Sorry for not posting recently. That is sort of a summer thing, if I am not working, I am out riding. Wow has the weather ever been good for riding these last 2 weeks. Hot, but that's better than thunderstorms (although by this point, I am ready for a good night of rain... just please keep it at night so I can still take advantage of all the days!)
Bentley has been doing well. We had our first lesson with Marg since he was lame (back to last Wednesday now) and he was good... mostly. Of course he was fresh and excited to be back in work, he threw in a lot of happy hops and speedy flat canters when we got to the canter stage, but considering he had almost a month off and hes just young, he was good. The prescription from Marg is lots of canter work, and to intersperse it throughout our rider rather than doing our usual walk for 15 mins, trot for 15 minutes, canter both directions, ok we are done. He just is so darn happy to go fast, I need to make it less of a big deal to canter, so frequent short canters have been on the menu since. We did this last night and after a few wild runs around the plateau, we settled into a not so terrifying canter and he seemed happy to do it. Getting through those first runs however was tough, hes like juggernaut from X-Men, just puts his head down and can crash through anything, picking up speed the whole way.
This past (very hot) weekend was spent in Ganaraska, I was crewing for Linda at the Cayuse Canter ride. Saturday seemed to be a very rough day for everyone. The heat seemed especially bad and pulses were pretty high. Linda got a grade 2 because she was one beat off grade one. That's one of the better results of the day, several riders fell off including Michelle off Leena who took the ambulance out of the ride and returned with a broken arm. Very disappointing since it was her first ride back on Leena since their accident at Aprilfest. Also, 2 horses got thumps which according to the vets, they hadn't seen this in at least 4-5 years (so 2 to happen at one ride is a BIG deal) Lots of pulls from metabolic and lameness. Carol also voluntarily pulled from the 50 although they had passed vetting as Star was not eating. Saturday I also ended up crewing for an extra person, Carmen, who had come with 2 horses on her own, and her mare wouldn't pulse down in camp unless her gelding buddy was right beside her. Too much separation anxiety! So I felt about just as worn as the riders by the end of the day.
Sunday was a lot better ride for most. Some of the people who weren't able to ride or complete on Saturday went back out for the 12 mile. Carol did this too and said Star was such a pleasure to ride, a short relaxed ride got everyones spirits back up! I also think it was cooler, and pulses were lower, no falls, overall just better luck. We know Linda got a Grade 1, but we didn't stick around for the awards in favour of getting home for dinner. Camp looked pretty quiet as we left and suspect that everyone else was ready to call it a weekend too.
Monday I went to wonderland with Joe and his friends, along with Lee and our friend Steve. Joe's friends had went ahead and committed us to fast passes ($50 each) which kind of irked us that they would presume we had an extra $50 lying around on top of the entry costs to wonderland. This soon faded as we waltzed to the front of all the lines, jealous kids looking on from the long lines that come from hot long weekends. We went on pretty much everything immediately, but after 8 or so rides, I wasn't feeling so well. I had been drinking water but my body temperature kept rising. I was feeling nauseous on the rides, and on Behemoth I actually worried I would be sick. The ride felt fine with the air, but when we were sitting in the sun waiting to pull back in the station, I could barely keep my eyes open and my (very unhealthy) breakfast down and literally had to lay my head down on the lap restraints. Joe's friend Andrew had passed on the last few rides and had found a shady spot to lay, so I joined him while the rest went on Behemoth again. At that point, Lee joined us (forgot to mention, he doesn't like rollercoasters so he separated from us at the beginning of the day and went to the water park). Also about that time I started feeling cold. Really really cold.
I knew I needed food, but we couldn't make it out of the park. Steve thankfully got me a $15 wonderland sub. Perhaps that was the worst part of having heat stroke.... the prices! After about an hour and a half of nibbling, napping in the shade, and kicking geese, I was feeling better enough to get a poutine and replenish some of the salts I clearly needed. Yes, I said kicking geese. They kept getting way too close to us, kicking distance from being seated really, and nothing was scaring them away. To be honest, it was a lot of fun, felt like kicking a pillow (don't worry, no goose or human was hurt as a result). Steve tried his hand at kicking a goose and accidentally kicked it right into a lady who screamed and ran away. So funny!
Anyway, after I was feeling a bit better, I was more diligent about keeping myself safe. We went and got splashed by timberwolf falls, went to the water park, and then had an early trip home. I felt great and wanted to go on more rides, but I think Steve and Lee had enough of the heat, looking tired and my understanding of what happened earlier in the day, I accepted this decision (although it was hard to pass up more rides!)
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