Reprieve

Speaking of victory conditions...we did indeed get out yesterday!

Tuck had been a bit goofy on the longe Saturday so I opted to start our ride indoors for a quick pre-flight check.  45degF is way better than 15: he was loose, chill, and happy, so we just dinked around for a very short while as a barnmate finished her jump school and then both horses headed outside.

It wasn't a super-inspiring ride; we just walked the roads around a neighboring subdivision.  But the company was good and all four beings involved were Very Happy to be out enjoying -- er.  I wish I could say, "enjoying the sunshine," but really it was more like, "enjoying cloudy sweatshirt weather."  Still better than polar vortex, though!

I wasn't ready to be done when we'd done the full circuit, so we parted ways at the barn driveway and Tuck and I continued up the mountain, tarmac style.  I didn't want to risk the rocks and roots of the usual trails (if I could even find 'em!) under all that treacherous snow, but the dirt road on the far side dumps out onto the road the barn is on so I figured we'd go take stock of that.

We passed houses...

...and no-houses...

...and the city was nice enough to mark the bend in the main road where I wanted to take a left!

Ah, trails!  The snowmobilers had done us a favor in beating them down a bit.

A favored tree-carving lane, alas.

The snow ranged between fetlock- and knee-deep on Tuck and I wouldn't have wanted to try it on a less clever horse; it was sometimes tough going and the depth changed unpredictably.  But he was so, so happy to be back on the trail again.  Pricked his ears and slogged cheerfully along.  Looks like everything will freeze up again tomorrow -- with more snow possibly on the way Wednesday -- so I'm really glad we carpe'd this diem while we had the change.

Gear-related notes to self:

1) Need to get a little vetwrap or medical tape or something on our new martingale snaps.  I love being able to leave the rings on my reins and snap the martingale on and off, but I am not listening to that jingle-jingle-jingle for 50 miles.  No, sir.

2) I think I can make my English-style cantle bag work on the Eurolight with a little juryrigging in the form of taking scissors to the over-the-cantle fleece bit (I want it to grab some of the under-seat velco, but not all of it) and putting either zipties or the dee-ring screws themselves through part of the bag.  There was a thread about that modification on the AERC FB page a while back, so I know it's doable.  Study-up time!