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.

Winter has arrived

Windy, blustery days with frequent passing squalls precluded any riding. After 3 days of weather induced (cant go outside) house cleaning there was a slight break in the weather so I ran down and turned everyone out. Kalae and Divine exploded in the main arena. Running flat out for more than 5 minutes. Yikes I could not slow them down. I let Rupert and Pueo out with the 2 girls who were now standing around. Fortunately they were much more low keyed. Freederic, Darleen and Freesia were happily grazing on the grass as large double rainbow arched overhead. Wondermann who is recovering from a hoof abscess meandered the house pasture talking to everyone in the main arena. I had my camera in hand. Kalae let me photo her eye before she got bored and wandered away. Wait I want one more shot with the lighting. I love taking pictures of horses eyes!

Rain inpeeding the training

Rain, rain go away. We have not been able to ride at all this week. Yes, It is still winter in Hawaii. We have not been riding for the last week due to gale force winds and cold spitting rain. The horses are all slipping in the mud and full of energy. Evenings are spent in front of the roaring wood burning stove wrapped in sweaters trying to get warm. 50 degrees at 90% humidity is quite cool.