Rain and more Rain

On Saturday I dragged my poor unsuspecting sister out of bed to join me on a morning trail ride. I should explain. On every trail ride that has threatened rain that I have taken her along, has cleared up just in time for the ride. I'm sure she thought her "sunny" optimism was going to work miracles again. HA! It was a wet wet rainy ride. (Loreleigh - this is your chance to tell, of our last almost-rainy ride where I turned you into bear bait, before I tell it!)

We headed up to Oroville again. I have exactly one picture. Farley the camel, in her tack, covered by a green rain sheet.

I decided to leave my 100% waterproof duster at my parents because #1) I wrongly assumed that if I left it, it might not rain and #2) I needed to get 2.5 miles of running in and had a strong suspicion (rightly so) that I wouldn't run in the duster.

During the tacking process Loreleigh used the wrong "slot" in the dressage girth to buckle the billets. I seriously thought I was going to have to cut the saddle off because I couldn't get the buckles off. I was strangely philosophical about the whole thing. My exact thought was "Oh well, the billets are leather and need to be replaced anyways". In fact, my biggest frustration was that dealing with this issue was cutting into our limited riding time! Loreleigh had to be at work not-so-later that afternoon.

FINALLY we were off. I started on foot jogging (I HATE that term. Either you are running or walking. No matter how slow. From now on "jogging" is BANNED from this blog). Sally (Loreleigh's horse) decided to lead. Sally spooked to the side (a fine feat for such a plump horse) and Loreleigh, in wonderfully slow motion tumbled off the horse, spun a complete somersault, and ended up on her bottom, legs splayed in front of her. She had the oddest expression on her face. Sally (in true mustang fashion) was eating grass. But for how long? AND we were right next to rail road tracks, I wanted to get the h*ll out of there ASAP! In accordance to my new resolution to be a better and more fun sister, I did NOT yell in my big sister voice "get off your A$$ and catch your horse NOW!!!". Instead I faintly, urgently whispered "get up, get up, grab your horse". She just sat there with a look of shock on her face. Later, after the ride I had a conversation with her that she really needed to come out of her falls a little better (see, true sisterly concern). Sitting there in shock was not reassuring for the people with you on the trail ride OR a good option when you have a loose horse next to a potentially dangerous situation (rail road track, busy highway etc.). She said that after she assessed herself and knew she was OK, she told herself to get up, but her body wouldn't listen. My response was "don't assess the damage, just get up and catch your horse. If you can't get up, then assess the damage!". LOL. We both had a good laugh.

Our trail ride continued. I ran for ~30 minutes. It was a good lesson in sisterly trust - she was following me ON horse back, and I had to trust she was not going to run me down. The pounding of hoofbeats behind me was a familiar one... (Loreleigh - this is your chance to tell the story of you running over the top of me at the beach with Buster before I do!)

We turned onto some single track for a while, but it was mucky so we went back to the gravelly road. I started to get a little cold and damp, but didn't really feel the rain until I lent my gloves to my sister. Dry and warm gloves are certainly a necessity for wet weather riding!

Overall the 2+ hour trail ride went well. Both horses behaved in the rain, I got yet another ride in my hackamore AND I got to see the results of all my arena work paying off. I have never felt so balanced and "easy" in the saddle on the trail. My seat and legs and hands were quiet and my posting gentle. Wonderful!

I turned Farley out with a rain sheet Saturday night. I had never turned her out with a blanket, but wanted to know that I could, so it seemed like a good opportunity. She did well, but when I caught her Sunday morning she was shivering. :( She was dry and warm, but shivering. So maybe even though she was dry, it was not enough to make up for the fact that the hair was laying flat? Not sure. She warmed up very nicely in the trailer in a cooler on the way to Sunday's (cancelled) trail ride.

Unfortunately with all the rain, Sunday's ride was cancelled. :( Fortunately it was not far from my parents house so we didn't drive far. There is another poker ride next Saturday and I agreed to go, even though it means skipping out on one of my (very few) riding lessons to do it. But hey - spending time with my father is a good thing! I will ALWAYS be able to take lessons.

As you can see, unless Loreleigh "ponies up" and provides us with riveting accounts of prior trail rides with me, I will be "forced" to entertain you with tales of past doings, to make up for the fact I have no entertaining tales OR pictures from this weekend.