This little lady finished her UKI "IND" title and is moving up to the big girl courses in her next trial! I enjoy UKI courses a lot and am super looking forward to running the tougher ones.

I found a horse game I really like! It's called Ranch of Rivershine. The basic gameplay is you acquire horses, care for them, train them, compete with them in cross-country races, and breed them. The graphics aren't as fancy as in some other games but the gameplay is excellent.

Good horse games are rare, they're kind of niche. I've started playing Equinox: Homecoming. It's brand new, just entered Early Access. So far I like it a lot. They used motion capture on an actual horse to do the animations and it shows. The horses move in a realistic, true-to-life way.

Back on the trail! I hike with the dog(s) almost every day but our average hike is only about 45 minutes (2-2.5 miles). I think it's healthier both for me and for the dogs to spend a little time in nature every day, rather than go out only once a week for like 4 hours or something.

Oh no, Rogue, photographic evidence!

She does get a bit worried, so we only do one trial day per weekend right now. And she's still having some errors in the weaves that don't happen in training, which indicates she has some "tabs open" and doesn't feel able to fully focus on the weaves. Should improve with time. (3/3)

I've trialed Rogue sparingly so far. Each trial revealed some issues for us to work on, so we'd take a couple months to work on those and then enter another trial. Now I think she is finally ready to trial a bit more frequently. (2/3)

Rogue had a nice agility weekend. Q'd in both her classes, Open Jumpers and Novice Standard. That finishes her NA title so next trial she can be entirely in Open, which will make our day a little easier. Got her 2nd measurement done too. (1/3)

Same trail as yesterday and almost the same shot, except this time I have both dogs. As you can probably imagine, this trail looks very different in the summertime when all those trees are leafed out!

When I'm walking on a flat trail, every step is pretty much the same. But on a trail like this, every footfall lands at a different angle, and sometimes I step over roots and streams. I think there little unnamed stabilizing muscles that get a workout from this kind of trail. (2/2)

Today's trail is more challenging than most of the trails I hike. Hills, roots, rocks, mud. It's quite wild; we use our bear bells here. I think trails like this are a better workout than flat ones because in addition to requiring more fitness, they work a wider variety of muscles. (1/2)

Addendum: I'm no exception, so as a way of trying to protect myself, I try to get outdoors in nature every single day. Didn't feel great today, but I was functional so I was able to go about 2 miles. Photo isn't the best but Rogue is shaking off after taking a dip in this little swampy area.

Today's hike, 2.3 miles

Hello friends! I haven't been active anywhere on social media for quite a while, but I've made a decision to be active here because I want to support the platform. So here I am! Not sure exactly how to get started but for now here is a photo of my little agility dog Rogue.