No Bounce

J and I did the Fairmount trail this morning before T was awake. Ashke was a little teeny tiny bit tender on the right front. I think the boot is a little small because his feet are incredibly long. He wasn't lame, just the slightest hesitation that only I could feel. We did it fairly fast, with an 4.9 mph.

This was the second day wearing a new piece of equestrian gear: Enell Plus Size No Bounce Guaranteed Equestrian Sports Bra. I got a tip from another blogger (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You know who you are!!) about this piece of riding gear that is absolutely a requirement for anyone who is chest heavy. I'm talking too big to fit in a normal sports bra. And who is tired of throwing off their horse's balance by the ten pound weights with a mind of their own bouncing around in front. It absolutely works. Although I am a bit bigger than the size I ordered (purchased what would fit around my torso) it still worked. J said that the hydration pak was bouncing on my back, but I wasn't bouncing in front. No blisters. No bruises. No pain, except some fatigue in my shoulders holding all of that weight. I couldn't be happier.

http://www.equestriancollections.com/storeitems.asp?department=Ladies&bc=1&cc=406

 I opted to take the horse trail down the switchback instead of the sidewalk (short cut) and to give Ashke some practice with steep, downhill terrain. There is one part of the trail that I swear we stood on our head. Even with my feet braced I felt like I was too far forward (this is the only part of western saddles that I like - how far back you can lean while going downhill). The last time I tried this part of the trail I freaked out and almost caused us to die.

This time I asked him to go slow and leaned back. I trusted him to find our way down safely and he did. He didn't put a single step wrong.


The ride was fairly uneventful, with the exception of the gentleman who told us there was a snake on the bridge at the bottom of the hill. J went ahead to scare the snake away, but it had already moved on.

When we were almost back to the barn, J took the following video:

I thought he looked pretty good and as you can see: No Bounce.