Perfect snow

Just like I squinted at last week's greenness (our lawn), today I squinted at the blueness of the sky. It was remarkable. My man got up at 8 and said, "There's a nickering horse outside."

So I got up and saw the golden sunrise and it was so pretty!

After I fed my horse, I noticed the sun stretching across our floors in long golden beams. I was exhilerated. What shall we do today!

I packed the saddlebags full of what is left of the Christmas cookies, some marzipan, and my pockets with sliced carrots and Werther's Originals (caramel hard candy that Baasha and I both love).

Sunshine. Amazing! It made the snow golden, and the trees brilliant.

We carefully made our way up our street, and then onto "High Street", the main drag that has a nicely plowed sidewalk.









But "High Street"'s sidewalk was so icy today! We walked at a snail's pace. Baasha hates to slip, and so do I. But I had to stop and take pics from time to time.









And drink some of my tea. My glasses are all foggy.










As I was preparing for this ride, I packed a sportpack bottle of water, and then I realized that it's really freakin cold out there, and I would not be enjoying a cold drink. So I had the brilliant idea of bringing a travel mug of tea, and sticking that in my saddle pack. It worked.

Except that it was new to Baasha, my lovely American travel mug, and he wanted to bump it with his nose, spilling hot water down my chin. Ahhhh1!~!~!111!!!





We passed the Pony Party, and a group of horses who live behind the only other wooden fence in our entire city.










Pretty fences are rare in the entire country - in all my time and travels here, I can count on one hand the fences I've seen that are attractive.









I love that big grey one. He looks like a bigger, smoother version of Baasha.











In the woods, looking up from the trail, the sky was so blue. I kept stopping to take pics, and since I was still on foot, Baasha would get impatient and walk around me in a circle. Until I realized how irritating that was, and put a stop to it. While navigating the snowy trails, I needed him to give me more space than usual.







The holly looked cool, and Baasha took a sample.


When I finally got on, he wanted to spring into a trot right away. Perhaps this behavior comes from years of mostly trotting? I got sick of asking him to walk normally, so I just gathered my reins and lay my calves on his sides. He collected and got all grouchy about it, growling in frustration. May as well redirect that forward energy.






It made for a pretty shadow on the snow.








Doesn't this trail look inviting? It was just perfect, soft fluffy snow, level underneath, no ice. I was so glad to be out there!









I think Baasha was glad to be out too.











After a while I let him go and see if he'll walk normally, but it took a long time. He just wants to hustle. He's not jigging, he's just walking as fast as physically possible, and I want to be careful with him after all this cabin fever.







I got off and walked some more and took more pics and we explored new trails. Can you find Baasha in this picture?









I'd never seen this particular lake before. It looked frozen solid, with a dusting of snow on it. Baasha was not impressed, but paused for pictures anyway.






We took so many dead ends, it was frustrating, but I had to know where these trails went.

Finally I was tired of the backtracking and I couldn't feel my feet anymore, either walking or riding, so I decided it was time to go home. Baasha thought he knew where we were going and really got excited, but I picked a new way home and he got confused, and there it was, my first calm relaxed walk of the day. What a difference!






Then I started noticing little animal tracks in the snow. It looked to me like someone had taken his dog, cat, and mouse (squirrel?) for a walk. There were two people tracks ahead of us (only two people since Sunday's snow!), and these.












Now it's official - I must learn my animal tracks. I am fascinated by all the different tracks I see on our land, and so curious about our nighttime visitors.










The sun was blinding.








I decided to try to get more snow shadow pics.





We had one splendid little canter through the final field, I indulged him and it was a very slow, controlled canter. He came back right away and trotted his shuffly little trot.




He walked me through some snowy fir trees and I was a snow man for the rest of the ride. So was Baasha.

When I finally got home, our house was so warm, I didn't want to go out there again. It was -7 C outside. (19 F)