Rocco and I have been anxiously awaiting Spring so that we can hit the trails again. Okay that's not exactly true. He seemed perfectly content hanging out in the snow covered paddock all winter. Even with his winter shoes, the footing has just been too questionable to venture out in the trails. Between the deep snow, ice, and flopped over trees, there was really nowhere safe enough to ride. I kept busy with other winter activities (it was a banner year for snowshoeing!) and knew eventually I'd be back in the saddle.
Last fall I had toyed with the idea of boarding him for the winter at an indoor so I could at least keep him moving all winter and not let his head get a major case of Spring fever, but decided to take a gamble and hoped the snowfall would be minimal so that at the very least I would be able to ride in the dirt track at my house. Boy was that a bad bet. The snowfall in Massachusetts has been relentless with storm after storm. Much of the winter involved shoveling paths out to and around the barn just to feed the horses, and twice a day we lugged several hot water buckets down to the barn in an attempt to stave off frozen water buckets. The snowbanks in our yard were up over my head, and eventually I gave up thinking they would ever melt. Finally in February, the snow got so high, and there was nowhere left to put it all, and our plow truck got stuck trying to get around the house. Once that happened, I knew I wouldn't be riding on the track until the snow and ice were gone.
Fast forward to mid-March and finally by a stroke of luck we've had enough warmish days to melt away most of the snow. After being ridden just twice in January and once in February, Rocco was saddled up for a ride around the track. He was, as expected, on "high alert" but managed to control himself pretty well with no major incidents. I rode him about a half dozen times at home just walking, gaiting, and cantering around the property to get him in some reasonable shape and get his mind back into work mode.
Fast forward to April and - as unbelievable as it seems - the snow has finally melted enough in the trails to venture out. We suffered a temporary setback on April 1 when we had an "April Fools" snowstorm dumping a few inches on us, but luckily most of it melted by the weekend. So, this past Sunday marked our debut ride off-property. It was a beautiful day of about 50 degrees, sun, and a strong gusty wind. I had some reservations about his debut ride being in such a windy situation, but it seems lately that every weekend day in New England has been exceptionally windy and if I waited for the perfect opportunity it just wasn't going to happen. We loaded up the horses, Rocco and Hudson, and headed over to one of our favorite spots, the Douglas State Forest. Rocco seemed very comfortable exiting the trailer when he looked around and recognized the familiar spot. We saddled up and headed out, where he immediately got strong and turned into a coiled spring. Rocco may be a Tennessee Walker, but those of us closest to him know he's really part Pegasus and part Kangaroo. It's a delicate balance sometimes keeping him reeled in to stay in stride with the other horses without him leaping up in the air. After about 20 minutes of Rocco's "big eyes", he settled in and we had a very nice and casual ride. Our biggest challenge is the difference in speed he has compared to most of the other horses we ride with. He naturally walks so much faster than Hudson, which makes Hudson have to trot to catch up, which makes Rocco think it's time to run, and it's a viscious circle of a game we play.
The footing was pretty good too. There was snow in a lot of spots but most of it we could either walk around or walk right over. None of it seemed to have any slippery ice underneath. All in all though, both horses were very well behaved and it was a great feeling to be back out - finally! Hopefully this marks the beginning of another great season. We are a few weeks behind where we usually are this time of year because of the weather, so we have some making up to do. My new camper just arrived last week so we are eager to get the good weather and lots of good riding so we'll be ready for a busy year of camping! Let's hope this time Spring is really here to stay.
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