Ride Date - 28 November, 1999Ride Date - 28 November, 1999This ride is my first "sprint" ride that focused on speed rather than distance. In Corinne's clinic the day before, Taylor was very "high" and I wanted to trot the snot out of him. I succeeded!. I rode with friends Tricia Palermo (on Charger, the shopping horse) and Stacy Erickson (on Skip aka Li'l Rascal). The overall ride was, shall we say, educational.
Stacy and I set out around 11:30 am. We went down Canyon Trail (.69 mi), hung a left on Concrete Pipeline. We worked at doing a little sitting trot for the 0.6 mi down to Five Corners. Skip's desire to move forward a bit more briskly was an interesting challenge. When he passed us, Taylor want to speed up and follow. But I used the single rein down transition that Corinne has been teaching in the last few clinics. (It's a half way version of reaching down and taking the hind end away). It's kinda like downshifting a car to slow down.
Tricia was waiting for us at Five Corners. She thought Stacy and I had ditched her because we hadn't been specific about where we were going. Given a choice between me and Tricia, why the heck would she chose me? Hey, fuhgetaboutit!
We stopped to chat at Five Corners, and then continued on for a 0.1 mile, then hung a right on Concrete Pipeline where it splits off from Shaver Grade. When everyone was on the fireroad, we started up our trot. On the clear parts, I pushed Taylor into an extended trot, and slowed him down to a sitting, more collected trot around the blind turns. Because there's no exit on Concrete Pipeline for bikes, it's pretty empty. Taylor can crank to the point where I can't post fast enough to keep up. Tricia said he looked good going from collected to extended trot and back again. Maybe someday we can get a video of all this! Every once in a while he'd break into a canter, and all I had to do was use the "Corinne downshift" and we were trotting again after only a few strides. I'm liking this a lot! Gives one more of a feeling of control out on the trail.
At the end of of the 1.4 miles Taylor's still breathing pretty regularly. I, on the other hand...
THe MMWD recently closed the lower half of Fish Gulch Trail to horses for the winter. As a result, the end of the fireroad we went right up the hill on Fish Gulch Trail. The log across the trail looked tempting to jump, but we stopped, and Taylor walked over it. Once on Fish Gulch Trail, we went into a two point, and trotted up the hill (0.2 mi ?). Taylor felt the difference in the up hill. At the top, we turned around and watched Stacy and Skip come up with "rainbows flying."
While Stacey and Tricia watered their ponies in "Fish Creek" (according to Tamalpais Trails, it really has no official name.)
I chatted with a biker. He said something about my racing bike. I told him I bought American - a Morgan. He chuckled and continued on up the hill. We turned left and walked down Fish Grade (0.6 mi). I tried to walk behind Charger. I still haven't succeeded in slowing down Taylor to a reasonable walk. It didn't last long. We were passed by a ranger in a truck.
Stacy on Skip, Mike on Taylor, Tricia on Charger at Phoenix Junction.
When we got to Phoenix Junction, we met a runner with a pair of black Labs. Tricia talked him into a group picture.
Then we headed up Shaver Grade (1.1mi). From here Tricia and I did a collected trot to the base of the hill. At this point, Tricia ask for a little canter. I asked Taylor for a canter. By about 3/4 of the way to the top, I think he was going a wee bit faster. When we could see the top, I "downshifted" to a sitting trot. And then walked to the top. We hung out at "Stacy's tree" and waited for her to come on up.
From here we walked down Deer Park Fire Road (0.4 mi), took the fire road connector (0.1 mi) to Canyon Trail. Taylor and I did our "practice stepping down the wash" exercise to get S L O W. Skip stayed to practice for a bit. Tricia and I walked the last 0.6 miles back to Marin Stables.
We got there "around 1:15." Seems like an hour and 45 minutes was a long time for 5.8 miles, with all that trotting we did...
| Some people have wondered about the source of Stacy's helmet. I'm a believer in the "all natural" amanita phalloides theory... |