Winter is Here

I did get the third planned ride in on Stitch a couple of weeks ago, but it was rather blah after the previous two rides. He wasn't bad or anything, just may have been feeling the effects of three days in a row. He wasn't as forward or responsive to my leg as he had been. No worries, it's a long process, and over those three days I got done what I wanted to.

Even if I hadn't decided to just do those three days on him, Stitch still wouldn't be getting ridden because it's now winter. 

Like, full on, January temperatures and snow type winter.

Oh, what I wouldn't do for a little global warming at the moment.

Not quite sure if the kid has dark dapples in his coat or not. His face sure gets a lot darker in the winter!

To the surprise of probably no one, my horse is now sporting a mid-weight blanket and hood while grazing from the never-ending hay buffet.

I know, I said I wasn't going to blanket him.  But Saturday we got about 10" of snow, and then temperatures plummeted. I couldn't take the blanket off after wearing it for the snow when it was going to be so cold. I'm talking feels like -28 C temperatures for a couple of nights (that's -18 for you non-metric people). 

That's not usual for this time of year, and the horses don't have their full winter coats yet. That's how I'm justifying it to myself.

On Tuesday night I threw an assortment of blankets and liners into my car in the hopes that some combination would work. The kid has grown (and is still growing) but his chest hasn't filled out yet, so some of the bigger sizes are a little too saggy in the chest - or at least they were the last time I tried them on him.

Phantom's 75" Amigo was what I hoped would fit him, and it was actually pretty good on his chest, so that is the top layer. The hood is a little long, but it's not covering his ears so it's more than doable. 

I was surprised that the Greenhawk 100g liner fit way better in the shoulders than I thought it would. They fit Cisco's broad chest much better than Phantom, so I thought it would be way too big on Stitch. I also tried on a Lemieux liner that I thought would be smaller, but it was actually bigger, so the Greenhawk liner was the winner. The length on all of these was fine - a bit of room to grow, but the next size down might actually be too small.

There's still a couple of inches to fill out before I start panic buying him a new wardrobe.

I'm a little disheartened to say that I think I need to start looking for deals on 78" blankets. I think he's going to outgrow my extensive 75" wardrobe. (How much did your horse's blanket size change after he was 3?)

Stitch is going to be wearing his warm jammies for a few more days. We're supposed to get back to much more normal temperatures next week, at which point he can go out nekkid again.

At least until the next cold spell...