Winter Trail Ride

Even though it is only November 16th and technically still fall it feels like winter, there is still snow on the ground and ice in the creeks.  We got the new heater out for the indoor but the sun was shining and most of the snow has melted so Karin took Magda, her brother, Kayla and herself on the 'death trails' with Hadassah, Jenis, Ayanna and Valiant. Valiant led the way.

 Ayanna sure looks pregnant in the picture below but her udder was not filled at all this morning. 

The overflow stays open but there was still a lot of ice around it. 

Studly is quick to check out the creek. 

 The horses are all careful sliding down the bank and stepping into the creek except sometimes Hadassah decides to jump into the creek. 

Magda would love to set up cross rails and start Hadassah jumping. 

 Jenis and Ayanna crossed carefully. That white to the left of the picture is ice. The creek was still frozen solid along the left bank and both Valiant and Hadassah slipped when they stepped up on it. Karin thought the ice would just break under Valiant's hoof but it was still so thick it didn't break at all.. Jenis and Ayanna were careful and did not slip.

After they crossed the creek I went on back to the barn and cleaned stalls and prepared one stall for Ayanna if she ever does start to develop a bag.  The indoor arena was also watered well just in case tomorrow is warmer.  Today we took Josiah and Joshua, one at a time, for a walk around the field. Both colts are doing very well with leading. Yesterday we took Knight King so all 3 colts were given a good refresher.
This afternoon Karin and I went to mom's to work on the puzzle. Phil and Anna went out to eat to celebrate their anniversary and let the girls come here where they made some beautiful cards for their parents.
Mike went to Middle Grove to put in bales and reported Zalena isn't doing well and has lost weight.  Zalena is 20 years old, we need to bring her home and get her on something with more calories. I don't like mares going into a winter thin.  I took the picture below of Zalena about 3 weeks ago and didn't think she looked too bad then.

That same day I snapped one of my favorite pictures of Soul. She had just come up from the lake getting a drink. She had some mud on her hoofs but otherwise glowed in the sunshine. 

Soul is the dam of Knight King, the Warlander colt that is now back for sale.  Soul is a purebred Andalusian mare with the mega hair.  When we were considering buying another brood mare we looked at all different breeds but decided on buying another Andalusian. When we found Soul we were thrilled to be able to buy her. Soul had Ripper, a 3 month old stud colt by her side so this was a 2/1 package deal.  She has gorgeous foals each year by our Friesian stallions. These Andalusian Friesian crosses have the best minds, amazing stamina, fantastic movement, and mega hair.  We always say, "it cost just as much to keep an ugly horse as a beautiful horse" so when we can get beauty AND brains in a breed we go for it.