A Perfect Snow Ride

Well, may I say right off the bat...riding with a teenage boy is a lot of fun.  Especially when it is your boy, and you share a sense of humor. Ian thought he might like to find out what it was like to ride lying down, climbing steep hills while lying down and pointing your feet to the sky, and oh yes, don't forget the sidesaddle.  What a card!  Allie put up with it with great humor, and even stopped a few times when Ian was about to fall off...but not every time.  Once I turned around at a "Hey, Mom!" to see Ian hanging on to a tree limb, and then pushing off sideways to get back on Al's back.

 It was fun being a kid again!  We took the dogs, so we stayed off of the road and kept to the trails, which were in excellent winter condition.
We walked, trotted and cantered our mounts on the beautiful trails, and then we crossed the road and ducked branches and negotiated a stone wall and a couple of hills to land ourselves down onto the snowmobile trails.  Other than my neighbor's boy coming around the bend at us and six dogs waaayyy too speedily (and uh-oh, I screeched at him...probably not such a bright thing to do considering it was my neighbor's land...but in my defense I didn't recognize him and he almost ran over Grace and Ruby), anyway, other than that, and oh, all the falling off that Ian did, there were no issues at all.  And all that falling off?  It was totally comical!

Reverse bay Bob Marshall and Equipedic pad on my handsome bay Curly - perfectly matched!

My Ah-D was FABULOUS!  And my new saddle?  Well, lets just say, I'm in love.  ;) Since I rode Ah-D in it at night and already had my adjusting done, the stirrup buckles were a non-issue.  Also, I wore my riding boots (which are actually steel-toed work boots) and half chaps, so I didn't have a problem with the top of my muck boots hitting on the short fender.  I could feel Ah-D moving underneath me just like I had heard I would, and wow, did I like it!  I must admit, having the horn so close to my belly takes some getting used to (just how are you supposed to lean forward when your gelding urinates?), but by the end of the ride, I wasn't even really noticing it.

We followed the snowmobile trail onto the power line, and then headed up the hill.  I can't remember ever riding on the power line in the winter, but now, thanks to the snowmobilers, there is a nice packed trail to ride on.  I love it! And the 3" of snow that unexpectedly arrived this morning was the perfect icing on the trail cake.  Even though some of it fell off of branches and onto me.  That's pretty much a given with winter riding anyway.
 What a great ride we had in Maine today!  Thanks for coming along with us.