Weather and Horses
Have I mentioned that I love my horse? So, a cute horse story, and then a whine about the weather. I lunged him, and was getting ready to mount when he turned around, and gave me this melting look out of his big brown eyes, and then laid his head on my shoulder, sighed and relaxed totally. We stood there for a few minutes with him gazing at me, and his head pressing me into the ground. I finally patted him and told him we had to work, and lifted his head off my shoulder. He is such a great horse.
But Monday night we had hurricane force winds. At 12:30 the big double doors of my house blew open and snow came swirling in. Fortunately the noise, first of the doors and then the howling winds, terrified the cats so they didn’t try to escape. I finally got the doors closed and locked back into place, but it took hours for me to calm down and get back to sleep.
Those same winds shook the riding arena so horribly that three of the giant mirrors at the far end of the arena came crashing down and shattered all over the ring. We’d had heavy rains on Sunday and early Monday, and the other end of the arena was filled with water. I used this as an opportunity to teach Vento about bad footing, but he could have cared less. I hand walked him through the giant puddle in both directions. A horse’s brain doesn’t communicate between the hemispheres so you’ve got to show them something scary with both sides of their head. So if you walk through one direction you have to turn the horse and let him see the object with his other eye. Anyway, after that I mounted up and proceeded to ride through the mud and standing water. I was afraid that Vento would revert back to the Arab that heavily influences the Iberian breeds, but he could care less. He seemed to think making splashes was fun. My Arabs were always so prissy about getting their feet dirty. This is a pleasant change.
I have always loved cold and stormy weather, but this is becoming a bit much. When the highs on most days don’t break 30 degrees it begins to wear on the body. It also keeps me indoors and not moving enough. I’m looking forward to hikes in spring weather. We ought to have an amazing variety of wild flowers after all the rain and snow this year.
Melinda
January 31st, 2008 at 11:44 am
You wanted old-fashioned snowy cold NM winters, Melinda… 8-).
Yeah, it’s starting to get a bit old. This isn’t why I moved down here from Canada. The newspapers say it’s an all-time record for prolonged cold weather here.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:50 am
Yeah, I know, be careful what you wish for. If it’s weren’t for Vento I’d be loving this. I don’t mind the snow so much — and I’m a New Mexican, I’ll take moisture in any form — it’s this bitter, bitter cold, and when you add in the wind it’s dangerous for both horse and rider.
A well, spring will come, and soon I will be bitching about the heat. At least we know we’ll have water for drinking and irrigation this year.