Despite the Rain

I Ride Out

The weekend was strange weatherwise. On Saturday the wind was horrendous, and it was cold. I went to the NJ Horse Park to meet my friend Stacie and it was really windy there. It was been worse on Friday and even colder. Poor Stacie who was manning the Trilogy Saddle booth had not dressed for winter and nearly froze. At least on Saturday she was dressed for it.

It was the "big" Memorial Day show series with qualifying classes. A lot of riders scratched due to the weather. I was quite impressed with most of the rides I saw. The caliber of horses there was really high with a majority of really good movers who were quite well behaved in the blustery winds.

Interesting that the trend now seems to be airy movers instead of huge tanks. Some of the horses were tall, but looked more "Thoroughbredy" than "Warmbloody," to me. Some really , really nice horses!

Sunday and Monday went by with no saddle time. I'm not sure why. Monday I did mow the lawn, take a 45 minute walk and then go over to my cousin's house for a Memorial Day burger, so that's kind of understandable.

Today, though, I'd scheduled a ride with my endurance riding friend on the next road over. So at about 9:30 AM I headed over to her barn on Chance. Halfway there, it started to rain a little. But we soldiered bravely on.  We encountered:  the tree chipper/trimmers in front of the farm down the road. Not too close, but making a ton of noise; tree trimmers and their truck along the edge of the woods under the power lines--nice guys fortunately done with the noisy work; a black plastic fence along a good section of the farm field where the dirt road used to be; construction, traffic, and noise along the NJ Turnpike; and my friend's stable yard where we'd never been before.  Aside from stopping now and then to think and kind of check out the "danger" Chance was a star!

Christina, JJ--her endurance Arabian, Chance, and I then rode the trails for nearly two hours.  Chance went through water and basically didn't shy at anything while JJ was, upon occasion, a bit silly about things. Apparently he gets a little "Arabsilly" now and then. Chance, having no known direct Arab in his bloodlines seemed to think there was no reason to expend the extra energy.  It began to rain a little more at this point, but not so that it was miserable.

We even had a nice stretch of trotting along the back field--the first time I've trotted Chance in company--and my boy was wonderful. He even stretched down into the bit and rounded his back nicely.  I was delighted.

By the time I got home and back here into the house, it had been three hours.  Two hours in the saddle and one getting ready, grooming and tacking up.  The rain seemed to keep the bugs at bay, so the ride had been really pleasant. Neither Chance nor I, nor my tack for that matter, got too wet--just kind of "sprinkled on," so we were a happy pair back in the barn.

He got two carrots and a handful of pellets as a reward.  I must say I was very prod of what a good, good boy he was! He really does have a good head on his shoulders--and a good body to go with it!!