Fall Days

This is the absolute best time to live in New England. It was about sixty degrees and sunny today when I took the princess out for a trail ride, showing one of the barn's teens how to make her way through the trails. Last year I had to have a guide, this year I am the guide. More than that, last year Fiona was all eyes when we took her on her early trail rides. Today she was the lead horse in her hackmore.

She's developed a 'working mode' for trail rides now. When she hits her stride, she lowers her head until her poll is about even with her withers, ears pricked, and walking with this huge step that some other horses have to trot to keep up with. She can cruise like this for hours without batting an eyelash. Add that to her new found ability to drink on the trails and I think I do have a limited distance endurance horse on my hands. Or maybe she's a closet hunter, or a western pleasure horse in disguise! Maybe she secretly craves to jog and lope, reins slack and completely quiet and obedient with me dressed in sequins . . .



Yeaaaaah, no.

My schedule has shifted to something much more laid back. We have a fun show next weekend at the town ring. Fiona will be entered in the hunters! It should be hilarious. She'll also be doing the 'knock down and out' and the command class. If there aren't a lot of spectators, I'll enter the barrel racing just to say I did. After that is UNH. We've managed to put a team together for the Adult Team Challenge for Area 1, so it's going to be an exciting weekend. A cross country school, then course design with Richard Jeffries and then two days of showing. And then my competition season is DONE!

Considering I spent most of my winter wondering whether or not I was going to even have a show season, I'm definitely ready to be done and sleep in some mornings. I'm ready for hunter pace and fun events season. That little gap between the end of the competition season and the weather falling apart is just an amazing time to have a horse. Hunter paces and trail rides through the fall foliage. It's hard to keep me in a ring this time of year, but who could blame me? Dressage is for the winter when we're trapped in the indoor. Fall is for fun.