Freezing rain, ice, and snow.

Today was damp, cold, and miserable. I cheered myself up by pulling UK away from his hay after taking care of the barn this morning to brush him and switch blankets. UK wasn't terribly thrilled as hanging with his buddy is far more interesting then me putting Thrush Buster on his feet and putting detangler in his tail. But then I went to the car to get my camera and when I returned there were treats in my pocket, suddenly I was much more fun! UK has learned to associate the camera with treats, thus he poses shamelessly knowing that if he's cute enough I'll reward him after snapping some shots.

I took him out to the snowy ring to get him to stretch his legs even though it was misting nasty half frozen stuff. There was ice hidden under the snow in some spots so I let UK stick to a relaxed trot so he'd be able to handle himself if he slipped.

Even though he's a wuss about the cold, he was born up here in the north so he knows the snow won't eat him (unlike a certain TB I used to own who was terrified of untouched snow). He slipped a few times but wasn't overly concerned as it's normal this time of year to encounter ice. 

We did some follow the leader and he tried to eat my camera, hoping that maybe it had turned into a giant banana rounder. No such luck. He's matured a great deal in the last year, he's much braver and has a calmness about him in the ring now that he used to lack. Part of it is because he's learned to trust me a great deal, finally understanding that I will never put him into a position or place that will get him hurt. 

We finished up and I put his blanket on, returning him to LD and the rest of his AM hay. Hopefully the weather will get better soon and we'll be able to go out for a ride. 

Oh! His feet are really starting to improve. By late spring/early summer he should have amazing feet again. Yay for mother nature! 

Sorry for the lack of updates!

The holiday season was a bit of a whirlwind for me, and it ended up with me being pretty darn sick for two weeks starting on New Year's.

Due to the alternating cold snaps and deluges of rain, ring work hasn't really been an option. Once I was able to leave the house without coughing up a lung, we started trail riding at least once a week. He still pulls a couple temper tantrums during the first half mile or so, but they're nothing like the tantrums of a few months ago, let alone the ones from the summer.

All the mud gave his sensitive skin a lot to deal with, and he's only just now starting to recover. His feet are toughening up, slowly but surely. I've had him on Smartpak's SmartHoof pellets since early fall, and by spring his feet should be greatly improved.

We're finally getting some snow (we got some last week but it was followed by two days of rain, yuck), so I hope to be able to do more with him soon.

Until then have a picture of fuzzy ponies!

LD & UK bundled up for the single digit weather.

Lunging and Free Jumping

So after two days of rain, today dawned sunny and warm. I had lunged UK despite the gross weather yesterday. All this climate change has been making my ankle hurt like the dickens, so riding hasn't really been possible.

I managed to drag the ring before the rain started earlier in the week (I think it was Monday, not sure) only to have the battery die in the tractor... So it's been sitting in the ring with the dreaded tarp on top of it. I've been moving it around the ring and making UK lunge near/around it. Feeding him on the tarp seemed to really be the step we needed to take. It's still scary but not enough to send him flying across the ring, it only warrants a small spook now.

So after lunging him on a lungeline, I let UK loose to free jump. This was after getting him to follow me over the calvaletti with the tarp over it!!!! MOMENTOUS OCCASION! He got a whole carrot for that.

Below is a video of all the pictures I took with my camera of him free jumping. He had a couple knockdowns, mostly due to getting distracted, but no problems otherwise. He's really starting to adjust himself as needed. Not only did he canter everything, but he also trotted everything as well. I think the jumps ended up being 2'6", but I honestly am not sure.

Anyhoo, enjoy!

More snow, more rain, more ice and Smartpak!

So it's been a crazy month or so. The weather has been all over the place. The horses are going stir crazy and their stalls reflect that. Their small turnout area has gotten slightly bigger due to some meltage (not a real word I know). So it now is an ice flow. 

Haven't been able to ride or even lunge UK. So my mental state is not much better then the equines.
The one bright spot was getting my Smartpak Equine Supplement & Horse Care Guide for Winter 2011 on the third week of February. As usual it was interesting with great product reviews, but what I was really excited about was on page 52.

Look! It's UK! And a quote from me!!! 

So after making excited noises I brought the guide to the barn with me to show UK. I know it isn't much, but even just having a few sentences of mine published in something that went all over this country is pretty wicked for me. (Also my quote was the longest out of the 11 they picked.)

UK was very intrigued and took a moment from enjoying the 54 degree day to take a look. 

Then Dacharia had to see what all the fuss was about. 

The only thing somewhat different this week is both UK and Dacharia will be getting their feet done. I cannot wait till the ice thaws so we have some traction. So maybe I could lunge him and then, maybe, just maybe, get to ride him. 

I can dream, can't I? 

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!