4 Good Things About Winter

Plus this face is too cute

I really hate winter. I always have. It's cold, it's ick, it goes on for way too long. That said, I try to always find positives. Here is my current list:

1. Courage and I have spent a lot of time bonding on the ground. He's learning to not just "toe the line", but actually understand what I want from him. It's not a bunch of formal training, but anytime I have to go empty water buckets or something, I drag him along. Or rather, I let him learn to respect my space and pay attention to my verbal cues and body language.

ouch

2. The nasty winter footing prevented any craziness, so Courage got to explore new horizons (ie get turned out in the big pastures) without the risk of running himself stupid. He actually did very well up until it thawed on Saturday.

Then he demonstrated that he is still the best at awesome in the pasture. No one saw it, but I so hope there was silly squeals and deer leaping. (No worries--aside from some missing hair, he's fine.)

even trying to grow a real tail

3. Courage put on more weight! He was gaining and filling out nicely anyways, but I think that the lack of structured exercise allowed his body to rest and reset a lot. He's about as fat as I want him, since I don't like obese horses, but he looks really good. I can't wait to start putting sport horse muscles on him now!

4. This is more just a subset of 3, but he looks more comfortable in his skin and more relaxed with his life. His headset is lower and he feels more settled, somehow. It's not that he was ever bad, but now he's being really, really good.

There's a chance that the arena/pastures will be good enough to ride in this week. My fingers are crossed and I'm bouncing around the office. As many good things as have come out of winter, I AM SO READY FOR SHIT TO GET REAL. Let's go, YEAR OF THE HORSE!!!