Horses out !! That dreaded middle of the night phone call. Last week, the police called around 11:00 to tell me 6 horses were down on the road.. so I jumped out of bed, grabbed coat, boots, mittens, bucket of grain and a couple of halters and walked down to the road. It was snowing/sleeting lightly so I could at least see the many hoof prints and follow the direction of their foray. The prints led up into the woods—back to the area from whence they came. No way could I go searching in the woods with pajamas on in the night—so I returned home to wait to see if I got another call or at least would find in the morning – the horses had gone back to their round bale and all I would have to do is repair the “leak” . Snuggled back under the covers—I could not revisit any semblance of sleep.. I merely waited for the next call—which came around 1:00. A neighbor called to say the horses were headed down the tar road—uh-oh.. I decided to take my car this time—grain bucket and halters/leads already by the door… out fast and furious. Hoofprints revealed the worst. The horses had made their way down the highway- Rats !! The late hour meant very little traffic thank goodness. I found them about 2 miles down, turning back home.. what a bunch of pukes. Another mile or so and they would have been enjoying a take out order at McDonald’s !! I parked the car on the side of the highway- left the flashers on and the car running with the heat on. Jiggled the grain bucket—and they came running. Haltered one of them knowing the rest would follow and began the slow trek home. By this time the horses were tired, heads hanging in contrition – and irritatingly slow moving. Their fun was over. All I could think of was—I’d like to get home with all of them before the storm worsened.. as I still had to walk back for my car. I put all the horses in the round pen for the rest of the night (by this time there was little left of it) and headed back for my car. Well, God was watching and he had had his laugh.. so it was time for some intervention. Another neighbor drove by (what he was doing out at this hour ? who cares… this is perfect) and drove me to my car… He did not mention anything about my pajamas.. maybe he did not notice my outfit of muck boots, grungy coat and star designed flannel jammies. Pajamas in public are at the top of the list of fashion faux pax in the world of “What Not To Wear” but to any serious horsewoman- our night wear is Haute Couture.

I am pretty tired and cranky at this point, but it’s nearly time to get up anyway. No amount of caffeine is going to help this situation. Well, I am grateful that the brunt of the storm held off until we were all home safely—then the snows came heavily and covered all evidence of my horses’ night out on the town.

The two new curly colts were out most of the day 2 days ago. The sun was out and it warmed up nicely as compared to the VERY chilly preceding days. As we were busy around the barn working a few horses in the indoor, I noticed that OYY Jockomo did not stop moving once. He loves to run. The 2 mares drew their "enemy" lines at first, Sassie camped out to the north, Tippy to the south of the round pen. The foals kept meeting in the middle thinking about playing but their Moms kept giving that subtle signal-- not yet boys, maybe when you are a little older.

In between lessons, my daughter talked me into a trail ride even though I had wood to stack. I thought about it for a minute and decided... my RAC goals were-- RIDE. However, once we got to the trail we chose to ride-- we discovered, the extra snow and the high winds we had experienced on the previous day, our trail, once so nicely packed down, was obliterated. The horses worked hard and every few steps fell through the crust. Is this what it is like to ride a camel? What generally takes us 30 minutes to turn this trail took over an hour and we did not even do the entire loop because the horses were tired and it was a challenge to stay in the saddle with all that walk, sink, walk, sink motion. This is a tad frustrating, the dirt roads are slick, the trails are impossible right now... in a previous post-- I was lamenting my need for sun and measured strides-- let me add.. I crave a brisk trot in the woods ! Yesterday, winter dumped another many inches of snow, then rain all day. Back to freezing-- what a mess. I suppose it won't be that much longer and we will have mud to whine about ! :)

Enjoy your day ~