DAY 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102 - 100 Days!

(I'm not sure if naming these blog posts by the number of days is 100% accurate.. I started the blog that way and now I feel compelled to keep naming the posts that way. Kind of silly. And now, back to the Adventures With Possum The Pinto.)

I did end up taking Possum out on the lead that Saturday afternoon ("day 97.") We wandered up and down and around the hill, but stayed on the dirt of the road as much as possible. We walked down the dirt to Donna's barn, and right through the aisle (past the chickens living in the other stall) and down to the gate of Big Mack's paddock. He was standing there, munching on hay, and we chatted for a while, about the weather, the quality of hay, and whether or not there were still any other horses left on the planet. Big Mack seemed doubtful, but Possum thinks that their might be... then he reminded Big Mack about the trail ride we took with Cooper in October. Ah yes, said Big Mack.

Mack and Possum chatting on Saturday.

When I got Possum back to the paddock and stall, he was very content. The next morning, Sunday ("day 98",) the snow in the paddock was annoying, packing into his hooves and making it difficult to get to the manure pile. I kept using the big snow scoop to pick up poops and drag them to the pile. A work out! I think I just gave him a grooming that day, and left him with plenty of hay and water before we went off to work for the afternoon.

Monday, ("day 99,") the temperature climbed up to spring-like numbers! It was such a tease! I cleaned the stall and paddock, cleaned and re-filled the water bucket, and was about to go shower when we lost power! Just on our road, of course. Possum was happy munching on hay in the middle of the paddock, and it was so mild, the snow was melting like mad. I had agreed to get picked up by Dad to go down to Falmouth for the afternoon to check out an apartment for him and meet with the marketing reps - I made myself as presentable as possible, then I led Possum into the stall and closed him in. He was all like, what? I left the windows open and the front door so he could look out, and piled on the hay and what was left of the water. The plan was to have Don let him back out as soon as the power went back on. Later I learned that it went back on as soon as Dad and I drove out of the driveway, so Possum was only cooped up in the stall for about 10 minutes all together. Don said that Possum was like, "what was all that about?"

I got back around 5 that night, and Possum was all mellow. The paddock was mushy. I was bummed that I missed opportunity to ride him on that warm afternoon, but that's life. He didn't seem to mind. The next day, Tuesday ("day 100!"), it began warm again, and I knew I had one more shot to get him out and ridden. I opted to run errands first, which included picking up two more bags of shavings at the lumber yard. There, I was chatting with the woman about the drastic weather changes, and she told me that one of her customers who owns horses told her that a couple of her horses had suffered colic - probably due to the extreme temperature changes. That is scary to hear. I made a mental note to keep an even closer eye on the Pinto.

By the time I was ready to get going with Possum, the temperature had dropped again. but it wasn't unbearable. After mucking out his paddock, I brought the saddle up from the basement, and he was agreeable about being haltered and led into the stall for grooming. He was ready to "do something!" My plan was to tack up and then mount him right from the stall and ride straight out of the big door to the driveway. I got a bar stool and brought into the stall, tightened up the girth, and climbed aboard. He was cool with all that.

I knew I had to keep him on the road and avoid the snow.. and so off we went, left down the road, past Dad's house, all the way down to Dr. Doyle's old place then back up New Road. We walked all the way down to Stan's Laughing Tree Farm, then I could see that the road was a bit icier there, so we turned and walked back. Well, we did sneak in a couple of nice trots on some of the better parts of the road. It felt good to get him out and moving! He was excellent, too! I was so proud. The complete opposite of one week earlier, when he was spooked out of his Pinto mind!

Coming back from Dr. Doyle's and past Micheal's property on Tuesday.

We got all the way back up to the top of the hill, then wandered down to the Dodge farm. We stopped and chatted with Donna in her driveway for a spell, then we walked down to visit Mack, taking the same route that we had taken on Saturday. Right through the barn aisle and down to the paddock gate. After our visit with Mack, we walked all the way down to Lenny's and as far as the pavement, then we just stopped and stood for a while.. enjoying the peaceful sounds and the late afternoon winter sun. (Okay, so I know it's not officially winter yet, but it sure is acting like winter round here!)

Hanging out in the sunshine before heading back.

Then it was time to head back, and I couldn't have been more pleased with our ride. Such a good pony, and I was so happy that he got to get out for such a nice long walk.

Wednesday, "day 101," back to freezing cold again. An inch or two of snow fell overnight, and by morning, it switched to rain, leaving a nice crunchy coat of ice everywhere... Paddock and home bound for the day, I made several visits to Possum through out the day. Later, he came into the stall and hung out, the steam rising off his body, drying off his coat. So cool. That night, I made him a bran mash and put some fresh shavings in his stall. So spoiled!

Thursday morning, "day 102," was walk day, and I was trying to decide if I would bring Possum along or not. I sent Donna a text saying that I was thinking about it, and so she said she'd bring Mack along, too. I caught Possum and brought him into the stall. Picked out the ice packed his front hooves, brushed his coat and tail. Donna and Mack came along and Possum got all excited. I put the chain over his nose.

The wind was fairly strong, and it was brrrrrr cold. Both horses were feeling very fresh. We started walking and had to keep steering the horses onto the parts of the road that had less ice. We managed to get them down the hill, but they were both acting pretty fresh. We stopped for a few minutes in the sunshine and debated going on.. but looking at the icy road ahead and holding on to our two horses who were acting like kites sealed our answer.. we were heading back and getting rid of the horses!

Oh boy, Possum was a handful on the walk back! Like a two- year old race horse going to the starting gate.. prancing up the hill sideways, standing on his hind legs, spinning around to stop and stare behind him.. "woah woah woah," I repeated over and over, resorting to jerking the chain over his nose several times to keep him from killing me, or at least hurting me badly. Donna was having a heck of a time herself with Mack, charging up the hill... ooh boy, that was not fun at all! We got our horses safely back to their paddocks and met up again and took our walk without them. We tried.