SUPERHERO HUNTER PACE!

If you thought I was holding out on you with these pictures... Well, you were only partially right. For whatever reason, the urge to sit down to type out some manner of content to share with y'all has been eluding me a bit lately. Maybe it's hiding behind some shrubbery or another?

It's not that I haven't wanted to -- bc I have -- but there's been this sorta weird barrier lately between my wanting to do something (literally, anything), and actually doing it. It's just one of those things, I guess, and I've kinda taken a "meh" approach to it, figuring it'd pass eventually.

yes we are adult women in our 30s, why do you ask??
(also, no that's a *unicorn horn* ahem haha)

In this instance, tho, it actually worked out for the best bc it turns out I was able to get a few more fun pictures as recently as yesterday!! Woot woot, unexpected windfalls!

charlie's face says it all: "superhero ottb, at your service!!"

Anyway, when last we heard of our intrepid bay hero, he was planning his outfit for our annual hunter pace tradition at Tranquility Manor Farms. The theme?? Superheroes fuck yes. 

special DIY bonnet just for the occasion <3

We had six riders in our group this year, and basically everyone went all in haha. Well, at least eventually. There was perhaps a smidgen of peer pressure involved in some quarters... But hey, the end picture justifies the means, right??

my tailgate may or may not have morphed into a pop up crafts store LOL

Basically everyone was clad in at least some small shred (uh, literally) of metallic spandex or vinyl. Plus capes, obvi.

And I crafted up a bunch of star-studded faux belts (just scraps of felt, more or less) to safety pin to the front of everyone's outfit, plus some stretchy gold wrist cuffs, to help tie the whole look together.

we #gohard

All in all, we figure the measure of our success can be described by the sheer volume of random strangers snapping pictures. Some were kinda apologetic, like, "I hope you don't mind I'm taking your picture!" But like.... Obvi if we dress up like Halloween came early, we're down with the photos lol.

And, all told, we only heard one or two snarky comments of "That's tacky!" by some poor souls or another who clearly deserve our sympathy and pity for their complete and utter lack of Fun.

we needed Austen there with her good camera to help take better pics lol, womp

The ride itself was basically awesome. In years past I've treated it as a sorta substitute for xc schooling, but not so much this year (tho we did jump a fair amount). The ground was really hard and slick, and I hadn't studded Charlie up for the ride. Considering his shoes were hanging on by a thread, I didn't feel like any extra torque on the nails was worth the risk of stepping on a clip lol.

these'll do, tho. and yes, katie is carrying a sword and it is epic lol

But after one notably harrowing slip in warm up at the starting gate, we all kinda conceded that it was probably a day for taking it easy rather than going for broke. Which suited some of our teammates to a T, actually, since we did have a few green horses and riders.

capes errywhere!!

It ended up being perfect, tho. It's not a very long course - roughly 2.5 miles weaving through the fields, pasture lines, and woods. But there are little logs and jumps literally everywhere, plus ample room to gallivant around.

thunderbolt ears were a massive success

Charlie still doesn't really understand this type of ride, bc it's sorta a hybrid between an actual dedicated schooling ride (either we stand/walk or we canter and jump!) and a trail ride. So there were a few times when he was a bit confused and particularly annoyed at being held back even as other horses passed him.

Particularly, some of the greener horses needed to be in the middle of the pack but Charlie sorta loathed bringing up the rear, womp. Too bad, big buy -- this is what being the adult horse is all about!

and the capes too, obvi :D

He was great tho, and naturally we managed to sneak in a few excellent gallop stretches too -- obviously just the ticket for taking the edge off haha! And Charlie was SUPER about the jumps we did actually do. Nothing crazy, and nothing we haven't really done before, but all just so so fun ;)

helmet cam here!!

And actually everyone else had a really good time too!

For the riders with very green horses, it served as the perfect opportunity to get a little more comfortable at speed work in open fields, just slowly building that trust up but in a safe environment. And for other teammates, it was the perfect opportunity to get out there and enjoy the ride on their long term tried 'n true partners.

oooooh but there was a local photog on hand to catch a few moments!!
pc Emily Ballenger

No one fell off, nobody had a bad ride, every horse finished feeling happy, and there were no shenanigans at the trailers afterward other than some good ol' fashioned ice cold beers and fried chicken lol.

charlie is so extra sometimes <3
pc Emily Ballenger

What more could anybody ask for?? Plus, hey - at least I already got this year's halloween costume covered LOL!