PRR End of Season Ride Canceled

Due to a poor forecast (37 degrees & snow!), this weekend's Platte River Riders end of season ride has been canceled.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't deal with snow in October.  What is UP WITH THAT??  It's going to be a long winter....

Opening Ride of the Season!

Although I like to think of myself as a year round rider, about December, things slow down and by the time the true winter months roll around, I am just stealing rides on nice days. Horse Expo in March is the unofficial kick off to ride season, but the opening ride of the Platte River Riders is our real start!

A few years ago on a beautiful summer evening, my friend Robyn and I went riding. I remember commenting that it was so nice to just load up one horse, saddle one horse and ride with a friend. Most of our rides are family rides, so I greatly appreciated that I did not have to saddle two more horses or worrying about how the kid's horses were behaving or wanting to backhand either kid off their horse for whining or fighting with their sibling or other nuisance activity! Whew! Did I say that out loud? (Don’t get excited, some of us frustrated mothers just coined that phrase when we hear kids whining on horseback. And truly, I have yet to see one child whisked off the side of his horse by his mother’s hand! Her eyes, maybe. But never her hand!) Anyway, I pondered how many other people, not just parents, but adults would like a night away to just ride with other adults, too. Perhaps they have never been on the trails or have no one to ride with if they were to trailer out?


So we decided we were going to start a “once a week” riding night during the riding season. We call ourselves the Platte River Riders just because. But we are not a club. No dues, no leader. I'd just post on the internet where we were riding & whoever wanted to join us, could. Only strict rules are – we must ride out on time and no kids. Wow! Many others must have felt the same way as we are heading into our 5th season and we now have 4 chapters of the Platte River Riders in different parts of our state.

So tonight is our first group ride of the season! It’s supposed to be close to 60 degrees and sunny! I am looking forward to seeing many who I haven’t seen since the last ride last season!

Although I'll often speak of the rides here as they are an active part of my summer riding, I do keep a separate blog site for the Platte River Riders. Visit us there for ride information! Come join us!

Gray November

It’s November 12. I was going to start this blog by complaining about “Gray November” for obvious reasons. Sunless skies, cold damp days and living in what feels like perpetual darkness since the recent time change. But those who have been following Horsetrailriders.com for any amount of time will recall that every year I start to complain about this time. It’s the same song, different verse. So I looked back into the archives of Stable Talk and my Trail Time hours to see what the previous year’s offered us.

Surprisingly, last year, I never publicly complained about Gray November online but also had fewer entries on Stable Talk. So just because I didn’t moan about it, doesn’t mean we didn’t experience it. I recall our final Platte River Ride at Camp Moses was the first weekend in November and the weather was far from gray – actually, one of the most beautiful fall days that I’d experienced in a long time. So nice, that we even made plans to camp prior to Thanksgiving. But then, just when “good” November sucks us in, Gray November rears its demon head and screams “gotchya!” And that was how it was last year.

In 2006, I recall it lightly snowed at our last Platte River Ride held at Chance Ridge in late October of that year. We got a slight reprieve in November and enjoyed both Camp Moses and Two Rivers up until Thanksgiving of that year. Now that was a good November! How do we order a repeat? But we weren’t as lucky in 2005. I wrote: “It's November; Gray November. My least favorite month of the year. I know there are colder months ahead, but those cold months lead into the spring. November leads into the winter…. Although the sun is shining today …. I’ll warn you now, the gray days are coming.”

Well folks, if you haven’t looked out the window lately, the gray days are here! Can it be any more miserable? (Don’t answer that or we’ll get 30 mph winds!) Button down the hatches, rotate those tires, find the ice scraper and your Elmer Fudd wool cap, because Gray November has arrived.

I have little things I do to get me through the four long months I consider winter. Right now, I keep a watch on the weather and steal rides on any day that it looks to be sunny and above 45 (no wind, please). And that gets me to Thanksgiving. Then my family will be here. My niece will want to ride. So even if it’s gray and cold, we’ll do a quick ride around the property to get our fix. Its only 2 weeks away. And after Thanksgiving, my next goal is to get to December 21st. The official first day of winter. Why? The days start getting longer again. On December 20, the sun sets at 5:00 PM. And then, miraculously, on December 21, it doesn’t set until 5:01 PM! And by the end of December, we have sunlight until 5:07 PM! It just gets better and better from there!

Even though I am afforded a little extra daylight at the end of my day, I still have to get through January and February. I don’t know about you, but where November is the grayest, January is definitely the longest. Yeah, I know. There are only 31 days in January – same as most months. But from January 1 to January 31, time stands still! My secret is not to take any vacation days. I just work, work, work. And heck, if I can get some travel in January, that’s just icing on the cake. Time goes faster when you are busy. It gets me through the 31 days of Frozen January hell. And don’t think you can relax yet. February is just an ugly step-sister to January except she has fewer days. Thank goodness it isn’t a leap year. I can barely stand one more day in February every few years!

As we tear off Ugly February from our calendar, there is hope when March appears. There is the reunion of horse friends at our Nebraska Horse Expo. The ground is thawing; the trailer tires are no longer frozen in place. Someone brags on Horsetales that their horse is shedding and someone else spots a robin the trees. Oh, there is mud, but its happy mud. And soon it will be April and we’ll be riding again. And I don’t care what Merle Haggard says about December, for me it’s surviving Gray November.

If we make it through December
Everything's gonna be all right I know
It's the coldest time of winter
And I shiver when I see the fallin' snow

If we make it through December
I got plans of being in a warmer town come summer time
Maybe even California
If we make it through December we'll be fine

Miscellaneous Musings

If today is a glimpse of what winter holds, I want to turn back time. Albeit the ice on the tree branches and along the fence is somewhat beautiful, the cold dampness that accompanies such a picturesque setting does nothing to appeal one bit to me this early in the season. Hopes for an Indian summer are all but gone.

We finished the Platte River Riders season with a family ride at Camp Moses on Sunday. The sun was warm as we unloaded the herd from the trailer, but once we rode into the trees along the trail, the big chill set in. Many of the fifteen riders concluded the ride with cold toes and fingers and a red nose. Steam rose from the horse’s back as they were unsaddled. And we huddled around the fire, sharing soup and other goodies before saying good-bye until next season. Always the optimist, I scan the long-term forecast, desperate for the occasional 50 or 60-degree day with plenty of sunshine and no wind. Perfection in November is hard to find!

I’ve had a couple people mildly interested in the The Black. I’ve also had people I respect encourage me to send him back for “professional help” and work with a trainer on making him the horse I want. If someone gives me a check for him tomorrow, he’s gone. If he is still here come spring, I may opt for the training route. I have months (cold, long months!) to think about it.

I’ve been tempted to board Windy this winter so I would have an indoor arena for riding. But the stable that would be the most convenient has no outdoor runs. Stalling seems to be a wonderful convenience for the owner – I’m experiencing that right now as Windy recovers (although she has a run with the stall). But I’m not convinced I have a happier horse. On Horsetales yesterday, we discussed the pros and cons of stalling 24/7. And I have to ask myself if I would be dedicated enough to ride most nights so that she would get the exercise I feel she needs to keep her happy and I could justify the expense? I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. I wonder how soon Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) will start to set in and I’ll say to heck with my mare’s mental health – and worry about my own and the need to ride!

I know this picture of Windy & me resembles a headless horse & horseperson. It was taken last year by a friend and I kind of liked the shot. So I saved it.

So what is your winter plans? Do you just curl up in the fetal position and wait until the first tulip blooms to even think about riding or do you steal rides whenever there is a break in the weather. How cold is too cold to ride? I’m also curious if you board your horse and if it has access to a run or not. And what are your thoughts about 24/7 board with occasional arena turnout? As always, your comments can be posted anonymously.