14 December 2008

Here comes the snow

Well, we had our first snowfall here this week and it has been COLD. Well, cold for here at any rate. My trainer called and gave me a heads up that the cold was coming in which I'm so grateful for! Up until now Wanda has been wearing her waterproof sheet and she would be a sad, sad pony if I hadn't put a stable blanket on underneath it. I have a medium/heavy weight waterproof blanket coming in the mail so she won't have to wear two every day. Which she'll be grateful for. She hates blankets. And the fact that I put one on and *then* put another one on was not a popular idea. Clearly it was an excellent torture device. Silly girl! I didn't ride yesterday as I had a meet during the day and a party in the evening so I knew that I would need to brave the ice to see her today. (more than one day off = CRAZY horse). And I was pleasantly surprised that the roads, which are twisty and up and down steep hills all the way to the barn, were not too bad. I did slide all the way down a hill and around a corner coming home but the drive there was fine. I have seldom been so glad that I learned to drive in the snow and ice though. I can tell that there will be days this winter that I simply will not be able to get to barn due to icy roads so I'm really thankful that we've got a most awesome barn manager who lives onsite. I was going to ride tonight but being nobody's fool I decided to longe her first. And that was an excellent decision as my beautiful girl was puffed up. She had gorgeous trot extensions and some really lovely passage on the end of the line. By the time she wore herself out enough that I thought about getting on her she was tripping a lot so I didn't get on. I decided it wasn't worth the risk. The footing was great, she just wore herself out and wasn't paying attention to her feet. My trainer is riding her tomorrow and I feel bad that I haven't ridden since Wednesday but I'm feeling good about my decision re: my safety. There was a time when I would have ridden anyway and not listened to my instincts. And perhaps nothing would have happened. But I'm home again, warm and safe, and loving that I'm learning from Lisa to trust my own judgement.

4 comments:

  1. I am glad that you made it to and fro-as I- to the stable today with our winter storm dumpagae!
    Nice time with the ponies, huh! Well,it was a fine decision on your part and feel good
    KK

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  2. We haven't had bad weather yet, and I'm definitely not looking forward to when we do! I think it's good that you trusted your instincts, you've got them for a reason, and I think they're especially important for working with animals. I think there's a lot of animal behavior we recognise and just "know" without even thinking about it.

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  3. You slid all the way down a hill??!! This would have caused me to faint, thus creating an accident. We've had bitter cold and a huge dump of snow. I haven't been to the barn all week. I feel awful but it is just too painfully cold to do anything not necessary for survival. Minus 10 was the high yesterday.

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  4. *grin* for flying lily! There was some heart pounding going on but it was dark enough that I could tell no one was coming around the corner at me so all I had to do was try to stay on the road! and ew, minus 10! I remember that kind of weather and don't miss it at all. My sympathies!

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