Well, it's only two weeks until Hopkins Creek and we can't play around any
more. We've done lots of short rides with Luna and have picked up the pace
but not the distance. Today we went riding. NELSON went riding with
us. :) In tights!! And a helmet. And he rode Malik this
time as I wanted to practice more cantering on Luna. So, today we
conditioned a new horse and new (old) rider. We went out for about 2 hours
and did somewhere between 8 and 9 miles. We did lots of everything,
walking, fast walking, trotting, faster trotting, big trotting and
cantering. Nelson isn't used to Malik's big loping stride. I am not
used to Luna's short (er) neck. It's not really short. Just shorter
than her dad's. Took me awhile to get used to being on her. I can
actually reach her ears without bending her neck all the way around to my
leg! It was a wonderful day in spite of the bugs with a little breeze
which helped that. It is just SUCH a THRILL, absolutely a thrill to ride
this filly next to her father (who considers his daughter HIS mare and needed a
few swats on the neck from Nelson before he settled into his do-de-do
attitude). To have brought this filly from a gangly legged little bundle
of naughty to this sweet, willing to do anything for you, ready to hit the
distance trail mare is something that is indescribable. She is finally
getting it all together. We will do a couple more of these rides and then
one longer one next weekend and I think she will be more than ready for 25 miles
at Hopkins Creek. Today we got to see lots of barking dogs and rattling
trucks and even bikes, plus rushing water as some of them are still fairly full
here after last month's 10 inches of rain. We even went to the Muskegon
River and she went in the water for me... we had to discuss it first. In
this respect, she is like her father. She doesn't actually refuse, rather
"suggests" an alternative. :) But when her suggestions didn't
coincide with what I wanted, she simply gave it up and did it. She even
splashed a bit and sipped a small amount of water. She got hosed down and
recovered fairly well considering that we trotted and cantered the last half
mile home. I don't usually do that but today, she was so eager and having
so much fun that I hated to ever deny her a brisk trot even close to home.
Anyway, it was quite the joy to ride and share this whole thing with
Nelson. He is hoping to ride Malik with us on the 25 at Hopkins
Creek. He doesn't give himself enough credit for how fit he really
is. He is always worried that if he gets hurt, it will harm us financially
(duh). But Malik behaved well for him and gave him just enough trouble to
keep it interesting but never dangerous. Nelson even cantered him today
and I haven't seen Nelson canter any horse in a looooong time. So, watch
for us out there at Hopkins Creek this month (Father's Day, in fact...Malik's
present and Nelson's, too). Badar will also be joining us for the Father's
Day ride. Won't that be too cool???
