March Ride Calendar

Thoughts:

• I may not have declared official weather-related defeat until last week, but this looks suspiciously like an event horse work schedule.  February was so long / that it lasted into March…
• I’m really happy with the 4x/week schedule.  It’s not too much even during my busier weeks and it feels downright luxurious in a “normal” week.  I suspect I’ll have some go-for-5x weeks as we transition into spring and that’ll be fine, too.  But giving myself permission to plan on 4x has been a quality-of-life improvement for sure.
• A word about my notations.  When I write “hack” on the calendar, I mean “outside, mostly walking.”  If we’re moving out, that gets noted either by time-and-distance if I’m tracking the ride or as “working hack” if I’m not.
• Someday I should track mileage on a dressage school, just to get a ballpark.  I’m guessing an hour of active ringwork gets us something in the 5-8 mile range (albeit in circles).  My (very) rough guesstimate has us at ~80 miles for the month.  Which – actually feels right to me?  We had the 17-mile day mid-February and he feels stronger and happier in his body now than he did six weeks ago.  I’m glad we’re shooting for the LD in May rather than the 50, but I feel good about where we are right now.
• I did opt to start him on Pentosan (actually PentAussie); we’re halfway through that loading dose.  I think he’s moving better, but it’s also warming up, so: variables.
• The weather is finally turning!  Still some snow and ice on the trails, but more of the footing feels like mud season than not.  Which means that we’re still not going to be hacking at speed any time soon, but at least puts long walking hacks somewhere other than the subdivision back in the realm of possibility.  I wonder what the swamp looks like these days…