Touch Down & Trailride

45min online with Milva
60min freestyle trailride with Lina
I had a rather interesting playsession with Milva today. Circling game went well and she starts putting more effort in it again. I still used the 22´rope. We played with change of direction and walk - trott - stop transitions. Taking it slow with her and giving her enough time to thing makes a huge difference. I also played with the yoyo game cause it was broken. She didn´t back up in a straight line and didn´t give me two eyes in the beginning but after a while it was ok again. How interesting. At the circling game she maintained the gait in walk and trott and was responsive to slow down or speed up when I asked her.
Well and then something new happened. I noticed for a while that Milva eyed a special spot in the circling game and always lowered her head like she would lay down and roll. After sending her off in trott she suddenly flapped down on the ground and did exactly that - rolled. I did the same movements as her and gave her some oats while she was still down. After coming up she walked away for a few steps but I stayed at the same spot made the same movements again and she came back and laid down again. Coinsidence maybe or maybe I just thought her to lay down - instead of maintaining gait at the circle in trott ;) - I know.
After coming up the second time she chewed and yawned a lot so I stopped our play session right there and took her grazing instead. It´s going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
When I was done with Milva I took Lina for a trail ride. First I thought I bring Milva along as a handhorse but decided against it. Better to train that a bit more before taking her out for 1 hour. The trail ride was going fine. Lina is 21 years old now and knows her job but even so she is very responsive. Whenever I turn in my body so is she. She is very easy to ride. I rode in my NP which fits her perfectly as well, the only thing I had to do was changing the shims.
The trail itself was pretty boring though. There are no nice trails around here I´m afraid. No forest anywhere unless you trailer your horse but then you also could ride on the beach.
I sure miss Austria and Canada when it comes to trail riding. In Austria I always rode in the mountains and along the Danube. As a kid I was often out all day long on Bongo and riding for 6 - 8 hours. Also there were lots of old ruins you could ride to and special marked ancient trails which the Druids used.
Canada was a whole different story. The trails there were just unbelievable amazing wonderful! So much nature and nature you can´t even imagine here in Europe. Everything is just much bigger over there - the trees, the rivers,... the silence. The only thing you could here was the wind and the birds and the water when you were near a river. Also when I lived there I rode up to 5 horses a day and up to 8 hours a day. I rode different horses for Mark and then Rambo - the Appendix I owned.
What make me think about that today was because I don´t enjoy riding as much anymore and I think it has something to do with the surroundings. The trail ride today was ok but I didn´t enjoy it or was thrilled about it. When I rode in Austria and Canada I was always excited about getting on a horse but somehow I lost this feeling.
I hope my theory is right and does have something to do with the nature. Riding today almost made me feel claustrophobic cause there is no where to go. Time will show I guess. What to do about it I don´t know though. Trailering Milva is out of question cause I´m worried someone could drive in to the trailer and she could get hurt so it´s not worth it. I don´t want to put myself nor her under that stress.
Maybe it is possible to ride to the forest but it probably would take 2 - 3 hours to get there. I will tell Shawn to do some Recce when he is flying over the stable the next time.