Happy September!!!!! I cannot believe it is already September! Can you? It’s sinking in that my daily riding and horse time every night after work are just about gone.

So sad. I’m sure my horses will be happy to be left to their own devices and just be horses for the wintertime hiatus. But I plan on making the most of the last bit of riding time I do have before the cold nasties take over.
I have been spending so much time with my horses, mainly working with Plezant that past few months, which is why my blog has kind of taken a backseat to my horse time. I have really enjoyed it too. But I also miss my writing time.
And on the way in to work this morning, my horsey friend Vickie, and co-worker thought of a great plan. She said because our riding time is going to be going away, we need to make the most of it right now. I reminded her that we do have No Stirrups November coming up soon. But she felt we should do something now – seize this time that we do have and challenge ourselves now. No reason to wait until November, right? Right!
So we decided to come up with a plan, and here it is….
September Riding Challenge

We both ride, but she rides far more than I do. She goes to shows, goes on off property trail rides, and basically does everything that I thought I wanted to do. I have been content with my weekly ride with Plezant, and really enjoying the moments I have with him. And then there is my Frisby boy. I love spending time with him too, but our time together is pretty much limited to grooming, pampering and just hanging out.

So for Vickie, hitting 3 rides a week I think will be pretty easy. For myself – this will definitely be a change, and a challenge. But I’m up for it! Especially with the cooler weather. I really enjoy riding when it’s a little cooler outside!
And the time change won’t happen until late October. So I will still have enough time after work to do my riding.
Feel like jumping on our band wagon and joining us in this challenge? Great! If you are, here are our rules, don’t worry, there aren’t many!
Rule Number One
You will have 3 rides per week. The week starts on Wednesday, because well, today is September 1st – and it’s Wednesday. Does that make sense?
Rule Number Two
You have to track your ride in Equi Lab – or it doesn’t count. Eek! This one will be hard for me, because half the time I go out for a ride, I forget to start my Equi Lab App! I know I will forget this at least once. Hopefully after I ride, and forget, I won’t forget again!
Rule Number Three
You Have to take a photo either before, during, or after your ride and upload that to Equilab as well. If you don’t do it, the ride doesn’t count! I always take pictures of Plezant and I when I ride, or even when I am hanging out with him, so this will be easy for me.
I’m wondering if I should up the anty a bit and say we have to upload a photo to Instagram as well. What do you think? Too much? I think I will do that for myself. My Instagram has been pretty quiet lately, time to revive it!
Ok, I think that is enough of the rules. In my opinion, the less rules the better, wouldn’t you agree? Keep it simple silly, right?
The Reward
And because Vickie and I both LOVE ribbons, I think I am going to have some ribbons made to commemorate our first ever September Riding Challenge challenge! What do you think? Want to join in? Do you love ribbons too? Maybe I can get a bunch of ribbons, and this could become an annual thing? You know, help gear us up for No Stirrups November?
If you want to join in with us, you can add me as a friend to your Equilab too You can find me by searching for me, Lisa Goodwin. I’ll always accept new riding friends! I really enjoy Equilab. It helps me to ‘see’ my ride, keep track of how many rides I’ve had, and how we are progressing. I also like the friends feature because it adds a level of accountability. Which for me is very helpful.
If you don’t have the Equilab app, it’s free. They do have a paid version too, but I have been very happy with the free version. It’s a lot of fun to actually see where you rode, and the path you took, as well as how much time you actually spent with your horse.

All right my riding friends, I am going to go get started on finding a cool award ribbon, as well as plan my future rides for Plezant. I would love having you join us in our challenge! Get ready to ride!
I rode tonight. Did you? Thanks Lisa, I needed the motivation. Such a relaxing ride by myself, cool breeze, a light breeze and of course, atop my sweet mare, Majazzt💓
I am in!😍🐴
Yay!
We did not know the app, it looks very good, it seems very interesting. We will try it this weekend.