Yesterday was hot, buggy, and humid. I wasn't going to ride, but I had promised Sofia that I'd go trail riding with her and Tater Tot, so I stuck to my word and dragged myself out in the heat. We tried to walk down the trails, but the bugs made it absolutely miserable. Instead, we "trail rode" around the property. I didn't want to work Gali in the heat, so I took Acorn. There are plenty of hills at our barn, so I used it as a chance to teach Sofia about hill work and trot sets, while also getting the ponies to do a little more work than just walking around would have been. We warmed up by walking up and down three different big hills, and then began our trot sets - first just by trotting up the hills and around and then walking down the next one. Both ponies were good, but it took them a little while to move confidently down the hills. Once they were relaxed and moving forward, we did a handful of complete trot loops up the big hill, along the fence line and around the house, over to the barn, and down the steeper hill. We finished our ride by walking over the bridge (because the ponies didn't want to) and through the trail that loops back to the arena.
It was a nice break from ring work and a pretty productive way to spend a trail day. We gave them plenty of walk breaks, so despite the heat, the ponies weren't struggling with the work at all.
Stand by for pony selfies:
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