Lookit, it's a video!
Jul. 15th, 2023 04:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI am not the tiktok generation. I don't *do* videos. I just take videos.
Clickit to come along? (This is not an action-packed video. It's scenery of an old logging road. Horse trips over a root, once, but that's about it. Birder people can probably hear an alarmed pileated woodpecker in the audio. This is after we got to the top of the mountain, had started back down, and took a detour onto one of the logging roads for a breather. Sustained steep descents can really burn up a horse's abs and if you have the option to break it up with a more-level track for a bit, that can make the job easier on the horse. And yes, he trucks along fairly efficiently at the walk.)
When last we DLB'd, regular instructor Allie was there and looked/prodded at Bird and inquired when he was due. He is not, as it were, due. And perhaps he's rockin' a bit of a dad bod. So anyway, I took that to heart and what with the (slightly) improved weather and (massively) improved air quality, have instituted a bit of a program to rectify the dad bod situation. What this means with midAtlantic heat and humidity is that I ride late after work, 7 or 8 PM, and hose the horse off. Or early in the morning before it gets brutal. Today was supposed to be 88F with 51% humidity, which makes for a rough day of it if horse is somewhat fluffy and not entirely fit. So, we went out early to make the most of the time we had.
I don't think Bird is completely unfit, but his fit is kinda covered with a layer of lard so the program is not only more work but also less chow. Less chow is just... less chow. It's not complicated and there isn't a lot to talk about there.
On the work front, it's also not complicated but there is stuff to talk about beyond "I have reduced his cups of feed from five to three." He gets gradually bigger helpings of more-consistent work, sort of a "pasture-to-5K" approach. There are regularly scheduled days off and most of the hill work is being done in the walk at this time. (There is plenty of trotting and cantering on the flat.)
As I live in the Ridge-N-Valley part of Pennsylvania, nice "vaguely-mountain-like" hills are readily available a short distance from the farm where he lives. Because the roads between the farm and the hills are not super horse-friendly, we trailer. I do have a trailer now, so... today we did a more-sustained hill effort (entirely at the walk) for two hours of outing, from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM to beat the heat and humidity. It was just me and Birb. He goes out nicely by himself and isn't any more of a jackass alone than he is in a group.
We started at 1720 (feet in elevation), went about two miles to about 1330, then went about 8/10 of a mile to about 1840, then turned round and went back the way we came. (There is a loop option but it is a longer trip with very rocky and technical footing in the second half. Bird isn't really up to the challenge of the loop option yet. It's... a lot and he'd need a day or two off afterwards. The out-n-back was a better amount of work for today.) The 8/10 of a mile section is a damn robust climb. We walked the whole thing, and still it was a significant effort for him. I was pleased to see how quickly Bird's breathing went back to normal after we reached the top. We ambled a short distance out along the ridge line so that he could have a break and catch his breath before we turned around to head back down.
We got back to the farm and I hosed him off, held him on the lawn for a while, and then put him away. Then I had breakfast.
Clickit to come along? (This is not an action-packed video. It's scenery of an old logging road. Horse trips over a root, once, but that's about it. Birder people can probably hear an alarmed pileated woodpecker in the audio. This is after we got to the top of the mountain, had started back down, and took a detour onto one of the logging roads for a breather. Sustained steep descents can really burn up a horse's abs and if you have the option to break it up with a more-level track for a bit, that can make the job easier on the horse. And yes, he trucks along fairly efficiently at the walk.)
When last we DLB'd, regular instructor Allie was there and looked/prodded at Bird and inquired when he was due. He is not, as it were, due. And perhaps he's rockin' a bit of a dad bod. So anyway, I took that to heart and what with the (slightly) improved weather and (massively) improved air quality, have instituted a bit of a program to rectify the dad bod situation. What this means with midAtlantic heat and humidity is that I ride late after work, 7 or 8 PM, and hose the horse off. Or early in the morning before it gets brutal. Today was supposed to be 88F with 51% humidity, which makes for a rough day of it if horse is somewhat fluffy and not entirely fit. So, we went out early to make the most of the time we had.
I don't think Bird is completely unfit, but his fit is kinda covered with a layer of lard so the program is not only more work but also less chow. Less chow is just... less chow. It's not complicated and there isn't a lot to talk about there.
On the work front, it's also not complicated but there is stuff to talk about beyond "I have reduced his cups of feed from five to three." He gets gradually bigger helpings of more-consistent work, sort of a "pasture-to-5K" approach. There are regularly scheduled days off and most of the hill work is being done in the walk at this time. (There is plenty of trotting and cantering on the flat.)
As I live in the Ridge-N-Valley part of Pennsylvania, nice "vaguely-mountain-like" hills are readily available a short distance from the farm where he lives. Because the roads between the farm and the hills are not super horse-friendly, we trailer. I do have a trailer now, so... today we did a more-sustained hill effort (entirely at the walk) for two hours of outing, from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM to beat the heat and humidity. It was just me and Birb. He goes out nicely by himself and isn't any more of a jackass alone than he is in a group.
We started at 1720 (feet in elevation), went about two miles to about 1330, then went about 8/10 of a mile to about 1840, then turned round and went back the way we came. (There is a loop option but it is a longer trip with very rocky and technical footing in the second half. Bird isn't really up to the challenge of the loop option yet. It's... a lot and he'd need a day or two off afterwards. The out-n-back was a better amount of work for today.) The 8/10 of a mile section is a damn robust climb. We walked the whole thing, and still it was a significant effort for him. I was pleased to see how quickly Bird's breathing went back to normal after we reached the top. We ambled a short distance out along the ridge line so that he could have a break and catch his breath before we turned around to head back down.
We got back to the farm and I hosed him off, held him on the lawn for a while, and then put him away. Then I had breakfast.
