The Evenings get Short

The Evenings get Short

Each day, I have less daylight to ride after work. Since I have to go home to take care of my dog, I just can’t get out to the barn as early as I used to. I think I will only have just one more week of evening trail riding.



As it is, I must ride fast to make it home before dark. Alas, such a sacrifice—no more leisurely rides. I am being sarcastic. I love riding fast, and since it is so much cooler, now, I can get away with it.



Last year at this time, I was still working with Cole to trot home calmly. Now, calmly doesn’t have to be slow. I just want a steady trot that I can stop whenever I want and that doesn’t morph into a canter. Over the summer, Cole figured it out, and now I can do a lot of trotting towards home, and we get very close without him going out of control from excitement. It is so much fun. Kevin likes doing it, too, so also Starry gets a brisk workout.



I don’t canter towards home with him, yet. He is the fastest horse I have ever owned, without a doubt, so I don’t need to add further temptation to him. I used to canter Mingo towards home when we were close, but that would only get him up to the speed of a normal horse. Cruiser and Ranger would just get too excited when we would try it, so we only did it when we were miles away. It is something that you have to do with care. Maybe someday I will try it with Cole, but as long as he does that exciting, fast trot, I don’t think that I will be that tempted.



And Dante? Well, he’s not out with us in the evenings because Ellen is working. When we do ride together and Cole trots very fast, Dante trots faster than he was, but not quite as fast a Cole—yet. He is getting stronger and going faster all the time. Ellen enjoys the faster speed, too, so I think that next summer, we will be going on long and fast rides—the first time we will be able to do that together for years.



Back to my diminishing daylight—soon I will be riding in the arena at night. I just can’t get into the idea. It has been such a fun year of trail riding, that it is tough to go back to the arena. Maybe another week…