Just Run

I have to pinch myself sometimes when I go out for a ride!

After a rather cerebral and intense last couple rides, Dino and I both needed a Brain Break. We hadn't done a proper gallop in a couple weeks, so that's what was on the agenda for Monday evening. I decided to take advantage of the two steepest hills on the property for some extra booty-building fitness work.

There's something freeing about being able to 'just run'. As much as my perfectionist brain wants to work work work every ride, it's good for both Dino and I, body and mind, to just run.

We're getting good at it, too!

Dino is developing a really nice, rhythmic gallop. Within the first few strides he starts breathing in time with his footfalls, and I get to listen to that lovely "snort, snort, snort" as we go along. When we reach an uphill climb, Dino really digs in and it's awesome to feel him kick into a higher gear.

I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it too, and have gotten so much better about letting him handle the terrain changes while staying balanced over his back. Trying to stay between the rows of soybeans helps me learn to keep him between my hands and legs as well.

We did three passes up the steep hill, which you can sort of see in the picture, and then headed out back for a longer gallop around the outside of the big field behind the pastures. At four times around, it comes to somewhere between 5:30 and 6 minutes. I couldn't find my watch, again, so I'm estimating. In between there was a lot of active walking and some easy trotting up and down hills to get to the various areas of the farm I wanted to ride on.

At the end of our workout, Dino was pretty wiped out. He made a really super effort though, and still had a few drops of gas left in the tank at the end of all that galloping. He took a touch longer to recover than normal, but after a nice cold shower he came right back down to normal. I'm really happy with how fit he's getting, especially considering he's essentially a Mini-Warmblood and he isn't built to run like a TB is. I need to take some conformation shots so y'all can see how beefy he's looking!

I felt really good by the end of everything, too. My legs were feeling it from all of the riding in half-seat, but I wasn't at the point of near-death that I experienced after our first XC run of the year.

Just run. It's good for ya!

And be sure to stay properly hydrated when working out...