In the past two years I have put a tremendous amount of time, research, and difficult work into the study, practice and teaching of microbial pasture development. I have loved every minute of it, but each of those minutes came with a price tag--every minute that I spent building soil was a minute that I did not spend in the saddle.
A few years ago I rode 1002 miles in six months and five years ago I rode 109 miles in 17 hours. For the past year and a half I have spent comparably little time in the saddle. Now I am sitting back firmly in the saddle.
I began about three weeks ago.
It was not pretty to start with. I floundered about in the saddle and tired way too fast. I started to wonder if I had reached an age that would make heavy mileage impossible. Riding was work. It was not fun and I was not confident that I could pull things back together.
But Tabata is miraculous. Four minutes of intense work punching the heavy bag, walking while curling twenty pound bar bells, or posting on an exercise ball,coupled with longer work with dirt skis have put me in good enough shape to begin to take on heavy mileage once again.
Janie, a spectacular Colonial Spanish mare with a great deal of Grand Canyon genetics, is the primary beneficiary of my rejuvenation. Since the day that she arrived here from the Simms family in Texas I knew that she would be a great horse. Over the last few weeks I have been riding her nearly daily. She is going to be a super horse.
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