Snow Ball

Yesterday afternoon, I loaded my iPod with happy songs and went out to play horsey. I decided to snag Smokey and walk him down to the big pasture. (Once again, they've been avoiding going down there since it snowed.)

I had him on the 45' but we used between 12'-22' reliably. It was good desensitization for him to see it dragging around in the snow - he took more than one hard look at it! I haven't played with Smokey in quite a while and overall I was pleased at how willing he was to do as I asked.

We did have a moment when Guinness & Cody galloped around him and then raced back up the hill to the barn. Smokey did a "bye, I'm out of here" move and I convinced him to yield his hiney instead. After than, he was sweet as a lamb with his head lowered. I released him part-way up the hill, since it was getting really hard for me to trudge up it with him (the drifts are pushing 3' high).

Once I returned to the barn, I spent some undemanding time with the horses as I located, uncovered, and rolled 2 barrels across the pasture and then out into our parking area. This got Guinness really curious and wanting to play. (He was fantasizing that he was herding me along with the barrel..)

I fetched Sierra's big blue ball from my basement and tossed it into the field. The photo above is him saying, "Look what I found!" And here is a little video of what he did with the ball. (I don't know why he tries to lay down on it.)



At the end of a long day.