More Bradley Palmer

My friend just posted some photos she took of us on our ride at Bradley Palmer yesterday, so I wanted to add them here, seeing as we hardly ever get photos taken of us! :) 



Coming down off the big hill, pasture on my right, corn field on my left.

Hello there spotted horse.

Last leg of the 12 mile ride.

Bradley Palmer - 12 miles, 2 1/2 hours, and the shoes......

........were amazing! 

I hauled Daatje an hour down to Topsfield, MA to meet one of my friends from the hunt.  My friend has Morgans, so I knew we were in for a nice fast ride!  Bradley is such a beautiful place to ride and on such a beautiful day as this, there were loads of people there, biking, walking, dogs, fellow horseback riders...

We covered 12 miles (most of it at a trot and canter) in 2 hours a 30 minutes.  The Ground Control shoes were fabulous.  Traction on *all* surfaces was killer.  Mud, wet grass, rocky slides, no slipping at all on any of it.  We even jumped a bunch of the fences and they stayed put, clinches tight.  Horse felt simply amazing.  Lofty, free, no tension in her shoulder muscles.  Foot perfect.

So, one full week has gone by in these shoes and I've put a couple of good hard rides on them on mixed terrain and they are really holding up to their reputation.  I'm still extremely pleased and have ordered a second pair to see if Daatje likes them on her hinds as well.

My friend and her spicy Morgan mare

Taking a rest between directions, cantering around Moon Hill

This is Myopia Hunt territory.

Cornfields beside us

Horses in the pasture next to us cantered over to say "hello"

She worked really hard today, so I'm going to give her tomorrow off, and we'll go for a nice quiet hack on Tuesday, with a dressage school on Thursday and then it will be the Hunter Pace in Raymond, NH on Saturday!  So happy to finally be out and about with fun things to do! :D

Bradley Palmer State Park

What a beautiful day today was! Daatje and I made the trek down to Bradley Palmer State Park for a nice ride with our friend Kim and her mare Grace.

Daatje was in raging heat and literally making "love eyes" at anything with four hooves! Ugh, I'll NEVER own another mare! :) She was good though. The pics above are on the crest of Moon Hill, my favorite place in the park. It's magical, to be out there on the hill, with fields all around.

Then we went into the woods and jumped some logs.

Kim led most of the way. Her mare is much more willing out in front than Daatje, so it made my ride that much more enjoyable! Daatje did lead over the scary foot bridge. Grace wasn't too keen on crossing that first. Go Daatje. :)


Here's a link to the video of our two minute canter around Moon Hill.
http://youtu.be/pvYmDlEW7Rs