Not sure who came up with it but in a lot of barns (especially H/J) "No Stirrup November" is a tradition. Like it says - it means riding without stirrups. This definitely helps the rider's seat, but one has to be careful, as an unbalanced rider can be very stressful and unsettling for the horse.
It's not often that Remy and I are on our own, when we are at Down Under Stables we usually have lessons with Roz, and at home we mainly go on trailrides. Our outdoor arena rework has become the 'never ending story - and is a 'Trauerspiel' (lit. 'sad play' = tragedy). We've been trying for almost a year now to get a contractor to rework the arena, grading, drainage, new footing. Shouldn't be that hard, right? Well, let me tell you, it is! And that takes into account that we didn't even negotiate pricing with the contractors, we accepted the bids. Still, either no shows, or the equivalent of 'manana' - in our case: "definitely next month".
So Remy is at DUS, even without lessons, until tomorrow. It was actually a very good opportunity to see how we can work on our own. Remy is currently on his 'best boy behavior', so I thought I'll give it a whirl and ride him without stirrups in trot and canter - what fun!
I'm driving through Kensington Park several times a day, as it's basically the main artery to go anywhere for us. The Sandhill Crane population is quite large, and those guys are very curious and not afraid of people. When I slowed down for them they walked right up to my car, seemingly looking for a ride (or more likely, food).
*I 'famously' got picked up by Emil one night at 3 a.m. when I was 16, needless to say that put a serious hold on my outings
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