Hacking through the Swedish Woods

Hey all! I know it's been a while, but I've been too busy with school to ride.  I met a new friend a couple months ago in a new Spanish class who has ridden her whole life, she and her family breed and train warmbloods for show jumping. About a week and a half ago a new filly was born! Her name is Come Fortune. She is a cute little light bay with a white marking on her face.  When I met her a few days ago, her teeth hadn't even come in yet. I spent time scratching and petting her, and she rubbed and sucked on my hand a bit.  She was the youngest horse I've ever met, so it was a fun experience.  I also met several stallions and some of the riding and breeding mares. They were all very nice.

I got the opportunity to ride one of the mares, a bay named Cocco.  She was a very pleasant horse, a real "thought-reader"  who was sensitive to the rider and barely needed to be touched to do what I wanted.  She also had one of the most lovely canters I have every ridden; it was smooth and easy to ride.

My friend and I rode on the trails, talking and enjoying ourselves, and even went of the path and into the woods and fields.  Unlike the golden and brown summer grass in California, the fields were of verdant green grass and flowers, some of which were the purple and blue lupin flowers, just like the ones in Calfornia. It was also lovely to ride through the shade of the trees and past some old farms.  My friend said that one of the old farms we passed had been used in a famous old Swedish movie, but I do not recall the name.

We walked for most of the time, but in some portions we allowed the horses to canter freely.  It was exhilarating to let loose and to canter freely outside of the arena, and I feel it was much easy to ride the canter like this.  I rose out of the saddle and could easily rode her smooth gait. It was so great to be back in the saddle on such a lovely horse and ride in the open with no pressures.

First Real Trail Ride!

 I just went on my first ever trail ride! Although I ridden outside of the arena many times, this time was the first time that I left the property and ridden on a road. Because it was my first time, and Lucky's first time in a while, I rode in a western saddle so that I would be more secure. Safety is always most important!

 I lunged Lucky for a few minutes before I rode, like I always do. Then Laura and I rode around her property once before setting out on the road. We had to ride down the asphalt road a little ways before reaching the dirt road, but it is a small road and we didn't encounter any cars on the way to the dirt road.

 Throughout the ride, I mainly focused on getting Lucky to be forward and in front of my leg, something that is difficult for her. Before we even reached the dirt road, I began to fall behind. Laura waited for me this time, but for the rest of the ride I had to either stay beside Laura, or ahead of her. It was difficult. BB, who Laura was riding, has a very big, forward walk, while Lucky is just the opposite. I fell a little bit behind Laura quite a few times. Sometimes, when I asked Lucky to lengthen her stride to keep up with Laura, Lucky would shuffle forward in the jog instead. This is undesirable, because dressage horses shouldn't take short, shuffling strides. Laura told me that when trying to catch up, Lucky should take either large, marching walk strides or trot forward boldly, not jog. It was easier to keep up later on in the trail ride. Lucky enjoys being out on the trails, and began walking more forward. A few times throughout the ride, we trotted.

The beginning of the road

 I also worked on getting Lucky round by softly squeezing one of the reins to flex her, moving my hands toward the bit to give her a release whenever she became round. Periodically, Laura and I would allow our mounts to stretch. When we did this, we wouldn't just release the reins to full length. Instead, Laura told me to make sure Lucky was round first. Then, I would release the reins to the buckle, encouraging Lucky to stretch down. Though I can get a horse round for brief moments, I still can't keep them round for long. After a few strides of being round, Lucky would raise her head or get slightly behind the vertical. If Lucky got behind the bit, I added more leg. Adding more leg is usually the answer if anything goes wrong. Toward the end of the ride, I felt some of the moments when Lucky was about to come up, and flexed before she made that mistake.

 Though I was doing all this schooling throughout the ride, it was still exciting. I love being out of the arena, and so does Lucky. Being out of the arena is relaxing and fun, and there was always something exciting to look. We came across a herd of Haflingers and other horses in a pasture beside the road. There were even some ground squirrels and a rabbit. The trail that we took leads to the back part of Whiffletree Ranch, the ranch that the spring's driving show was at.

At one point, we came across a few barking dogs. Fortunately, Lucky didn't react to this at all. She is a very levelheaded horse, and in all the time I have ridden and worked with her, she hasn't once spooked. This makes her very reliable and safe on the trail, and I am very confident riding her on the trail.

 Not long after passing the dogs, we turned around. We didn't do much trotting on the way back. About halfway back, we stopped at the top of a ridge and beheld an amazing view of a large, golden, tree covered hill in the distance. We even saw a group of trees where Laura's house is and a teeny-looking mule in one of her fields. It was amazing how far away everything was, because it hadn't seemed like we had gone very far. It was a really exciting trail, and I can't wait to ride on the trail again.