Trail Ride in the Snow

 

 I thought I wasn’t going to make the trail ride on Monday morning. My tummy was all tied up in knots and I had to make frequent trips to the bathroom (I know….TMI). This happened before the horsemanship clinic last weekend, too. I suppose it’s just nerves, even though I do look forward to riding. And once I start riding, then I feel better and everything just clicks and feels right. But it’s getting out the door that seems to be the biggest challenge.

I packed up my helmet, my stuffed saddle bag and my black cotton reins and headed down the road.

I made it there in time to help Colleen finish tacking up my horse, Rosie, and with Colleen’s help, I used the horse trailer’s ramp to mount Rosie, and we set off down the trail.

This trail ride was only 15 minutes from my house in the Manzano Mountains around Oak Flats Picnic Grounds. The elevation is above 7,600ft and the trails are in the trees, so it’s cooler up there and there was still at least 6” of snow on the ground from our last snowfall. There were also many snowdrifts which we all tried to avoid because of possible hazardous holes and ice underneath.

 

In fact two of the horses did end up slipping and falling down with their riders. Anna and her mare were moving off the trail and stepped into a deep snowdrift. Her mare fell down, but Anna didn’t fall off, and her mare just hopped right back up quickly. Cheri’s gelding slipped and fell to his knees, as she was turning him on an icy section of trail, and unfortunately she did tumble off onto her backside. She and her horse, Jackson (recently adopted from the horse rescue) weren’t hurt, though they may be sore tonight. She was one tough cowgirl, and got right back up in the saddle and we rode for another hour afterwards. She only complained later about having a cold and numb tush from her jeans getting wet when she landed in the snow. But she kept riding. I was impressed.

We rode for over 2 hours, mostly following some old ATV tracks or blazing our own trail. I saw many different animal prints, including deer, rabbit and what appeared to be bear paw prints, even though I would think they’d be hibernating this time of year. I was wearing 4 layers, so I was cozy and comfortable the entire ride, and because there wasn’t any wind among the trees, and the temperature was in the 40’s, it didn’t feel too cold.

(The following photos of me were taken by my friend, Colleen. I think she could use a camera upgrade. What do you think?hehe!)

 

 

Nothing much bothers Rosie as long as she can get a good look at it as we walk on by, but Rosie doesn’t like other horses in her space or following too closely, unless they are her barn buddies. If a horse she doesn’t like is too close, Rosie makes an odd guttural rumbling in her throat that sounds like she’s growling and she gives a cock-eyed look at the horse that is annoying her. It’s pretty funny. We just stay towards the back by ourselves and let everyone pass us or we warn them to stay back. If they have trouble keeping their horse back I just let her trot ahead to give us more space.

     

I rarely ever let Baby Doll trot or lope. She would pin her ears flat like she was as mad as a wet cat and then I felt like I was riding a jackhammer when she’d move into a trot or a lope. It actually hurt my back and neck, so it was no fun at all. But riding Rosie’s cute little trot is so much fun! She won’t trot unless asked, but I could feel that she wanted to, so I clucked her into a trot every chance we got.

Another very amusing thing that Rosie does is a full body ‘dog shake’ while her rider is on her back. The first time she did it to me was in the arena during the horsemanship clinic. Since it was only my first time back in the saddle, it rather startled me, but then I thought it was kind of fun. Rosie was polite enough not to do her full body ‘dog shake’ while I was riding her bareback, though. I don’t think I could have held on. Rosie did the ‘dog shake’ several times during our trail ride in the snow and it was like sitting on a washing machine during the spin cycle. It made me laugh. Somehow I think that’s one of the reasons she does it, too.

Just when our toes and fingers were starting to get cold we headed back to the parking lot and tied up our horses. Rosie went right to sleep after I gave her a couple carrots.

Then we headed inside the LQ of Colleen’s horse trailer to chat about our ride and eat our lunches.

Afterwards we got all the horses’ tack removed and got them loaded, and then headed home.

It wasn’t until I got home that I was able to fully wrap my mind around what I had just accomplished. I sat down on my bed with a cup of hot tea and looked over the photos and videos remembering the experiences of the trail ride, realizing that just a little over a year ago, I had went on a trail ride, on Christmas Eve, in the snow on my mare, something I had always wanted to do. But it ended in pain and lots of suffering and frustration and a year spent healing. Oh! And a huge loss of self-confidence while gaining lots of fear, too.

So, not only did I slay the dragon of fear, by finally getting back up on Baby Doll recently, I got the generous opportunity to be able to press the ‘Do-Over Button’ and ride a horse on a snow-covered trail without the experience ending badly.

 

And it was fun!