"Parkour for her, not ballet" (catch-up, part 3)

The title was a comment on an Instagram/Facebook post about Stella's and my most recent excursion. By ballet she means dressage; by parkour she means the negotiating the indoor Mountain Trail Championship course at the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene, which we did with the 'Mustang Gang' on November 17.

I've heard about this cool installation for years, but hadn't really looked into going. But when the head of the Mustang Gang proposed signing up as a group (you 'rent' an hour on the course), I jumped at the chance.

The plan was to get there an hour before our slot started to have plenty of time to tack up and warm up. But I was uneasy about the amount of air in my trailer tires, especially for going down the interstate (things are such that I can't access our air compressor at home right now), so I stopped at a station on my way to check. All four tires were at less than 50% of max. 😳 Of course I aired them all up with the puny (and spendy) compressor even though it took all my warm-up time; safety first. Well, at least that aspect of safety; one could argue that unloading, saddling, mounting, and heading right into a challenging new environment with a hot horse may not be the safest thing. 😉

But Stella was a ROCK STAR once again. Head up (always), very alert, a little leery, but willing to try, and eventually DO, everything without too much persuading. By the end, we were asked to lead one of the mustang gang on speed round of all the obstacles in the big arena in order for her horse to gain more confidence!

I took lots of photos of others (and only one of Stella from the saddle), and got some photos of us that others took. Unfortunately, no one got photos of us in or around any of the water obstacles. 😢 Guess we'll have to go again to capture those moments. 😁

I'm just going to dump the photos I have below; enjoy!

The course in the smaller arena

The 'waterfall' course in the bigger arena; click to biggify.

Stella and I on the small course

Our 'speed round' buddy on the small course

The 'high bridge'

Stella and I on the high bridge

A group photo at the end

Off to another hill (catch-up, part 2)

Our first excursion after my truck was finally fixed was on October 9 to Chehalem Ridge Nature Park. If we could fly like crows it's not that far, but it took a good hour's drive to get there and meet up with the 'mustang gang' we've been riding with. It was the first visit to this beautiful new park that just opened three years ago for all of us, and it was most enjoyable – great trailer parking, good trails, and some stunning views. And like Bob & Crystal Rilee Park, free!

No, we didn't see any cougars (click to biggify).

One of the Three Elders

The following photos were taken of us, not by me. We all take photos and share. I'm so glad to have connected with these ladies! 😊

Home, home on the hill (catch-up, part 1)

Since my last post I've been taking photos as usual – of what we do around and riding out from home, and of the two excursions away. All told the photos add up to a lot, so I've decided to create three posts from them. You can tell from the title what the subject is for this post. 😉

I think this was after Stella got rinsed off; SO shiny!

Continuing to enjoy someone's mowing efforts

I was pretty sure bow season had started, and prepared accordingly.

Poison oak along the lane; pretty  but....

Fall is litter-al. The Bigleaf maples on the south side of the arena start dropping their leaves, which must be blown off so the organic matter doesn't eventually clog the drain tiles. We used to have to rake, until Rick bought a big, powerful, gas-powered backpack blower. I think I wo-manned the blower six times to keep the leaves from getting too thick and so I could occasionally turn the horses out to burn off steam and school Stella before 'fall' was done.

The final clean-up was this week; such a relief when the trees are finally bare!

With no pasture access, much-reduced turn-out, and fewer riding opportunities, Stella becomes more challenging again. You can see from the foam on her face how much she flips her head. She is still better in this bit; I no longer ride with a running martingale to keep from head-banging with her. 

Riding up and down our gravel lane is sometimes our only outlet.

Our shadow on the winery wall concerned her at first.

I do enjoy the views!

Compared to Stella, Lance is lazy and food-focused, not tense and combustible. But that's not to say that the lack of turn-out doesn't affect him. He eats until every stalk of hay is consumed, and then goes to work on his surroundings – trying to unlatch his door, dumping the stock tank, pulling off the tongue-and-groove boards from the inner wall of his stall, etc. I went down to the barn the other night to find he'd dismantled them ALL. Only the chainlink divider I'd put in the middle stall for sheep kept him contained and our hay supply safe.

Last night he pulled the top board off (even though Rick had NAILED it into place after the 'pick-up-and-drop-sticks' episode), then went to work on the stall door. I could hear banging from the house; by the time I arrived he had done a lot of damage and almost released himself. I put him in the arena and was prepared to leave him out there all night in the rain and wind, but when Rick got home late from a meeting he graciously went down with me to fix the door, replace a board, and run a hot wire along the top of the stall wall. But not before I had texted with the lady who gave Russell a retirement home and offered her another horse. She's considering it. Lance would have daily pasture turn-out there and would probably enjoy an occasional easy trail ride. It would leave Stella an only horse here, but since she doesn't ever act herd-bound, I think she'd handle it better than most. I could be assured that we have hay enough until next season's harvest, and the empty stall might prove useful in a variety of ways. Another horse? Taking in a training project for someone else? A hospital stall for a client's horse? (Rick's clinic lease ends on February 28, so he might be practicing from home soon.) Stay tuned.