A Fun Day....

So I have been riding Eowyn in "The Park" (aka Arcata Community Forest) a good bit lately. It's a known entity for me and the horse. Nothing scary like at the dunes or beach (ok, some ppl think the Park is scary cause of dogs, bikes, etc...but none of our horses ever care about those things :) ) with the wind and monsters that hide behind the dunes or whatever... Add to that, that the Park is mostly one, giant HILL. So when the horses are feeling goofy or hot, you just make them long trot or canter up the hills, and pretty soon they decide that walking quietly or an easy trot without goofing, is the smarter choice :)
So this is a 'safe' and fun place to take Eowyn, esp if it has been a little while since I rode her last. It also is a great place to condition a horse, because of the hills. I hadn't paid much attention to how fit or not she was getting...just getting out and riding when I could and going from there. In January we had a ton of great weather, so we got out a bunch, then some in Feb and March, but not as much. She also had a winter coat of course, so one couldn't see muscle tone as easily, and being a bit hot while working, seemed a little more out of shape.
On today's ride though, she was mostly slicked out (everyone seems to have dropped their coats in the last week or two) and I realized while tacking her up, she was actually getting some muscle tone, esp in her rear end and back legs...and her tummy was starting to really lose that 'hay belly' look of a fat pony, and look more like a real horse! Whoo hoo! Then, as I hadn;t ridden her in a while, we picked the LONG HILL route in the park, and after a good warmup walk, I made her trot alllll the way to the tops of several long hills.. And guess what? No heavy sweat (just some normal sweating) and her breathing was not as huffy-puffy...and her HR was in good working order from what I could feel (old fashioned stick my hand on her body, since my HRM watch is broken), and when we'd stop on top of a hill, she recovered her HR and breathing fast... goody goody! I think when she gets in good shape, she'll be a great hill horse! :)
Here is a video from a ride we did at The Park a few rides back, from between Eowyn's ears :)

Untitled from Natalie Herman on Vimeo.

Next up: she's going to Lost Padres and (hopefully) doing two days of 25 miles of Duck Miles...