Just another ride . . .

Had so much fun riding today. Just like being a kid again. No work. Nothing technical. Took her to a friend's farm, hopped on and went for a hack. Of course Sienna's never been hacking alone before. hahaha *minor* technical detail. So we start out at an insane power trot -- as in laughing cause posting is nearly impossible and it's been a very long time since that was a challenge *g* Trot was well past canter speed but still in two-beats so technically a trot. Or was until we were ATTACKED . . . by a crazy killer squirrel!!!!!

Ok so pony who was too slow for the track is still plenty fast enough to run away w/ me *g*

Eventually got her back all the way to a trot but still super high. Down to a walk to reinstall her brain... Ask for the trot again and we're off! hahaha again w/ the insane power trot, but at least this time it stayed in a trot w/ only a few sideways swerves to avoid various critters or hallucinations but otherwise still technically sticking to two-beats. All good.

So by this point I've come up w/ an objective for the day - a calm, relaxed, non-adrenaline-based trot. No cantering, no jumping, just a nice quiet trot. Let's set that bar high. And after about 45 minutes we had a nice quite round trot. The kind of trot I'd kill for in the dr ring. Still not entirely adjustable, but calm and mostly rideable. So we stop there and go home.

You believe me right?

Yeah how long have you been reading this? hahaha quiet trot, why not try a canter? Well this was not the disaster one might expect. Turns out that when I found the brain at the trot it became applied to the various other gaits too and we could canter reasonably well -- a little strong at points but not the squirrel-inspired-insanity of that first gallop.

And yes there might've been a few xc jumps involved too :) But I *was* good there (well once you get past the whole "only trot" thing) in that we only did PE level jumps and we only did them at the trot. First one might've been a little explosive, but everything after that was perfect.

But you know what? It was FUN. The kind of no-stress, laughing just cause it's enjoyable, reason why we do it, fun. And it's been entirely too long since I had a ride like that. Will go to sleep smiling tonight :)

*edited to add:* hahaha just had to share -- when I previewed this on the GRS site, the random quote that appeared at the top of the page: "She wasn't running away with me - I just couldn't stop her!" Too perfect!