Follow my way

Above is a screen shot of the ride I had today on Pie. This was captured from the Endomondo app that I learned about from Kristen at Sweet Horse's Breath. Thanks Kristen!!!! She had done a post about this technology back in March and I was drooling. I could not believe how cool that was, but I didn't have any way to do that with my antiquated phone. I still haven't figured out how to transfer the info to the blog correctly so I just took a screen shot. If you click on the link above you can see the real info of our ride.  

Until recently, my family had been hopelessly left behind when it came to cell phone and smart phone technology. My husband, Brian, doesn't like cell phones so he doesn't own one. His argument, which I can totally understand, is that cell phones interrupt real life at every turn.  A decade or so ago my father asked us what we would do if we ever had an emergency while traveling. Brian held up his running shoes as his answer. When our van broke down on I-95 soon after and we all had to hoof it to the nearest town to phone AAA, my parents could take no more so they bought me a cell phone. It was a flip phone and did have a camera. I've used that trusty device for most of the photos on my blog of the horses and our rides. 

My father passed away in 2009 and my mom and I never updated our phones. Recently, though, we both started to see and hear about all the great things smart phones can do. My mom's friends all had one and I was completely blown away by the photos and videos I was seeing on horse blogs, not to mention apps like the one above on Kristen's blog. And, dear, sweet, quiet Maizie has never had a cell or texting capabilities with her friends. So, after much research we settled on three iPhones for mom, Maizie, and me. 

We got Otterbox Defender covers for our time with the horses and then we started shooting videos and taking a zillion photos. It has been great! Today's ride was my first attempt at using this GPS app. And, obviously, if you study the data above, you will know that something is amiss. Yes, cutie Pie-Pie did take me 2.15 miles, but there would be no way that our max speed was 24.3 mph!!!!! We trotted, but come on! I don't think Pie could go that fast at a gallop. He shied once and it happened around the time it says we hit that speed, but would a shy actually register as that fast? Whatever the case, I love that it maps our route and keeps track of the distance. 

I also have been practicing shooting some videos. If you click the photo, above, you can see the boys racing in the pasture the other day. This was taken in the afternoon of the day I rode Pie in his halter. You can see how silly they get when they play. At one point, Sovereign jumps straight up in the air. The audio had my mom and Maizie talking about him being a "Bucking Bronco" but it didn't sound like they were saying "Bucking" (you can imagine what it sounded like) so I added music - Lightnin' Hopkins. YouTube puts ads on before it starts, so just click "skip ad" (this little advice is for my mom).

And if you click the photo, above, of Foggy, you can see a video of him nestled down napping, complete with my annoying baby talk. I know the serious horse world is anti-baby talk, but when I get around horses it just flies out of mouth. Sorry. 

After my ride this morning I came home for lunch and then Brian had to go to the barn to work on the farmhouse a little. I tagged along and snuck in a grooming session with Foggy and a bareback ride on Sovey. Sovereign positioned himself under an apple tree with me aboard. I picked apples and he gobbled. It was great fun on a 97 degree day!

Update!  Kristen helped me add the smaller images from the ride today with the stats. Thanks Kristen!