...and Post-Blizzard Riding

It's still snowing, but the wind has died down quite a bit and the snow isn't amounting to much anymore except to make my ride even more magical in its beauty.  We got about a foot of snow, and about an hour away near the coast they got about 3', so whew, we made out like bandits.

I've been itching to ride all day and had it all planned out - warm boots, bridle. breeches and parka - but - what a numbass - I had forgotten about this. I couldn't even get the barn door open, even though I had shoveled it out last night.  So, carrying my shovel, I trudged through the drifts up to my thighs getting throughly snowy.

I shoveled until the doorway looked like this.  I wasn't cold, even though I was snowy.  As you can see, I had helpers. :)

He sure is handsome with his bling. ;)
We crossed the powerline and headed into the woods.  The trail winds around, first heading gradually and sometimes not-so-gradually up, up, up.

The trail ahead was beautiful and unblemished.  The trees in the woods were creaking and groaning, more than I had ever noticed before.

The trail behind us was adorable.

These three are older and are wised up to the swath of shallower snow Ah-D leaves behind.

It wasn't long until even the younger dogs caught on and followed suit.  Is this cute, or what?  I couldn't help looking behind every so often so watch them all trudging along.

I was just as comfortable on the bareback pad today as I was yesterday.  By the time we were done with the up, up, up of this trail, I could smell the sweat rising off of my pony.  He was moving right along; we were both enjoying ourselves, not to mention our canine companions.  When we came to the very steep downhill section of the trail, Ah-D and I didn't blink.  Down we went, sometimes leaning back and sliding.  Ah-D moved his feet quickly to keep them underneath him.  He is a darn good trail horse.
It was a sweet ride, everything I expected it to be and more.  There are a couple of places on this trail where it is suitable to canter, so we took advantage of that.  Boy was that fun!!!  We came back to the house a different way, through our pastures and across the back yard.  Ah-D head was held high and he was very collected underneath me.
I hope you took pleasure in joining us on this snowy Maine ride.  I'm hoping that tomorrow one of my friends may agree to go out with me on the trails. I knew none of them were crazy enough to head out in this weather, but, hey, maybe by tomorrow it will warm up into the 20's and I'll have human company.  Happy Trails, Fellow RACers!