The Second Shift of Arabian Horses in the Snow

I have so many horses here and so little land I have to put them out in shifts. When they've been cooped up for this long you can bet they are having none of that . By the time we caught horses to put them in yesterday it was time for dinner, the next shift didn't get out until today.

Obviously it was more of the same. Again the younger horses hadn't ever seen snow or ice......let alone those dratted ice puddles......getting them out the the barn was a trick in itself.




Dave went and got Suede. He was full of himself enough he decided he was tough enough to take on that snow. Dave had his hands full with the little monster (now 3 year old stallion) wanting to stand on his hind legs or....better yet.......attack the snow by striking with both front feet at it. I'd have taken pictures if I hadn't had both my hands full with who else but Trouble.

Trouble lives in a shed row and has been looking at this snow for weeks. However looking at it and stepping on it are NOT the same thing. Trouble didn't even want to leave his stall. There was a little (and really only a little) ice in the walkway. Mostly it was just covered with dry grass to keep the matting from being slippery.


It didn't matter, Trouble did NOT want to leave his stall. When I finally did get the horse out he wouldn't walk the pathway. I ended up turning him in the other direction and taking the long way around. Why that should work, don't ask me......but it did.

Dave was the one this time having to wait for me to arrive. So he was wrestling with Suede in the field trying to get him to stand still as I tried to get Trouble to go through the gate. Again Trouble would not budge! He planted both feet and stood there snorting at the little bit of mud right on the gate's threshold.



I finally had Dave turn Suede loose thinking that maybe just maybe seeing the other horse play would inspire poor Trouble to gain some courage. That didn't work either and I wanted to get pictures of Suede in the snow before he ran out of steam so I gave Trouble to Dave so I could get my camera.

By the time I returned, Dave and Lindsay together had convinced Trouble to go through the gate, I think the silly horse jumped the mud only to slip in the snow. The, of course, he was quite indignant and rearing to go. Dave turned him loose and I snapped as many pics as I could.

After the fact I found that black bay Trouble against the dark trees made for only a shadow of a horse in my pictures. There's a lot I have to learn about this camera before I'm going to get the kind of pictures I want.



Getting the rest of that shift of horses out was more of the same. Most hadn't experienced the snow before so there was lots of snorting and blowing, tails over their backs......the works. Half way through Dave pooped out and went into the house to put a heating pad on his back.

After the fiasco with the goofy mares yesterday, I decided to only turn out two today. That means I have one more shift (tomorrow) to get the final seven horses out but it worked much better with only two mares.

Those two were Dancer and Echo. One is now three and the other is five. They aren't particularly buddies but they do live in the same barn. It took them a bit to get things figured out and once Echo realized that Dancer was in charge, they did pretty well.



The biggest boob of the bunch about the snow was Dandy. Can you Adam and Eve it? (that's for Steve LOL) The oldest horse on the place. He's seen snow several times. Lindsay took he blanket off and opened his door leaving him to exit on his own. The horse just stood there.

During the twenty minutes that I was putting horses out he didn't budge one inch. The horse just stood there with his head down, inside the stall, sniffing at the dreaded snow outside.

So once I was done with the others, I went and grabbed Dandy by the mane. Normally that's all it takes to get the horse to follow me.......but not today. It was no dice, the horse did not want to go outside. I ended up tapping him on the hip with the end of the lead and the horse went but begrudgingly. He stop where I turned him loose and wouldn't move. He spent most of his time outside standing in front of his stall because I'd closed the door so he couldn't go back inside. Go figure!

The one advantage to Dandy standing still was he WAS the easiest horse to photograph! I had plenty of time to fiddle with the camera to get things right. That's as right as I get at this point....Can't you tell by the look on his face, poor boy is saying, "Mom, What in the heck are ya doin' ta me?"

The horses had a great time playing in the snow once they got over their fear of it. There was the same bucking and kicking........of and some f*rting thrown in. It was really fun watching them and, of course, snapping more pictures. I can't wait until tomorrow when the final group gets out. Then maybe we can get down to some sane behavior and get them all out in one day. That would be great because another storm is coming!

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