Posts

Showing posts from June, 2011

Pictures From the Summer Solstice Trail Ride

Image

Summer Solstice Trail Ride

The Summer Solstice Trail Ride to benefit First Descents was held two weeks ago. I changed the format a bit and accepted an invitation from Fort Hill Farms (www.forthillfarms.com) in Thompson, Connecticut to hold the ride at their farm. Owners Peter and Kristin Orr have beautiful organic gardens, a dairy farm, and an ice cream stand. My trail ride coincided with their event, “Come to a Farm for the Health of it.” Usually I hold mileage rides, where there are at least 10 miles of marked trail, usually in a state forest. I told riders ahead of time that the ride at Fort Hill Farms would be a destination ride. Twenty-three riders arrived the morning of June 18th to ride the carriage roads and fields of Fort Hill Farms. The ride began by climbing to the top of the hill where the Federal Aviation Association has a tower. From this spot, the view extends to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Riders progressed from here through the carriage road in the maple grove. Riders rode around th

A Great Day!

Thank you Peter and Kristin Orr of Fort Hill Farms for hosting the Summer Solstice Trail Ride today. A huge thank you to Kiez Orr, Kelly Trueb and Carolyn Stearns for volunteering and for everyone that came to ride. We raised $2400 for First Descents! Thank you everyone!!! A longer update and pictures will follow, but not today :)

Personal Training vs. Horse Training

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been doing a lot of running lately. I haven't seriously run in years (okay, lets be honest, since high school). What is my motivation? A friend convinced me to be on the all First Descents camper team for the Colorado Relay at the end of August. This is going to take some serious training. I have been running since March and its going well. I think my horses get a big kick out of watching me run instead of me riding them while they run. Payback time. But getting serious about my personal training again has made me a better horse trainer. Or at least a more aware and understanding horse trainer. Running is a serious cardiac workout, as is carrying a rider around at a trot or canter a serious cardiac workout for a horse. The more I run and adhere to my training program, the more I incorporate my running program into my horse's work program. They get more walk breaks. I am much more diligent about picking one thing to work on duri

Acadia - Part 2

We took the horses to their stalls and I think they were a little relieved to be on solid (non-moving) ground. Angie squealed at her neighbor and John ate. Two more horses came in after us (hah, we were not last, they were going to vet in Saturday morning since the judges left). Horses had hay, grain and water and were quiet, so we went off to wander through Acadia again and find our hotel. After much debate over our direction of travel and the directions on the map (why Debbie even asks me is beyond me, I took us an hour out of the way navigating a Pennsylvania road trip once) we found our hotel. We checked in and collapsed into bed. I didn't sleep well, worrying about the ride, John, and getting the trailer home without a spare tire. By 6 o'clock we were headed back to the stables to prep for the ride. Here is what you have to know. Acadia National Park is simply stunning. The Rockefellers had carriage roads built, so we were riding on beautiful carriage roads, with occ

Acadia

Three weeks have gone by, now might be a good time to finally sum up the Acadia 30 mile competitive trail ride. Honestly, I didn't even think we would get there. Debbie picked John up on Thursday and took him to her house for the night. I drove up Friday morning after work, running a little late because of a new calf, after a few more delays, we were on the road. Good, only running three hours late so far. We were making pretty good time in minimal traffic and enjoying the ride. Horses were quiet and everything was good. We were just crossing the bridge on 95, over the river that separates New Hampshire from Maine when we heard a loud "BAM" like a gunshot. Debbie and I looked at each other, this was not good. I looked in the passenger side mirror and sure enough, one of the trailer tires was spewing rubber all over the highway. We eased off onto the shoulder, just off the bridge as traffic zoomed by us at 75 mph. We could see the "Welcome to Maine" sign,