Deferred

Monday February 2 2009

My friend Nance emailed, "My girlfriend and I have gotten out 3 weekends out of 4 in January! I love riding in the snow since the horses get a good workout."

I haven't been out on horseback in 3 weeks! There were just a few days in those 3 weeks where our snow would have been rideable - where it didn't ball up in the horses' feet, and where it wasn't too icy.

Now the soft snow is gone - no swish swish when you hike in it, just Crunch Crunch, with your feet falling through a crust a few inches thick (or a foot-deep drift) with every footstep. It's definitely a good laboring workout.

I keep thinking I should just go saddle a horse and try it, but I've got 1 recovering suspensory and 2 sore-footed horses, with Jose really the only one available at the moment. (He tried to put a halter on himself this evening, either to go do something, or to get me to put him in the pen with his brother Kazam.) It's so tempting to try to ride, but all it takes is one little slip or one little ankle twist, and Jose's on the shelf for 6 months.

It's just not worth the risk. I'll just have to wait.

But while I'm aching to ride, I can't complain: there's great snow hikes to enjoy and gorgeous winter sunsets to marvel over.