Walking/Hiking with our minis and ponies - Mile Tracker!

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MindySchroder

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Hi All!

Here is where we can put our walking and hiking miles. If you don't know how to track those you can get the app Strava on your phone. This is a very accurate way to track walking miles. (I also use it for driving, set to the bike setting, and it's accurate that way too!) This app will track you whether you have service or not! BUT you will not be able to save your walk without connection. In that case I will just screen shot my walk so I still have all the info. I like to know how high we've climbed, how far we've went and how fast we went there.

For instance this was our walk yesterday:
IMG_7796.PNG
I also write my miles down in my calendar book:
IMG_7797.jpg
This past week the boys and I walked 28 miles, with one day off.

Something else I have done, to figure out mileage, is driven a few of my most common walks in my car. I know exactly how far I have to walk to make up 4 miles, 5 miles and 6 miles. I also know where I turn around to do a simple, fast 2 mile walk. We do the shorter walks when I don't feel very well, or the weather is particularly awful, or the old dog is with us.

Walking with our ponies and minis is such a wonderful way to connect with them, mirroring them as we walk along. I often will sprinkle in some grazing along the roadside, looking for particularly nice green patches of grass. This has resulted in VERY happy forward ponies when we are out. Even on the days we don't graze! They are ever hopeful, bless them 🥰

Walking with our ponies and minis doesn't require special equipment either. I use a flat soft strap halter and a 10' long yacht rope specially sized for the little guys. Sometimes I walk Zorro in a rope halter. Sometimes I'll ground drive him in a bridle using my 11' long yacht rope driving lines. Sometimes Zorro will wear his back pack and carry my water, on the longer walks:


Just use whatever you have!

We can track walks in our pasture, (I have a mowed driving track out in the 10 acre pasture that we walk sometimes. Three times around is one mile!) on the road, in the neighborhood, in the mountains on trails, where ever it is you like to walk with your minis and ponies!

Thank you for joining me on this wonderful journey 🤗
 
Do we just round our numbers? According to Strava I hiked with DJ .88 miles (and from the barn to the bottom of the trail is 128 ft difference in elevation), so do I just call it a mile? He definitely can walk faster than I can. Whew.
I'm curious about rounding up/down also. My usual route can be 2.3 or 2.4, depending on where I start.
I am not able to do much more than that at this time.
Interesting that you know the elevation!
 
Marsha, the Strava app tells you distance, time, time moving, and elevation, and change in elevation. Pretty neat. The front few acres of our property is more or less flat but then it drops to a creek, so lots of hills and gullies. I don't have a safe place to walk/drive my horses off property, but I have trails through the woods and lots of varied terrain here.
 
Marsha, the Strava app tells you distance, time, time moving, and elevation, and change in elevation. Pretty neat. The front few acres of our property is more or less flat but then it drops to a creek, so lots of hills and gullies. I don't have a safe place to walk/drive my horses off property, but I have trails through the woods and lots of varied terrain here.
Nice, interesting route to walk for you. I have an orange safety vest I wear when on the road. And the shoulder is very wide (though the grass is temptingly nose-high). Rarely carry my phone with me, so I don't bother with an app--cell phone coverage in my walking area is practically nil.
 
Cayuse, I think you should jump right in! Maybe you could count laps? We also walk through the pastures sometimes. When we do, I’ll just post that.

I’m here to proudly state Tinker and I walked about 1/4 of a mile last Friday. 😂

I’m grateful to have gotten anything in right now. We have been working nearly everyday at a family member’s farm for weeks with about six more to go, due to the loss of her spouse in January.

Thank you all for your inspiration and cyber company. I love seeing your photos and reading your experience. 👍

By the way.... what “people“ foot wear do you prefer on your walks? I rotate between sneakers and a pair of Fatbaby boots.

Hope to get in a short walk today and maybe try to figure out how to load a photo!?

😉
 
It's totally up to you whether you round up or down. I think nice round numbers are easier to work with!

I typically round down, so for instance if I walked 6.33 miles then I'll record 6 miles. I have considered keeping track of the exact distance and seeing how all those little things add over the month, but working in fractions is hard for my brain. LOL! I do keep a record in an excel file my Handsome Hubby made me (and will keep track of these miles the same way once he makes me a chart to do so! LOL!) and that keeps a running total for me.

Also, every 1/8 or 1/4 of a mile adds up if we do it several times a week :) I definitely did not start out walking 5 or 6 miles a day! And when I don't feel well even walking 1/2 a mile feels like an accomplishment.

And @Cayuse please join us! Even walks in the pasture add up. As I stated above I have found 3 times around my driving "track" equals a mile. We don't always walk 3 laps and sometimes we walk 6! It all adds up and is time well spent with our ponies ❤
 
Another mile with DJ. The wind was up today and I stopped down in the woods when I heard an odd noise. Sure enough, a limb came down next to the trail about where we would have been if we hadn't stop. The limb must have already been broken off because there wasn't any cracking, it was more like bumping. DJ spooked, but when he hit the end of the slack in the rope he stopped after just one step. Yay!
Oh, I wear hiking boots on my walks down in the woods--too many things to trip on.
 
Another mile with DJ. The wind was up today and I stopped down in the woods when I heard an odd noise. Sure enough, a limb came down next to the trail about where we would have been if we hadn't stop. The limb must have already been broken off because there wasn't any cracking, it was more like bumping. DJ spooked, but when he hit the end of the slack in the rope he stopped after just one step. Yay!
Oh, I wear hiking boots on my walks down in the woods--too many things to trip on.
Glad you guys didn't catch that limb! 😊👍
 
Marryflora , DD is cutie.
WillowFlats, I use Map My Walk also as a tracker.
The wind has been crazy here for 3 days. Hopefully by the weekend it will settle down so I came get them out and walk.
 

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