The Twins

My first snow adventure

Sarah Simmons

(2/2021) I’ve had a lot of firsts since I started riding horses. And another first for me came in late December and January. Both were cold, wet months and I didn’t expect to ride much. So my 2021 equestrian life started on a bit of a disheartening note. It had been a great Christmas. My twin and I got new bikes, bows and arrows, books, and more art supplies. And our coach gave us our first spurs (thanks Mike and Audrey). But that still didn’t make me feel much better as I thought about not being able to ride for the next several weeks.

In late December, it came a big snow. It was really pretty and the snow stayed on the ground for a long time. Emma, my sister, and I got to sled, build snowmen, made snow angels, play with our dogs, and of course have snowball fights. We even threw snowballs at our Mother who was watching us through the kitchen window. No, she didn’t get mad, she just laughed and took pictures of us.

But I knew something was missing. Riding, of course. I missed Kit. I missed Wesley and Scotty too. But I missed Kit most of all. Kit has been the horse I’ve been riding for the past few months and we have really formed a bond. And while we were able to go to Mike’s to see the horses and take care of them, I wasn’t sure if we would be able to ride. In early January, there was eight to ten inches of snow on the ground and it was freezing cold. I’ve ridden in the cold before, and in the rain, but never in the snow. So, I just told myself I’d have to wait until the snow melted and it got a little warmer. As the days went by, it stayed cold and the snow just didn’t melt. Great for sledding, but bad for riding.

My Mother saw how unhappy I was so she emailed Mike. Being a great coach who understands how much we love riding, he said that we could come over and ride in the snow. Oh Joy! My sister and I got our riding gear together and made sure we had everything we needed. Helmets, vests, chaps, crops, gloves, new spurs, warm clothes. Yes, our Mother made us wear thermals under our riding clothes. "It’s going to be really cold," she said. Because I wanted to ride so much, I didn’t even mind wearing all the clothes. We even cleaned our riding boots, which had layers and layers of caked on and dried mud on them. Took a while to get through the muck. But we finally made it down to the leather and we cleaned and polished them until they shined like new. I have to admit that they really looked good. Maybe we should do that more often. We were ready to ride in the snow!

The day I was supposed to take my first horseback ride in the snow started out really cold and cloudy. But the skies cleared up soon and by the time we got out to Mike’s farm, it was still cold, but sunny. My sister and I tacked up Wesley and Kit, making sure to give them each a carrot and lots of kisses as we got them ready. One thing that I was not expecting were the snowballs in their hooves. Mike pointed out that horses with shoes tend to have snow compact in their hooves. This makes hard snowballs in the bottom of their hooves. Since both Kit and Wesley are shod ‘all the way around’ Emma and I had to clean out the snow before we could ride. Otherwise, Mike told us that the horses would not be very sure-footed. We would end up horseback skating rather than horseback riding!

It was time! I could hardly wait. I was so excited, but also a little nervous. I am confident riding Kit, but Mike reminded us that the horses can be a little frisky in the snow. We started out riding in the small field, just in case the horses were more than a little frisky. But Kit was amazing. One thing that I was not expecting was that his walk and trot gaits were a bit bouncier than usual. But I guess that was because he had to lift his legs higher than normal to get through the snow. His canter was really springy and I had to hold on tight. It didn’t take long for me to get used to Kit’s snow gaits. After a while, Mike let Emma and me ride in the big field.

The first thing I noticed when we went into the big field was how beautiful everything was. The snow was all over the trees in the woods so everything looked white. This made it easy to see all the birds and squirrels watching us as we rode by. We even saw a rabbit. It ran right into the field and in front of me and Kit. But it didn’t bother Kit at all. He just kept going. But the bunny did leave cute bunny tracks in the snow.

I could also see the tracks that the horses were leaving as they moved through the snow. One thing that Mike is always telling Emma and me is to walk in a straight line when we ride. And while Mike tells us this, I have often thought that maybe he needs to wear his glasses because it seems to me that I am keeping Kit on the straight and narrow. Well, after riding in the snow, it is obvious, very obvious, that Mike is right to remind us to keep our horses straight. As I looked back at our tracks what I saw really surprised me. I didn’t see nice straight horse tracks, but curvy, weaving tracks. We zigzagged all over that field. We didn’t leave one straight line of horse tracks. Our trail looked like that of a crazy squirrel being chased by one of Mike’s cats.

I also noticed that the horses tended to go a little faster than they usually do. For both Wesley and Kit, their trots and canters have never been really fast. But in the snow, both horses moved like they were in fast forward. Their walks were brisk, their trots were lively, and their canters were especially spirited and, to tell the truth, they were really fast. At one point, I almost lost control of Kit. I had asked him to canter and apparently on snowy days, horses translate that to mean gallop. So off he went. And for a long minute I thought I was on another runaway horse. Yes, I was on a runaway horse last Easter and it is not an experience I want to have again. But I’ve learned a lot about how to control horses over the past nine months. Mike has made sure that I know what to do when a horse gets too rowdy, So my training kicked into gear. I stayed calm, balanced myself on the horse, pulled back hard on the reins and held them tight, and told him to "whoa". And he did (thanks Mike). When I looked over at Emma, Wesley was doing the same thing. But she also knew what to do and was able to keep Wesley under control.

So we finished our ride around the big field on that cold day, laughing and talking about how much fun it is to ride horses in the snow. What a great way to end the year and start the new year. I can’t wait for it to snow again so I can have another adventure riding Kit in the snow.