AVTA Fall Pace

 The day after the endurance ride dawned clear, crisp, and bright. I decided 30 miles wasn't enough riding, and Eryca was apparently not tired of  my company just yet. We decided to sign up for the AVTA fall hunter pace, which was just down the road from us. Conveniently, this course would connect our spring hunter pace to the 15 mile loop we ride from home. I was interested to see what the correct way to ride this section of the trail is. (Turns out we did it just the way you're supposed to! Go us!)

Mustang Memorial LD 2021

 The Mustang Memorial endurance ride was on the 2nd. This is, historically, one of two endurance rides in NJ every year and, frankly, I like Rabbit Run better. Mustang is a ride I've done a million times so I never actively make plans to go. However, it's one of the more convenient rides for us to get to, so I don't typically say no if I get an invite to go. One of the downsides to Mustang in recent years is that it's co-sanctioned with FEI. For the most part, that means very little to me, but it does mean the entry fees are through the roof.

All the same, when Jen invited me to come ride the LD, I happily agreed. 

The last time I did the Mustang LD was two years ago when Peyton flipped over on me shortly after the start and I had a good cry before sucking it up for thirty miles. I was hoping for a little less excitement this time around.

Sand and pine trees. If you do one loop of this ride, you've basically seen all there is to see. I'll admit it's pretty though.

Of Stickers and Lost Watches

 Two weekends ago, Eryca and I got together on Sunday morning for a trail ride. The trails are only open 10-3 right now due to hunting, so our Wednesday night rides will be restricted to the ring until spring. We got together on the earlier side so we'd have a few hours to play without worrying about rushing back to the farm. The weather was absolutely glorious. 

Lucy had worked five days out of the previous week and had definitely earned a day off. Plus Booger hadn't been on a real trail ride since Nicole's visit earlier in the month. I picked Booger for our adventure for the day, and she seemed as excited about the idea as I was.

New Jumps

 Those of you who have been following me for a long time may remember that I used to lease a barn in Pennington, where I took full training boarders. At that time, Mike made me a beautiful jump course. When I dropped the lease, I sold the jumps. The buyer and I run in the same equine circles so I know that the jumps are still holding up great, nearly a decade later. Since then, Mike has made several jump orders for both friends and random strangers. Now that I have a real ring and three horses who seem to enjoy jumping, I asked him if he'd be willing to make me a few jumps again. As I mentioned recently, the price of lumber finally came down to a reasonable number so we stocked up at Home Depot on our anniversary.

I have a long wish list when it comes to jumps, and Mike is happy to build them. Having a handy husband is much cheaper than trying to buy pre-made jumps online, but it's still an expensive venture. As a result, I'm trying to take little bites. Still, I now have enough parts to make a small jump course with some variety in it, and there is more on the way. At some point, I'll have to find time to pick colors and do some painting, but let's take my current obsession one step at a time.

Meanwhile, Mike finished a pair of gates for us the other week and hooked up the trailer to drop them off. I asked him if he could pretty please bring his camera so I could pop Lucy over the new jumps. In all honesty, this ride was a bit rushed. The footing really needed to be dragged too. All the same, Lucy happily popped over everything I pointed her at. Mike has a new camera. While the image quality is much higher than his last camera (aka my new camera), the shutter is a little slower. This means he's going to have to perfect his timing all over again. 

These photos also showed me that I need to get Lucy doing some gymnastics to tighten that front end up a bit. She's now completely comfortable at this height and just sort of lopes quietly over the fences. I'm delighted about this development, but it does make her a little lazy with those front legs. Time to put in the work before raising the fences.

At some point, I need to drag Mike back out to get pictures of Booger jumping the new fences too, but these will be a placeholder for now.

I plan to paint these jumps, but they look nice au naturale too.

Mare Media

 September brought some cooler temperatures at last, and we did a fair amount of riding. With the storm at the beginning of the month came a lot of damage to the trails. I suspect Mike and I will be hiking out this fall to do trail maintenance ourselves. In the meantime, I feel like I'm relearning a lot of the trails. We also did more ring riding, which is becoming more and more enjoyable as the ring evolves. I have a few separate posts coming about stand-out rides from the month, but I'm going to drop a bunch of assorted photos here for safe keeping. As of this morning, Booger is up to ride/drive #109 for the year, and Lucy is up to #136. 

There are two small cross country style jumps on the vineyard trail. A year ago, I never would have guessed I'd be jumping either one of them. Now they feel easy! I love this little mare so much. She makes me feel braver than I really am.

Simply September

 It is officially my favorite time of year, which means I'm super behind on the blog. I'm trying to soak in every last minute of this glorious weather while it lasts. Julio had surgery on Tuesday (more on that in a minute) and Mike is at the office so I'm home making sure the dog leaves his sutures alone. September riding media will have to get its own series of posts, but everything else can get dumped here.

We took the dogs to Cedar Ridge for a walk last weekend. Herbie loves her wagon.