As you may remember, Sunny and I live in Bourget, Ontario and our property is surrounded by the beautiful 25,000 acres of Larose Forest. The forest has trails galore and includes a dedicated equitation trail. It's amazing.
We have ridden to the Trail Head parking lot before but this time was super special since we were going to include the 8km loop for the Pink Ribbon Ride which raises money for Breast Cancer Awareness.
I had done the Ride before with my other horse Gulliver but this was Sunny's first time at a horse event! The miles aren't really a big deal for my boy, since we do put on miles regularly but meeting all new horses, tents, trailers, loud speakers...
So, I rode to my friends house 2kms from mine and then we pinked up. (I thought I was pretty good since I had my pink boots on and grabbed my daughters pink helmet!
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But as you can see from Donna's great photo's, my friend Kelsa pinked us up some some more :-)
We met Donna as we were on our way to the ride. People were wondering why we were doing doing the loop backwards but we had to explain that we hadn't arrived yet! We were riding in :-)
Before I left, my husband asked me why I wasn't wearing a pink shirt but I told him that my RAC shirt was going to help identify me to Donna! And sure enough, she spotted us!!! As soon as she saw us, I reconized Linus from the Blog and we were able to chat and take some pictures. Thanks Donna! We got to the ride, signed in and after a quick drink and rest for the ponies, off we went for the 8 km loop.
Beautiful! The trails were gorgeous and the crowd of 150+ riders were great.
Sunny was interested in the other horses but no big fuss and everything else... the balloons, tents, trailers, etc.... yeah... I don't think he even noticed! What a guy!
We stayed for the BBQ after the ride, where Donna and I got to chat and I was able to talk to a few different people about Curly horses! The man that we were riding with didn't even know it was a breed! (he got educated :-))
And then we saddled back up and off we went back home. We dropped off Kelsa and her gang at 10km and Sunny and I went another 2km home.
What a SUPER day and SUPER horse. It was a blast and I was thrilled to do it with my Curly Partner - Sunny, the super horse!
Cyndi and Sunny in Eastern Ontario, Canada
Woohoo!! It was great meeting you and Sunny! He was so great with all the hoo-ha you'd think he'd been to a thousand events!! Hopefully we can meet up and ride again sometime! Maybe we'll see you at the Halloween ride! you'd be a great team for endurance rides!!
ReplyDeleteSunny is handsome as all get out, and you two look great together. He is one seasoned trail horse!!! You had a looooong ride that day - awesome! Glad you got to visit with Donna.
ReplyDeleteI found it quite amusing that you needed the RAC shirt to identify Donna, but you recognized Linus right away LOL
ReplyDeleteShelly
I hadn't thought of that Shelly and now that you've pointed it out I can't stop chuckling about it!!! Love it! : )
ReplyDeleteIt's like going to the dog park! You know all the dogs names but not the peoples!
ReplyDeleteIt WAS super fun and it's incredible how the internet opens our worlds. I felt so happy to meet Donna. I felt like we already knew each other!
I don't love endurance. I love the miles and being with my horse for that long but it's forward, forward, forward. Sunny likes it but I find he starts to get a bit disobedient or maybe I could call it 'a forward-a-holic' and can start forgetting his other manners / manoevers if I do too much of that kind of riding.
You don't really have to 'ride well' to do endurance. The trail sort of guides your horse and often you are with other horses that help keep your horse manageable. So, when I will go out on my own or start to ask him for back ups, sideways, etc. He will be stiff and just wants forward. And I need to always make sure that he's listening to ME and NOT the other horses. I try to do a bit of sideways on the trial and if there is a place to do a backup or turn on the forehand, etc. I will grab the opportunity! It's amazing how JUST forward they can get in a short time. Their mind AND their muscles.
Anyhow... I have to say that I DO love the miles but I have learned that it's important too to keep him supple and obedient to me. He is a super horse but I spent a LOAD of time working on our partnership. I find it harder now with a second horse. I don't have the time to do that with the second horse! Especially because I'm no expert! I do about 3 steps forward and then a mistake and 1 step back. So it takes extra long - lololol!