Why I Love to Ride in November
Here in northeast Ohio, November ushers in cold and miserable weather--but not every day is like that. To Ellen, Kevin and me, the trail riding doesn’t stop when we turn over the October calendar page.
If it is above freezing--and not raining--there is a good chance you will see us out there. Most of the leaves are off the trees, right now. Our beautiful trails aren’t that beautiful anymore--but that is an advantage. Gone are all the sightseers. The only people out there are the diehards like us. No more loud motorcycles or hotrods. In fact, there are hardly any people on the trail except us! It is wonderful.
There are no bugs! No bug spray that doesn’t work, anyway! That does slow Starry down, though. Just a couple bugs flying around him will make him toss his head around and go faster. Now, he leisurely plods down the trail.
Our trails are rather hard and dry most of the time. We don’t have much mud to deal with, which is nice, but that also means they are very hard in the summer. We get enough rain this time of year, that the trails have some give to them. The horses appreciate it, and we do, too.
Since there are few leaves on the trees, we can see around the corners. That way, we know what is ahead of us on the trail. Also, some horses get upset if their friends go around a corner and then they can’t see them. That doesn't happen this time of year. There is also less temptation to reach out and grab a branch.
We don’t have to worry so much that the horses get too hot--meaning we can trot much more when we are close to home. That helps us keep warm, too.
We do get more days that are rained out or the river is too high to cross. There is also a chance that snow will keep horses off the trail if they still have shoes, but that doesn’t happen too often. Sometimes, it is so cold that the trail is frozen--and then we just walk--and freeze. Most of the time, we still feel it is better than riding in the indoor arena. We have all winter for that.
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