Myles Standish State Forest Carver MA

Two weeks ago, hubby, G and I met up with Jill (Beeswood) and her horse Sprite for a weekend of horse camping at Myles Standish.  Jill and I have been internet friends for many years and have had the good fortune to meet a couple of times - once at a Liz Graves clinic and then at Equine Affaire, but this is the first time we actually got together to ride.  And to think that we only live about 3 hours from one another!  I can say it was definitely worth the wait, and I know we won't wait so long to do this again.  We all got to the camp in the noon time hour and after helping hubby set up the corral, tent and kitchen area I got G groomed and tacked up. 

By 2:00 we were in the saddle and headed out for our first adventure. 

We both came equipped with trail maps and I had a compass hanging off my saddle (which never got used btw).  There are 35 miles of marked bridle trails and they are really well marked at the majority of the intersections.  We decided to stick to the perimeter trails to start out, which were wonderful wide sandy dirt roads.  It made for riding side by side and being able to hold a conversation while riding....nice!  It also doesn't hurt that we both ride gaited horses that just love gaiting on this type of terrain.  

We rode for close to 2 hours and only covered about 6-7 miles in the lower east quadrant of the park.  By the time we got back to camp, hubby had set everything else up, the fire was going and I was ready to get dinner going and sit in front of that fire!  

Friday was a bit cooler seeing that the sun didn't make an appearance.  Jill brought over some cupcakes and meat for the grill and we got to cooking.  Oh my, these were good cupcakes.  And then she says "they're made with zuccini".  Surprisingly hubby ate a second one lol.  The man who doesn't eat veggies.  Anyway, while I was digging through our kitchen tote I came across a little bag that contained a bridle charm and a new horn bracelet/dee ring bling that I'd made for Jill.  I said "presents" and with that she said "oh I forgot" and ran across the street to her site.  I had ordered one of her beautiful hand painted browbands a couple weeks prior to our trip and said she could bring it along rather than ship it to me.  The standard browband is in mostly turquoise colors and Jill was nice enough to ask me if I wanted her to customize the colors more in line with our saddle pads.  She didn't have to ask twice and I sent her pictures of the pads.  In the meantime, I ordered a new head net for G in hunter orange since hunting season is coming up.  It was just perfect!

Isn't it gorgeous?  Jill does really wonderful work on bridles.  But the fun wasn't over, she handed a bag over to hubby and inside was a brown bridle with a v brow band and it had a rainbow trout theme for his future horse.  How cool?!?  I knew something was coming but hubby had no idea and he was floored.  I really think this helped ease the pain of him not riding with us.   So we had a little Christmas in September :)   We sat around the fire talking for awhile and before we knew it the sun was going down.  It was kind of a shock seeing how fast the sun goes down now, I think we were all tucked away for the night by 8:30 lol. 

I'd forgotten how much I love camping.  Being all snugged in a double wide sleeping bag with the cool coming in the window, snuggling with hubby.  It just makes for perfect sleeping.  Well, that is when your head isn't 10' away from your horse corral.  Hubby can sleep through just about anything.  Me?  I heard him munching hay, heard him sigh, heard him drink, heard Sprite whinny "hey where is everyone?" and G hollering back "I'm over here in the dark!"  I think Sprite whinnied once an hour and G answered every other time lol.  I know I fell into a deep sleep at one point and when I woke up it was absolutely silent.  I laid there quietly waiting for G to move or munch or something, but nothing.  I lept out of bed, out the tent and look over and there's G standing with head over the rail looking toward Sprites site across the way.  He nickered, I threw a couple more flakes of hay and went back to bed.  When I opened my eyes next the tent was getting lighter and the birds were just starting to stir.  We opened up the back window of the tent and laid there watching and listening as a flock of Chicadees invaded our campsite.  It was so cool especially since they're my favorite birds.  By 6:30 I was up and feeding G and by 7:30 I began breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and home fries.  We invited Jill to join us but she had already had her breakfast.  So she came over and hung out as we ate and we talked about where we wanted to go today.  We decided to head out of one of the trails between #33 & 34 and head north to another section of the trail.  

G patiently waiting to head out

As you can see G & Sprite were happy to see one another nose to nose.

 

Jill looking quite happy being out on the trails.  They are a neat partnership.  And having G and Sprite hit it off right off the bat was really great.  They were well matched in gait as well.   Friday night I added a teaspoon of lite salt to G's dinner as he usually won't drink on the trail.  I was hoping it would work, and not only did he drink a bucket of water overnight, when Sprite stopped at a puddle and started "slurping" G lowered his head and did the same.  This is a horse that rarely drinks from a stream or pond, yet here he is drinking out of a puddle.  Granted the puddles were fresh from the rain the day before, but the tadpoles were already in residence.  Jill said "Sprite likes his water with a tadpole chaser" this made us both giggle.  Wouldn't you know that G stopped at every puddle after that to take a drink (lite salt works great!)  Without further ado, the puddle sippers....

 
 

 

Just me & G

 Along the trails we kept seeing small what appeared to be hiking trails scattered here and there.  Since they weren't marked on the map as bridle trails we past them by.  Though we did discuss trying one out.  At one point we weren't quite sure which direction to take and wouldn't you know one of those trails just happened to be at that junction?  :0) so we took it.  It turned out to the the "heart healthy" trail that looped through the woods along the reservoir.  We never saw any hikers, just a couple of people in kayaks on the pond.  It was a nice little side trip! 

We rode between 4-5 hours and to say it was grand was an understatement.  We really enjoyed riding with Jill and Sprite.  Jill has a similar mindset when it comes to riding and trail etiquette.  It was a really good day on the trail.  On the way home we past the Host Camp sites and our weekend hosts, Bob, Pat & Laurie were pretty much set up.  They spend every weekend at the camp from May to Columbus Day and pretty much make sure things run smoothly and they take out groups on Sunday mornings to show riders the unmarked trails.  They seemed like really nice folks and we agreed to meet up with them at 9:30 in the morning.  One day tripper was coming in for the ride.  Hubby had the fire going when we got back after a nice afternoon nap in the hammock (he went hiking in the am).

My sister Susie and brother in law Phil, were camping in the "people" campground just down the road from us so we planned on doing Saturday night dinner with everyone bringing steak for the grill.  Jill brought redskin potatoes in olive oil wrapped in foil; with another pouch of peppers and and of onions in foil.  I did grilled asparagus and rice pilaf, and Susie brought desert, which consisted of a variety of square cakes.  Chocolate and pumpkin spice, very yummy.  Dinner was awesome I didn't burn anyone's steaks and we all ended up with full bellys. (this pic was before dinner and the table was covered with food).

 Saturday night we again were all tucked in before 9:00.  Something about being in the fresh air all day.  Okay and not sleeping well the night before :0 ) but I slept really really well.  Sprite was also quieter so G only whinnied twice that I know of.  All I know is it got pretty cold overnight and I wasn't so anxious to pop out of the sleeping bag and put on cold clothes.  Oh, and what did I remember when I went to bed?  The huge fruit salad I made for dinner.  So breakfast consisted of chocolate donuts and fruit, so it was a much easier breakfast and clean up (thanks hon).  Before I take a break from writing, I do want to add that I have the best most supportive husband in the world.  I'm lucky that he's a horse person and understands.  It's why I can't wait til we get to Tennessee so he can have his own horse and enjoy all of this with me. I'm a lucky lucky gal.

(Part Two - Sunday's ride to follow I need a break from typing!)

Summer is fading away....

It's hard to imagine, but summer is beginning to fade away.  It could be due to rainy weather the past few days, but now its  fairly dark when we wake up and the sun is setting around 8:12 [heavy sigh].  I won't miss the horrendous heat and humidity that kept us off the trails for almost a month; but I sure do miss the longer days.  Especially now that I drive farther to see G. 

We've been doing alot of riding the past month.  We were able to finally meet up with Cora and her new horse Skip; and have since met Patty and her horse Woody.   Woody is a SSH that came from the same farm as G in Shelbyville.....Evening Shade Farms.  He's a nice horse, and fun to ride along side.  They came out one weekend to the farm and we did the trails out back and then two weekends we met up with them at Salmon Brook where I showed them the trails.  I didn't realize how much I missed those trails until we got out on them. Lots of variety in terrain; multiple stream crossings where you can let your horse stand to cool down; some small hills; loping meadows and gaiting trails.  I've since taken G back on our own to ride, and it was fabulous!  He was fabulous!  I have a small video to share but its at home.  

We also finally got to ride the trails with the other Walking Horse and her owner at our barn last Sunday.  What a nice mare!  This horse has a smooth effortless running walk, and she's purdy to boot.  Hopefully we'll get to ride with them more this fall.  It really is nice to ride out with horses that are equal in stride length.  As much as I love riding with my QH friends, we do spend a lot of time waiting for them to catch up.

We're going camping in Massachusetts next month and meeting up with another gaited horse & owner, Jill & Sprite.  We met Jill in person at Equine Affaire years ago; and she came to a Liz Graves clinic held at one of the barns we were boarding at.  That was some six years ago maybe?  Although we only live about 4 hours away from one another, its taken this long for us to finally get to meet up to ride together.  I think this will be a blast!

G is loving life at the current barn.  Each visit I find a new scratch or cut that he acquires while playing with his buddy Irish.  I feel like a mom with a 5 year old boy.  I miss my scratch/scar free face; but I wouldn't trade this happy horse for it..... He's thriving here and our rides just keep getting better, as does our relationship. 

I recently finished a tribute layout for a woman as a gift to her husband who recently lost his horse to colic.  She had approached me about PhotoShopping a head shot of her husbands horse, as she wanted to change the background so she could frame it.  I asked her if I could do a layout instead, and that I wanted to do this as a gift to them.  We emailed back and forth and she shared additional pictures for me to chose from.  She shared some stories of Red & Two Wolves and that he liked using the colors of the medicine wheel in his artwork.   She allowed me complete freedom over the design.  Her husband had no clue it was coming.  This was the piece before I framed it.....

When I finished the layout and stepped back away from it I got chills like nothing I had experienced before.  The spirit of Red and his owner Two Wolves came alive somehow, and I felt like I had captured their relationship and how Two Wolves would view the spirit of his horse Red.  When it finally arrived in New Mexico and Val emailed me to convey their feelings, I felt a warmth fill my heart and I knew that I'd succeeded in my quest to make a memorable tribute to Red that they would cherish.   And I have horse friends who ask me how I could spend an entire day a month inside scrapping?  This is one of the reasons why.  I just love creating a story from a picture or two!

Special Moments

He breathes softly
I listen
He licks his lips
anticipating that which he knows I have
I look
I give in
Softly I open my hand and offer up
what he so desires
He walks to me, lowers his head,
and softly nickers
The treat is his for the taking....


It's virtually quiet ~ the sounds of birds chirping; soft sighs and the sounds of chewing.  Every so often G stops eating his hay and comes over to where I'm sitting to investigate why I'm sitting on my groom tote in his stall , journal in my lap, pen in hand.

It's been quite some time since I've just come to the barn to sit in his stall and hang out.  I love this stall as I can sit next to the back door opening to his private run out and not feel closed in.  I know he must love the freedom this represents.  So tonight there is no tacking up; no riding; no lunging.  Just a leisurely brushing, taking extra care and time to brush his face ~ his most favorite thing over food.  It's just me sitting here quietly, taking in the wonderful sounds and smells that only a horse person can understand loving.  It is soothing, this earthy aroma; these soft sounds of chewing, sighs and small snorts.  It washes away the stresses of the day; takes away the sorrow I feel for those I cannot help nor save; it is what keeps me sane.


Outside it's raining.  Finally.  A good soaking rain that the parched landscape so desperately needs in order to survive.  Mother Nature has not been so kind to her living things this summer.  The ground is so hard, I'm sure the first couple inches will simply run off.  

As I sit here against the wall at the stall door the light is growing dimmer, as the sounds within the barn and outside get even quieter still.  No human voices except that of my own voice inside my head as I write down my thoughts and feelings of this wonderful time with my horse.

I can hear G swallow as he takes in a nice long drink in between his courses of hay.  I find myself counting.  One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, then dribble dribble dribble on the stall mats.  Ever since his colic in '08, when he drinks I count the swallows.  It's a good sound - its a a healthy sound.  I notice that the fog is rolling into the valley which I can see over the roofs of the farm house - the air is finally getting cooler, offering up a slight breeze through the door.  I probably should leave soon so I don't have to drive over the mountain in fog & heavy rain, but the peacefulness that I'm soaking in is too precious to give up so soon.

There will be more moments like these when we move to Tennessee and G is in our own barn, and I'll be able to tip toe out in my pj's to see him when the mood strikes me.  But right now I'm feeling greedy and I don't want to give up these moments of bliss.   G just stopped and gave me a nuzzle on the top of my baseball cap on his way out the door ~ a small gesture, but one that fills my heart.


I hear voices approaching the barn - it must be time for the night check.  Looks like my nirvana is over for the night. 

Until the next time; I will close my eyes when I'm stressed at work and picture these moments.  Thanks for sharing your home with me G.

Centered Riding Clinic w/ Deb Moynihan

In one word AWESOME!  That said, it was THE hottest day of the year so far.  94 degrees with 72% dew point.  It was hot and humid.  The saving grace was the breeze....the one advantage of being near the river.  We arrived at our old boarding barn about 10 minutes prior to the clinic start, but there were still another 4 horses that needed to arrive.  I expected G to whinney as we came down the driveway, as he usually does when we arrive at a new place.  Not today.  He walked off the trailer, down the drive, into the barn and into his old stall without a peep.  He knew it as home I guess. 

The ground portion of the clinic started around 9:30 and the two hour lecture was crammed into 90 minutes due to the late arrivals.  Deb was pleased with such a great turnout for a Monday.  We had 14 horse/riders and 5 auditors.  We all introduced ourselves with a quick "discipline, what I want to walk away with today, etc." we got the run down on what centered riding is:

• Breathing - and breathing properly.  How to use your diaphram and how using it correctly or incorrectly effects your horse.
• Soft eyes - using your peripherial vision; finding visual awareness.  How staring and or fixating effects the ride.
• Building Blocks - aligning the rider improving straightness, balance, and unimpeded movement.
• Centering - finding you core and learning how to use it for strength, power and control. 

She touched on the same principles as I've been reading about in The Breathing Book.  One being that adults stop breathing correctly for a variety of reasons.  The author of TBB, Diane Farhi states that as adults we learn to hold in our stomachs in order to try and look trim.  Rather than doing the right core exercises to have a strong core, we try to mimic one.  What that does is collapse the core which in turn limits your diaphragm from working correctly.  This is one of the things I've been working on - it's hard to retrain your body to breathe properly.  Deb says a good way to know what good breathing is, is to listen to your partner breathe while they're sleeping , as the body is breathing naturally with no interference.

Deb asked us all to stand and asked us all to take a deep breath.  She then asked how many of us felt our shoulders move upward.  95% of us did.  She then had us take a deep breath in while pushing out the diaphragm and no one's shoulders rose.  So when we take shallow breaths, we stiffen our bodies without realizing it.  

Soft eyes she went into a little deeper when the riders sat on the exercise ball.  Most riders have a tendency to fixate their eyes on something.  Usually the horse's mane or its ears.  Strangely enough when we stare or fixate on something, we stop breathing.  Stop breathing, we tense. 

While we were standing she had us all put our thumb on our belly buttons and the back of our other hand on our back directly across from our thumbs.  Deep inside the body is your center.  This is where your strength and power comes from.

One at a time she asked the first two riders to sit in a dressage saddle perched on top of an exercise ball.  I thought sitting on one of these balls was tough enough, but to watch Deb J finding her balance, it looked tough.  Here's a pic of Deb M and Deb J.

Once Deb J found her balance, Deb M (the clinician) placed her hands on the rider's shoulders and said "don't help" I'm going to move you.  With that she gently pushed down on the riders shoulders to mimic a walk; then a trot.  With each step the ball would collapse a little and then return to normal.  She then asked the rider to stop breathing.  When she tried to push down, the rider and ball did not move.  She did a few other little tests like asking the rider to curl their toes.  In this instance rather than a straight up and down movement at the trot, the movement became more erratic and the rider bobbed a little to the left a little to the right, etc.  When the rider curled her right toes her body would bob to the left; and to the right when she curled her left toes.  Wild!  With the second rider she asked her to fixate on one of the auditors and when she did, Deb could not move her.  Again, the rider stopped breathing when she stared at the subject.  No breathing = tense body; tense body = no movement.  

The next exercise she had us partner up with another person - one being the horse, one being the rider.  The rider placed their hands on the rib cage of the horse, mimicing the legs.  The horse shut their eyes and let the hands guide their direction.  Deb asked the riders to do different things as they directed the horses.  One, stop breathing.  Two, stare at something.  Three, collapse your shoulders, etc.  I started out as the horse and it was amazing as I would feel tenseness or too much pressure in my ribs and react.  It was interesting to hear each time I would stop or hesitate to hear what the rider had just done.   We then changed places to get a sense on how what happens in our bodies effects our entire bodiea s and how it translates to the horse.  


Have a clear objective when you ride.  When you have clear objectives, it helps to give clearer cues and direction to the horse.  So often riders are giving mixed messages because they don't have any direction when they ride.  No direction = confused horse.

I could kick myself as I didn't bring a notepad, so there was a lot of little things I'm forgetting for sure.  Guess I need to repurchase Sally Swift's Centered Riding book to pick up on it.  Good reason why not to sell your books!!! 

I didn't get many pics, and didn't ask anyone to take one of us (I know stupid) but it was just too hot and I really didn't want to ask Mary (the clinic organizer) to do one more thing, lol.  So here's one of the other few pics I took.  Deb J and Rebecca on Racie & Patticake with Deb Moynihan.  Oh and the new mirrors on two of the walls - wish those were there when we were!

We got to ride with Abe & Margaret who was one of the pairs we used to trail ride with here and there.  Deb M has never worked with a gaited horse so she wasn't quite sure how to handle it.  She had a hard time grasping the "my horse doesn't trot under saddle" statement.  Instructor:  "You mean he doesn't know how to trot?" Me, "No, he knows how to trot, we just don't do it under saddle.  When we ask for more speed we get flat walk, step pace, rack or running walk. He does a beautiful trot at liberty and on the lunge line."  Instructor: "So why wouldn't you want him to trot under saddle".  Me "I bought a gaited horse so I would never have to post again lol".  Okay, we got past it.  I was amazed that she asked me to correct two things.  One - I allow myself to collapse my core by collapsing my sternum.  So she asked me to bring it up, but not in a military fashion like I had a pencil up my back.  Now I'm sitting taller, my sternum is open and I'm breathing freely.  She then asked me to start thinking 1-2-3-4 in a nice even tempo.  I did.  Not so fast she said.  Start with a slower tempo.  As I did this G seemed to relax a little and I thought I noticed his tempo being more even.  I then brought up the tempo in my head and he started to walk faster.  Here I felt G stiffen a bit and he felt like he was rushing.  She said "see how he is trying to push past you?".  She then asked me to not allow him to push my hips side to side but to concentrate on the forward to back motion only.  Now take it a step further.  Rather then letting his motion direct my movement, breathe deeply and allow my hips to rotate back and forward.  Like pedaling a bike backward.  This really felt weird, as now the motion wasn't just in my hips, but I could feel the movement in my legs.  When I said this outloud, Deb said "exactly! - Remember when I said, too many riders think ear, shoulder, hip, heel and never allow their bodies to move?"  Yes??  "What do you feel now she asked".  I kept my eyes soft, my breathing filling up my diaphragm and lower back; my sternum forward but not puffed out; my hips pedaling softly......and then I felt it.  G was connected back to front, he was on the bit in a beautiful frame, and he had a pure yet powerful 4 beat walk going on.  He wasn't rushing, he was soft in my hands.  WOW!  It was a pretty incredible feeling.  She asked me to keep working on the walk, changing the tempo, etc. as she worked with Abe & Margaret.

When she got back to me, she was happy with the improvement but she wanted to see him gait.  "Show me what he does".  So we did.  We step paced, we hit a little rack; I brought him back to a medium walk and with all these new arrows in my quiver I asked for the flat walk.  He really was striding nicely.  But then I fell apart.  By this time I'm sweating profusely as G is radiating heat.  The breeze has kind of died and I'm thinking its 95 in the arena at least.  This was the kind of day I wouldn't have even thought about riding him, but since we paid for it and it wasn't cancelled due to the heat, I tried not to push too hard.  Time for a break. When we started walking again she asked if we could canter, and I said yes, let's do it.  Our first right canter depart wasn't very clean, but I know it was me trying to think too much and stopped feeling all that she just showed me.  The second was better, but as we came down the long side he fell back into a walk.  I don't know what it is about this particular arena, as we don't have this problem in the new outdoor arena at the new barn, but inside this one he quits on the straight.  Hmmmm?  We reversed direction and he picked up his left lead beautifully and his rocking chair canter emerged.  I kept him on a 20 meter circle for a few revolutions and brought him back to a walk.  Good boy G.  By now we're both way too hot so we walked on the rail as Abe & Margaret got to canter.

Forty-five minutes went by really fast, even with the stinky hot, lol.  As we were finishing I rode over to Deb M and asked her what else I needed to work on.   She said, nope, only what I showed you.....keep breathing; your sternum and using your hips better.  Really?  My eyes are soft? Check!  My hips are open enough? Check!  I'm sitting balanced on both seat bones? Check!  Woohoo!  I really truly thought I would find out I have more to work on.  I guess that's a good thing though.  I can tackle two things at once.  Five?  I'd be in trouble!!

Even with the stinky hot humid weather it was a great day.  It was fun going back to the old barn and seeing our old friends; and having G so relaxed at a clinic was just wonderful.  By the time we got back to the barn it was almost time for dinner so I left him in.  He went right to drinking water and eating night hay.  Oh, and he got an oatmeal cookie before I left....he really was a good boy today.