Snow, snow and more snow...

So as I'm sure most people have noticed, New England is currently buried in amounts of snow so immense that the likes of which have not been seen since the 90's. I was really enjoying it at first, but with that lovely layer of ice sandwiched in between the layers of snow it's been impossible to ride in. The ice is very sharp and all the horses have some little cuts from trying to move beyond the area my husband plowed with the tractor.

The horses have given up trying to go anywhere and stay close to the barn and the plowed area. They are starting to get their own equine version of Cabin Fever I think. Blankets are getting mussed and the slightest thing provokes them into spooking and prancing.

Oh and when it isn't snowing it's been bitter cold. We had temps below zero more than once the past week or so. Today is a  balmy 29 degrees, it feels like a heatwave!

I'm getting so desperate to ride that I just may try hopping on UK and just walking around the plowed area.

Well that's it for now. There is nothing to do and nothing has been happening except the daily grind of snow removal and barn chores. 

Toodles. 

Freezing Rain Sucks

Yes, yes it does.

One of the many joys of living in New England is the strange and violent weather patterns. I usually take great joy in nature's shows of strength, but freezing rain is not something I enjoy. Snow? Yes. Large amounts of snow? Very much yes! Freezing rain? Eeeww. The horses seem to feel the same way. UK especially hates getting wet ears.

Needless to say I really haven't been able to ride. It's been in the single digits or below zero every night this week and the days haven't been much warmer. Those temperatures combined with the 2+ feet of snow have made things a bit difficult. These are the times I dearly wish that  I had an indoor ring or had the time and the resources to trailer to an indoor ring. My truck is out of commission at the moment, and it still needs a trailer brake control before I could use it anyway.

Even though I was wet and cold I did manage to enjoy myself as I was caring for my horses this evening. There is just something about being surrounded by my four legged friends and some good honest manual labor to take away the stress of the day. General and UK were funny to watch. General desperately wanted to play and UK humored him for awhile, trotting along and playing tag with his "little brother". When UK was finally tired of playing he just stood there ignoring General, which made General start barking to get his attention. It was quite amusing, as this is pretty much the only time I hear General use his vocal cords for something other whining.

The night beforehand was quite exciting! Kristy and I had finished taking care of the horses, said goodnight and then went our separate ways home. I was a few miles from the barn when my cell phone rang. It was Kristy, there were horses running loose in the road. I did a u-turn and flew towards where she was. When I got close it was then time to slow to a crawl, as the road she was on was curvy and I didn't want to  run into the scared horses that were roaming the road somewhere. Eventually I came up behind Kristy's car and put on my hazard lights. I grabbed the only thing I had that would be of help in the car, a dog leash, and went to help Kristy who was in the process of trying to herd two frightened horses up a driveway.

I got the leash around one of the horse's neck, and grabbed the mane of the other one, luckily they were small horses. Then I pulled out my cell phone and called my mother-in-law to see if she knew who the horses belonged to. Meanwhile Kristy is trying to get the attention of the people that live in the house that owns the driveway by yelling as there was two large irish wolfhounds that were keeping her from getting anywhere near the door.

Eventually someone poked their head out, and it turned out that they were the owners of the horses. They were very grateful, and we helped them get Ollie and Lola back to their barn. Ollie who is a 28yr old gelding had managed to bust through his electric fencing. It also turned out that they knew my mother-in-law, as she is their bookkeeper. I was really happy that our little adventure ended well!

Tomorrow will be gross, and then it's going to get really cold. Oh winter how I love you and yet wish you would end soon!

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As a bonus, I just realized that I forgot to mention I started to do some clicker training with both UK and General last month. UK is the smarter one of the two. UK will now pick up a brush from my hand and hold on to it. This is a great thing as he's really touchy about his muzzle. I hope to get him to really get brave and move on to holding "scary" things, but for now we'll just stick with brushes!

Snow Days!

I'm just going to say it. I love the snow! I really really love large amounts of snow! I don't care if it makes life harder, I still love it! It's my favorite thing about winter (the second favorite thing being no bugs!). We've had snow every week now for the last few weeks. I can't get enough.

Last Saturday Kristy and I took advantage of a break in the wind to ride together. This was to be her first ride on Dacharia since trying her out in the beginning of December. She was nervous (understandably), but Dacharia was fine as was my expectation. The only hiccup was when a jogger came down the road, he was silent and showed up behind her, which immediately triggered the fight or flight instincts. She just skittered a little and was fine. The exception however was that she was immensely offended at Kristy yelling at her. Such a mare attitude! So she then proceeded to trot with her nose in the air to prove a point. Kristy was also having problems due to her saddle, which really doesn't fit her anymore. She's saving up for a new one thankfully.

What about UK? He started by not standing still for me to mount, which is not like him. Uh-oh! I then said a prayer before getting on and commenced to warm him up at the walk with a fleece cooler over my legs and his rear end. I figure taking a cooler on and off while in the saddle will help him with his fear of fluttering cloth *coughtarpscough*. When I finally took the cooler off and hung it on the fence he was fine, no spooking. He did eye it suspiciously when we trotted past, but otherwise behaved himself.

I could just feel he was full of "piss and vinegar" as I told Kristy. There was a definite attitude waiting just under the surface of his calm facade, I just knew it! He worked well at the trot, we worked on more suppling and moving off of my legs. He really did well due to his extra "energy" and was rewarded by getting to walk and stretch for a bit before we moved on to a quick canter.

As we were riding in the snow I wasn't planning on doing a lot of canter, especially as there was an icy spot we needed to be careful around. I asked for the left lead canter and he was good for a few strides.... then the bucking began. They weren't horrendous bucks, but they were still real bucks. I dug in and kept him moving forward while cursing inwardly as I felt my back kink. As soon as he returned to a normal canter we walked and then went back to the canter, being rewarded for cantering without the attitude this time.

Meanwhile as all that was going on, Kristy is laughing heartily! She said that if you hadn't been able to see his back end you'd never know he was bucking as his ears were forward and he never changed pace. I was less amused then her however.

We did our canter to the right, which of course was fine. I really think his earlier issues had a lot to do with him showing off for his new "girlfriend". Silly animal. He let me put our cooler back on from the saddle with no spooks. We walked for a bit while Kristy did some more trot and I tried taking pictures from horseback.

As for today, we got over two feet here at the house and there was about three feet up at the barn. The horses were in the majority of the day as Savannah really can't take the wind anymore. Dacharia and UK were overj0yed when I finally let them outside. UK kept burying his face in the snow like a dog does, it was very cute.

My husband was awesome and had come along to move snow with the tractor so I could actually make it all the way to the manure pile without being buried alive. I cleaned the barn and got things ready for when the critters would come back in. I also shoveled snow, which was up to my mid thigh in most places.

UK seemed quite at home in the snow, and Dacharia tended to follow him around. When the wind wasn't howling it really wasn't bad out. In the end I brought them in early as Savannah looked like she'd had about enough. UK and Dacharia had to be bribed to even get them near the barn. Oh Haystretcher, you are wonderful!

I'm not looking forward to having to go back to work tomorrow, it was really nice to have an extra day off! I hope to be able to ride on Saturday again, weather permitting!

New Year, New Friends

On January 1, 2011 I met my friend Kristy at my Mother-in-law's house and we all climbed in her truck to go pick up Kristy's new horse, Dacharia.

I had already been to the barn prior and took all the blankets off UK and Savannah as it was in the 50's! The weather was glorious! I was really enjoying only needing a sweatshirt for warmth.

UK proved just how weird he is by never rolling once, all day... Most horses roll like crazy once rid of the evil blankets. I think UK is secretly OCD or something. I just don't know, as he gets plenty of poop and mud on him in the summer. Oh well, I guess I should just be grateful.

Anyways, on to Dacharia! Queen Bee is her registered name, she's an imported German Westfalen Mare, 16 years old and 16.3 hand high. She had been shown since age 2 in the Jumpers and then later on Equitation. She was jumped until she developed a bone spur in her right hind. She is sound currently and really needing to just be a horse for awhile. The mare is stubborn and smart but pretty darn bombproof. Kristy fell for her pretty quickly when we went to look at her.

Once we brought her to the barn UK was so excited! A new friend? For me?

But Mom? Another girl? Geez....

There was no epic screaming match, chasing or anything like that. A couple squeals and head tosses and they were done. Savannah could have cared less, it was UK who was the most excited. They quieted down and chilled for awhile. I cleaned the barn and ignored them for a bit.

Kristy and I decided to show Dacharia that she could go out in the big field later in the afternoon. UK helped us by leading the way, and Dacharia eagerly followed. It was very cute, horsey glee was very evident.

I have to say that despite the fact she's a fancy warmblood with extensive dressage training, my little paint gelding seems to be a better mover naturally. She has the knowledge, but he has raw talent. Of course I'm bias as he's my guy, but he really seems to have a certain grace to his movements that can't be denied.

I ended up riding him in the dark the next day. That's my resolution, that if I plan to ride I WILL RIDE. No matter what, within reason of course. I'm not going to ride if the weather is extreme or I get hurt, but you get my point. So I procrastinated on Sunday and got to the barn late and was going to wuss out, but decided that this would be another great learning experience for UK. So I tacked up and went out after the sun had set. The ring was sloppy due to the rain we had gotten Saturday night.

It was a great ride, he behaved himself very well considering he didn't want to leave his new girlfriend. I used to ride Jake in all weather and in all times of day. I would get mad when the indoor had 20 people riding and take Jake and ride in a dark half flooded outdoor just to get some space. So riding in the dark is nothing new.

Due to the iffy footing we only did walk/trot, but with lots of suppling and stretching. Once I got his attention off of Dacharia he buckled down and did some really nice work. In the end we managed to trot some very nice straight lines down the long quarter lines. Getting him to go straight so easily was HUGE! Due to the "headset training" he got when he was 2 and 4 he is constantly trying to go behind the bit with his whole body bent one way or another. So getting him to trot forward and straight and into the bit was fantastic.

What's next? More work to try to keep him balanced at the canter once there is enough snow on the ground to cushion us again. He has a short attention span, but if you use your time right he doesn't forget what he's learned.

Now here's hoping we get more snow soon!

Also, one more cute picture (Kristy and Dacharia)!