as a schooling exercise too, practicing the discipline of reducing my leg cues that I picked up in yesterday's lesson and managing to make a significant change over the length of the ride. A real pleasure.
The year is really clearly on the turn now, the bracken is turning yellow and russet and the birches are a mix of green and yellow leaves that make for some appealingly mosaic-like pictures:
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no subject
Date: 4 Oct 2009 21:12 (UTC)Love my arena work (especially when jumping) but ... yeah. Trail riding rocks :D
no subject
Date: 4 Oct 2009 21:24 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 03:19 (UTC)How is Small doing?
no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 10:12 (UTC)He remains an enigma with regard to causes of the problem though. With everyone involved in the case around today the vets are planning to have a big old meeting and decide what to do for him next.
no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 13:51 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 22:00 (UTC)It's not knowing why it happened in the first place that is a bit nervewracking.
no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 22:10 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 14:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 21:41 (UTC)I'm sure we can find some nutter to put you on so you feel right at home...
no subject
Date: 5 Oct 2009 18:46 (UTC)