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I gave my boys a big fat breakfast and suited up in my fine winter attire. Tom said I was like a kid waiting for the morning Saturday cartoons..only I was waiting for daylight so I could ride! Reese was eager to see me and met me at the gate for haltering. I hadn't ridden him in 2 weeks due to Deer Season and opted to ride him bareback to stay warm......I couldn't find a mounting thinga majig anywhere, so I had to walk him up to the house to find a chair. Tom's pet deer were all over bouncing around, waiting for their morning feeding - boy were they all fluffed up! Inspite of all the activity, Reese stood patiently for me to flop on his back and calmly walked by all the deer to the trail behind the house. Oooooo my bum was toasty!! BUT, I knew right away I was going to have major issues with my fingers....they were already cold. I don't have my ariats yet, so I wore the neoprene ones that I was going to send back.

The trail hasn't been used since last spring so we had some branches/brush etc., that we had to go under,over and through. With Reese, you just point and he goes - and with his be powerful chest, he can break through some pretty big branches too!!! What a guy! We were covered in pine needles by the time we got home! lol. We ended up trotting quite a bit to stay warm - my reins, which are beta were very stiff from the cold, and my fingers felt about the same! A few times I had to loop the reins around my arm and tuck my hands under my legs or I was sure they were going white! BUT, I did discover a pretty cool thing, if you tuck your fingers in and dig them into the horse's mane right in front of the saddle, they do stay rather warm. That's how I made it the rest of the way home. lol. The woods were so quiet....

I am glad I fit a ride in today, because we are getting dumped with 10 inches of snow tonite and tomorrow. Another couple days of not riding, unfortunately. This winter is certainly coming in with a bang! I think the horses' knew it because they curled up really fast this year.