Calm Before the Storm

We had a cold start this morning for our walk but it was sunny and stayed sunny most of the day. That made Mark happy as the solar system was cranking out kws.  We are expecting a snow storm to move in tonight and weather.com is predicting our area is going to get 6-8 inches.  Today was laundry day which needed to be done pretty desperately. This afternoon the arena was given a good soaking and then the hoses hung up in the stall barn to drain.  Karin and Rebekah arrived to work horses after work and were only able to get 4 of the 8 done today but those 4 got a really good work out. They brought Rosalie, Indy and Ayanna in first. Ayanna was just turned loose in the arena while the other two were tacked up. Ayanna was very curious about the camera and came to stick her nose right up into it.

 She grudgingly stood in the middle while Rebekah rode Indy and Karin rode Rosalie around her. 

Both Indy and Rosalie were given a good canter work out. Both mares are becoming very balanced in the canter and building up muscle.

Once these 2 were finished they were taken out and Oksana brought inside.  Rebekah tacked up Oksana while Karin rode Ayanna.

We couldn't be more pleased with these mares.  These are home bred mares and sisters all 4 sharing the same sire Raven. Indy is out of our full papered mare Ylse, Oksana is out of Eliza while Ayanna and Rosalie are both out of Lily. All 4 are truly gifts from God. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE. 

Jenis and Ira, the new Gypsy mare, are working out well together. There have been no squabbles and they are sharing the round bale just fine. They don't share grain buckets but neither mare is protective. We will need to have Ira sonagrammed when Dr. Hoerr comes on Feb 4th. Her past owners told me she was running with a young stud colt (another purebred Gypsy). They don't think he was old enough to breed and she was only 2 years old so they don't think she was old enough either.  They are probably right but we may as well make sure before we start our breeding season. 

This evening Mark put his car in the indoor arena and hooked the snow plow up to the skid steer to prepare for the snow storm.  The fire has been burning brightly in the living room wood burner all day and more wood will be brought in tonight for tomorrow's fire.  

My cousin Janet shared this photo of a Kingfisher on Facebook. I thought it was fascinating. We have Kingfisher's here and mom was always quick to point them out when they were diving for minnows.