Presence

Today the high was twelve, but that and the two hours of sunlight we had were enough to clear the main roads and start to dry out the parking lots. It's supposed to be upper 30's tomorrow, so we will see if the snow begins to subluxate (evaporate without melting). Of course, that will be just in time for another storm on Saturday.

I went to the barn any way. I figured I needed to do some bags for Ashke's wet feed, plus if the indoor was relatively warm I would ride him for a little while. Not hard, but enough to get him loose again. I know the cold weather makes his old injuries ache.

The indoor was warm and there was a rider in there already. We greeted each other and she asked me if I was going to ride. I said yes and that I would be back very soon. I went to the barn and pulled Ashke out of the stall to groom. He seemed pretty happy to see me, but after about five minutes in the grooming stall he was shaking and shivering. I tossed the BOT blanket over him after putting the saddle on and led him to the indoor.

He was still shivering in the indoor. And he got snorty at the blanket hanging over the rail by the gate. The woman riding her huge TB Eventing horse, stopped and said, "He has such presence." He really does. He looks pretty magnificent. He just radiates personality.

We did a couple of circuits at the walk and it felt as though I was sitting of a humped rail. He finally loosened up enough that he was able to walk out and relax. I spent 40 minutes walking, intersperced with some slow jog. We practiced trotting sideways across the arena in both directions, turns on the haunches at a walk, getting bend via neck reining, but I didn't pull out anything to practice with. It was enough to get him limber and warm without him being hot.

Back in his stall, I gave him another wet mash (TC Senior), scooped his stall, washed out his water buckets and freed them of all ice, then refilled them with fresh water. I upped his hay by a flake of grass, added to the last feeding, so he can munch for a couple of hours over night. I don't want him to feel cold and grass hay is a great option. Then I went in and made two weeks worth of new bags. I cut back on the amount of grass pellets he is getting, and increased the amount of TC Senior in the supplement bags. When I was done with that I cleaned my saddle. It was a productive couple of hours.