The Forging of the Ring

Home Team

Do not let your eyes deceive you. This unexciting photo of a patch of grass is actually a very exciting photo of our newly-mowed riding “ring.”

Our field has gone feral. Our tractor has been lame for a while. (Yes, in addition to the cart & the car [Where Did The Year Go?]. I tell you, Mercury is in permanent retrograde around here. But I digress.) A week ago, we rented a walk-behind bushhog. I had no idea such a thing existed.

We trimmed the riding area, a path around the perimeter, a route for hill work, and a second riding area that is shorter but wider. All within the 24-hour rental period. Zoom. Chomp. Buzz. We chopped grass, pulled up young trees, and ripped out vines. I love the destruction phase of a project.

As one does when one is playing with motorized tools, the size got away from us. We mowed what we could until stopped by the terrain or trees that require bigger tools to uproot. The resulting area is slightly wider and about a third longer than when Previous Horse graced the space.

The main mowed area is 75 x 25 Katherine strides. Back when I was jumping things, I was reasonably accurate at pacing off distances. So 1 K-stride should be about 3 feet. That translates to 66 x 23 meters, give or take. By blind luck, we ended up with darn close to a large dressage arena.

Tomorrow, the horses respond.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott