Monday, February 8, 2016

Quality, Not Quantity

Much of my blog focuses on the good because honestly 99% of the time things are good, very good in fact. Quest is smart, athletic, and honest. She is a dream come true for what I could have ever have desired in a distance riding prospect. In our short time together, we’ve had some very crazy adventures already and we are taking steady steps together toward our endurance dreams. 

Physically, she'll be more than fine once we get a few rides under our belt and I learn to manage us.  Mentally, however I think we need to take a step back. 


This past weekend I finally made myself admit that we need to go back to reviewing groundwork before our rides. I have noticed she has been getting increasingly more distracted and paying less attention to me on the ground. And it’s totally my fault. 

Back when I was only 20 minutes away from the barn and could see her every other day of the week, I would begin most of our sessions with a short groundwork review before tacking up to ride. From day 1, Quest was jittery, could not stop her feet from moving and she could get pushy if anxious. A couple months of consistent little groundwork sessions before our rides though, I was able to groom and tack her up ground tied in the arena or turnout pen without ever touching the lead rope.

Her behavior now unfortunately reminds me of that first month we were together. I know it’s not something I intentionally did but I am annoyed at myself for not realizing it sooner.

I have no regrets about moving us to WSS. The mareface is flourishing here and doing very well for her first winter in pasture. 

Snug in her green blanket. Good to see she's figured out herd dynamics  
And the accessibility to miles of decent trails still makes me giddy with pleasure. 

I'll never tire of this view <3
Unfortunately being almost an hour away from the barn has made me feel like I need to capitalize on our time together. Quest, being the saint that she is, has no problem with “hop on and go” and so that’s what we have been doing for the past few months. However this has resulted in me occupying a poor headspace horsemanship-wise whenever we ride. The sense of urgency “need to ride” is even more so now since everyone on the East Coast is starting to leg up for the new season.  

I love to ride. I don’t think that is a bad thing in it of itself. However I shouldn’t look at the number of miles but the quality of the time together. So we will be going back to what has worked for us in the past. We will work on our relationship; she is my partner and she’s worth my time and effort.

8 comments:

  1. I absolutely know what you mean, when things are harder to get to, all of a suddenly there is more urge to accomplish.

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    1. It's so easy to fall into that temptation and shorter daylight hours during the winter doesn't help either ):

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  2. I feel you on this one. Gem used to be 7 minutes away and now she is 40 minutes and I get out on the weekends only. It really made a difference in our relationship when every time I saw her wasn't to ride. Some days just visiting, grooming and shoving her full of treats was better than any ride I could have done. Something to think about.

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    1. I've realized that I do miss the days where I could just visit and hang out with her and do just nothing, it'll be super tough not to mope during the spring and summer months...but right now priority is getting ourselves a safe start in endurance. I think once we get a good season under our belt though I might consider moving her closer to me and getting a trailer so we can still get to rides and train, etc. But that's for later.

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  3. this season is so hard too, really. since we need to haul out anywhere to ride, i end up rushing through the grooming and whatnot too to accommodate travel times... plus my mare always gets a little antsier this time of year anyway. hopefully taking a step back and refreshing those basics will give you the results you want !

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    1. Agreed, the winter season does seem to invite more ansty behavior and Quest always does get a little squirrel-brained when activity around her picks up lol That'll definitely be the case at an endurance ride camp so I'm hoping that revisiting groundwork will give her a "reset" button/safety net of sorts to keep us safe and polite at rides.

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  4. Nothing wrong with re-focusing on ground work stuff for a bit. Apollo could use a tune up as well :)

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    1. Yup, a review is always great- we'll see how much we both remember haha

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