Galloping Fun, Snow Days, and Biting Teeth

Remember my last post? Not sure if you noticed, but my cousin and I were sporting tank tops in the photos, because on the day they were taken (a week ago), it was a whopping 80+ degrees Fahrenheit. 

Today was a whopping 33 degrees and overnight, we got dumped with over 6 inches of snow. Most random winter ever. . . 

Photos from today.

Barn cat Gronemeyer

 Daisy had Saturday off because it was raining all day long. Sunday wasn't very pretty either, but it was at least not raining, just sort of misting a little, so I tacked her up to ride. In the stall, when I was brushing her flanks or just above her hocks, she would randomly kick out, like it was hurting her. I faintly remember this being a temporary issue in the past, so I just thought I'd take her out anyway to see how she was feeling and take it easy if necessary. I tacked her in a bareback pad, because it was cold out and... I didn't feel like changing into riding boots that fit in stirrups. ;) 

As expected, when asked for a trot, she very dramatically tossed her head and mane all around and threatened to buck, but from past experience I know this is just her attitude on a chilly day following a day off. We proceeded along on our ride, and heading back we galloped up the usual hill. It's not super steep, but it's long. I let her have her head to go as fast as she wanted, because she had so much pent up energy... we beat our previous record, recorded by the Cardio Trainer as 17.7mph, by going 18.1mph. I thought this was relatively fast, but when I looked it up, some horses gallop somewhere around almost 60mph...but... for a canter, I thought it was fast, and it was so fun! :) 

 Today Daisy also stayed in her stall mostly, because it was snowing all day and the driveway wasn't clear enough to ride really... So I thought I would do some mind games with her in her stall, which I had also done Sunday. I had her backing up, walking, standing still while I walked away, squaring up, etc, for pieces of horse treats. Unfortunately, when I attempted a carrot stretch with her, she'd apparently had enough of the working for treats situation, and she lunged at my hand and had it in her mouth before I knew it. She broke skin on one finger, and bit the other right in the joint. No serious injuries, but I felt foolish for hand feeding her when she was obviously not in a patient state of mind, and my fingers hurt a bit now. I think I need to seriously start feeding only with a bowl, at least for awhile, and in those situations.

Ah mares Daisy. I'm already praying that she keeps herself together without flying off the handle when I leave for Canada and she has two weeks off. *shudder*