Half of last week was about maintaining my carefully cultivated rain gratitude. Like any sensible horse person (oxymoron?) I enjoy much needed rain for approximately 24 hours before starting to get twitchy. 3 days straight? We’ve got cabin fever, HEY, we’ve got cabin fever!
With my usual around-the-place outdoor time cut, I did get a chance to hang the lovely pastels of my fillies that my brother’s girlfriend drew and gave me for Christmas. My photos don’t entirely do them justice, there are wonderful colors and blaze details best seen in person. The Wall of Horse above my computer is much improved by them!
At some point, I seized upon a break in the rain and booted up my Sheza princess with her Renegade Vipers. It’s the time of year with an actual winter weather pattern that my pastures are wet trending to mud and there’s a lot of rock and gravel in any outings that we do. Plus Sheza is suddenly turning *5 years old!?!* in a few months and it’s high time she broke in her fine footwear. After exhibiting some ouchiness on the short gravel barefoot jaunt with Josh , she strode out quite happily indeed hiking in her boots. Walking and trotting in hand uphill and down, across water (NooooMaybeWEEeeeZinng!), through muck, nostrils flaring, graceful staring–well done filly.
The weather cleared up for the weekend and after good chiro checks for the herd I headed out Sunday morning to reunite with first local endurance riding buddy N. She’s trying out a very cute TWH mare after a hard couple of years and it was just so good to be back out on trail with her. Kenny and the mare both have some fine tuning things to work on but have good souls and are fun rides.
Many of my friends are musing on goals and the role of endurance in their lives lately, myself included. As Mel put it, “I want to want to do it, but I just want to have fun.” I think that if you’re going to understand that place, after struggles of various kinds, I don’t need to explain it any more thoroughly than that.
Times change, people grow, goals shift, time flies. Find your joy, whatever it may look like.
sunrise
Redheaded Endurance 
rain? it’s not a thing. honest.
As in?
If you mean to highlight our relatively little rain in comparison to you, should ride in it anyway etc, no doubt true, but so relative. A drought stricken landscape newly deluged is not the same as a standard wet winter for a soggy place.
in the Swamp, rain is not a thing. earthquakes, blizzards, and the zombie apocalypse. but not rain! you’ve got good raingear! go girl!
I’m with Aarene on the rain, you’ve got the gear, get out there! 🙂
That TWH looks the part of every TWH with Pusher blood I’ve ever seen – is it a Pusher descendent?
Again, we’re talking about land and animals who have been in drought for a couple of years and are now receiving 5-6″ of rain (+wind, hail etc) at a time. I have no need to prove anything to anyone, and am ok with nicely phrased laments on my own blog 😉
And yes, Pusher Josey Wales by Doc Pusher.
Other may scoff at our rain, but the slippy, mucky trails say otherwise! Like you, I don’t need to prove anything, so I stay inside on rainy days, and after the rain go on nice long walking rides/hikes. There is plenty of time for conditioning, and I just want to have fun like you said!
Sheeza, wow, what a beauty. She is going to be amazing down the trail, and Kenny is so damn adorable, I can’t wait for ride photos in the future!
I feel compelled to clarify what i think are “differences”….. Yep, we have rain gear, and we use it- all
the time when providing care for the horses. So- it’s *not* that we’re concerned about getting wet, but
rather riding fresh horses on trails that are clay silt, with hidden rocks, roots, and holes covered by slicker-than-snot slimy leaves & pine needles. Seeing hoof skid marks along the trail, and deep holes made by hooves just off the trail…. recipe for soft tissue injuries. Been there, done that, don’t want to revisit. Waiting a day or 2 or 5 to ride, and spending time doing other activities with the horses versus pushing on…
yeah, not even a contest.
I know I’m supposed to like the rain, but I just don’t. My husband was reminding me that I didn’t like the drought either. I was like, oh no: I loved the drought. I didn’t like the environmental consequences and not being able to bathe my horse, but I enjoyed the actual drought. I rode all winter. We could trailer out easily. It was lovely. This rain thing sucks.