You said it Howard, living in east central
FL. I have seen
a storm coming & thought, oh I have plenty of time to
get home. (NOT)!! Now if I hear thunder, I really go on a endurance ride &
beat a path home. Also have you seen
lighting come out of the almost clear sky here? Its
crazy!
And, don't forget the darn lightning. I've had more close
calls with Ben Franklin's Kiss of Death this year than ever before.
Time to move I'm telling you, Florida is going to kill me for sure, and, worst
of all, it might take out one of my horses to boot.
Kabaaaaammmmm, I swear I saw a flash (cloud to air) right before my eyes
yesterday while out riding when the towering cumulus clouds started
transitioning to cumulonimbus. The bolt blazed yards in front of my
face and I could feel the discharge from the moisture in the air acting as a
conduit of Death. I knew this was the end for me and my best
friend. I was a little surprised, after the flash, to see my body was
still in Florida. Maybe Hell isn't as bad as I was expecting. I
knew it would be hot, and it was, but, I was expecting more of a dry heat,
like Arizona.
America, my horse, just stopped, his body frozen in time. I do
believe he thought he was dead, also. He's not normally afraid of
this stuff since he sees it almost every day. I've seen too much and
will be glad to see it slow down some this winter.
So, the moral is don't worry too much about the heat and humidity.
Be grateful the Thunder Gods aren't growling at you like they do at me
and my horses on a daily basis down here in Central Florida. Just
get out there and ride. Yea, if the numbers add up to over 150 you might
want to slow down some, but, don't let it put you out of the game.
The one good thing about the heat is the wimmen don't wear much when it's
around. And, if you're not shy, like me and Ed, you can always ride
nekkid. Might not leave a great looking corpse when that bolt hits you
but it will give those who end up collecting your toasted body something
to laugh about. "Son of a gun, this dead cowboy's nekkid. Well, at
least his horse was wearing a breast collar." haha
cya,
Howard (I need to replace Ed's name with a female one; somehow that
didn't come out like I wanted)
Down here in the swamp the normal humidity at day break is
99% to 100% (ever heard of fog - fog is 100% humidity). While I will
ride sometimes early if that is the only time I'd perfer to let the sun
bake off some of the humidity. Eighty degrees and 65% humidity (which is
probably our 10 AM conditions) is much better than 65 degrees and 100%
humidity which is our normal summer at daybreak. On top of that there is
normally a breeze at 10 AM. Late afternoon is also a good time - if you
don't have to dodge lightning bolts:-). I ride slower in the
summer but conditioning in the heat has its own benefits.
Stay
out of the sun if at all possible to eliminate that source of heat build
up. I ride year round in FL without much problem and have done rides
that have been brutally hot. Long street a few years ago was hot. The
GEAR Benefit ride (this weekend every year in GA ) is normally
hot.
But we just keep on keeping on and try to minimize the impact on
the horses by using tons of water to cool them and going a little
slower.
Personally I never calculate the "heat plus humidity" index
or look at the heat index the US Weather service publishes. If I did,
I'd be too depressed to ride.
