playin' in the snow...

Last Saturday, friends - Kelli and Rick brought their little niece to the farm to see the horses. They had brought her here before, and I promised that when she came again - and if the weather was nice, we would either saddle or hitch Mocha for her.

Since the weather was so pretty, I decided to hitch Mocha to her cart and give them a ride.

I was pretty pleased with Mocha.. I haven't had her in cart since the Christmas parade last month. Actually I haven't done anything with her, and it was great to be able to throw the harness on her and just have her go.









I drove first and then asked Rick if he would like to take the rein.. course.. you know what he said to that offer!!!

I don't know if Rick thinks unhitching a mini or a draft is "worse". With the drafts, it's heavy harness being tossed over your head.. with mini's - it's sitting on the floor to be able to reach down... guess it could be a toss up....

Yesterday, the day was just as nice. When I got out of work and went to the farm, Sadie was there. She wanted to get Tonka out and take him for a little ride thru the snow. We haven't been on Tonka since last fall - though we were driving him - so it's been awhile since he was last under saddle.










but, he trodded right along and seemed pretty happy with all the attention!! Maybe it's the fact that these horses are finally at a "mature" age.. Tonka will be 12 (I think) this year and it seems like their "foolishness" is getting behind them.










Course, I wasn't about to let Sadie have all the fun, so I made her jump off - before Tonka got too hot - and took him around myself. I wasn't quite as brave at first, and chose to take him up and down the driveway at first (aren't we lucky to have such a nice long drive??)












But, I did venture out into the deep snow as well. It was fun.. we stayed at just the walk, because I don't know exactly what the "footing" was underneath... and working in that deep snow was a "work out" for the ol' boy.

Then, Ed pulled the tractor out and extended the "riding area" around the round pen. The footing there is great, and Tonka walked along as nice as could be.








What a fun afternoon... clear blue skies, temps in the thirty's and soft powder snow.. though from what we are hearing we are in for big changes tomorrow.. so this might be a "short" riding season just now...