and through the snow…
the horse knows the way…
I’m fortunate to keep Tonka at a stable with an indoor so that I can ride all winter. But, oh, Tonka and I get so tired of those four walls! In the last week it has been bitterly cold, the winds have been strong and rattled the barn doors, and it has snowed. There’s frozen ground and ice and a couple of inches of crusty snow outside. We’ve been getting our exercise and doing our dressage schooling indoors. But today the temperature soared to 30º F and the wind died down.
Conditions weren’t ideal, but we went out! We were careful on the slick icy patches and I kept an eye on his hooves to make sure that they didn’t become packed with snow (if that happens it can be as if he’s walking on stilts, which is very dangerous.)
The sun shone. Tonka remained sure-footed. Listen closely and you can hear him break trail.
Doesn’t that make you happy?
Whatever you’re celebrating – Christmas, Chanukah, the Solstice, a New Year, or simply a sunny patch on a cold day, I wish you all the best this holiday season!
Really envious. Hope you had a lovely ride it looked wonderful all sparkly. Wishing you, Steve, your Sons and all the extended family ( feathered, furred and finned ) a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Heathy New Year and 2017….:)
Same to you, Jan! Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Any time I see relaxed ears forward, I know all is right with the world! Many years ago, I boarded my TB mare at a lovely stable that had a huge indoor and was owned by a man who also kept an enormous kennel of English Pointers he used for bird hunting. Like you, I was reluctant to ride outdoors in the super cold icy days of darkest winter but became so bored with the indoor. When we were feeling especially cabin fevered, we would let a few of the horses loose in the indoor and play “cow pony” with them. I had learned by accident that my long legged, quite elegant mare had somehow been born with innate cutting skills and once she got the hang of this game, I’d run like an idiot all around the ring and she would charge around and try to ‘corner’ me like a cow pony –completely at liberty, and with much bucking and good natured high kicking. It was all in fun, but she would get very serious at staring me down, weaving back and forth, heading me off and trying to “hold” me in place. We had a blast. The minute I stood up, relaxed and walked toward her, the game would be over and her ears would come forward and she’d approach calmly. We both got great exercise and a silly break from the long northeast winters. The other boarders thought it was hilarious and would whoop and holler from the sidelines. I swear if that horse had had a rope, I’d have been in big trouble…
We also felt so sorry for the beautiful English Pointers who were bored spitless in their kennels. With permission, I would let one out at a time to run around in the closed off indoor. Often there would be practice jumps set up in a pattern in the arena and one day a beautiful dog was flying around and just cleared one of the fences on his own. And so began many training sessions of some bastardized version of dog agility over three foot oxers. A tired dog is a happy dog. People and horses too!