Truthful Tuesday

 

Remember when I was all like oh yes we can definitely do walk rides in the snow all winter. It will be just fine! Hahahaha! So cute. Love that for me.

What I hadn't considered is that it's really only fresh snow that's safe to ride in. Once it's been on the ground awhile it gets hard and icy. Which isn't okay to ride in at all. It's not particularly pleasant to hand walk in either. We've been fortunate so far in that the snow hasn't been hanging around too long. We'll get some and within a week it's all gone. I'm hoping that pattern continues so we can at least get some intermittent riding in. It looks like we'll have the next two weeks with very little melting (next week has highs in the low teens) so vacation time for the ponies. Which leads to my real confession today:

I'm actually happy to not feel like I have to ride in this miserably cold weather. 

Not to sound ungrateful, but when we've had long stretches of highs only in the 20's (or colder) and I was boarding, there were a fair amount of days that I really wished I could just skip riding. But when you're in those kinds of barns where you're labeled lazy for not riding everyday, it's hard to justify. Not to mention the thousands and thousands of dollars you're spending for access to that indoor. And so I'd muster up all my gumption and get to it. (When it was safe of course. I didn't ride if it was in the teens, no one did,) But this year? The footing isn't safe so I have a real reason to not do it. 

Now there are consequences of course. The horses have already lost their top lines. My scale said something to me that was... unacceptable. But that's all stuff that we can fix. The horses will get strong again come spring. And maybe (fingers crossed) they'll be feeling sounder (looking at you Eros) too. I've noticed Al's patella slipping out a lot more, so that's not ideal for him. But again, come spring we'll get his hind end strengthened back up. And he's probably due for some maintenance too. I've gotten my slightly larger rear back on the treadmill. I can't run because of the knee, but I'm getting a good walk in on an incline for a minimum 30 minutes a day. I've found reading helps the time pass quickly on there. That's a bonus to only being able to walk. You can read on the treadmill at that speed. Two birds one stone since I haven't been reading much lately. 

So anyway. That's today confession. I'm not sad about having a little break from riding.