To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Watching with baited – and frosty – breath

I got in another good ride on Tuesday afternoon before our world froze up again. Then I started fretting. Lance is young and fit and needs an active outlet – something I can't safely give him right now. So he's been enlarging the "window" in his stall (mind you he has an attached paddock that is open on three sides):

Yesterday afternoon my MIL was here helping my son construct his birthday cake, so I decided to get Lance out for at least a careful walk. After a few laps around the arena, we went down the lane to get the mail. We did a wee bit of trotting on the road, including some trot/halt/trot transitions, along with lots of little leg yields and shoulder-fore at the walk. It really wasn't much of a ride and Lance was left with energy and attitude to burn, so I was pleased to see a foamy mouth when we got back to the barn:

Unfortunately, THIS greeted us this morning:

(Yes, it was dark; my DH and I were up early to get chores done before I had to take him to the airport.) Yesterday the friend with whom I've planned a beach ride on Sunday emailed me expressing anticipation. I've been eagerly looking forward to it, too, and have child care worked out and everything. But there's no way I'm attempting to navigate our slick hill towing a horse trailer, and I don't see things changing in the next 36 hours. At least not the weather or road conditions. My horse's P&V quotient? That's bound to ramp up a lot over the next few days!

3 comments:

Theresa said...

Bummer Michele! We too have snow, looks like about a foot but I haven't been out yet. Shoveling and plowing will be required though...Your pastures are probably pretty hard , can't he go out there for the day and come in at night. While sometimes it can be hard to see my guys out in all sorts of weather, I think I like that they are too. They rarely have lots of steam to burn off since they are not kept in and have learned to navigate the ice, snow and mud. As aging gracefully in their middle years (17 and 18) they do what smart horses do everywhere, hang out in the run in stalls, heads covered in snow, watching the weather!

Alanna M said...

Ugh. I'm sorry your trip got messed up! That's a bummer.

Laura said...

You know, Teresa may be right. Tang is out all the time, too, and while she's NOT energetic, she certainly can trip the light fantastic in her pen occasionally. Having that bigger area may help him!