Thursday, February 4, 2010

It Is All Wet



To All,

    It is very cold, wet and muddy here in north Idaho.  It rains, then freezes, then rains again and freezes.  The horses are muddy.  But they are happy and looking forward to spring once more.  I will be restarting Lila under saddle soon, just as soon as the ground is not so treacherous.  But I wanted to share  two very bad pictures of Chief here. Chief is wet here.  He is muddy here.  I am leading him back to his stall from the paddock where he spends a few hours daily.  We are taking the round about way to get back to his stall because I wanted to make his leading skills stronger.  One way to do that is to lead him through some difficult footing and allow him to solve the problem of how to cross that footing.  Here I am leading him through a mix of ice, slush and mud.  The footing is slick.  Yet even so, he led nicely through it and on a loose line all the time.  He only asked that I allow him to study his footing.   Of course, I respected his desire to think where he was going to put his feet.  Actually he is better at crossing ice than I am.  I slipped.  Chief did not.  When I slipped he stayed calm.   Chief also stops quietly for the slightest pressure from the lead line.  Now if I can just figure out how to attack the pictures of Chief you will be able to see them.

Thank you.  

Sincerely,

Penny Johnson

curlies.wpjohnson.net

   

4 comments:

  1. Great post, Penny! I can see you are getting the hang of the blog, good for you. It is so hard working when there is difficult footing. Here in MI, we have a nice snow base, but the round pen can get slick after a few rains and with use. Nice to see you have some grass! =]

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  2. Well Izzy ,
    That is a might fine looking colt you have there. Do you know with you hat tipped down like that we can't not see your smiling face!!!
    I wish I we had a little less snow here. I was out and brushed down 6 horses today and my arms are tired. Looks like you have everything under control their so have a great day;
    Harold

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  3. Hello Harold,
    I wish we lived closer. You could teach me a thing or two about how to ride. The hat is down because I was muttering at the ice and the slick mud. Take care and say "hello" to Mrs. Fairchild for me.
    Sincerely,
    Penny

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  4. Very nice Penny! Negotiating that rain/freeze/rain can be a challenge and it appears you both did quite well...hay, he's got four to help keep him balanced...one goes and there's three to keep him steady!:~) Happy to hear that he stood calm for your slip...and hope that you are OK!

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