Year of the Horse

Yes, yes, I realize that according to the Chinese Zodiac this is going to be the year of the Rabbit, but according to MY calender it's going to be the year of the horse. Not just the horse, the sound horse.

I can think of at least three other bloggers' horses, Gogo, Lilly, and Laz who had a really rough 2010. Then there's SolitaireMare who lost her beloved Rugby and her Monty in 2009. I'm sure there are more that had a horrible year.

2010 sucked for so many people, which can only mean that 2011 has to be great right?

So, welcome to 2011, Year of the Sound Horse!

In other horse related news, I finally have a new computer after having to start mine in Safe Mode for almost 5 months to even get it to turn on, it finally died during the flood. RIP dear Sony Viao, you served me well. We ran to Best Buy and the had a really nice computer with loads of memory and a fast processor for $399.00 The lady didn't know why it was so cheap, all she knew was they got 7 of them in, there was 1 left and it was only 11am. SO, I bought it. Gulp. (Note: Dear Denali please remain uninjured for at least two months-thanks, mom.) This means I no longer need to borrow my husbands to blog, or do work on (see which one I see as more important and mention first ;0)

Yesterday I had to work at the Giant Warmblood Barn. I don't know how you guys keep horses at your house. Especially if you keep horses in the Northern states. Brr. It's cold out!

 I had the fun task of breaking the ice off of 46 buckets. No, I'm serious. It was fun. Crow bar in had I went from horse to horse visiting and breaking off the ice if they had any and throwing it into my giant bucket. It was repetitive and soothing. Warm horse breath on my neck and bashing things. Two of my favorite things!
When I got to one of the new horses, I knew right away that something was wrong. Her owner or someone hadn't put the straps through her stable blanket and it fell off and looked like a giant bib. It had somehow got wrapped around her leg and she couldn't stand up or move.

I always get nervous around horses I don't know. Especially horses who are wrapped up in blankets and have a distressed look on their face. I knew I couldn't leave her like that so I grabbed her halter and put it on and told her to stand still. She let out a huge sigh, and it made me feel a little better, like she wasn't planning on killing me when she was free. I took the blankets off and bundled her back up in a different blanket and left her to her grain. She seemed happy to be free.

How do you stay warm in this weather?? I wore kitchen gloves (the kind you use when you wash dishes) when I did the buckets and my hands stayed pretty warm. I'm glad I had them.