Sunday ride with a blizzard

Today Ruth picked me up and we went out to Heather's to fetch the trailer. We hauled Otto and Quincy out to Sinwaan's crib and tacked up and left from there. Ruth had a plan for a new route today that would take us down some new roads and be a longer distance. It was pretty cold out so we weren't sure we would make it.

We headed up Forest first, since Otto had some time off, we thought doing a little hill work would be good for everyone. There wasn't snow when we started out but soon into the ride the snow started falling, quickly. There were flakes coming in at us sideways, much like a blizzard. Sinwaan turned his head into it since going along on the edge of the road had the snow hitting him in the right eye. We had planned to turn right onto Froghollow but we didn't really feel like tackling all that snow head-on so we turned left instead and had it at our backs.

From there we went up Locher Rd, which I had never ridden on. We turned onto Stateline Rd and at that corner is the Grape Vine training facility. One of the horses in the paddock got so excited to see us ride by that he galloped along and slid and fell down, not once but twice. We were worried about him and we were just walking by. As we passed the large field adjacent to the indoor arena we saw a lot of horse trailers. We saw a large group of people doing what appeared to be a trail clinic complete with lots of obstacles! Later I learned it was the Mark Bolender clinic.

We turned north on Valley Chapel, then left back onto Froghollow and right on Last Chance and another left on Stovall to head home. Sinwaan led most of the way home, a nice big trot. His hooves have been holding up really well but I am concerned that they are wearing down quickly with all this road riding barefoot.

All told we did 10.1 miles today! I mapped out the other route we would have taken had it not been a blizzard and that would have only been 9.5 miles.

Road ride

Trailered over to Heather's and we did a bit longer ride today. It ended up being about 9 miles! Horses did great, and we had a nice time catching up and learning more about each other. The weather was amazing for late January!

I only took one photo today. We saw a beautiful large owl take flight and I marveled at the intricacy in the gold and black pattern in his feathers. We also saw a large Blue Heron. Came across two other horseback riders on Valley Chapel as well.

Road ride, the conditioning continues

Unfortunately last night Ruth came down with a fever, so today it was just Heather and I planning to ride. It poured rain all night, and was still raining fairly good when I let the dogs out around 8 am. I made breakfast for the family and wished for the best. 10 am - no rain! I called Heather and she was excited to ride, so I drove out to get Sinwaan about 10:30. On the drive over it started raining again! Boo! Not to be deterred, I hitched up the trailer and as I got Sinwaan the wind picked up. Great! Rain AND wind today!? Oh well, I am an endurance rider and this would be my only chance to ride all week. I got to Heathers and groomed and tacked up in the rain. Mounted up and what do you know? The rain stopped! Happy day!

We had a great ride, taking Mojonnier to Bussell to the Old Milton Hwy, then down Springdale to Beet which put us on Frog Hollow back to Mojonnier. This was a six mile loop. We could have gone a bit farther today but I had to be back by 1:00. We chatted the whole way and it was really enjoyable to have some "girl time" this weekend!

Road ride

Today Ruth and Heather trailered out to where Sinwaan lives so we could all start out together for a road ride. We were anticipating very cold temperatures so I was dressed in an undershirt, t-shirt, two sweatshirts and my winter coat. Also a snug hat that fit under my helmet. As it turns out I was overdressed and started sweating not long into the ride, although my feet were still cold.

Sinwaan was really feeling good today (seems to be related to the colder temperatures) and ended up in the lead, or close to it, most of the 6 mile loop. He was supercharged and eager and set a nice fast pace for everyone. Ruth and Otto took turns playing leapfrog and riding in all different positions in the pack.

About a half mile from our destination, Ruth dismounted when we saw a herd of deer. There were at least 8 does and a buck not far from the road. Otto handled it well and Ruth decided to walk him the rest of the way as we cooled out all the horses.

We got lucky on our return, Doug was home and willing to take our photo. I just love how great we all look in this shot! All the ears are up! :)