DAY 114, 115, 116, 117 & 118 - More Chilling & A Short Ride

Tuesday, "day 114," arg. I really don't remember all of the details..

Wednesday, "day 115," I do remember, because we finally went out for a ride! I had been looking at the backyard, and the snow is not too deep, and not too crusty with ice. I was pretty sure he'd be fine walking around back there, and as long as the path to the back got some sand, we'd be able to get there. Walking up the driveway, at this point, would be foolish.. it's covered in ice.

The temp was probably around 30, and though the sun was covered by clouds, it was fairly bright. I got going early, taking care of the barn chores, then around noon, I got ready to ride. I lugged the saddle, pads and girth up out of the basement, put on my paddock boots, and brought the breast plate out to the barn. I brought him into the stall and gave him a good grooming. He started out testy, as usual, but settled down very quickly. I could tell he was ready to do something!

I got the saddle on and tightened the girth very slowly, in increments. Then I bridled him, and off we went to the tree stump in the paddock. I took my time with everything. Jennie drove by on her way to Dad's to do her house cleaning gig, and we waved. I let Possum stand and watch her as she parked her car his driveway and got out with her things. Then, we walked over to the stump, and I rolled down the stirrups and tightened up the girth one last time. He stood still while I mounted, but as soon as I sat down, he began to walk off. Woah, I said... then we walked around the paddock for a bit. I could feel his back was a bit tense. We circled around a few times, and stopped, then walked. I wanted to make sure I had his head in the right place before we left the paddock.

Then, we walked out of the gate and took a sharp right to go around the house to the back yard. He was getting a little excited, but he kept walking, and we went down the back path and looped back up the center. At one point, he started to move like he wanted to bolt.. not sure what instigated that, but I turned him in a circle and said woah, and he settled back down. We walked around the snowy back yard for a few minutes, and I knew that was kind of hard work for him, so I used that to my advantage to calm him down.

Then we walked up the secondary driveway to the road, and turned left.. but I saw that it was too risky to walk down hill with the patches of ice, so we turned right and happily headed up the other way. We got past the barking Newfoundlands with only a few eyeballing moments, then walked past Sadie the German Shepard in the garage, and then past Big Mack, who was sunning himself down by his turn out shed. He whinnied as we walked by.

Checking out the view in the field across from Lenny's

We walked down past Lenny's a little bit, and stopped at the top of the hill to check out the view and look for other horses, then we turned back and walked into the big field across from Lenny's. A lot of snow has melted along the edges, and we walked along that for a while at the top. Then we walked through the middle in the snow again, back to the road, and back up to Mack's paddock. We walked through the snow to the fence, then walked all the way around the fence to say hi to Mack. Mack came up to the fence, and I let them touch noses a few times, then we walked back up the fence line and around the barn and back to the road.

We walked past our driveway, then back to the back yard the way we came. We walked around there for a while again, working on a few circles and halts. Towards the very end of the ride, I asked him to trot back up hill. In the snow, his trot is much higher and bouncier, because he has to lift his feet higher through the snow! It's funny.

Ooh, this makes a great tree to scratch my neck on.

We got back to the driveway, and headed back to the stall. We had been out almost a whole hour, and he was super happy, I could tell. I was, too. Felt good to get him out doing something! He got brushed down and back to the paddock with fresh hay. All was good.

Thursday, "day 116," the weather wasn't so great, and the temps got colder. I didn't do much with him that day.

Friday, "day 117," another cold morning, and the paddock is all hard with packed snow and ice. Luckily, he spreads his hay out all around, so there are some safe spots to stand and hang. Donna and I took our walk in the morning, but left the horses at home. Then that afternoon, Don and I went off to North Conway to take a stab at some Christmas shopping. Possum was left with a bunch of hay, a clean stall and a full bucket of water. We got back around 5, and he was hanging in his stall, patiently waiting for his dinner.

Today, "day 118," is Saturday, and I have a gig tonight. It's sunny, but very cold, around 25-28 I guess. I've just finished cleaning the frozen poops out of the frozen paddock, and I think I'm just going to groom him a little later and shower him with some loving. That's probably it for today.