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Riding through snow
Mar. 24th, 2008 10:40 pmWhilst anyone with sense was having a Bank Holiday lie-in this morning, we went for a three hour hack.
Blue skies when we left the house, but twenty minutes in the snow was swirling down so thickly the lead horse's outline was starting to blur. The cold was less of a problem - I had thermals under jodhpurs, and two pairs of gloves - but having to keep eyes half-closed to avoid ingress of snowflakes was getting to be a teeny bit of an issue. As was the lack of traction on the muddy trails. Our cobs aren't as sure-footed as the Maremma horses we rode on holiday.
Happily it cleared up later, enough to attempt a couple of canters.
Crystal is a cross between Ermintrude and one of DFS' finest sofas, with a bit of labrador thrown in. She's so wide that I feel like a Thelwell equestrienne, with legs horizontal to the ground. and last time I tried sitting trot I nearly bounced off. Got a marginally better seat now, so was surviving OK until I lost both stirrups, grabbed a handful of mane, got the reins mixed up with the mane so had no known means left in order to get her to stop. Didn't fall off, although I was considering leaving the saddle voluntarily at one point, and luckily she soon spotted a particularly juicy clump of grass, and her labrador heritage took over.
If you think this sounds incompetent, you'd be right; but the second canter was fine. I do need to figure out a way to ride during the week, because once a week isn't going to get us to a sufficient standard to survive six hours a day for five days in the wilds of Mongolia.
[Gratuitous whinge alert] After this morning's exertions, my inner thighs are killing me. More detail would be TMI.
Blue skies when we left the house, but twenty minutes in the snow was swirling down so thickly the lead horse's outline was starting to blur. The cold was less of a problem - I had thermals under jodhpurs, and two pairs of gloves - but having to keep eyes half-closed to avoid ingress of snowflakes was getting to be a teeny bit of an issue. As was the lack of traction on the muddy trails. Our cobs aren't as sure-footed as the Maremma horses we rode on holiday.
Happily it cleared up later, enough to attempt a couple of canters.
Crystal is a cross between Ermintrude and one of DFS' finest sofas, with a bit of labrador thrown in. She's so wide that I feel like a Thelwell equestrienne, with legs horizontal to the ground. and last time I tried sitting trot I nearly bounced off. Got a marginally better seat now, so was surviving OK until I lost both stirrups, grabbed a handful of mane, got the reins mixed up with the mane so had no known means left in order to get her to stop. Didn't fall off, although I was considering leaving the saddle voluntarily at one point, and luckily she soon spotted a particularly juicy clump of grass, and her labrador heritage took over.
If you think this sounds incompetent, you'd be right; but the second canter was fine. I do need to figure out a way to ride during the week, because once a week isn't going to get us to a sufficient standard to survive six hours a day for five days in the wilds of Mongolia.
[Gratuitous whinge alert] After this morning's exertions, my inner thighs are killing me. More detail would be TMI.
