Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Warm Day On Horseback

Shirt Sleeve Weather

It was quite warm today, so I took advantage of the weather to put up the outside Christmas decorations--at  least the front of the house. I still have to put up the barn lights and star and the string of greenery and lights at the back door. No biggie and I may do it after I rest a bit.

I rode both Tucker and Chance. I considered taking Tucker out on the trail but decided to stick to the arena where I did perhaps 15 minutes walk trot canter. No biggie and I didn't want to work much more because he would have sweated up a lot if I had. It was that warm--shirt sleeve weather and I was sweating myself. He was a good boy, all in all, with just one offer to buck on a right lead canter depart, but that may have been being silly rather they ornery, but with Tucker, I never quite know.

After I finished with Tucker, I took Chance out on a trail ride in the woods. This time I rode in the opposite direction so I could find the trail home by starting from home. There was a tree down at the woods end, definitely making the path hard to follow once I got there, so I don't feel quite so foolish about not being able to find it on the way home last time.

As for the rest of the trail?  It's as bad as I thought, with tree after tree blocking the way. It's going to take some persistence to figure out the best way around each one, but I was able to make it nearly all the way back to the farm on the other side of the woods. Then, however, on the last little stretch of trail, there was one final tree and the brush looked pretty thick on either side so I opted to ride along the first set of power lines to get back out to the field instead. Too bad, as I liked that little stretch of trail there. It has a nifty little hill and is just "kind of cute."  I'll give it a better look one day soon to see if there is a good way around, or if I can clear a way.

What I may do is go out with my clippers and pruning saw to do some minor clearing of annoying branches and sticker bushes around the fallen trees to make the detours easier to ride. It's just going to take some time and effort.

The weather is supposed to turn colder again by tomorrow, but for today? Lovely. Glad I took advantage of it and enjoyed some saddle time.

10 comments:

  1. Good to hear you got two rides in today. It was very warm for this time of year. We had lots of fog and drizzle all day.

    It might be doable to clear some of the brush so it's easier to ride. I know there's no stopping you when you're determined.Good luck with that and be careful of course.

    I'm glad I already had my outside decorations up before the weekend. Been working on the inside now. Just one more thing to do and the biggest too, the Christmas tree. I have to wait for my son to come over and bring it up from the basement for me. It's really big and heavy.

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  2. Anonymous8:06 PM

    Glad you got out and around in the nice weather. We had a very nice day here today as well and I rode a fair amount outside. Colder, but more normal, weather coming tomorrow . . .

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  3. Hmm, all those downed trees sound like a mini cross country course in-the-making! ;D I love taking walks through the woods to make new trails, almost as much as I like riding them. I've made several in the woods behind my house with little obstacles that can be walked over or jumped, depending on our energy level.

    This warm weather has been nice, but I'm afraid I'm getting spoiled. (Don't want to jinx it!)

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    1. The only trouble is that most of them are probably over 3'-3'6" in height and wide. Years ago, I would have jumped some on my Russell R., but the Boys I have now are not experienced enough to take the risk. It would, to say the least, be a rather challenging timber course!

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  4. I WORE SHORTS YESTERDAY! that ain't right.
    - The Equestrian Vagabond

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  5. Anonymous12:50 AM

    Glad to come across your blog. It looks like you had a great time riding with your beautiful horses. Horses are really wonderful creatures, they just need a good horsemanship to enjoy them to the full.

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  6. Wow. I can't believe people are having such mild weather. We don't get too cold here in the PNW but I feel like i will never get to wear a tshirt again.

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  7. shirtsleeves? shorts?!!!!! send it this way, please, Jean! LOL

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  8. You are ahead of me in terms of decorating. Maybe you are even done by now. I know the horses get hot but those late fall warm days are so nice, especially because we know the cold of winter is coming.

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  9. Good day! Do you know how to check if the content of your domain is exclusive in the web and no other person is it without making sure you know about it?

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