Getting It Done

Yesterday was my first after work ride here. The weather was awful - it had been snowing/raining/sleeting hard all day, and there was thunderstorm picking up as I was quickly tacking up.

Poor B was pretty damp, apparently last year's rainsheet needs to be rewaterproofed. I feel bad about that, she's got a fresh clip and I suspect that being soaking wet in almost freezing temps wouldn't have been her favorite way to spend the afternoon. She has a shelter, of course, but obviously it's a new barn and its to be expected she'd rather make friends over the fence than hang out inside.

Cute Irish clip

At this time of year,  it is a bit of a challenge to get out and back before sundown. I tried to be as efficient as possible time wise, so grooming was pretty much a non event. I plan to make it up to her with a spa day this weekend.

Once in the saddle, B was ON FIRE and really anxious. I'm not sure I've ever got on her before and thought maybe longeing first might have been safer!

It was a bit funny to ride her as I would Q mare...basically give her a loose contact, consiously relax and portray confidence, point her in the right direction, and stay out of the way/don't pick a fight until the brain returns to the building.

Her new quarter sheet worked well!

By the time we hacked down the road to the arena, I could feel her starting to think a little. She was still way to revved and distacted to stick to my plan of dressage.  If being hot and distracted was her normal state of mind I'd have done dressage. Since it's not, I felt like the best thing to do was to encourage and reward her forward thinking by just having her walk/trot/canter around while I stayed up out of her way in two point. An impromptu fitness ride, if you will. The outdoor had quite a bit of standing water from the storm, and Midge was having a great time jumping and splashing through the bigger puddles. So funny, when she's normally so quiet and serious.

Our ride home was uneventful - I could feel it' been far to long since we hacked on a road with regular traffic, but she was still safe enough, just a bit jumpy, particularly with the headlights as is got dark.

When we got back I tucked her in with a warm fleece under a new rainsheet, and an extra flake of hay.

Totally bought her the polka dot rainsheet, lol

Thoughts:

-This winter weeknight riding is going to be tough, but doable.

Some changes might make it better:

-Three days off in a row might not be wise. Suck it up and ride late at night on Wednesdays?

-I may need to try trailering down to the indoor when daylight savings time begins...I'm OK riding in the dark, but I didn't realize how saturated the outdoor gets after a good rain.