It's COLD Pull Out the Gloves

Our furnace set back last night and by morning it was cold in the house but it was even colder outside with the thermostat reading 12 degrees. For some reason when I left for the walk I didn't think gloves were needed, but they were. We had such mild weather over the weekend that the gloves had all been put away.
Checking the horses this morning just one paddock will need hay but that can be put off until tomorrow afternoon.  I didn't need to leave the walk early this morning, one reason is that Bill Schick picked up the Berean mail yesterday and dropped it off at that office yesterday, and the other reason is Kathy Obergfel was bringing the Berean lunch today. That meant I could leave 15 minutes later. We had over 600 pieces of mail at that office waiting for us and thankfully had a lot of great volunteers come to help process all of that mail. If you would like to read about our day there click HERE.
We had to work into the afternoon to get everything done. On the way home I had to stop at Aldi for groceries and when I got home it took a while to carry everything in and put it away before heading out to the barn to finish cleaning the stalls. I had left them a mess since Friday and Saturday when the stalls were needed for the vet and farrier. Karin arrived after she got off work and rode Galena, Indy, Oksana and Zalena. She was just thrilled with Galena. Galena was relaxed and stretching down into the bit.

 She is finally rounding down correctly with the rear end doing the driving. 

 The next mare worked with was Indy. Karin was pretty thrilled with her too. Indy is now easily able to have a balanced canter and hold it for as long as Karin asks her to hold it. Last year she was just learning to canter and would fall in terribly. 

She is such a joy to ride. 

 Once Indy and Galena were taken out to the paddock Oksana and Zalena were brought inside. Oksana was a little rough in the beginning cantering to the right but once she relaxed both canter leads were smooth and balanced.  

Amazing to think how far this mare has come. She is just 5 years old. 

The last mare worked was Zalena.

Karin's work with Zalena is to teach her to be relaxed. She is 18 years old and thinks as soon as someone is riding her they want to canter so that's what she tries to do. Karin did a lot of bending using her soothing voice while she gave her lots of praises. It really is wonderful to see each mare's progress.  I got the arena watered and froze while doing that. More wood was brought in and the wood burner packed as full as I could get it. By the time Mark got home it was burning brightly heating up the place. Phil brought over the girls for the evening as he had a service call and Anna was at volley ball. He got back way to soon, we weren't done playing with them. No pictures because we were having way to much fun. Grandchildren are the best!