Noah's Ark

I'm gonna take a moment and whine.  Yes, I live in the city known for rain but our dirty secret is that though it 'rains' a lot, it doesn't usually RAIN.  Our winter is usually grey and depressing, but sort of drizzly and showers and blah blah blah.  The last two days, it's been a downpour.  A constant deluge of freezing cold rain.  It's just barely warm enough to be rain as we top out at 41 degrees during the warmest part of the day.  But it's drenching everything.

And the mud!  Dear Lord the Mud!  Again, I live in a place that's muddy and swampy by nature but when you have heavy rain for 48 hours it makes muddy into a joke.  It turns mud pits into muddy swimming holes.  I haven't been out to the barn today, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just kept most of the horses in.  Mud up to their knees isn't really conducive for doing much, besides standing around in the oozing mud.

Some barns around here have 'mud free' turnouts.  Most of the time, this is accomplished with pea gravel.  I'm glad that my barn has grass in the summer because of their pasture management, but it means we all put up with the mud in the winter.

The jump clinic starts tomorrow and I'm riding in the evening.  I haven't ridden since Sunday and today I should be heading out to the barn.  But I gotta confess, in this awful, miserable, terribly cold rainy dark day, I"m having a hard time getting motivated.  The fireplace and a cup of tea is calling my name. And pretty damn loudly.  It's pretty much just the worry that I will embarrass myself in front of the clinician that's going to get my butt in the saddle today.  Also, in case the world ends tomorrow, I'd like to get a ride in first.  :)

Ahhhh, winter riding.