MA> That's what I think too.  Yes, they get shaggy, but 
 MA> since we don't do any really hard riding in the winter 
 MA> anyway, it doesn't make much difference. However, 
 MA> right now, we've got mud up to our eyeballs, and when 
 MA> they roll, it makes quite a mess with that long coat!  
 MA> Yuk!
      ICK!  BOTH of them?  Sometimes I will go out to the stables with the 
idea of riding Dub; if he is too dirty, I will ride one of the other two!  
Mud would certainly slow ME down!
     Now is that mud gonna REFREEZE?  We just watched the movie "FARGO" and 
in between cracking up at the North Dakota-isms, we were hitting my mom with 
questions as she spent 22 years there.  She says that they can get an early 
thaw and then when THAT freezes, it gets really DANGEROUS.
     I always wonder how tough that weather can be on the HORSES, but then I 
remember my second cousin's horse that I rode as a kid.  The gelding is 
THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD NOW.  And if I know Denny, the horse gets no special 
attention other than perhaps being in a barn in the wintertime.
     Are you gonna come out here this year?  The weekend of Valentine's Day 
(Arizona Statehood Day) we're going on a Phoenix to Wickenburg trail ride, 
three days.  First thing in the morning, every morning, rigs are shuttled to 
the night's campsite.  I'm borrowing my mom's motorhome!  Some roughing it 
camper I am!
--- Maximus/2 3.00
---------------