Horseback Riding Vancouver

Since it is now the season when we ride in the rain on some days, I thought this excerpt from an e-mail list might be of interest. A lady from California who is on the e-list had gone out one day to ride and found that it was raining. She was disappointed by this and posted an e-mail titled Red Mule Rainmaker. (She owns a red mule) The last part of her post read:

Saddle sprinkled with rain, I put it back in the garage, along with the rest of the tack, and found something else to do.

Guess I’ll try again tomorrow…

Having just arrived home from a real good ride in a downpour, I knew that enjoying riding in the rain is mainly an attitude. In an effort to change her attitude from negative to positive I wrote the following reply:

Hi from the British Columbia rainforest.

I have acquired a lot of practice dodging raindrops while in the saddle so I will give you some hints about what to do next time it rains when you want to ride.

-Put on your slicker and ride for a couple of hours. This will test your slicker for leaks in case sometime you actually WANT to ride in the rain
-Hope that it rains really hard so that your slicker will get tested properly.
-Decide whether it is a warm or cold rain. If warm, consider how lucky you are. If cold, consider how tough you are.
-Remember that you can only get so wet. After this you cannot get any wetter. (By the way – your slicker does leak after all)
-Notice how good it is to have the whole outside world to yourself. (only in a warm rain – in cold rain it is not good outside)

-Keep studying the sky for thin places in the cloud. Guess whether they are headed in your direction and if it is raining under them.
-If you have a friend who is not very quick at making excuses, ask them if they want to go out for a ride. This will challenge their macho side and they will have to go with you. (Only works in a cold rain – some riders even need sleet with wind to meet this challenge)
-Figure that now is a good time to get your saddle wet so that you can set the stirrups by winding them up with a broom handle through them while they dry.
-Take along a thermos of hot coffee. Have rum in the coffee. Hey, it wards off the cold so no guilt feelings are necessary.
-If you have a creek to cross that rises when it rains, take this opportunity to see how deep and fast water you can cross. Useful later when you have to cross a bigger creek in sunshine, and if you fall in, remember that you were already wet anyway.
- Find some mud, the deeper the better. Go through it and figure how bad it would have been to have had to cross it on foot.
- Become a connoisseur of rain. A fine, misty rain gets you wet quicker than a heavy rain (unless there is wind) because it fools you into not putting your slicker on quick enough. But a really fine rain (almost fog, but a little heavier) will not get you wet because your body heat will dry it as fast as it wets you. There are many other qualities of rain to explore also.
-Think to yourself that it is probably raining in British Columbia harder and colder than this right now, and that yours truly is probably out riding in it.

– Jack from B.C., where the spectacular trails are worth riding in the rain.