Barn Work Does Not = Ground Work

It's been an uneventful Christmas/New Years around Seven Hearts as we dealt with weeks alternating days of all-day rain then a sky full of clouds keeping everything a mess. Above freezing days the sop tried to suck off my boots. Days when it was colder, the rivets the horses' hooves had created were solid with ice making a walk to the barn similar to a walk on a stone field with jagged rocks at all angles.

Needless to say, no horses have been worked. As lucky as I know I am to have these horses, it is cruel to finally have Chris home from work with the kids extra days and NOT be able to ride. Cabin. Fever. Sucks. Today is the first day the sun has returned...

I felt like I had to do something with them yesterday since it was Whisper's 11th birthday. Grooming under artificial light in my dry barn is all I could do and she wasn't thrilled with that plan. She's also looking at everything for a reason to spook sending the other 2 into snorting fits as well, yes even my calm headed Spotlight. It's kind of ridiculous that a bird chirp can send Whisper from standing into a dead run (even if you are attached to the leadline attached to her face) and yet she lives with this flock on a daily basis.

Bandon hasn't benefited from the limited handling either, he's being more difficult than usual when it came time for me to start work at his poll. His bridle path has gotten to a length of about 3 inches and we've been working nightly on him letting me touch. As I started to do anything more than that, he fought hard. We ended on a good note, with nothing but a tiny chunk of hair cleaned up. I asked his former assistant trainer how they did it while he was at the track and she relayed that he was usually trimmed up while he was sedated for something else.

This is definitely going to be a work in progress.