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Oct. 25th, 2004 11:13 pmPlayed mostly-hooky from work today (read mail and a couple docs in the morning), and went horse back riding on the beach! How cool is that?
Cheyenne really doesn't like to be in a stall, but he trailers beautifully. He didn't have a problem with the sand, or the sea gulls, or walking on seaweed. He didn't like the water at first, but inside of five minutes he was walking into the breaking waves. By the end of the ride, he was heading for the water if I gave him his head.
Crane's Beach (Ipswich, MA) is open to horses for about a 2-mile stretch, for the months of October through March. I rode there once before, on an unusually warm day in late March, when there were sunbathers and kites and dogs and kids. Nope, today was overcast and chilly, and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. There was a mother and daughter at the other end of the beach, daughter on a Morgan or similar, mother on a Clydesdale (ooh!).
We walked and trotted on the way out, took a lot of time to explore and play in the water. Trotted and cantered all the way back, so it was a lot quicker. Laine (the barn owner) was taking video, so I showed off Cheyenne at his best - cantering into the camera, trotting along the shoreline in the shallow water. But the still shots were still action shots, because he was excited, and didn't want to stand.
Oh, and all this was in western tack. I usually ride him English, but I swear he neck-reins better than he mouth-reins. One of the other riders has offered to loan me an Australian saddle. It's apparently a bit of a cross between English and Western (and a lot lighter than western), and people won't look at you funny with either type of bridle.
Cheyenne really doesn't like to be in a stall, but he trailers beautifully. He didn't have a problem with the sand, or the sea gulls, or walking on seaweed. He didn't like the water at first, but inside of five minutes he was walking into the breaking waves. By the end of the ride, he was heading for the water if I gave him his head.
Crane's Beach (Ipswich, MA) is open to horses for about a 2-mile stretch, for the months of October through March. I rode there once before, on an unusually warm day in late March, when there were sunbathers and kites and dogs and kids. Nope, today was overcast and chilly, and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. There was a mother and daughter at the other end of the beach, daughter on a Morgan or similar, mother on a Clydesdale (ooh!).
We walked and trotted on the way out, took a lot of time to explore and play in the water. Trotted and cantered all the way back, so it was a lot quicker. Laine (the barn owner) was taking video, so I showed off Cheyenne at his best - cantering into the camera, trotting along the shoreline in the shallow water. But the still shots were still action shots, because he was excited, and didn't want to stand.
Oh, and all this was in western tack. I usually ride him English, but I swear he neck-reins better than he mouth-reins. One of the other riders has offered to loan me an Australian saddle. It's apparently a bit of a cross between English and Western (and a lot lighter than western), and people won't look at you funny with either type of bridle.
