Winter Wonderland

Snowy apple tree

Yes, it is technically still autumn according to the calendar, but when you live in northern Minnesota winter comes early!  We have had snow on the ground since the end of October at the farm.  Seriously.  That's early even for us.  We have been lucky, however, to have calm winds and for the snow to have stayed where it fell - including gracing every nook, cranny, and tree branch with its sparkly splendor.  It is truly a winter wonderland, and what better way to enjoy it but to get out there and ride!

Jack, a.k.a Mr. Intense (he had dropped a stick at Red's feet hoping he or I would throw it for him)

Last Saturday (yep, bit behind on posting!) Gesa came over to ride with me.  I went over to get Red before she came.  We set off through the woods to the farm, only to be delayed by never-before-seen-horse-eating-monsters!  Jack had come to greet us at the barn, and so the four of us (Red, me, Kelso, & Jack) set off down the straightaway (actually a former runway for small planes) to the woods.

Winter Wonderland!

Dave has been gathering firewood with the tractor, so we had a cleared path to follow.  Red was happy & relaxed, having met me at the gate with a whinny, eager to do something.  Merrily we ride along the path, me ducking snow-laden branches to avoid the icy slide of wetness down the back of my neck.  All of a sudden, sheer panic!  What is that?  We must flee - NOW!  Red spun & bolted, which he hasn't done in a very, very long time.  Somehow I managed to stay on (thank you, sticky velcro suede bareback pad!) and get him to stop, reconsider his flight for the safety of the barn, and haltingly, nervously make our way back to confront the terrifying horse-eating monster on the trail.... The Tractor.

Terrifying Tractor blocking our way

Finally Red did approach the tractor (which he sees around the barnyard all the time) and Dave (who feeds him) and realized he was familiar with both objects.  Silly boy.  His heart beat finally became imperceptible again, and he came back into his right mind.  The tractor was disabled right over a wet, marshy area of the trail which has a culvert, meaning there was no good way around the tractor except to dismount and lead him past it on about 16" of snowy trail beside the drop-off to the marsh and the edge of the culvert.  I have seen too many legs sliced up by stepping into the edges of culverts to count.  Here's to hoping Red would be his normal self and follow my lead exactly, trusting me to keep him safe while asking him to shimmy along the side of the tractor when the expanse of white snow looked perfectly passable (though I knew the marshy ground beneath was not frozen solid - we got too much snow too early to freeze these soggy areas as they are being insulated by the blanket of snow instead - the northern conundrum of cold snow keeping the ground warm).  Success!  Red is a good boy and does exactly what I ask.  And luckily, not too far down the trail, there is a convenient tree stump to use for remounting.  I find mounting the bareback pad very difficult unless I have something quite tall to stand on, as it is so sticky that I can't slide a leg across it - the same quality which gives me such a secure ride once I'm mounted.  Everything comes with a compromise, I suppose!

Kelso leading the way

Jack stays with Dave, and Kelso, Red, and I make our way over to the farm, riding into the courtyard just as Gesa drives in.  I quickly get Rhio ready to ride, transferring the bareback pad over so that Gesa can ride in my saddle.  Partly this is trying to give her the best gear for riding (saddle vs. bareback pad) since she is riding a horse she is not used to riding and a saddle is more secure, but partly this is selfish since I know how much warmer I'll be sharing Rhio's body heat through the pad.

Gesa and Red out in the hayfield

We set off with Kelso in attendance, retracing Red's & my steps from his barn and again having to dismount to lead around the still-disabled tractor.  The boys are happy and easily directed around downed trees and into the woods to bushwhack around otherwise-impassable blockades of tangled, snowy trees.  The downside to all the gymnastic moves we & the horses make to maneuver through this snowy landscape is melting snow everywhere - the horse's faces, manes, necks, & rumps, as well as our thighs, become quickly moist then damp then outright wet with the melting snow.  We get brain freeze from the cold snow on our necks and faces.  And we grin, laugh, and quietly relish every moment spent out there in the beauty of the north woods.

Gesa, Red, and Kelso on the trails across the road

We finally admit we are getting a little cold, and head back to the barn.  Red & Rhio have worked hard trudging through the deep snow for several hours, and are dripping with melted snow, so they get covered in coolers with piles of hay to munch in stalls while we head inside to steaming mugs of tea and continued conversation.  After we all get dry, warm, and fed, Red & I head back to his barn and discover our way is now clear as Dave has evidently fixed the tractor, so we joyfully trot and canter along the tractor trail as the light fades.  Red is eagerly anticipating his dinner, and I am just plain old happy.

Looping around the back pasture

Heat Wave Tuesday!

You know what I love about January?  It is almost always sunny with blue, blue skies.  Sure, the temperature is often way below zero.  But the sun does shine!  And with the blanket of white to reflect the sun's rays, it is so bright & beautiful.  As luck would have it, today hit 30!  It was sunny but also windy, so it didn’t feel as warm as it could have.  I took advantage anyway, and spent the whole afternoon with the boys.

Rhio had first dibs, and we headed out to try the trails with Kelso & Killian tagging along.  Unfortunately, after multiple failed mounting attempts (I kept choosing crumbling snow banks to climb), I was finally aboard only to discover that the lane out to the trails really wasn’t at all passable.  I had hoped that someone had been snowmobiling out there enough to pack the snow down & get rid of the 3 – 4” thick crust of ice, but that wasn’t the case.  Well, then, on to Plan B: riding on the road.

This was a bit worrisome, as the snow packed on top of the gravel can be like a skating rink, and although I have hoof boots I could use, I don’t have any studs to put in them for traction.  So, we’d have to see how it was with bare hooves.  As long as we stayed to the very edge, it was ok.  The scant inch of fluffy snow from yesterday actually improved the footing quite a bit. 

Rhio was feeling pretty feisty and wanting to trot – this was great and he’s very smooth & comfy in the bareback pad.  However, I was using the Myler bit again and he didn’t seem happy with it at all.  As long as I had only very light contact, we were ok.  If I picked up a firmer contact or asked him to half-halt, slow down, or turn, I could immediately feel his back tense and feel resistance throughout his body.  Riding in the bareback pad makes me aware of smaller changes in his body, I think, but also lowers my confidence factor just a bit (I know this horse will buck – only rarely – but often enough that I never forget it!), so makes me less likely to maintain my own level of relaxation.  Of course, any tension I have he picks up on right away.  So it makes me wonder if I should go back to riding in the saddle, at least when we’re outside.  If I’m more confident, will he be more confident, too? 

We returned to the barn having had a nice, albeit very short, ride and his tension never developed into anything.

Cricket was next – today was the day to remove the sutures from his nose.  It’s healing great, and the sutures were already nice & loose (a good sign that they’re ready to come out.)  After suture removal, we took a little walk around the farm, visiting some of the other barnyard critters – like the goats & alpacas.  Cricket had to show off for them, trotting past their pen with his tail flying, neck arched, and doing his best Arab snort-and-breathe-at-the-same-time. (I don’t think they were particularly impressed.)  It’s a treat to see him all hyped up!

After turning them both out naked for a few hours of sunshine (they’ve been in their winter blankets pretty much 24/7 for weeks now), I headed over to Red’s barn (only a mile away) to take him out for a quick spin, too.  I stopped on my way to stomp down a bit of a path through the snow bank around the gate at the gravel pit so we could get in more easily.

Red was all jazzed up as well, and came out of the snow bank at the gate already in a trot.  We compromised on a medium-slow trot down the access road to the gravel pit, and eventually slowed to a walk so we could just enjoy the day.  The two bald eagles & the large flock of crows were once again annoyed at our disruption of their feast.  

There were lots of critter tracks in the powdery snow, and I noticed that the little prey animals make tracks directly across the road at pretty much a 90 degree angle, as if they are trying to cross the open space as quickly as possible.  We saw mostly rabbit & rodent tracks doing this.  The predator animals, though, seemed to use the plowed road as a thoroughfare, and their tracks would go right down the road.  We saw fox & coyote tracks for sure, and possibly wolf.  

These tracks I think might be wolf, as they are about 4 times as big as Kelso’s, although they don't really look it in the photo.   There is only 1 set, though, which makes me think it is a lone wolf broken off from the nearby Island Lake pack.  Or maybe it’s just my wishful thinking that they are wolf tracks at all! 

And I finally got a shot of the wing-prints that the crows leave (at least I think these would be crows – they don’t seem big enough to be the eagles). 

We returned to the barn for a brief session of fetch with the new farm dog, Jack, and then Kelso & I headed back to town happy & hungry.