Wandering through the Weekend

It was just last week that it looked like this outside! This week is supposed to be warmer and maybe that will mean that some of this ice is going to start melting. This is the first season since I have owned Lilly that we have not been able to find a decent place to ride. We are, for the first time ever, restricted in our movements. This past weekend the woods were still crusted with deep and icy snow, and the ring had become a skating rink!

This is Bill's little gizmo that measures windchill. Last week we had 40mph gusts and a windchill of minus 30. Now that's cold! This week should be better.

Even though the ice presented a challenge this past weekend, Christine, Jackie and I still made it to the farm both days. Here is my brumby on Saturday modeling a [small] pompadour.

It looks like that crack is growing out just fine. A few weeks ago Bill pulled Lilly's shoes off. This means Pokey is the only one in the herd with shoes on. What a darling, furry foot.

This is Bella's Saturday hair-do. Her forelock is about 80 times bigger than Lilly's! Bella is so charming to me. She's quite a handful, but she just needs someone to work with her. Which we could do if Mother Nature hadn't been so dastardly this past month! I told Bill if I had extra money for board, I would buy Bella.

On Saturday Bill was showing us this book he is currently reading. I will have to buy it on the iStore! I do love a good book.

Bella was being a bit fussy about having her feet picked up. She is quite the wiggle worm. You'd be surprised how wiggly a big ole horse like Bella can be.

We headed down the ring on Sunday. Bill was down there working the surface with the tractor so it was decent enough to walk around on. First Jackie headed down with Bella. By the time Christine and I got down there with Lilly and QTee, Bill was off the tractor and on Bella. When I saw Bill on Bella I thought: Uh-oh, Bella, you must have done something naughty enough to get Bill on your back. Sure enough, Jackie said Bella had taken off running in the ring as soon as she got on her! Well, that's happened to me before....and it wasn't on Bella either!

I am reading a book by John Lyons entitled Lyons on Horses. Lyons says that when you reach a point where you find yourself out of control, you simply go back to a place where you had control. That is your starting place. There's no shame in it, and you shouldn't force yourself to move away from it too quickly. (I always want to move too quickly) Lyons says a horse is always learning so we must be aware of what our actions are teaching him.

Is this photo too much? Snicker snicker! I took Lilly's temperature for the first time this weekend. She's not sick or anything; I have been reading a horse book that details how to measure your horse's heart rate and respiratory rate. It also mention temperature-taking. I figured if I get Lilly's healthy, normal vitals understood, then I will be in a better place when I think she's not feeling well. Also, if she's not feeling well, I'll be all jittery. So I am practicing now when everything is fine. She certainly didn't seem to mind this thermometer in her bum! But she did turn around and look at me a few times. I also counted her gulps when I offered her a bucket of water. 37 gulps!!

This is what I do to Getty when we come home from the farm. She gets on her puff for a nap and I pile all of her toys on top of her. Usually she is too exhausted to pull them off. She has been known to fall asleep under a mound of toys! Brandon thinks it is terrible that I do this. He cries, Poor dog!!! Get those toys off of her!! (hee hee) Don't you love that toy that looks like an pink iced donut? That is too funny!