Ohio Adventures Part 3 - Miles and Moiya

If you're still keeping track of my Ohio adventures, here's where we're at:

Part 1 - I met Tracy for supper and had a saddle seat lesson
Part 2 - I bought a copious number of things from a brick and mortar store in Ohio as well as ordering from Riding Warehouse

Now, onto the most exciting part, a barn visit with Tracy and her two friendly horses Miles and Moiya!

Miles!

On Sunday (now more than 3 weeks ago, sorry for the slow blogging), Tracy from Fly On Over graciously invited me out to her barn to come ride Miles.

When I drove up to the property, the first step was finding out which barn she was in. Yes, this place had multiple barns and even two indoor arenas! Plus amenities such as plumbing and heating (I admit, I have a low bar when it comes to what makes a barn seem fancy to me haha).

Tracy was just taking Miles out of his stall to tack up when I arrived. He is certainly a character. He seemed well behaved to me but certainly made his pleasure or displeasure known with a whole host of facial expressions. He was also a total ham for face rubbing.

We went to the indoor arena and Tracy hopped on first to warm him up. Through her blog and also through our conversations, I was aware that Miles is not always the easiest horse so I was impressed by how good they looked. I could see why Miles makes such a good hunter horse, he definitely has a very steady even pace at all gaits.

Tracy in the irons. She also has strong matching game!

Next up was my turn. It's been quite a while since I've ridden in a jumping saddle, but Tracy's was so comfortable! We also have similar length legs etc. so I don't think we even had to move the stirrups. I put Miles through his paces, doing some walk, trot, canter, circles, and even some lengthenings. He was so much fun to ride! Tracy really has done an amazing job with him. Even though he didn't know me, he responded well to every request. He didn't seem hot or lazy, but a perfect in-between where he went forward when asked and came back when asked equally easily. He just struck me as a really well trained horse, and that doesn't happen by accident. Miles has been mostly taking a vacation from jumping this winter so I just flatted him but that was plenty and a lot of fun.

My turn! Whee! He was such a fun ride. 

I look like I'm having a lot more fun than Miles is haha

After we put Miles away, I stuck around to watch Tracy ride Moiya. I think it's so cool that she gets to ride these two very different horses. Moiya seems tiny next to giant Miles and they also have very different temperaments. Tracy rode them both well. I took some video of Tracy and Moiya jumping which she posted here.

Little Moiya!

It was great to have some horsey time in the middle of my work trip and I can now say with experience that blogger meet-ups can be a lot of fun!