I hadn't had Cole out of the barn in a few weeks. I don't mind snow; in fact I even like riding in snow, but the driveway was too icy to even get him out to door safely.
After a few warm days, the driveway was thawed, and I really wanted to ride Cole down the hill to see the river--and just to be outside.
Before leaving home, I checked the radar and saw a band of showers headed our way. If we wanted to stay dry, no time could be wasted.
Kevin was saddling Starry when I got there, and I told him what I wanted to do. He was worried that there might be ice on the hill, so I told him if it is bad, we could just turn around and come back.
Just as I finished tightening up Cole's girth, it started to rain. We didn't know what to do! I said that I would leave his saddle on and start cleaning his stall to kill time. A few minutes later, the rain let up a little. I said I was going out, and Kevin decided to come with me. At first, we thought we would just ride the loop, so we could hurry in if the rain started up, again. I mounted and started riding around the driveway. That is when I noticed the mounting block--the snow plow had dumped all the snow on it. Kevin can't mount from the ground. I told him we had to do the hill, since there is a mounting block there.
As we were going down the driveway, it quit raining! Hurray! Kevin mounted at the mounting block and took the lead down the hill. Of course, Starry didn't like that--he is a follower, not a leader. They worked it out, and we headed down.
The hill was icy. It was the kind of ice you get when snow gets packed down and freezes into a pile of lumpy ice. Since it was a warm day, the horses were sinking in, and they had some grip--so we proceeded down the hill.
Cole was very excited and kept rushing up to Starry by walking really fast. Starry was carefully and very slowly navigating the trail. I kept stopping and letting them get ahead. Then I would ask Cole to walk, and we would catch up in no time.
At the very bottom, I gave up and let Cole go in the lead. He was so happy--he wanted to run!!! I made him walk, though he tried to burst forward several times.
The river was high, of course, and huge chunks of ice were floating down it. Since the footing was so bad, we decided to just go back to the barn instead of doing multiple trips on the hill. It looked like it might rain again, too.
On the way up the hill, Starry was a whole different horse. He was bounding up with his long-legged walk. Cole couldn't pass him at a walk if he tried. In fact, once he decided he would pass him at a trot! Not on the ice! I told Kevin to stop Starry and wait for us. I got Cole under control.
I call the last slope up the hill "Cole Burst Corner," and I decided it would be in my best interests to dismount and lead him when I got there. Kevin decided to do the same. Cole did do some prancing up the slope, but nothing serious.
By the time we got back to the barn, it started drizzling, again. Kevin decided he was done, but I wanted to ride some more, so I got back on and took Cole to the loop in the back of the property.
I was able to do some trotting, but Cole was very, very excited about it. He was tossing his head around and trying to accelerate. We worked on some transitions to get him to settle down--which didn't really work. When we reached the muddy section, we turned around and headed back the way we came.
I thought I would ride out to the end of the driveway and turn around at the street. As I neared the barn, I looked up and saw the prettiest rainbow! I don't think I ever saw a rainbow in February before. It was a really good one where I could see both ends of it.
I yelled into the barn to Kevin to come out and see it. He was amazed, too. I rode out to the end of the driveway and back to the loop; admiring the rainbow the whole time until it disappeared. What a wonderful surprise!
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