My favourite part of winter riding is after a difficult ride when I’ll throw a really cozy fleece cooler around my horse and my legs and make him comfortable and warm, and just walk him quietly around the indoor on a loose rein. I listen to my trainer ramble about the horses and barns and other trainers and her dogs. I’ll kick my feet out of my stirrups and roll them up and I can see the snowflakes above me landing on the indoor ring’s sky lights and hear the wind blowing through the sapling oaks outside the building. Everything will be sort of calm and I’ll be tired, but that really relaxing sort of physically tired that makes a person really content.
And I’ll walk Tommy the long way back to the barn and the snow is just really light and soft and the sun is getting lower in the sky and the ground is frosty but we are warm. Tommy will be breathing softly and you can see his breath in the air like smoke.
Then I’ll untack him in the grooming stall, turn on the radiating overhead heaters and clean my tack while he warms up more and dries off. And my trainer has turned on the Christmas Carol station on the radio and peppermint treats are in the horse treat box in the office and wreaths are hung on the doors and Christmas lights are strung through the tack room.
And I just really appreciate that quiet, despite the cold and hassle that comes along with being an equestrian in the winter.
(via awkwardattention)
Source: windswept-warmbloods
