Yay, trails!

Had my first trail ride of the year today. Took Kieran out on the trails and it was nice to see they'd been through and cleared them out and everything was nice and open, though the footing wasn't packed down again yet so it was actually a little deepish. (I don't know if the neighbors who own that land dragged it with four wheelers or what. They definitely had been doing some brush burning though as all the brush was cleared out between the trees and there was ash on the ground).

Anyway, we were out for about an hour, mostly walking, but some nice long trots too. I was focusing on keeping my weight in my heels and my calf on and doing two point by closing my hip instead of throwing myself forward (it helped that I reminded myself we were out on the trails and if he tripped or something and I was too far forward, I'd probably come off right over his shoulder, hah).

Did have a nice canter up the hill that's on the way back to the house, then I made Kieran walk back down it and trot up it nicely. It's the only hill of any reasonable size in the area so I figure we should start using it for fitness. I'm sure Kieran will not approve when it's so close to the farm and why can't we just go back, mom?

Then spent a while grooming, got his tail all nice and brushed out and pretty, then let him graze in the arena while I cleaned up my tack. Also mended a couple of jump poles some previous boarder had left (a 2x4 with some lattice stuck to one side, the lattice was falling down so I wrapped some duct tape around it for my ghetto mending) so we can use them for making the jumps more interesting than just the regular poles.

Have a lesson tomorrow!