Forget the groundhog!

Ok, I know Phil the groundhog saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter but my horses say different. I have been away in Chicago again for a few days and upon my return found the boys to be crusted in yummy grey mud. After the cruddy week we had my hubby decided to leave the boys out while I was away since the temps were in the 40's.
I really know that he was just avoiding handling Harley who plays with him since he is the unruly teenager at our house. Harley has a great game that he likes to play when it is time to come in. First he will charge across the pasture up to the gate at full speed then when you approach him he will whirl around and run full speed away. My husband will have no part of this play routine, he justs chucks the hay over the fence and tells Harley to enjoy his evening outside. Tank secretly snickers from the warm soft confines of his stall, he thinks Harley is a loon.

Today I attacked the mud and to my surprise the boys are shedding!
Yes, shedding. Not just a little, I mean fur flying tumbleweeds in my barn. Of course we are supposed to plummet back into the teens again tonight and have wind chills of 20 below tomorrow. So..... back on go the blankets tonight and the ground will be frozen tomorrow again....
At least Harley has a knot free mane again and I know spring is around the corner, because after all horses don't lie........

The road continued..

Well I thought I would finish the story of the horses in my life and leave you with a few more pictures of them as well.

This is Splashdance when I first got her. She was in need of a few pounds but she turned out to be a great lady. She became the mount of a little girl that was mentally retarded and her owner still contacts me to this day praising this mare. The next horse was Magic, he was a grey appaloosa gelding. He turned out to be a cold backed not so magic horse for me. We parted ways quickly as I could not afford to get hurt and he was beyond my training abilities. Next came Sierra, a lovely palomino mare that unfortunately I was never able to get my hands on her papers. She came to me as an unbroke and I mean not even halter broke 3 year old. In fact my friend who gave her to me had to rope her and tie her to the saddle horn of another horse to load her in the trailer. Sierra was a good mount and I rode her across the state of Florida on the cracker trail ride and all over various other states. She stayed with me nine years. I sold her only because she was the type of mare that needed to be ridden regularly or else. When I finally got pregnant with my first boy it was clear I did not have the time to devote to her. She lives just down the road from me now and the little girl that has her loves her and rides the hair off of her.

This is Sierra and me in the Jack's fork river down at Emininence Mo on the cross country trail ride.

Next horse was Tank my wonder boy. Yes he still resides with me and probably will until his last breath. What can I say about this boy except that he is my "one" horse. I can take him absolutely anywhere and do anything with him and count on him to be a perfect gentleman. All who have ridden him will tell you he is the best! Next came Casey, can't even remember her registered name...... she was a paint filly I bought to halter but she ended up with knee problems. She had huge knees that were growing way to fast for her age, she became a broodmare. Next was a detour from the norm, I bought a Fjord horse. For those of you who don't know what they are , they come from Norway and are amazing little horses. They resemble miniture draft horses and are the sweetest most gentle creatures. I bought Copycat thinking my boys could ride him eventually. Unfortunately Fjords live on air and I could not keep the weight of him and worried he would founder on me. He was as tall as he was round and comfortable to ride. I sold him to a therapy riding program in PA and he is doing just wonderful there.

At long last comes Harley my newest horse and hopefully one I will keep for a while to come. He was a green four year old when I bought him and we are coming along each day.

Well, that sums them up . Maybe I can find some pictures of the missing ones somewhere in that creepy basement another day.

Happy trails...

Mud Boys!`

Tank thought he needed a mud facial yesterday.

Well since we are on picture day. Check out my beauties from yesterday.

It got up to 45 degrees and all the ice melted into mud and the boys had a blast playing pig! So much for Harley's mane being knot free and beautiful, I see a date with the shop vac in his near future.