In which we out-waited the rain, and finally hit the trails IN BOOTS!

I couldn't believe the amount of rain falling from the sky this morning...it seemed like the hens were set to float out to sea.

But here's the thing about rain: it stops eventually. Well, it slows down some, anyhow.

I saw the clear sky coming about an hour in advance. Our weather approaches from the west, and the house offers a clear view of ten miles of sky to the west of here. I saw it coming, and got ready to ride. As soon as the rain slowed some, I hitched up the truck and trailer and threw tack on Fiddle.

INCLUDING HER NEW BOOTS!

Do they make her look like a biker chick? (er, horse?). I kinda think they do.

She was thrilled with the boots, and her strides were as big and powerful as they are with shoes on.

When she is barefoot, her strides are shorter, choppier, and obviously "ouchy," like the sensation of trying to run across the top of deep snow without snowshoes--stepping really lightly so you don't sink hip-deep. Without shoes (or boots), she doesn't want to put her weight onto any of her feet, so she doesn't push with her hind end at all, and instead she just kind of skids along the surface. I don't know if that description makes any sense, but I can tell it's not comfortable.

With the boots, she was happy to push with her "rear wheels", and off we went.

She had to get to get used to the difference in traction, especially in deep sand.

The breakover on these boots is shorter (quicker) than on many other Easyboot styles, and that suits her.

Mud was interesting. She wants to avoid the puddles, but I made her go through the big ones. She was clearly testing the feel of the boots in mud, and was not unhappy with the sensation.

Crossing the creek. I nearly fell in the water while trying to reach out with the camera to take this picture. Phew.

We walked, trotted, cantered, and even did a few buck-to-canter transitions (a Fiddle specialty) through all kinds of terrain without losing a boot.

We did lose a boot for no apparent reason while trotting on a kind of normal trail. I had been warned about "fireworks" the first few times a boot comes off and flaps around the horse's foot, attached only by the pastern straps.

Um, maybe that's an Arab thing, because Fee just slowed down and hopped a little so that I would pay attention to the change in the sound, indicating that there was a perfectly good boot that was not on her foot anymore.

I slid down, put the flopped boot back on, and off we went again with no fireworks whatsoever.


Geez, I love standardbreds.

As we returned to the trailer, I took a picture of the western sky, with the weather we can expect to see tomorrow.

Life (you know this, right?) it's good.