Trail in the Rain

I had trekked over to her stall in a light drizzle. The outdoor ring was a mess; not only was it a swamp but piles of slippery leaves were scattered across it. Definitely not riding in there today. I had trekked over in a light drizzle.. it definitely wasn't lightly drizzling anymore. The second I took her blanket off and started going at her with a curry comb the soft mist turned into a pretty significant downpour.

Whoops! My inclination to ride went out the window. I had been a smarty pants and not brought any sort of waterproof jacket, so my options of getting to the indoor ring were a) let my saddle die in the rain or b) look ridiculous by throwing her blanket on over my tack and then awkwardly hang it up while I ride. Neither option was super appealing, and I also didn't really want to walk all the way over there in the pouring rain. But I was at the barn, and my opportunities to ride are few and far between.

My solution ended up being a bareback ride in the rain down a gravel road that supposedly looped back around to Rush's paddock. I left her blanket on, because she is a princess and hates getting wet, and also because a little bit of padding would help with the whole dear god why is your spine right there thing. So I threw her blanket back on, put on a bridle (I'm not /that/ ambitious) and awkwardly mounted off a not-quite-tall-enough bucket. Rush was an angel standing still while I awkwardly hung off her side and it took me a couple times to get on board, but in the end it happened and all I have to say is I'm glad nobody was there to see that.

So off we went into the wilderness. Rush was crunching gravel all over the place with her new shiny shoes and didn't mind the footing at all, so I nudged her into a slow trot and she gave me a comfortable, ambling jog. Her trot was something I usually had to work for 20 minutes in the ring to achieve- soft, supple, superb, supremely awesome.. okay, I ran out of S words, but you get the picture.

And then I got this crazy idea of, hey, maybe we'll canter. So we did. And somehow, it was the most freeing experience I've had. Just me and her, charging down this street in the pouring rain. It felt good to let go of worries and expectations that come with arena riding- is she engaging? why can't I get that bend? and just connect with her.

The gravel road we adventured on, but in the sun this time :)