Hey-o, after my whinging post yesterday, I actually managed a ride last night! Be proud, it was still cold AF and I'm sure I looked like a moron, but we got it DONE.
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| We are absolutely not talking about all the NON dressage barbie clashing going on here, hahaha |
When I left work, it was randomly 27 degrees (wayyyyy higher than the forecasted temp for the day!) so I booked it home and prayed the temps wouldn't drop too fast. I layered up and headed out to the barn -- I opted to ride Ruby, since I figured the odds of dying were lower ;) she seemed annoyed when I stripped off her warm winter blankets, but settled quickly when I tacked her up and added a cozy quarter sheet.
She warmed up fine on the lunge to the left, but when I asked her to switch to the right she was
pretty sure she'd never actually lunged that direction and just COULD. NOT. On the plus side, there was some very impressive lateral work as she danced around the arena with her head pointed at me and her haunches out at the end of the arena. There was also some bucking and kicking out, which I was giggling too hard at to get adequate photos or video of, sorry....haha.
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| Wild poneh! |
She did eventually settle down, so I hopped on. Shockingly, the top layer of my footing wasn't frozen, although I still limited 85% of the ride to walking. We worked some figures, and a little lateral work. Initially she was way too lit to work on halts, but she did eventually settle in and act like the Ruby I know and love. She also gave me some super fun and adjustable trotwork, particularly to the right! Because of the temps, we only did a few circles each direction at the trot, and I opted not to canter at all. Cinna half-heartedly pinned her ears at us over the fence a few times, but there was significantly less angry lunging into the panels, so I think that's improving as well!
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| The far side of the arena still has some snow. |
Overall, I'm glad that I braved the weather to put in a small amount of work. Ruby seemed to enjoy it also, and I kept it light enough that she didn't break a sweat. Hopefully the weather continues on the upswing or I grow some balls and manage to keep on riding with lots of layers!
She warmed up fine on the lunge to the left, but when I asked her to switch to the right she was pretty sure she'd never actually lunged that direction and just COULD. NOT. On the plus side, there was some very impressive lateral work as she danced around the arena with her head pointed at me and her haunches out at the end of the arena. There was also some bucking and kicking out, which I was giggling too hard at to get adequate photos or video of, sorry....haha.
I think hair would be more helpful than balls 😉
ReplyDeleteSeconded. Balls are pretty useless in the cold. ALLEGEDLY.
DeleteWhat great friends I have 🙄
DeleteThat face mask looks snuggly though!
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty warm!
DeleteThat is so awesome you got to work the horses despite the cold!! Way to go - glad Ruby was a good girl too.
ReplyDeleteShe's a rockstar 🙂
Deleteugh this cold has gotta stop. awesome that you managed to fit in a ride tho and that Ruby was mostly pretty darn good! fingers crossed for warmer conditions after this god forsaken bombogenesis nonsense
ReplyDeleteI am sooooo ready for warmer weather!
DeleteGood for you!
ReplyDeleteGlad I squeezed it in, it was much colder yesterday and today. Brrr! Will try again this weekend, when I have the benefit of daylight 😁
DeleteI can't believe your footing isn't frozen! That's the biggest deterrent for me. The old men certainly don't need to go trotting around on rock hard frozen footing! Good for you for getting out there!
ReplyDeleteYeah I was pretty shocked it wasn't! Even the footing that still had snow on it was fine to work on (and I'm using the term work real loosely, since we mostly walked and then did like 5 trot circles haha). I think it would have even been fine to canter in, I was just losing feeling in my fingers!
DeleteYou are brave. I am a Californian wimp, for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt helps to get acclimated -- I definitely hide in the house on the first 25 degree day of winter. But once we've been below 20 for a week, 25 is practically balmy 😉 relatively speaking anyway. My fingers still turned in to ice cubes, lol.
DeleteGood on you for going out there! We've been in the 60s which is a wonderful break from the 20s we had and the horses are happier about it too
ReplyDeleteOmg the 60s. I'm dying just thinking about that haha. Although we are getting a break this week and it should be consistently above freezing!
DeleteHurrah! Good for you getting out there and doing the thing. When I get back from vacation I hope to finally ride again.
ReplyDeleteI felt pretty good after! I just need a kick the pants sometimes haha.
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