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Thank you to everyone who offered advice on cold weather riding for horses. 
Obviously, some of the things I learned as a kid were old wives tales, so it 
was nice to hear from people that work their ponies in the cold often. :-)

I ended up not being able to go to the clinic. Yesterday we delivered a horse 
(yeah! sold a horse!) to his new family. My husband drove us and we decided to 
go in the middle of the day, rather than later afternoon like originally 
planned. It had been snowing off and on, nothing really heavy, but it was 
sticking. With it being so cold, some of the snow had a chance to melt and then 
freeze immediately on the highway. We were driving on a well travelled 2-lane 
highway that is usually full of large trucks and semis, carrying cattle, 
grains, etc. We were driving slow, and not anywhere close to the speed limit 
(65 on that road), and Dave is a careful driver. The horse we were delivering 
stands pretty nicely in our little 2-horse bumper-pull trailer, doesn't paw or 
kick, prance or move around a lot. Thank God. 

Out of nowhere, we hit a patch of ice that sent us sliding into the other lane. 
We fishtailed violently across the road into the other lane of traffic and slid 
sideways across the highway. Dave, being an incredible driver, managed to 
correct us to avoid slamming off the side of the road into the ditch, and we 
then fishtailed the other way across the road. Again, he was able to correct 
us, and we did this twice more, each direction, the last slide sending us 
towards a utility pole at an incredible rate of speed. (Everything happens so 
fast, and goes so fast in the span of what, 10 seconds? that I wonder how fast 
we really go) Somehow he managed to get us out of that one too, and then there 
we were, travelling down the road, in the correct direction, in the correct 
lane, as if nothing ever happened. The silence in the truck was deafening. We 
pulled off at the next intersection and turned into the first driveway we saw, 
which had a nice big area where we could check our truck, trailer, horse, 
selves, and turn around again. Miraculously, everything was fine. I had fully 
expected to see the trailer pass the truck on the highway or slam into the side 
of the truck during one of the slides across the road, but nothing came 
unhitched, unsnapped, etc. Dave opened up the front of the trailer to check on 
our pony, while I opened the back to check legs, count hooves, etc. He was 
totally fine, looking at us with his now enormous Arabian eyes like, "What the 
heck where you guys doing up there?!" but never once fussed or seemed upset. He 
was calmer than we were!

I called the family to let them know where we were, that we were running late, 
and why, and we set off on our way again, even slower than the cautious speed 
we had been going to begin with.  I remember when it first started to happen, I 
prayed "Help us, God." and then my next prayer was simply, "I trust You, we're 
in your hands" and I was totally calm. Until after the whole thing was over, 
and then I was pretty shaky and freaked out.  I told Dave what an incredibly 
excellent driver he was to get us out of that mess, and he said, "Nope, wasn't 
me. Jesus was driving through me. I couldn't have gotten us out of it."  (I'm 
so thankful I wasn't driving, I'd never get a chance to do my first 50 in 
2006!)  We were both really shaken up. What is even more amazing is that we 
didn't have ANY oncoming traffic at all during that time, and it is a really 
heavily used highway. Also the fact that the truck behind us and the two semis 
behind him, didn't get into a wreck was incredible. Obviously, somebody was 
watching out for us.

So, having experienced that, we decided I wouldn't be trying to go to the 
clinic the next day, as I would be using part of the same highway, and would be 
driving a different truck than what I was used to hauling with. On bad roads? 
Yeah, right. The weather today was supposed to be at least as cold if not 
worse, and more snow expected. Dave rarely puts his foot down when I want to do 
a horsey thing, but this time he did and oddly enough, got no argument from me. 
:)

Sure did make me think though. If we would have died, I don't have a will made 
out and I need to make provisions for my animals! Guess I know what I'll be 
doing soon. :)

Thanks, everyone, for the advice on cold weather riding, and for letting me 
tell my story. Still freaks me out to think about it. 

Shawnee (heading off to do some bareback riding in the pasture)

_____________________________
Shawnee & Dave Urano
Willowmere Farm Arabians
(970) 330-3982 / (970) 381-3365
galahadd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.willowmerefarm.com

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