FLSS Spring Pace

 Tor and I went to the Lord Stirling pace last fall and had the time of our lives. When the spring pace came up on a day that I was free, I was eager to do it again. I reached out to Julie and Tor to see if they were also available. 

Originally, the plan was for me to ride Lucy with Tor on Julie's mare, Amira. Julie and her daughter would ride Dude and Charm respectively as a separate team. As the pace date approached, it became clear that Dude wouldn't be up to the task. Julie would need Amira for herself. 

Of course, I was happy to provide a horse for Tor. Last year, she rode Lilly. This year, Lilly isn't really fit enough to do faster paced rides. Plus she had been on/off lame in April and I didn't want to push things. Instead, I would bring Lucy and Booger. 

It would be a good last leg stretcher before Booger's 50 the following weekend. I was mildly concerned about how Booger would behave on a flat, grassy course with a ton of other horses around, especially since the pace at this event tends to be fairly fast. Still, it would be a good precursor to ride weekend. 

We wound up having an absolute blast!

Crossing the finish line and grinning ear to ear. Love this photo of the four of us. ❤

Because Tor lives so far away (wah!) I offered to bring the horses and meet her at the pace so she could ride down with Julie. Both mares volunteered to go for an adventure when I arrived at the barn, and I was grateful for two good girls who let me lead them up in tandem. They self loaded in a point-and-shoot kind of way that left me grinning. They were definitely glad for each other's company in the box, which was very sweet. Our fun camping trip to Fair Hill definitely turned them from mildly tolerant pasturemates to actual friends, something I never thought would happen. 

The drive up was uneventful and I pulled into the big field to park right at 10am. 

Tor and Julie arrived a short while later and snagged a spot diagonally across from me. We all wandered down to registration, where I signed us up for the open division and Julie signed up for the pleasure one. 

We tacked up quickly and headed for the start. Despite the hustle and bustle of the parking area, Booger walked calmly out to the starting line. We had to wait a few minutes while a few other teams went out, and she actually stood still which I considered a victory. Lucy, of course, was being perfect.

Soon we were heading out, and I was pleased to do it at a walk.

The course wound up being 7.5 miles and we had a great time. Booger settled into a groove early on and we ended up trotting most of the course. 

"Why can't you be like this at endurance rides?" I found myself asking her on a few occasions.

The trails were beautiful and the weather was perfect for a pace with clear, sunny skies. 

One of the reasons I was excited to do this particular pace is because they have a ton of jumps on the course (reportedly 35 this year). Most of them are logs of varying shapes and sizes. It's the perfect venue for people like me who enjoy low key jumping. It's also perfect for green horses who are just learning to jump. Of course, Booger jumps in the ring at home all the time. We've hopped the occasional log on trail as well. At Green Lane, we did her first ever baby XC jumps in the wild, and at Fair Hill I lunged her over a few things on the cross country course. However, this would be the first time Booger truly jumped out in the open. I was very excited!

The first log we came to, Booger politely slowed to a walk and stepped over. After that, she quickly grasped the concept. She also loved it! It wasn't long before we were hopping over multiple logs in a row. We even did one that was much larger than I intended. It looked like a medium sized log from the bottom of the hill, but when I got two or three strides out, the rest of the log appeared. It was actually a double both in height and width. By that point, I was already committed so I just let Booger go and focused on my release. Not surprisingly, she popped right over without asking any questions. She does love to jump! 

Her little relaxed canter got me right in the feels.

Of course, Tor and Lucy were jumping everything out there. I have a tendency to chip in when I jump, and Tor always takes the long spot. As a result, Lucy was having a perfect day. I loved watching the two of them together. (Remember, Lucy had zero inclination to jump when I got her.)

The course was beautiful just like last year and I was just basking in the miles. Booger was happy to truck along. She led most of the way. It wasn't long before we were passing people, which we did at a walk each time. The nice thing about having Lucy along was that I could park Booger right up her rump if I needed to. (I actually only did this a couple of times.)

The other cool thing about having Lucy along was that I could use her to set the pace. You see, I pony Booger off of Lucy a fair amount (though not as much as I used to). As a result, if I put Boo alongside Lucy and then sort of tip her nose towards Lu, she thinks she's tethered and will slow to Lucy's pace. This meant I dealt with zero pulling all day. (If only Lucy wanted to do 50's...)

As always, I took a bazillion photos.

We had one exciting moment on the first half of the ride. We were in an open field, having a nice little canter, when a group of riders came galloping up behind us. I called back to ask them to please not pass us at a sprint and they obliged and apologized (I told them it was no problem, but that I didn't want my mare going with them). In all honesty, Booger handled it beautifully and we probably would have been fine to keep going. Still, I was trying to make this a good training day for her. We let those riders go ahead, thinking they would be gone in the blink of an eye, but we actually ended up staying a short way behind them for the duration.

Long before I was ready, we reached the midway point. Here, there was more excitement. We were drinking our water when a loose horse came barreling down the trail, stirrups flapping in the breeze and no rider in sight. Booger blinked mellowly at the horse as it flew past, as if to say, "Oh, you're not supposed to do that..."

Luckily, the rider was ok, but my understanding is that it took a very long time to catch the horse. Needless to say, we waited a few minutes longer than we needed to before going back out.

Very pleased with Booger just chilling at the stop with all the other horses around.

❤❤❤

The last few miles of the pace flew by. We were doing some more cantering and jumping everything available. I was having a blast and I told Tor that we should do more hunter paces on my two mares (and we can take turns riding "the bad horse".) 

Before long we were heading for the finish line. There was a beautiful, rolling uphill stretch along a fence line and we let the girls out for a good hand gallop. Booger was having the time of her life! As the finish line came into view, we decided to canter in. I could hear the team behind us gaining on us, but Booger didn't seem the least bit frazzled by it, so I just let her keep going. We crossed the finish line all together, and I was pleased when Booger eased to a walk from just a verbal command.

We headed back to the trailer and I noted that the course was 7.5 miles. We had done it in about an hour and a half, which is a lot slower than endurance speed, but felt perfect for a hunter pace. We got the girls untacked and sponged before Julie and her daughter finished their course. Mike arrived and joined us for some low key tailgating. 

I had Booger and Lucy tied on the same side of the trailer since they had been so attached at Fair Hill. I was pretty mortified when Booger suddenly (for no reason I could see) started to double barrel kick at Lucy. I shouted and jumped up to grab her and she stopped. After that, I decided to put them on opposite sides of the trailer. I left the doors open so they could see each other. Lucy gave a single anxious nicker, but I think she realized it was better to be alone than to get pummeled. The two of them spent the rest of the time grazing happily on their Hi Ties without making a peep. Maybe we're finally getting somewhere with this!

Some time later, we wrapped it up and took the show on the road. Mike followed me back to the barn to get the horses put away and fed. Tor and Julie headed north. We agreed we have to do this again soon.

Turns out you can now buy a day pass to ride these trails!

My entire goal for the pace was to give Booger a positive experience, so we weren't really riding competitively. There were 97 riders entered that day (in a few different divisions). I was very pleasantly surprised that we had come in 4th (only six minutes off ideal time). If we hadn't stopped to wait for the loose horse we (would have been very rude and) would have done even better! 

This was very exciting to me because it's Booger's first ribbon! It will go in the dark drawer with all the other ribbons and never see the light of day again, but it was special anyway. 

After that, it was time to give Booger most of the week off to rest up for New York Adventure the following weekend. 

But more on that later...