The Difficulties of December

The  Difficulties of December

Here in Northeast Ohio, December is a transitional month.  No, it isn't a month made for doing trot and canter transitions, it is the month that we go from fall to winter.  We can have gorgeous days for riding and we can have miserable days for riding.  As the month progresses, we have less and less decent days.

All we want for Christmas is some good weather to go trail riding.

Ellen hasn't ridden on the trail in December since--well we can't even remember when.  As her anxieties increased, winter trail riding became nearly impossible.  The best she could do was to trail ride until mid November.  This is no reflection on Dante.  He is a terrific horse out in the snow and cold.  He is careful with ice and sensible all the time.  The snow, the cold and the ice chased Ellen into the arena.  Then there is that river we have to cross.  Once it freezes, we are all limited to riding on the hill.  

When the forecast would start to look bad, Ellen would just quit.

Sometimes I have wondered if she is actually the smart one.  I like riding in the snow, but the cold can really get bad at times.  Often the terrain is such that we can only walk safely--that's when we get really cold.  Ellen would be comfortably riding in the arena, improving Dante's training and her riding skills--and I would be leading Cole just to stay warm.

But, you know me.  If I can get on the trail, that is where I will be.

This year, Ellen's anxieties have really waned.  She was going to see how far into the winter she could make it before calling it quits.  She wasn't going to let a couple bad weather days keep her out of the park, because they are usually followed by a couple good weather days.

She would just take it one ride at a time.

She rode on a day with light rain.  She rode on a windy day.  She rode on a day where the ground was frozen, and we only walked.  She rode on a very cold day where the ground was soft so we really moved out.  Then she even rode when there was a little snow on the ground.  We also had some super pretty days.  Once, the river was higher than she likes, so we switched horses and I rode The  Difficulties of December across.

We went through November day by day.  Thanksgiving came and went--and we found ourselves in December.

Ellen rode on the trail in December--and she is still riding.  

We don't know how long she will make it.  She is just going ride by ride.  Eventually, the weather will be so awful that no one would blame her for staying in the arena.  That's what any smart rider would do.