Wednesday, January 28, 2009

1/27/09 Ransom Cold Front

What a funny title header, huh? "Cold Front", in South Texas. Well, anyways...

Saddled Ransom dressage for the first time (added the Mattes half pad, which seemed to help saddle fit). Warmed him up in side-reins (on 4s) and praised all the bountiful slobber that ran down his chin. Just adorable. He never got fast or goofy, though slightly distracted by the neighbor's cows wandering about. Warmed up & side reins for about 15 minutes, then I hopped on.

My first adventure since about the first three rides out of my western saddle, I wasn't entirely sure how he'd feel. I was pleasantly surprised. Our walk/trot transitions and time spent in the trot was pretty darn awesome. Nothing I would be confident showing a judge or other competitors, but good enough I could do it for a lesson. Impressive.... I almost cantered him a while, to loosen up the joints, but I could see the dark weather clouds to my north, and realized that wasn't a good idea.

Then, in about 5 minutes time, it dropped from the mid 70s to the mid 50s. Snap. Just like that! Warm humid southeastern winds were suddenly calmed, then abruptly replaced by sharp gusty northern wind bursts. Ransom and I quickly realized neither of us were dressed for the occasion, so I dismounted and walked him back to unsaddle.

Total work about 40 minutes. Decent enough, but not nearly as long as I would've liked.

35F on the truck-o-meter when I left home. BLECH! Praise enough, we got rain... I don't know how much, but my back porch was wet, and there were hanging rain drops on the stall doors. YipEE!

2 comments:

SunnySD said...

Brrr - that's a big drop, quick! Just had an email from a friend down your way that they closed the college he works at early due to an incoming ice storm. Hope you didn't get that!

Jennifer said...

Nope.. All happies, no ice here. It got as cold as 33F before dawn at the house, and s'posed to drop to high 20s tonight.

That's cold enough.. Ice, and I bet the whole county would shut down. =)