The First Sweaty Ride of 2015

It was a dry dusting of fresh snow over dry pavement.  Not at all slippery.

January 26, 2015.  About 25 degrees, overcast, only a bit of wind, snow flurries in the air.  Hey, let's go for a ride!  When your riding buddy has a day off work, you ride, just with more layers! 

We're feeling rather puffy.

The horses moved paddocks today, in preparation for a new horse coming to the stable this upcoming weekend.  Given Red's being-left-home issues lately, and having just had a change of venue (yes, it's only just across the driveway, but still...), I decided to ride Rhio and pony Red.  We've been doing so much of this recently, that it has really become quite easy and relaxed for all three of us. 

The footing in the stable area is atrociously icy, now just dusted over with fresh snow, enough to mask the glare ice.  Perfect.  I very carefully handwalked the boys over to the woods, and then mounted up.  Well, actually, mounting up entailed using my arms to help my left leg bend enough to get my foot in the stirrup, then very ungracefully heaving myself clumsily up (thank goodness I have short horses!) and slithering, shuffling, huffing into an upright position in the saddle.  Darn those extra layers!  Dexterity of all appendages was severely curtailed during today's ride.  I even dropped Red's rope twice due entirely to my mittens (but my fingers were toasty warm!). 

Rhio set the pace at a nice, forward trot.  It's a good thing we all seemed quite happy with that, as Rhio wasn't going to take no for an answer, if I was going to try to tell him we weren't trotting!  He's not been out for a road ride in about a month, and he was one happy pony to be out there, that's for sure. 

We did an out-and-back, 7.2 miles total, staying on the secondary road, since I had Red in tow.  Turning for home, we discovered that yes, in fact, there was just a bit of wind, and now it was blowing into our faces a bit.  S's mare had a good case of the "going-homes," and thought the best idea was a race all the way home.  My boys were more than up for that plan, but us two-leggeds disagreed, and with some discussion, were able to contain the equine enthusiasm. 

Sweaty winter fur

Cooling out, drying off, and tanking up on yummy beet pulp!

Rhio and S's mare were all sweaty, but interestingly Red was only slightly damp on his chest.  I know from experience that Rhio is a good sweater, and Red takes much longer to start to sweat when working.  Even accounting for that difference, it is interesting to see visually how much more the ridden horses were working compared to the ponied, unridden horse. 

I'm so ready to start conditioning!  Ride season is only three months away. 

S. on her mare Jay.