Monday, February 22, 2010

WinterWonderland





Snow, Snow and even more snow! But we had a ton of fun. The temperature wasn't even too bad, until last night. We saw blue sky right before sundown, so we knew that it was going to be cold. -19 when we got up. Yuck! It was 14 when I turned them out to play in the cold sunshine and ran off to apply for another teaching job.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Curses! Foiled again.



My last blog cursed me. I was getting too excited for spring. Yesterday morning, I had it all planned out to take Lady on a three mile walk. She has been leading well, but hasn’t really been led too far away from Belle and Foxy yet and never out of the property alone. The dirt road was finally getting clear enough and the bridge was dry. A perfect opportunity. WRONG. So it snowed about 6 inches yesterday. As I look out the window, it is currently snowing. Spring may be officially a month away, but Winter is not ready to relinquish its hold on Wyoming just yet. So, when I got home yesterday, I saddled up Belle, threw the cat up on the saddle bags, hooked the tow rope onto the saddle horn, told the kids to climb into the sled and rode over to the neighbor’s house to drop off some dishes that I have been meaning to return. I just could not waste the opportunity to play in the snow. Rascal did not last very long around the first left hand turn that moved the rope across Belle’s butt. Right hand turns are fine, but left hand are bad. Belle was great. She was prancing and never tried a crazy Ivan (quick full circle for no apparent reason) or trying to go back to the barn. She reminded me of Mike the Belgian when we would be the first horse and carriage into Memory grove with 6 inches of snow. Mikey would prance and snort and throw snow in all directions. Belle was loving it. (yes, I do attach human emotions onto my horse and other animals. Normally Belle gets cranky about leaving Foxy, yesterday, she had an extra spring in her step and bounced along the road and was definitely feeling good.) Shooter came along, too. Belle was not so great once we got to the neighbor’s. Once the kids got out, the sled was too light and flopped around, so I had to unhook the tow rope until one kid got back in and then the other had to hand me the rope and then jump back into the sled. The kids definitely agreed that Belle is much faster than Sergeant especially at the extended trot. (Belle always was a trotting harness horse. Why walk when you can trot, right?) It was really fun.


After the herd has stomped in the snow everywhere.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Sunny, Warm and a day off!

Today, I had the day off. I have been subbing alot lately, so it was nice to try and get over my cold. Belle and I had a nice ride. Rascal kept following me around, so I put her up on my shoulder and she had a real ride. She was ok for most of it, but did not appreciate Belle's extended trot. We stopped and let her down, but she kept following and yelling at us.

Here is a shot of our shadow. From left to right, Belle's head, my head, my phone, Rascal.


Trying to take a picture of a cat sitting on your shoulder is not really as easy as it sounds. I can't actually see the screen until I head into the house, so out of ten pics, these two were the best.

The ground is pretty sloppy right now. Everything is melting. The ponies are starting to shed out, which is really good because Belle was warm when we started. My seat is improving with all of the bareback riding we do. She just sweats too much undersaddle. (Bareback is also really good on aching calves. There is a reason that I was kicked out of Utah. I DON'T downhill ski. I can crosscountry just fine. Saturday, I was reminded of this. It was really ugly. I could barely walk, but I could ride! Climbing off again, that hurt.) Today it is ice skating with the same church group. Religion should not be this painful.