That Ain't Right

Sunday January 14 2018

What a beautiful day for a spring ride!

But wait - this is the middle of winter! Last winter we were under feet of snow. We'd had temperatures that dipped to -13*F a couple of times.

Not so this winter.  We have had one single instance of 3" of snow on the ground. That's it. Hasn't made it below zero once. Now it's daytime temperatures in the 50's. Barely freezing at night. Grass starting to come up. Someone saw the first flowers coming up already. At least one of our horses is starting to shed her winter coat. I saw two flies yesterday. A friend saw herds of gnats along the Snake River already - ugh! The resident male screech owl has started hooting a month earlier than normal.

That Ain't Right!!!!! (But does make for some nice riding.)

Land of Little Snow

Monday January 1 2018

No snow and no wind makes for a nice New Year's Day ride in Owyhee.

Last year the snow bombs started dropping December 4, and didn't stop till late March, leaving us with a most astounding record snowfall. This winter was supposed to be the same, but so far we're sorely lacking in the white fluff department. We did finally get a couple of inches on Christmas Eve, but it's already gone.

In fact the Owyhee mountains that you see there in the distance have such a pitiful, miserly layer of snow, there could still be cows grazing up there (we saw fresh cow tracks today… so they aren't all down in Oreana yet).

It's too early for me to panic yet, but I want my snow! I sure got spoiled last year, when for the first time in 60 years, it was measured in feet, not inches.

But on the plus side, it makes for good winter riding, and keeping Dudley on his diet and exercise program, though I don't know that he would agree!

Belesemo Snow Dude

December 11 2016

It's our favorite time of the year. Cooler weather for Belesemo Dude (Dudley), and WINTER and SNOW for me, The Ice Princess.

Call me nuts, but you'll at least agree that this video is fun and the country is beautiful and the beast I'm riding is magnificently marvelous.

Hallelujah!

or video link:

https://youtu.be/Y1fs-oYA8q4

Bored This Winter? Try Ski Joring

Tuesday February 10 2015

While dogs or reindeer pulling skiers as a means of travel in Scandinavian countries has been around for hundreds of years, the sport of ski joring (the Norwegian word skikjøring means ski driving), was first a demonstration sport in the 1928 second Olympic Winter Games in Switzerland, with skiers driving a single horse from behind.

Equestrian ski joring now consists of a galloping horse (in most cases!) pulling a skier through an obstacle course by a rope attached to the saddle. Leadville, Colorado's now-famous ski joring competitions began in 1949. Equestrian ski joring events occur in 5 U.S. states, with the national championships being held in Whitefish, Montana every year since 2009.

The Wood River Extreme Ski Joring Association hosted a weekend of ski joring in Bellevue, Idaho at the Swiftsure Ranch Therapeutic Equestrian Center, where local riders and skiers teamed up for a bit of speed and excitement. This was a straight course for a couple of hundred feet, with the rider required to grab one hoop, and the skier having to negotiate two jumps, a couple of cones, and snatch 6 hoops. $5000 was up for grabs.

There almost wasn't enough snow, after it rained the night before. There were a few mud puddles by the end of the first day.

Sprinting down the lane!


This horse was excited and ran more up and down like a hobby horse than forward.


Intense concentration by this rider who just grabbed his hoop, and his horse.


This horse was really excited!


Who needs stirrups?


Catching some air


This gal catches air in the saddle!
 

This horse had a mind of his own and wasn't listening to the rider's steering. The horse thought *he* should take the jump. They didn't fall!


 



This was the junior or peewee division. More my speed!

A Delicate Trail Issue

Monday February 2 2015

Let’s be frank, and address an awkward trail riding issue.

When the weather gets cold enough to form ice in water troughs, when it’s snowing and sleeting and blowing so hard that the wind chill freezes your eyeballs as you’re on the back of a horse, *it* will happen.

Your nose is going to run.

It will form little snot droplets that will hang, then drip, or fly away in the wind, or worse, land on your clothes unless you do something about it. This is precisely the reason why you must have the right kind of winter gloves - to wipe off the snot. Come on now, admit it, you all do it.

(Perhaps other less-rugged disciplines, say proper dressage riders, carry nice hankies or tissues in their pockets, but I venture to say that most endurance riders really aren’t that concerned with conventional snot protocol, and often don't have the spare hands to find the hidden wadded up tissue in some zipped-up pocket while handling a fresh snorty horse on a cold windy day.)


I have some nice riding gloves I use when it’s cool (others might say “cold”). But they’re useless when my nose starts to run.


I have some nice warm Noble Equine gloves that I picked up on sale. I thought they’d be the perfect winter gloves. They are indeed lovely and soft, and they do keep my fingers warm, but I discovered the one thing they aren’t good for is wiping and absorbing the snot off my nose. They just smear it.


My riding partner has the perfect gloves. They are warm and the perfect softness, so they keep her fingers warm and absorb snot. By the time you alternate gloves to wipe the snot, the first glove has dried already. She got them for $1 at a discount grocery store.

Inexpensive warm, soft, absorbent gloves are a great gift for the cold-weather endurance and trail riders on your list!

Hello 2015

January 1 2015

The Owyhee view was breathtaking, the cold air breathtaking, the big handsome Dudley beast breathtaking.


Neither frost on whiskers nor frostbite on fingers, nor overnight temperature of 0* and morning temperature of 10* could keep us from a ride on New Year’s Day.

Just Ride - No Matter What

Monday December 1 2014

I guess I’m lucky in a way that Dudley is in a constant battle with corpulence. It means that no matter what, he’s still got to have diet and exercise - in the summer, in the winter, and every day in between.

But when you’re riding a big beautiful horse in Owyhee in the winter (the best season of the year), that’s all for the better.