Monday, December 12, 2011

Winter has curtailed our riding


Yes, it is winter on Maui. The last 3 days were quite nasty. We trailered up to the top of Haleakala on Friday Morning. Six horses and a pack mule. I had not been into the crater on horseback for a decade. We were to go on a volunteer service trip to repair trails. When we got to the top the wind was gusty, the rain coming sideways and the wind chill at 24 degrees. Burrrh it was really cold. We all laughed "we don't do cold", jumped back in the trucks and headed down the hill. This was 3 hours of trailering. By Hawaii standards this is a lot of road time. Most of our jaunts are less than 15 minutes. On Friday evening the wind really kicked up a notch and the rain started. I blanketed my herd at 10pm. Saturday morning and Kalae was shivering even blanketed. Thank goodness I was here to blanket them. It rained all day for .63 inches. On Sunday it got worse. My arena was flooded and as the rain pelted the picture window I was so grateful I was not riding out of the crater as we would be doing. I called Wilfred : Can you believe this? We were laughing. "You can not imagine what a licking we would be taking! Stay dry. Sunday we had 1.10 inches of rain and the temps averaged 65 degrees in Makawao at 1,800 feet. 39 degrees at the top of Haleakala at 10,000 feet. wind chill 24 degrees.