MOAR TRAILS

I'm so happy that Jetta is such a good trail horse because I absolutely love being outside and not just in an arena constantly.

So pretty

This week's adventure was to one of my favorites, Willamette Mission State Park. It's definitely a haul, but I think it's worth the occasional trip.

We've had some really great rides (which I'll write up soon!) so it was nice to give Jetta and myself a mental break to go exploring. It was supposed to be a really hot day, but we got there early enough that it wasn't too awful.

There was absolutely no one on the trails. I didn't see a single person walking, biking or riding. It was great!

I was going to do 2 loops of the park (there's one main loop with two different ways to get back to the river) but it was pretty hot so I decided on just one loop, albeit the long way. We went about 7.3 miles in an hour and a half. It was fun!

Model status

The focus was to get Jetta going along on a nice loose rein. If she had a nice trot or canter I wouldn't bother her, but if she got going too strong, then I'd half halt her until she came back to a nice pace. She was really good, we cantered all the way around the big field even with the tractor harvesting. She didn't even spook when the tractor had to change direction by coming onto the trail directly at her! Such a good pony.

I got to test out a new tack item too... I got a PS of Sweden running martingale attachment. I think the snaps are seriously the greatest invention ever, I hate taking apart reins to put them through the rings so I was super excited for them. The attachment is a touch short for my taste, but it provides good control for when Jetta gets a little too strong on the trails. I love them! Personally I like the blue because it's "our color" though I did already have someone tell me it "looked ghetto to have carabiner clips for a martingale"... oh well.

See the new clippies!

And of course the icing on the cake with this trail is at the end, you can ride into the river to cool off!

Apparently Jetta is a hippo and had a lot of fun sticking her nose underwater and blowing bubbles.

Once we got back and I was untacking, a lady and her daughter were checking out the park map by the trailer parking and came over. Her daughter had an apple that she wanted to give Jetta. Jetta took it so carefully, it was adorable.

Overall, I think it was the best part of my week!

She's Baaack

Jetta is back in action! I've lunged her a few times in side reins then finally got on and rode Wednesday. She was pretty good. Nothing that I didn't expect. Lost most of what we'd achieved last month but she wasn't completely awful. Nice to be back on her though.

Then the next day, Thursday, we went for our first endurance ride back. Only 8 miles this time around and we were slow pokes about it because we played in the river! Jetta started off her normal spooky self - leaping at leaves, sticks and stumps. At one point I thought she was going to buck me off when she humped her back at a blackberry vine, but luckily no theatrics. But the amazing part... the walked through ALL THE MUD AND ALL THE PUDDLES. This is a horse that will do everything, including walking straight through a blackberry bush, to avoid puddles.

But with just a short look at the first puddle she went through everything I asked her. Not so when we first caught sight of the river... Then she refused to move forward and I had to ponyclub kick our way down to the river. Such a pill.

But when we got to the area that gently slopes down into the water I decided to ask her to go in the water. I've been jealous of friends and bloggers going pony swimming! So I decided to see what she'd do.

Checking out the water plants

Chillin. The water was up to her belly here.

And she went for it!

We even went deep enough that she had to paddle a bit, but I didn't really want to get my tack wet so we didn't go any deeper. Maybe next time I'll ditch the tack and we'll go for a real swim. But it was so much fun!

8 miles in an hour and forty minutes. Usually we do 10 in that time.

We ended up doing two loops of the trails. Usually I do three, but since this was her first endurance type ride back we kept it a little bit shorter. She was good for the most part but started out really heavy and too fast at the trot for the first half of the trail. Once she had a good gallop she was much better.

Our route

Then on Friday we went on another trail ride with my friend ML. We used to board together and were roommates but now I don't get to see her that much and this was our first ride together again in a loooong time. It was awesome to ride with a great friend! Also, she goes our pace on her horse so I didn't have to worry about that. We rode for a good two hours, probably around 8 miles and did lots of galloping. Our horses were AMPED. I thought after the previous day's ride Jetta would be a little more laid back. Ha. Even after we galloped flat out all the way up the hill she was raring to go after a short walk break.

The bestest part of the trail ride (besides our great conversations, lol) was that Jetta's renegades stayed on! She wore them on her fronts and only the right one twisted a tiny bit. I was so glad because we were doing some serious moving with them. All the trails that we went on are graveled so she definitely needed them on her fronts. Her hinds did fine, though they'll need a bit of a rasp to smooth things out.

Saturday I was supposed to go on ANOTHER trail ride, but I um, may have flaked on that one. Oops. I was really wanting to do it but I just didn't feel up to riding. I feel super bad though because I'm the sort of person who says they're going to do something then does it - I show up prepared and on time and ready to go! But hopefully AR will accept my rain check and we'll go another time.

Water Crossing

Just wanted to add this video in, see the full post about our trail ride from earlier today! Proof that we did indeed cross the water and didn't just stand and take photos that made it look like we were in the water but weren't.

It's very shaky so if you get motion sickness easily, don't watch it, lol.

I had to steer her across one handed (she doesn't neck rein... yet) and she wanted to go downstream, I wanted to go upstream, plus the current was really strong and pushing her towards the bank. But we survived :)