Warm At Last

Warm at last, warm at last, thank God Almighty, it’s warm at last. Okay, you’ll have to excuse my exuberance, but it was a long, cold, wet winter in Illinois—hardly the kind of weather to encourage riding (even for the most die-hard equestrian). Winter started early and hung on well into April. The previous winter was pretty lousy too, but I can’t remember another winter that so consistently restricted my riding to a handful of days each month. It’s no wonder that I’m celebrating the return of warm weather. Of course, riding is the icing on your hay when you have horses on your property, and so regardless of weather, when you care for horses, you go to the barn at least twice a day.

Like so many of my friends, I like the icing and so I headed out through the snow to saddle up, or trekked through the mud to halter my horse, or even bundled up against freezing temperatures, all for that wonderful fix. Sometimes, the ride was so perfect that the adversity was quickly forgotten. At other times, the ride was good, but not great. Occasionally, my horse protested or I was stiff and uncoordinated and the ride was far less than perfect, but it was a ride. Of course, the five or more-rides-a-week schedule was gone with the last of the fall leaves, and some weeks I felt lucky if I rode once. And then, there was that dreadful spell from late December into early February when going to the barn often meant working in the middle of a snowstorm. Riding? That was just a memory, even with my own indoor a few steps away from the barn. In the dead of winter, it’s hard to be an equestrian in northern Illinois.

But at long last, Illinois weather has moderated. There is still more rain than normal, and the wind is always a factor, but the temperature has become tolerable, if not nearly perfect. Over the last few days, I’ve ridden outside under puffy white clouds with light and variable winds, and marvelous seventy degree temperatures—by my standards, the perfect day. My horse is happy to work outside, and seems even happier to work more regularly.

Over the weekend, I hauled to my trainer’s place. Everyone was riding outside…the indoor was just a dark, deserted waste land. It was pure joy to be pushed past my comfort zone (my trainer’s favorite thing to do). And as I found my way to a new comfort zone, I also found that Zen place with Jude. And all of this happened while I was warm and riding in short sleeves. Illinois can have some pretty nice weather, after all.