Getting out and About for Harold and Janeen - The Ride-A-Haflinger/Shire-Blog

Well, now I have two friends for whom to get out and about, huh Harold and Janeen! Lot's of fun on Saturday, not Curly fun, but fun nonetheless.  Nike and Allie and I took a trip over to beautiful Stoneham, Maine to ride on Terry and Bob's trails.

It was cold but beautiful.  Terry was so excited to see us, because her Nike was coming home to her after being at my house for a few months learning the ropes of being a riding horse in addition to a driving horse.  He was an OUTSTANDING student.  I told Terry that if the situation was different and she wasn't in love with Nike and I wasn't in love with AhD, that I would gladly keep Nike for my personal riding horse for the rest of my days.  He is sweet, friendly, alert, forward, beautiful, steady, honest, and non-spooky.  And to top it all off, he has a good whoa.  What more could you want in a trail horse?

And, he didn't disappoint.  He was wonderful for Terry back on his home turf, and I am so happy for the both of them.  A good fit.  Don't they look great together?

The last time I had Allie out to Terry's, he was "on fire" - well, for him, anyway. :)  On Saturday, he was most certainly not on fire, and I had my work cut out for me just to get him to trot.  When it came to a big hill, I distinctly heard him grumble, "Are you frikkin' kidding me?  This hill is steep.  I'm stopping now."  In fact, he said it more than once.  Took us forever to get up that steep hill, but when we did, the view was worth it.  Well, I thought the view was worth it.  We all know what Allie thought. :) But, you know, he is just so darn cute.  We joked around with him about being a grump.  He was too grumpy to notice.

There was quite a bit of ice here and there on the dirt roads.  Sometimes we had to go off the beaten path to avoid slick spots.  Allie and Nike were troopers.  Good boys!

Too funny, we actually found something that Allie was scared of.  Unreal. It was a gate across a trail.  Who knows what he was thinking? 

I spied a beautiful little bird nest only about a foot off of the ground.  Allie was really glad because I stopped him to take a few pictures.

We turned around when a bridge and icy brook blocked our path.  Both boys were so good about tucking their butts underneath them to negotiate that big hill.

Harold sure gets around! Now he is on a Shire.

Back at the barn, it was time to begin Part II of the day, putting a saddle on Katrina, an 18 hand Shire mare who is Queen of the Barn.  Not only did she like all of the attention, but us humans had fun!  Terry brought her in the barn and parked her right in front of a big round bale. We tried out various tack, but my treeless saddle combined with one of Terry's XL girths was the best fit.  It took me standing on two bales of shavings to get on that big black back!  Katrina didn't bat an eye, and she seemed very calm and friendly towards me when I spoke to her.  I felt right at ease on her back, which was surprising considering I have fear issues when it comes to The Big Ones.  But Katrina felt very much like Nicole's Clydesdale Kya, and heck, she was parked in front of a bale of hay.  I am sure I would have felt differently if she had been prancing down the road.

I think Terry should train Nolan to ride.  Nolan is 18.2 hands. :)

 

 

Me and Allie.  Harold is along for the ride, too.

 

 

 

Terry texting Bob on Nike.  Yep, she is comfortable on him!

 

 

Terry on Katrina, English

Bob on Katrina

Bob galloping on Katrina

Me on Katrina with my "stepladder" - 2 bales of sawdust

Starting out the New Year Right

My neighbor Megan joined me for a ride in the snow this morning.  What a beautiful ride!  The snow is just the right depth for winter riding, and both of us were bundled up really well for the cold.  Of course Allie and Ah-D had on their winter coats.  What good, good boys they were.  I think they enjoyed getting out.  So did The Girls, who went with us everywhere, Jason's loops and across the road to the ITS-89 hookup.  We can't cross any brooks, but there are still enough gorgeous trails to keep us busy for two or three hours.

At the trail head

Heading out towards the power line on an energetic Curly

Megan and Allie with a few Labs in tow

Love the January sun with resulting long tree shadows

The beauty of the winter woods just astounds me

Just a bit windy, wouldn't you say?

You can see a few water spots on this last photo.  I really get carried away with photos, and I set my camera on a tree branch only to have it fall off into a foot of snow.  Todd, our neighbor and fellow trail rider (snowmobile, not horseback) took this for us.  We had three different conversations with him about trail accessability and conditions.  Horses and snow machines can co-exist peacefully on these shared trails.
Allie gave Megan a wonderful canter, and Megan is getting better at keeping her balance.  Didder was a joy, as usual; I just love my Curly.  He is so senstitive and aware of his surroundings.  I knew Todd was coming on the snowmobile looonnng before I heard or saw him, thanks to my communicative horse.  He also let me know several spots where there were deer in the woods.  We crossed many deer highways and even spotted a spot where they had bedded down.  Off now to pick up Ian from a friend's house, hope you all have a wonderful year ahead.  Happy Trails!