Nov 2007
Farm Blog | Oct 2007

More solo trail rides on Kelton

November 23 / 2007 05:13 PM Filed in: Trail Riding | Kelton
I've now taken Kelton out by herself a number of times, all to Pella, and she has been super. She walks as fast as equinely possible at first, but she remains attentive and responsive to me and doesn't do anything silly. After about five or ten minutes I start working on things like stretching down into contact, leg yielding, shoulder-in and so on, and she does everything I ask while remaining nicely forward. She's cooperative and responsive in the arena, but even more so on the trails, and that makes it a fun place to do some schooling. We also sometimes just cruise along on a long rein and enjoy the scenery.

I probably won't have the chance to trail ride much over the holidays, but I look forward to getting her out on some more solo rides after the break. And I'd like to try some new places. I think she's my best solo riding horse, even though she's the biggest! I guess I better teach her how to open gates, since I won't have a friend on a short horse to get off and open them for me.
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Finally found a saddle!

November 20 / 2007 10:03 AM Filed in: Trail Riding
Several, actually. After trying a variety of treed and treeless models, I've ended up with these three: Barefoot Tahoe, Barefoot London, and Treefree Exmoor. The Treefree is on order, but I've been enjoying riding in the two Barefoot saddles. It took some fiddling with padding to get them to work, esp. on Belle, but now they seem to work quite well. I particularly love the feeling of the London. It's both secure and incredibly cushy and comfortable. At last!!
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Still riding... but having a heck of a time finding a saddle!

November 10 / 2007 10:42 PM Filed in: Trail Riding
I'm still riding the trails when I can, enjoying this beautiful and uncharacteristic fall weather, but I'm having a heck of a time finding saddles that fit my girls. Who knew they had such odd shapes?!
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