Frigid

The Arctic Returns

Funny how when you learn something as a child how it comes back to you. As I was typing "Arctic" the very old lesson of remembering the "C" after the "R" flooded into my brain. There are dozens of words like that I remember from old spelling lessons. And all this after teaching English for over 38 years with my own methods and techniques.

Regardless of the "C,"  the bitter cold weather has returned, coming in on some strong winds yesterday after a fairly mild morning.  We still did not have enough snow melt to create a huge ice problem, so the Boys are able to be out.  I did see them trotting out to the pasture yesterday and everyone looked sound, so that's good.

Ah, yes, Scott came the other day. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to get through the narrow plowed section of my driveway, so he backed in the end by the mailbox.  Then he carried his tools in to take off both Toby's and Tucker's shoes.  For Tucker, this is just temporary.  As I found out last winter, he is one of those horses who need shoes to stay sound.  I am keeping a close eye on him as I don't want him to bruise his feet this year.  As long as we have this snow, I think he will be OK.  As for Toby--this is kind of a test. If he has no trouble barefoot, I will probably keep him that way. He does not get ridden much and the trails around here have pretty good footing so he may be fine.  But again, I will watch him carefully. He has been a really sound horse for the 19 years I've owned him and I don't want to start giving him problems now.

I did notice that the one place where the ice could be a problem--Chance's packed down, well worn path from his side of the barn to the other Boys' side, is completely covered with a layer of manure.  This makes for good traction and no top layer of ice.  Now, I have to wonder, could this be deliberate?  I certainly didn't spread any manure along that path.  Could it be that the horses themselves...or even just Chance did it on purpose?  The entire path is covered, exactly as if it had been done intentionally.

I honestly can believe it.  Horses are much more intelligent about things than we realize. Kaybe they have their own methods for coping with winter's tricky footing.

If so, it was a good idea.