Sunshine & Snow

A couple friends and I had a great ride in the sunshine today. The snow was knee deep on the horses in places, making the going difficult especially where it was frozen. We rode to "Windy Ridge" on the west side of Burnt Valley and stopped for lunch. It was so peaceful up there, looking down over Chewelah Valley and the backside of 49 Degrees North, the ski hill. We must have taken over an hour for lunch because it was so nice enjoying the warmth. Granted, we were still bundled in layers of clothing and winter coats, but it felt good!

I rode my 3yr old filly, Smart Little Cayenne. I put 10-15 rides on "Cayenne" late last summer then turned her out again. I put her in the barn last weekend and today was her 5th ride for this year. I would normally not ask such a green horse to make the trek we did today but she's very willing and "advanced" for her amount of training. We did lots of climbing, log crossing, brush breaking, and basic slogging through snow. Cayenne led 99% of the way, #1 because I knew the trail (or at least the basic direction we wanted to go) and #2 because she's in a hurry everywhere she goes!

Cayenne is a bay leopard Appaloosa. She currently stands 14.2-14.3hands but her dam was a slow developer so I hope she will make 15 hands or more by the time she's five or six years old. Cayenne's sire is 14.2 and her dam is 15.1 or 15.2. I bred and raised Cayenne and she has been turned out where she can learn how to handle herself on brushy hillsides, etc. Her sire, Smart Little Sign, is quite handy on his feet and a natural in the hills. Her maternal grandsire was a catty little riding horse and her dam's bottom side was my grandfather's line of Appaloosa roping horses. Her sire is pretty laid back but on the bottom side, there are many high energy, "hyper" type horses. Cayenne seems to have taken the good parts of each side. She's sensible but has lots of go!

We talked about heading to an indoor arena next week. I would love to take Cayenne as she's never been in one, besides the small covered area at my dad's where I start colts. I'd like to lope some circles, do some drop to trot lead changes and maybe green colt rollbacks on her. I need to take Smart Little Sign to do some arena work, too. I've only ridden him once this winter and we have the Pat Wyse clinic coming up in Sandpoint in just over a month. I need to get him legged up and do a bunch of same lead rolls. My favorite.

This is my first blog so we'll see how dedicated I end up being on reporting my riding stories. I'd rather be in the saddle than riding this computer chair!