My name is Laura Snyder. I am located in Maryland. I have been riding for 10 years and a few months ago I bought myself my first horse! He is a 17hh, 8 year old Thoroughbred/Rhinelander cross named Where's Waldo, or Wally for short. He's had experience in the past with combined driving, and then eventing through prelim level. I'd like to try some competitive trail riding and very low level eventing with him. I'm hoping that joining the Distance Derby will motivate me to get out of the ring and do more trail riding!
Date 1/15
ReplyDeleteMiles 4.72
MTD: 4.72
First ride!
Date 1/16
ReplyDeleteMiles 3.73
MTD 8.45
Time: 1h 09min
Date 1/17
ReplyDeleteMiles 5.49
MTD 13.94
Time: 1hr 41min
First time riding Wally on the trail solo! He was fabulous!
Date: 01/20
ReplyDeleteMiles: 4.59
MTD: 18.53
Time: 1hr37min
Nice group ride with 6 people. Considering there were 3 green OTTBs, everything went a lot smoother than expected! I rode Bentley, and my friend rode Wally who took advantage of inexperience the whole time.
Date: 01/22
Miles: 3.23
Miles to date: 21.76
Time: 50 min
Very cold ride through the snow. Brought along my dog Yogi for the first time and he loved it! I think Wally hates the cold though.
Date: 01/26
ReplyDeleteMiles: 1.01
MTD: 22.77
First ring ride since starting the derby. About 45min, bareback in a rope halter.
Date: 01/29
ReplyDeleteMiles: 0.53
MTD: 23.30
Stuck in the indoor, rode pretty hard trying a new saddle but I don't think the GPS picked up much of it. We're stuck inside until the snow and ice melt, literally can't wait. I'll be getting a new saddle on trial next Wednesday, hopefully by then we'll be able to get back out on the trails and get some more miles!
Date: 02/03
ReplyDeleteMiles: 1.23
MTD: 24.53
Sloppy ride in the outdoor, the snow has started to melt finally. Rode bareback in just a halter. I think riding on top of his medium blanket is my favorite.
Date: 02/04
Miles: 1.68
MTD: 26.21
Rode out in the field with the same equipment as yesterday. He was a bit up, and I realized that bareback in a halter isn't much power if he's ignoring me haha.
Date: 02/05
Miles: 0.49
MTD: 26.70
There was an ice storm last night that started to melt, so soggy has become waterlogged. I was stuck in the indoor again. First time trying my new saddle, an XN county conquest. He was definitely much happier with how this one fit.
Date: 02/07
ReplyDeleteMiles: 2.49
MTD: 29.19
Seems like the saddle might not work. Wally was being scary at the canter, I thought he might slip and we'd fall.
Date: 02/08
Miles: 1.32
MTD: 30.51
Beat the weather indoor show at Ballyclare. Wally was great, but the saddle definitely pinches him. Between the poles class and the crossrail class I switched to a wider saddle with a no-bow wrap under the pommel and he was much happier. It isn't perfect, so I'll need a new saddle. On the plus side, I did a course of 10 jumps!!
Date: 02/10
ReplyDeleteMiles: 5.31
MTD: 35.82
Time: 1h 07min
First time hitting the trail for a while. It was about 30*, so the ground was not too hard but not too muddy. We did a bit under 5mph, good conditioning ride. Yogi came again today and got so soooo muddy.
Date: 02/19
ReplyDeleteMiles: 1.77
MTD: 37.59
Date: 02/23
ReplyDeleteMiles: 3.79
MTD: 41.38
Rode at my friend's barn, on her lease horse Jupiter. Then went to home barn and rode my guy, and hopped on Dallas and Bentley to try them out. So four horses today!
Date: 02/24
ReplyDeleteMiles: 6.55
MTD: 47.93
Time: 1h12min
Finally got back out on the trail! Rode in a hackamore and carried a crop, ended up having a great ride besides some snow patch silliness.
Date: 02/27
ReplyDeleteMiles: 7.02
MTD: 54.95
Time: 1hr 40min
Hit the trail with Team #8, Hard to Prove! We're trying to crack down on conditioning because our first LD is coming up in a month!
Date: 02/28
Miles: 6.24
MTD: 61.19
Time: 1hr 12 min
Cold day, 28*. Yogi came along today, he'll sleep well tonight lol.
Date: 03/12
ReplyDeleteMiles: 11.24
MTD: 72.43
Finally got out and rode for a long time with megan from team 8. Went after work, it back right before a big storm. We rode for about 2.5hrs. I also tried to jump the big coop, that probably wasn't the best idea lol.
Date: 03/14
Miles: 4.27
MTD: 76.70
Rode in the ring for an hour, trying to get wally to accept bit contact. Not much progress there lol.
Date: 3/21
ReplyDeleteMiles: 3.91
MTD: 80.61
Rode in the ring for another hour, working on dressage again.
Date: 3/24
Miles: 8.49
MTD: 89.10
Went on the trail and then schooled in the ring for a total of about an hour and a half. He was being stubborn so we had to go for longer than I was planning.
Date: 04/01
ReplyDeleteMiles: 4.02
MTD: 93.12
Date: 04/02
Miles: 2.87
MTD: 95.99
Moved barns a week ago! Can't wait for the trails to dry up, there's great hacking I'm excited to explore!
Date: 04/04
ReplyDeleteMiles: 5.05
MTD: 101.04
Date: 04/05
Miles: 10.44
MTD: 111.48
Finally was dry enough to explore the trail! A slow, mostly walking 3 hr trail ride on the Monocacy trail. The access trail had a couple scary spots, plus Wally and I crossed our first bridge with a pair of terrifying (to him) dogs on the other end so that was an experience. We were all exhausted by the end, and I'm covered in scratches, but otherwise happy. Poor wally stocked up on and is a bit lame, so he's getting a few well deserved days off.
congrats on getting over 100 miles :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
DeleteDate: 04/09
ReplyDeleteMiles: 5.02
MTD: 116.5
Date: 04/10
Miles: 5.40
MTD: 121.9
Date: 04/14
ReplyDeleteMiles: 2.46
MTD: 124.36
Date: 04/16
Miles: 3.14
MTD: 127.5
Date: 04/21
Miles: 5.20
MTD: 132.7
Date: 04/26
ReplyDeleteMiles: 3.35
MTD: 136.05
Date: 04/27
ReplyDeleteMiles: 5.35
MTD: 141.4
Date: 05/05
ReplyDeleteMiles: 3.90
MTD: 145.30
Nurse's orders I'm on stall rest for a while for hurting my lower back. Hopefully it'll be all sorted out soon though!
Date: 05/16
ReplyDeleteMiles: 18.46
MTD: 163.76
Date: 05/19
Miles: 2.72
MTD: 166.48
My back is better! For my first ride back in the saddle, Megan and I went to the finally found our way to the C&O canal! It was so great, we didn't even realize we went as far as we did until I looked at my gps tracker! Poor Wally is still so tired today haha.
Date: 05/24
ReplyDeleteMiles: 3.42
MTD: 169.9
Date: 05/25
Miles: 3.48
MTD: 173.38
Date: 05/31
ReplyDeleteMiles: 2.72
MTD: 176.1
Date: 06/02
Miles: 4.62
MTD: 180.72