With the offer on at the yard for a 2hr hack at
10:30am, and desperately needing to have a good week, I signed up and went
ahead with another hack. I checked online to see how many places were left, and
it said 5: no one had booked in after me, and that presumably meant there were
4 other hackers booked in already. I arrived on the same bus as P, who I’ve
ridden with before, and a girl about my own age, MN. We shared chats about our
favourite horses, and power-walked to the yard: I think they wanted to check we
weren’t going to compete for the same horse! I know P loves Robbie as long as
we’re not on a fast ride, MN declared her love for Ripper (whom I saw her ride
in the big city Common Ride, and who comes out top of popularity tests too),
and I said I’m a recent Gem-convert, but would be happy with Hugo or Starsky
either.
We went in, and indeed there were only 5 names in the
book including mine. For the first time since my first ride however, there were
horse’s names beside each person. P was on Abbi, MN had Ripper… and after my
glowing report on Saturday, I was delighted to see that the YO had put me in
for Gem without even needing to ask. I thanked her enthusiastically, and off I
went!
L was my groom this morning, so brought Gem to the
mounting block for me and sorted out the stirrups and girth. We’d a nice
natter, but she sadly wasn’t taking us out. I saw AM on Roma and LD on his own
grey horse, Nimbus. I enjoyed hacking with AM, but on my one and only hack with
LD (the time that I fell off Hutch, actually), we really took off on the
Railway Line. I wanted a fast one, as did MN on Ripper, and it was LD we got!
To make sure the trek and hack didn’t clash, AM and LD sorted out their routes
so we wouldn’t pass anywhere near any of the fast stretches. LD gave us a ride
order to fit with speed: Gem and I were called up first as the fast, Ripper in behind
me, then any order for the slower Abbi, Whisperer and Dottie.
Gem was looking forward to this morning's hack, and
was bright as a button before we even left! :)
Along the riverside, Gem was still keen and forward,
but was having trouble keeping up with Nimbus’ big stride relative to Hugo’s.
Once trotting, she ate up the ground though. It became clear at the end of the
river side that we were reversing the usual ride route, so doing the railway
line, then coming back via the wood. However, we skipped the turn-off to take
the exact reverse loop, and took an entirely different route at first instead,
which involved a long, uphill trot that got the horses blowing almost as much
as the first uphill canter when going the other direction! The views on the
roads were rural and beautiful, but we did have a few housing estates to go
through. There were lots of people out gardening, and the route was actually a
pleasant one. Again, Gem seemed unflappable – entirely unbothered by pet dogs,
kids on swings, and bright coloured bins! (She only went on to have one spook,
when one lightening fast squirrel caught her off-guard: I was pleased at that,
given Nimbus was shifty all morning and could easily have freaked Gem out a
bit).
At one point, LD started to walk on the right hand
side of the road and not left. I didn’t go right at first as I thought he was
mad. Then, I saw Nimbus get all excited and immediately spotted the gap into a
field: I was finally about to get my first ever run in a stubble field (albeit
along the grass verge)! We had to move forward to makes sure all the horses
were in the field before we could begin. I told LD that Nimbus’ passage was
beautiful: it really was, very elevated, but it was done out of excitement and
not on request!
I asked Gem to wait, as she was pulling a bit. She
was not leaping around like Nimbus however: I’d found yesterday as well that
she seems keen but is relatively still with it! As soon as LD gave with his
hands, his horse took off, and off we immediately followed! Despite having
adjusted my stirrups after my right ankle hurting to what felt like even when
at rest, I did not feel even when I took the light seat: I was however, able to
adjust for it, and unlike Ransom, I never actually felt concerned about coming
off because of the imbalance. I also felt the gear change, us reaching the
gallop behind Nimbus, and I grinned! I quickly stopped doing that though, as
whole pucks of mud from the tread of Nimbus’ hooves kept hitting me on the face
and head, and they didn’t tickle. I had to shut my gob and keep my eyes open to
dodge them! lol. I loved it, and Gem had a blast, even keeping up with Nimbus
despite his bigger stride. We turned the corner on the field to walk the
shorter side, and when we went to turn back onto the road at this corner, Gem
and I both looked left longingly, hoping to get to gallop back down the
opposite long side, but it wasn’t to be!
Gem was a pleasure, but even though she wasn’t
dilly-dallying, I was having to really keep on top of her to stop her falling
behind Nimbus at a walk. There was one point where I trotted to catch up, the
rest of the ride trotted behind me, and LD just looked around at me and started
up a trot too! I wonder if that works with a canter? lol. When we crossed the road and got onto the
path that turns into the old railway line though, Gem suddenly grew a hand
taller, covering more ground and at a faster pace without needing any
encouragement in walk. She knew what was about to happen, and LD let us know
that once the footing changes and it’s clear, we’d be going off with the aim of
tearing up the whole of the way.
We got onto the level where the ground changed, and
with no one visible up ahead, we hit the ground running from a jog. I had the
uneven feeling again, only this time I could feel my legs in slightly different
places – one was further forward than the other. I deliberately moved to even
them, but couldn’t hold it: it wasn’t natural, as it usually is and should be,
so I could only assume my stirrups were definitely uneven (as Gem, me and her
saddle had been even together just two days before, but I’d had leather twists
to achieve that then). Still, I was secure and did not in any way seem to be
impeding Gem – she was going for it! Gem did however sort me out somehow: we
came across a puddle, and she did what felt like a skip, but I presume was a
flying change. By doing that, suddenly my legs were symmetrical and in the
right place, and I felt unshiftable. When we got further down and could see
that all the way to the end was clear, LD really let Nimbus go: they got a
little distance on us, but not a lot. I’m not surprised that Nimbus covers more
ground as he’s taller and his strides are bigger. Gem really turned her engine
on and we flew though! Don’t get me wrong, she doesn’t feel as fast as Starsky
does, but I think their difference in build in terms of stride-length and power
have a lot to do with that. All I knew was that I was soaring along at the
gallop, and I was adoring it! I could grin this time too, as we weren’t on muck
this time and I wasn’t being thrown gobfuls of anything from Nimbus’ hooves J
The middle section of the hack was glorious: it was
like Saturday morning again, but without the drizzle. It was just pure,
unadulterated Winter sun! I couldn’t feel my toes, but I didn’t care – I was
happy :) We also had the most perfect, collected, active trot at one point: that feeling that we were gliding along the ground together, both of us working hard and getting all the little things right. I miss that feeling from schooling, and I love it when I work a horse out on a hack and get to experience it :)
Coming back towards home, I wasn’t sure if we were
going to do the woodland section, because it would involve going down a steep
hill that’s pure mud at the moment. I was delighted, as was Gem, when we turned
left to go into the woods, rather than straight on which is the usual trekking
route home. We had about 4 canters through the woods, one really steady because
the going was poor. LD wasn’t worrying about puddles though, so let us go on
the canter that hits the lake of a puddle. Gem took it on without slowing, and
I gave her extra rein to move her neck into balance and deal with it. The
ground’s so worn there’s a drop on the left side of the puddle, and it felt
like we’d tackled a mini XC obstacle out on course and at speed! We normally
get back to trot for the trail going one-horse-wide at the top of the hill, but
Nimbus had only steadied down to canter and I wasn’t going to haul on Gem for
the sake of it, so I followed. It was the longest it’s ever taken to get back
down to trot on that trail before! lol.
We then hit what’s usually the last trail in the
woods: a longish one that, because the puddles are unavoidable, every ride leader
does the full length of. Unlike Saturday, there were no fallers, so I enjoyed
running along the whole thing, and we opened up into a gallop. Nimbus didn’t
gain any ground away from us either. I did however get a big puck of mud that
hit my hat, and tipped it down and forward a bit, so it was obscuring a vision.
On the plus side, I have learned that I can gallop while holding the reins in
one hand! lol. I could have kept it slid forward a bit, but I enjoy taking in
the view too much, even when at speed.
We then came to the wall of mud that we had to go
down. Nimbus slipped and I thought he was going to fall! I gave Gem the whole
rein, holding only the buckle, and leant really far back to try and
counterbalance. Momentum was making her go faster and faster though, and I
really didn’t want to trot down that big a gradient! Luckily she only broke
into a jog, and only near the bottom. We were approaching the hill we usually
canter up first thing, and I wasn’t relishing clambering down that either.
However, the leader took us a few metres past the turn, shouted “CANTER!” and
before I knew it, Gem was away and for the first time I was caught unawares, so
got out of the saddle after the canter started! We were on a slope and the
ground was soft so it was fairly steady, but it felt exhilarating because it
was sudden and it was a surprise. I thought all the canters were already over!
Gem did slip in the mud, but found her footing as soon as she lost it, and
carried on without her speed being at all affected. I also found myself
entirely even on her again, without feeling like my legs were in different
places or I’d to reach unevenly to maintain balance in stirrups of different
lengths.
I decided not to be greedy and try to take pictures
and videos, so my program managed to record the whole of the hack this time! We
did 15km in 2hrs, and reached a max speed of over 37km/hr! The graph looks something like this, with the field
and the railway line really sticking out. The scale doesn’t go past 30km/hr, so
that must have been a momentary max speed measurement that doesn’t show on a
time-averaged graph.
I merrily walked Gem home without stirrups, and we
crossed the river easily. I got off, sorted the stirrups and girth, and because
the yard was busy, I actually got to hold Gem for 5mins. That sounds like
nothing, but coming from yards where I could tack up, put away, groom, muck
out, turn out and so on, the time with her meant a lot to me. She enjoyed the
attention, and clearly had an itchy head. I never let a horse rub their head on
my body as I consider it bad manners for a horse to intrude in my personal
space without permission, but Gem seemed to be happy when I offered my hand
instead. I also finally was able to gauge her height. 16.2hh is about 5ft 6 to
the withers, which is the same height at me. Gem’s withers did indeed clear my
head, so AM’s right – she is around the 17hh mark, even though she doesn’t feel
it! My guess on Saturday was around the 16hh mark. I suppose I’ve never ridden
such a light-framed horse – normally I ride boggers, Welsh Ds and Warmbloods,
and they tend to have more bone. She’s not the kind of horse I’d choose out of
a line-up, but I utterly adore her already. I also chatted to MN about Common
Rides all the way home on the bus, and she told me that the speed of a horse on
a CR doesn’t matter, as long as you trust it. So, if I loved Gem and felt safe
on her, don’t be afraid to book her, and to book her early as she’s so popular.
Here’s Gem grooming Ripper after the ride. You can
also see how muddy, fluffy and sweaty she is on the way to the wash bay! J I really must bring my proper camera out on a hack,
and my phone camera’s not great.
I’ve a hack coming this weekend, as I’m busy the
weekend after: would it be really boring if I asked for Gem 3 times in a row?!
lol.
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