I’m feeling a bit of cabin fever today. This is our second day of a blizzard here in the midwest, and it really puts a damper on my mood. I did venture outside once, to feed the horses and make sure their water was thawed. I felt sorry enough for them to carry most of their hay into their run-in shed so they would have a little shelter from the wind while they were eating. It is cold.
Winter always serves as more of a “planning time” for the rest of the year, for me anyway. I pretty much hibernate and wait it out—I haven’t ridden a horse in months! I just really don’t enjoy going out and getting half-frozen anymore. When I was a kid, it didn’t matter so much to me; I would have died of frustration if my folks hadn’t let me go out and ride. When I was younger, winter was one of the best times of the year! Definitely the best time to train a horse, as the calving season in my dad’s cow herd was commencing, and that meant plenty of saddle time.
I remember clinging to the saddle horn and leaving navigation up to Old Chigger as we followed behind a herd of cattle on their way to cornstalks. My feet would feel like blocks of ice stuffed into the cowboy boots my mother insisted we wear. I’d be wrapped head to toe in coveralls (that was before the days of snowpants—these were those old dark green colored Key brand coveralls), a big puffy coat that the seed salesman had given us the spring before, my dad’s fuzzy yellow work gloves, and a scarf. Couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to, but atop that horse I was happy. I would have cried my eyes out if they had made me stay home from one of those big cattle drives, it didn’t matter how cold it was!
But that’s all changed. I dislike cold weather, and absolutely hate wearing snow clothes and uncomfortable boots. I can run outside and feed the livestock without too much inner whining, but staying out any longer than that depletes my willpower. Give me a book, or a computer, or a horse magazine, and I’m happy staying indoors when it’s cold.
I took a few photos today when I went out to feed. The blizzard is getting a slow start, but we already had plenty of snow on the ground, so it doesn’t take much to make it miserable out. The wind was whipping snowflakes parallel to the ground, and the horses were riled up from the bad weather. I took this photo of them eating their hay:
Here they are settling their differences….once one horse moves, it upsets the whole balance of who gets along with whom, and they have to all readjust. I mentioned before how Milo acts ornery to the black geldings, remember? Here he is laying his ears back at Genesis, even though Genesis is more dominant than he is. 
This is my tack room in winter…rather messy and bare. I haven’t touched these halters in three months! But I am planning a lot of horse work for the first sign of warmth here…can’t wait to ride again!
So…what to do with winter? Nothing. Skip ahead to spring!
