Spring is around the corner... I think.

Danger Will Robinson! Alert!

We've had some new additions to the farm over the last week or so... 50 head of beef cattle. Now, Riley and i have ridden through fields with Belted Galloways, one of our favorite places to ride (The Laurels) is directly next to an enormous dairy farm and our barn is across the street from a cow farm, but apparently he was very alarmed when I walked him up the driveway on Saturday and he saw the cows for the first time. *Keep in mind they were at least 100 yards away from the fence line. This was his face when we got to the top of the driveway. He must have made himself 18 hands tall and was just snorting and carrying on. Pretty funny. My general rule with scary things is that you are allowed to look and face the fear but not run away or act ridiculous. I brought him inside the barn and let him hang out in his stall where he could peek out his dutch door and check out the cows for awhile. I have never heard Riley snort at anything and he was so silly about the cows. We have so many animals there and we used to board at a place that was like Noah's Arc, complete with peacocks that would stand on the arena fence while you were riding, so he really has no excuse. But sometimes it's simply the fact that in their brains this thing was not here before, so naturally I should fear it.

Anyway, I was at the barn all day alone so I thought it was best not to take the risk of getting on him without someone else there and after he settled in I took him to our "ring" for a free-lunge session. He was pretty good, though lazy, and took advantage of the fact that I could hardly chase after him in the deep snow (cheeky). He even hopped over the jump a few times.

Prancy pants. Also, don't look at my miserable clip job.

Showing off. Little carousel pony.

I gave him a thorough grooming. I'm so glad I clipped him (even though it's been more annoying to deal with blankets etc since our weather won't figure itself out) because his rain rot is nearly all gone. I'm hoping this year that his new coat comes in a little nicer than last year when he had all these fuzzy baby hairs and then a bunch of longer guard hairs that never went away.

Oh in case you were wondering what it looked like at the top of the driveway when Riley stood at attention:

The sheep and lambs he is used to... but the cattle were on the move and that was a major problem:)

Sunday the weather was chillier and windy, but still above freezing so we decided to go for a hack. I have to say that the one nice thing about Riley being "up" because of the cows is that I got some really nice work out of him on the hack. We did a few trot sets and he found a contact that he was happy with and we just plugged along on the bit with a nice sweeping trot. Everything is so much easier when he's not stuck behind my leg! For those of you keeping track, he's still not shod... that's right, we've been trotting distances on asphalt and he feels great! I need to get new pictures for comparison of his feet. He may still need shoes once we get into more work, but for now he is happy as a clam.

Airplane ears, engaged. I hope those get us extra points in dressage. He gets very relaxed and happy!

We've had two solid days of temps in the high 60's and today's forecast is for rain tonight so I am really hoping that all the snow goes away. Sadly, the temps are supposed to drop overnight and tomorrow is going to be mid-20's and windy! Grrrrr. I really want to get him back in the Pessoa this weekend to see if we can work on some balance. I hope the footing dries up a little to make that happen. Sunday will be another hacking day for sure.

Sorry my posts have been wickedly boring... but at least there are photos!

Riley at the top of the hill in his field waiting for his entourage.

The snow sure is pretty, but I have had enough it, for at least another 10 months!