-8 degrees C

I was glad to see it hadn't snowed overnight for the first time since Thursday, so the car was clear of snow this morning and the driveway too. But when I went outside to scrape the ice off the car, I realized the temperature was lower than usual, in fact, I had to use all my strength to open the doors to the car, they were frozen shut. De-icing the car is something I do for my husband every morning. This morning there was ice both inside and out on the glass. Hm.

The snowplow had gone by as we were waking up, making sure there's a layer of salt on the roads. Thank you thank you Winterdienst!

I went to give the donkey her bucket of warm water and was very concerned that she might be frozen to the ground dead. But she's fine. The bad news was for the first time our outdoor lights aren't working, and it's pitch black at 7 AM. J told me to go check the fuses in the greenhouse, but the greenhouse doors are frozen shut and I don't want to break them. Wow, having lights in a barn is a luxury I never want to live without!

I tried to clean up poop but it's frozen to the ground. Untidy.

I prefer being cold to being hot, but I just checked the thermometer in the kitchen, where I am now, and it's only 62.6F. And the warmest room, our living room, is 66.2. I don't want to go searching for firewood so I lit some candles. I can't imagine what Winter would be like if there was ever the chance of losing power. Hopefully we'd wake up before we died in our sleep.

Over the snow-covered trees the rose-colored sky has blotted out the stars. Dawn is around 8 AM at latitude 51.

I've got two polarfleece shirts on, and my polarfleece riding breeches. I just made coffee (I'm not a coffee person really) so I should be very chatty soon.

Mercer has spent the last 4 days in the bathroom on the heated floor, only going outside for necessities. J called her something new today, "Fellkuegel." Furball. She lies with her legs tucked under her, invisible. Yesterday she had cabin fever and started running around the house playing soccer with me with her many balls, and attacking her cat tree cruelly.

I've got a large bucket of beet pulp soaking in hot water with added salt for Bellis, it should be ready soon. She brayed 4 times yesterday, she's not happy about the snow.

I'm getting excited about having a young grey Arabian horse. I keep mentally rehearsing what I'll do with him first, but I'm sure my plans will change as I discover what he knows. Did you already guess what I would do first? Start working on turning his tail from brown to white? *lol* Well, that and make an emergency call to my good hoof trimmer .....after taking "before" pictures of hooves. -8 degrees is going to be tough on a horse used to living in a barn, but I trust that my newish high-neck blanket will fit him.

I took some stills from the video of our first visit and realized again what a nice conformation he has - with its weak points like any horse, but some nice strengths too. (Pro: 7.7 inch cannon bones! Cons: One of the shortest hips I've ever seen, long back, and a tendency to carry his weight low and not on his topline.)



This is him staring at us again. When the girl lunged him for me, I was standing at the wall of the arena, and he kept staring at me the entire circle. I was like, "WHAT?!" and the girl said, "He just does that - he stares at people." It is an odd feeling, like, "Did I forget to wear pants?"



Focus - both of us. Needs bridle path.



Tiny hip. Wonderful neck.



Strange how the saddle is mostly behind the girth.




I originally called him "the little fatty" when I found him online, and asked S to specifically "Check out the little fatty for me" when she visited in September.

I might have felt more comfortable if my stirrups were let down 3 inches or so!




You must learn to stand still.




Not a delicate horse.




Hair is pouring out of his ears.

J will call tonight to make an offer and inquire about transport. We will be sure to include in the contract that if the horse shows any respiratory issues for the first 12 months, we can return him.