Back in Pullman

Well, I made it back to school today after a very uneventful and laid back winter break. The record snows and rain in the Seattle area kept me inside and away from riding but three times during the three weeks I was home. My mom and I decided to try a snow ride on Jan. 3rd, which is actually pretty risky for us since our mare Starlett has some arthritis in her front legs that make her susceptible to falling and slipping quite easily, even when it's not cold out. Here is Starlett and my mom before heading out, as well as Mercy tracking some unidentified animal prints:
Miss Cedes, of course had to take it a step further and decided a dip in Lake Sawyer sounded like too much fun to pass up! Luckily, at the last minute she discovered the uneaten grass on the bank and decided that swimming in low 30* weather was not as good of a deal.

Then, on the 4th, we trailered over (I'll discuss this later, it is quite honestly a miracle that both horses now get in the trailer, together!) to a friends indoor arena. My mom rode Starlett for a while then let the a good friend ride her the rest of the time. Mercy and I worked mostly on bending and moving the hip and shoulders over in preparation for loping on the correct lead. Since the facility had some trail course obstacles available we tried the bridge. It was REALLY scary at first! Mercy decided that rushing one step over it and then diving off the side was the best way to finish this lesson. I disagreed. After working on slowing down both of our movements, she was successful! I think she was so proud of herself that she decided that standing on the bridge was more fun than just walking over it. What a pushover! :)

Our last ride was on Saturday. We just went for an exploratory ride, looking for storm damage on the trail to clear the next time I am home. We ran across a downed tree that was just too thick to cut with the mini saw we carry with us and had to turn around. Considering the record breaking storms we have had recently, I am surprised that was the only time we had to try another trail. We got a little loping in on our usual loping spots, but Mercy had quite a bit more energy than I wanted to deal with on our "relaxing ride," so we kept it at a walk the remained of the time. We had fun observing the ever changing forest, but it was wet and cold and I think we were all happy to get back home.

I am still planning on writing up a formal introduction, but it is going to take some time. So for now, I hope you enjoy these pictures I took outside of Colfax this afternoon as I was almost back to Pullman!