Ride on Sunday - Winter Blues

Sunday we did some running around the finish up Christmas shopping. It was COLD but warmer than it's been, and the sun was out! We (Chris and I) headed to the farm from shopping so I could get on for a ride even if it was for just 15 minutes. The farm was SUPER soggy, and Spyder's field was being rested (which I didn't know because it was close to 3 weeks of being off). My last ride was the one before the trip to Jamaica which was November 26, and this was now December 15. Whomp, whomp, whomp.

I grabbed Spyder from his DISGUSTING temporary field and he was covered in mud. His tail is long which I love, but it doesn't work in this field. I didn't have to go in because he was close to the gate and he called to me and walked over. How cute! Good thing he did because he's in the "field of bays" and I wouldn't have been able to pick him out since his white matched his black points. I was too lazy to get to really brushing his legs since they were soaked, but I wanted to make sure his feet were good. Instead of grabbing by his hoof, I clucked and asked him by tapping on his upper leg to resist the mud, and it worked perfectly!

I tacked up and rode to the track since it's sand and has decent drainage. There was a huge puddle that we went through to clean off which was perfect for our after-ride cleaning (right back to mud as soon as he went back). Spyder's super fuzzy and was not even phased by having off for so long. The walk was slow, the trot was slow (but nice), and the canter we saved for when we're both back in shape. I did a lot of posting, two-point, and sitting trot since I need to get it back from having off, as well. I decided [for whatever reason] that it was a good idea to trot without stirrups. Chris got some video which is horrible, but I may decide to share. It depends on how bad it is when I get it to YouTube.

Spyder was happy to have a bit of work, attention, and most of all, TREATS! This weekend is supposed to be "nice" in comparison to all of this snow and below freezing stuff, and it might be in the 60's!!! I hope to ride both days if at all possible, but I have a lot of work to get done on the house for our guests coming on Sunday for our Christmas get together with family.

Fuzzy muddy baby standing weird... and I look thrilled!