When life gives you lemons...

Instead of wallowing in despair over the loss of my coveted trails, I've been working diligently by hand to clean out a single track course here on the farm.  Adding it to a loop behind our closest neighbor gives me a whopping 1.75 trail (as opposed to 9.5 previously).   But you know what?  It seems to be working for us.  We use the short jaunt down the black top as a cool-down period  between each lap.  Because we are covering the same territory, Journey seems to be more confident than she'd normally be, and also more willing to kick it up on the flats, so we can walk the muddy parts.  Whatever, it seems to be working for us.  Four full laps gives us 7 miles.  For a home conditioning ride on it, the time works out about an hour and fifteen minutes, which I can fit in a few times a week.  This will work if the ground stays relatively dry.  Otherwise we won't make our time average.

  As the weeks progress I'd like to get our 5.3 average up.  To do that...we will have to incorporate more cantering intervals, and I'm gonna have to hack off some low hanging branches before I knock loose what brain I have left.  We have about seven weeks to build up her base before CMO kicks in again for me.   I might ask Marti if I can do a couple of rides with Babes of the Woods as they really go ☺ and it will double as conditioning.  I've already determined my remaining short courses will be slow out of necessity, but hopefully faster than the first two which we just walked and enjoyed the day.  Then back into training in October, just continuing to build on what we have.

Journey is developing just a great work ethic.  She looks longingly towards home now and then, but goes where I point her, and doesn't fret or fuss over the other horses anymore.  We pick up her Renegades tomorrow, and I will have to do some reading on fitting those.  If I get those working for us we can trot the blacktop road which will definitely help our average.   We'll stick to 7 miles at home, just getting better control, better gears, and better time when we are able.  I'll save the rides coming up at the park for the long stuff, and not worry as much about my time average so much as time/mileage and taking care of herself.

In retrospect I'm glad I took a year off.  I thought it was a permanent "off."  I'd burned myself out so bad trying, that I just couldn't enjoy any of it anymore, and took to heart a lot of things that I'd have been better off just ignoring.  But I feel great about my horse, our goals, and I'm enjoying riding again.