Blown Away by Santa Ana Winds (& My Horse)

Blowin’ in the Wind

Yesterday we had a “wind event” in Orange County. The Santa Anas made their 2015 debut and I was unsure if I’d be able to ride. If you’re not familiar with Santa Ana winds, below is a little excerpt from Wikipedia* that explains it all, or you could just watch the movie The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Jude Law. They mention the Santa Ana winds.

The arena had little dust storms flare up Saturday.

(Even if you know what the Santa Anas are or you don’t care what they are, I still recommend the movie).

“The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry down-slope winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California. . .They can range from hot to cold, depending on the prevailing temperatures in the source regions. . . The winds are known especially for the hot dry weather (often the hottest of the year) that they bring in the fall, and are infamous for fanning regional wildfires. For these reasons, they are sometimes known as the “devil winds” across Southern California.“

Notice the coating of grime on his blaze and forelock.

Riding Conditions

It was about 83 degrees and blustery, but I headed to the barn thinking if the horses were all wild I could at least groom and walk Knight. (Just so you don’t think I’m a total ninny, I have had my riding lesson canceled before due to the winds–we don’t have an indoor arena).

Knight was in his pipe corral with trademark dirty face and forelock. I finally figured out he wasn’t rolling on his face. Another boarder told me it was from his feed. (Light bulb moment).

The minute we stepped outside his stall, I knew I would ride because he followed me along like he was 30 years old. He’s only 7–actually I guess technically 8 since The Jockey Club considers horses’ birthdays on January 1.

I groomed him, did my best to clean up his face, tacked him, and led him to the arena. All very uneventful.

I noticed there were little swirls of dust stirring up in the arena periodically. I pictured tumbleweeds blowing through. My water bottle that I placed on top of a jump standard blew over.

I had the arena to myself for the first few minutes until a teenage boy in a Western saddle, toes pointing down, rode in on a bay Quarter Horse.

I began to trot. We’re working on keeping the same tempo (as Knight likes to subtly go faster and faster). We cruised some circles and I practiced straight lines on the quarter line. And then it happened.

From the corner of my eye I noted a plastic grocery store bag had blown into the arena. And it was settling down right on the quarter line ahead of us. We were on a collision path!

Bag of Terror

Post riding bath picture. Clean blaze!

As we were on top of the plastic bag, Knight took an extra high, animated step over the bag, and looked down (I think–it all happened so fast). We continued to trot and in the corner, we shifted to trot along the rail, past the end where sometimes people on the other side of the fence who’ve parked their car along the street to get to the adjacent park like to stop and gawk at the horses–through the trees.

As we made our way to the long side of the arena the bag was floating in the air ahead up us, like an inflated balloon. It was probably 12-15 feet in the air and again, directly on our path. At that point I thought, “Oh no!” thinking surely that a bag on the ground is less scary than a bag in the air.

I need to start giving this horse the benefit of the doubt because as we trotted essentially under the bag, he didn’t bat an eyelash.

And when a family with little kids paused to “Watch the horsie!” before getting in their car on the other side of the fence and the Quarter Horse started spooking and darted 20 feet in the opposite direction of the family, Knight kept going.

And the icing on the cake was that I cantered him and got him so compressed into about six responsive baby strides that felt like a Lipizzaner. We had just enough whoa and go (which means my leg is getting stronger–hallelujah!).

And to celebrate what a good boy he was/is, this is what Knight did the second I put him back in his stall.

*If you are one of my students, remember, Wikipedia is not an acceptable academic source. Use the external links based on the Wikipedia entry. Now go do your homework. (And thank you for reading! :))

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