Part of the ‘Horse Lover’ job description is a willingness to pit oneself against the weather. The familiar saying, “Neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night…” should finish with the words, “will keep a rider from reaching her horse.” Horse lovers drive through all kinds of weather to get to the barn. In the battle of Horse Lover vs. Weather, Horse Lover rarely gives in.

Take the other day, for instance. Two days before, it had snowed and temperatures had dipped to -17°C (1°F). But on this day, rain misted against the windshield and the sky was a solid mass of milk-coloured overcast. My dashboard thermometer registered 0°C: the point at which rain can easily turn into freezing rain. I’d rather drive through a blizzard than freezing rain.

But it was definitely rain running off my windshield, and the road didn’t feel at all slippery. Until the pavement changed to dirt. Suddenly the road had a glassy shine to it, and the steering wheel started feeding me that sense of NO TRACTION. It was ordinary rain falling from the sky, but it was freezing when it hit the unpaved road.

And we all know what that meant. It meant I was now going too fast for the road conditions.

Ever so gently, I brushed my toe against the brake. The car started to swerve. I became painfully aware that the road wasn’t actually flat. It angled slightly down from the centre, and my car was slithering sideways toward the ditch. I steered and counter-steered, feathered the accelerator, and somehow managed to miss an oncoming pickup truck. The sound of my breath filled the car – air whistling through clenched teeth and then huffing out through stiff lips. The driveway to the barn was approaching. Was I going slow enough to make the turn?

Somehow, I made it into the driveway, and stopped. The wipers thunked back and forth, giving me a clear view of the gate that I was going to have to open before I could go any further. Horse Lover was pretty rattled. Maybe I should give Larry the day off, just turn around and drive home while I still can! But Horse Addict wasn’t so ready to give up her fix. You’re already here, you might as well go in and ride. Besides, maybe it’ll warm up, then driving home won’t be a problem.

Horse Lover vs. Weather entails a certain amount of optimism. Maybe I should call it delusional thinking. Whatever. I compromised. I parked the car on the side of the road. At least I wouldn’t get stranded on the steep, icy driveway leading down to the barn.

And there was Larry, waiting at the paddock gate for the carrot I always bring. There was no ice in the paddock, just freshly-laid stone dust which Larry had obviously found to his liking. He was coated, head to toe, with the stuff.

I patted his slimy neck and grinned like a fool.

These are the moments we horse lovers live for. We touch our horses, and our troubles don’t matter as much. We can believe that everything really will be all right.

And on this day, it was. After riding, the thermometer in my car was reading 1°C. In the ongoing tussle of Horse Lover vs. Weather, Horse Lover made out OK.