Snow Into Sand

We've all heard the popular saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." As many of my friends are in the warm weather of Arizona, playing in the sand and going to barrel races left and right, I was really wishing I was in their position.  The past couple of weeks with below zero temperatures have made me a little bitter about being here.  It's just too darn cold to ride, even to go to the indoor arena.  Seeing those Facebook statuses and pictures of my friends kicking back and riding in the Arizona sunshine sure didn't help my mood either.  Yes, I fully admit, I'm jealous! However, rather than sulk about my residence in cold country Montana (which I love 8 months of the year) I decided to make my snow into sand - sort to speak.

Of course there is no possible way of making snow into sand, I can make a not so fun situation into something productive.  Ironically, my favorite way of legging a horse up is by long trotting through a good 10-12 inches of nice soft, puffy snow.  I loved the winter time while attending college at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT.  Located by the mountains, there was never a shortage of snow and it was always soft, puffy and evenly laid across the pasture. No need for an aquatred, mother nature gave me the perfect situation to get my horses in shape and I took advantage of it!

Unfortunately Eastern Montana isn't known for that soft, beautiful snow, or the tolerable temperatures either for that matter. With it's relentless wind, snow turns into drifts, which turn into bigger drifts, which turn into monsterous drifts (see where I'm going here) and when it's all said in done, the snow's turned into something so hard that the horses can walk on top of snow that is a few feet above the ground.

As I rode this morning I got to thinking, it's really not all that bad. I get a little creative trying to dodge the drifts that I know that are hard and take full advantage of the few areas of soft snow that's like nature's aquatred.  My horses are getting nice and responsive to me picking them up, counter arching away from those pesky drifts and learning how to keep their feet under them when they hit the occasional patch of slick ground.  They're learning a lot on how to work on auto pilot as I'm bundled up in 15 different layers, so many that my range of movement is limited.  Sometimes I think that we as riders think too much for our horses and not let them think for themselves.

The real perks of riding this time of year and in this kind of weather is the sledding. Every year our kids beg us to go sledding.  Life generally is so busy that when it's nice enough to be out with them, we're busy doing something else or when we do have time, it's too darn bitter cold to be out! However, we try to take time to go sledding a few times every year. Now, I'm not talking in sledding as grabbing a sled and going down a hill.  We don't have the best hills or enough even snow to do that much.  I'm talking about the piling the kids in the sled hooked with a rope and dragging it behind a horse. Talk about get a horse a real workout as well as multitasking as a babysitter!  The smiles and the giggles make it a memory that lasts forever.

So I guess it's not all so bad to be up here after all.  Sure, I'm not getting to go barrel race but I'm getting to spend time with my husband and kids, working colts and taking advantage of what mother nature has thrown at me. Which when you come to think about it, snow isn't so bad after all!

Frenchmans Elvis and Philip taking our son Cade for a spin.