RanchRoper wrote: ↑Sun Feb 27, 2022 10:36 pm
It’s too icy to ride. Have to wait a bit.
Icy as in too slick or because of a ice crust on the snow. The first Winter I had Ruby back from being gentle broke I rode her quite a lot as her trainer told me if I didn't ride her fairly regularly through the Winter she would forget a lot of her training by Spring. The snow was never that deep but I took her out once when there was a icy crust on top of a few inches of snow and didn't realize it was cutting her legs. We had to stick to riding on the plowed roads until the snow melted.
It's been a long time but I seem to remember my farrier welding carbide on her shoes to give her better traction, when she was older and I didn't ride her much in the Winter she just went barefoot.
I had one very scary incident that first Winter. No snow or ice but Ruby was still young and new at being ridden (
and I was pretty new at riding). Going up a dirt road she started acting up a little and backed up and stepped into a small washed out spot, she went down and because it was a very cold day I was wearing my Sorels instead of riding boots and I couldn't get my foot out of the stirrup fast enough to get off her. I wasn't hurt but she was laying on my leg and I will guarantee you that you can't pull your leg out from underneath a 1000 lb horse (
see John Wayne in True Grit). What was scary was that she was laying there with her legs pointing uphill and I'm sitting on her back thinking how badly I'm going to be hurt if she rolls over. I think she knew because she had to work at it but she managed to stand up without rolling over. Got a pair of battery heated socks and never rode wearing Sorels again, of course she never fell down again.
