Tuesday, May 8, 2018

As of Late

I think the weather has finally decided that it'll stick with spring. Work business trips and friend weddings have kept me from enjoying the nicer weather lately but Quest and I have gotten in some solid rides still.

A few weeks ago, we did a fantastic 8.5 mile morning solo meander to Hawk Watch one weekend. It was 80 degrees(!) and our trails were unusually crowded with hikers, dog walkers, mountain bikers out enjoying a brief respite from the cold. Despite the high foot and road traffic, mareface handled herself quite well and somehow kept it together when two guys on dirt bikes suddenly came up behind us with engines revving at full tilt :/

We've also explored our rail trails again and worked on hill canter sets when the footing allows. Quest still does her jig-dance from time to time but I've figured out how to deal with that for the most part and she comes back down to earth after a few moments realizing her antics are way too much work than it's worth.

On the art front, I decided to finally upgrade my decade-old, secondhand art tablet and took on few art commission projects to celebrate the new purchase. One of my friends on FB asked me to do a portrait of her thoroughbred mare- I was quite happy to have such a pretty subject to work with!


Hopefully my work travel schedule settles down so Quest and I can get more consistent trail time together. Gotta work to take care of the mare and me though- we'll enjoy each day and each ride as it comes.

10 comments:

  1. That portrait is so cool! Glad you've been squeezing some good rides in even though life is busy :) I love the idiots on dirtbikes... such great helpers >:|

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    1. Thanks! And ugh yeah, at least there is no lack of surprises? lol

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  2. That is truly excellent! I have issues with the mare I'm riding acting up even while with horses she knows. I'm hoping it's just a phase she's going through, and not something I'm contributing to through anxiety (although I bet that's part of it). In any case, I too am finally convinced the warm weather is here to stay!

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    1. We ride solo 99.9% of the time so it gives us a lot of time to work on us and each other, but I really would love to find more like-minded trail riding company. Quest walks so fast that she's ahead of everyone all the time!

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  3. Glad to hear things are going well ;)

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  4. Lovely portrait! Glad that spring is in full swing!

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    1. Thanks :D Have you been doing much art yourself?

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  5. Oh, I wish I had a hill like that to train on! And great art project, new tools are always fun to play with!

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    1. We can only do canters like that after a significant rain event- the hill is usually SUPER gnarly with tons of gravel and rocks. I'm jealous of where YOU live though, I want your trails haha

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