Marehaven Farm
Longmont, CO
Cantering down the trails
July 22 / 2007 10:40 AM Filed in: Trail Riding
I took Belle up to the
Nederland area (in the mountains west of Boulder)
yesterday for a trail ride with a woman I met online.
The trail, at Caribou Ranch, is just the kind I like.
Mostly dirt, with some small rocks that are easy to
avoid, and lots of shade. It was already about 14
degrees cooler up there than down below anyway, but
the shade on the trails made it even cooler.
The woman I rode with was on her six year old QH and she was ponying her seventeen year old Arab, just to get him out for the exercise and enjoyment. He was excellent at being ponied and just followed right along, no matter what gait we were going at.
The woman has done a fair amount of endurance riding with her Arab, so she's used to trotting and cantering on the trail. I like to do that too, but only when the trail conditions are just right and when I'm on a horse I trust. Both of those things were true yesterday, so when we came to some particularly suitable spots on the trail, we would trot.
Belle has an amazingly fast trot. When we came to a part of the trail that's an old service road, Belle was trotting so fast that Jennifer's horse had to canter to keep up with her, so I went ahead and asked Belle to canter (or rather, granted her permission, as she'd already asked me). Boy she can fly! But I think she was having as much fun as I was. Her canter is unbelievably smooth and easy to ride, and requires less effort than riding her trot (which is also very smooth, but it's hard to post that fast!)
Belle led almost the entire way and was only concerned about a wood bridge. We went past some ditch pipes, which she cocked an ear at, but nothing more, so maybe she's over that. It might just take a few more trail rides with bridges to get her over that too, but I might have my handyman build me a bridge just to have around.
We ended up trotting the last mile or so of the trail back to the trailers because we were trying to outrun a storm with lightening that was just behind us. Belle hasn't done that much "going" in who knows when, but she barely took a heavy breath. With conditioning, I think she just might do OK at competitive trail riding!
I think I must've relived the joy of galloping my pony as a kid when we cantered along the road, because I had so much fun! I don't often ride with people who are comfortable trotting and cantering on trails, so I really enjoyed the opportunity.
The woman I rode with was on her six year old QH and she was ponying her seventeen year old Arab, just to get him out for the exercise and enjoyment. He was excellent at being ponied and just followed right along, no matter what gait we were going at.
The woman has done a fair amount of endurance riding with her Arab, so she's used to trotting and cantering on the trail. I like to do that too, but only when the trail conditions are just right and when I'm on a horse I trust. Both of those things were true yesterday, so when we came to some particularly suitable spots on the trail, we would trot.
Belle has an amazingly fast trot. When we came to a part of the trail that's an old service road, Belle was trotting so fast that Jennifer's horse had to canter to keep up with her, so I went ahead and asked Belle to canter (or rather, granted her permission, as she'd already asked me). Boy she can fly! But I think she was having as much fun as I was. Her canter is unbelievably smooth and easy to ride, and requires less effort than riding her trot (which is also very smooth, but it's hard to post that fast!)
Belle led almost the entire way and was only concerned about a wood bridge. We went past some ditch pipes, which she cocked an ear at, but nothing more, so maybe she's over that. It might just take a few more trail rides with bridges to get her over that too, but I might have my handyman build me a bridge just to have around.
We ended up trotting the last mile or so of the trail back to the trailers because we were trying to outrun a storm with lightening that was just behind us. Belle hasn't done that much "going" in who knows when, but she barely took a heavy breath. With conditioning, I think she just might do OK at competitive trail riding!
I think I must've relived the joy of galloping my pony as a kid when we cantered along the road, because I had so much fun! I don't often ride with people who are comfortable trotting and cantering on trails, so I really enjoyed the opportunity.
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