back in action

The weather has finally cooled down! I hope it stays that way . . .we are ready for winter! Shyloh has been preparing for winter for quite a while now. . . 

This was just the beginning. . .

And with winter brings sledding! We did a lot of sledding last year and really got some good training in. I am not sure why I am so much more comfortable in a sled than in a cart. Shy seems much more comfortable with it, too. 

It has been cool enough to go out back and not get swarmed by various species of hateful, flying bugs. I had walked Shy back there a couple times, but never all the way around. She seemed totally fine with being out there, plus she was totally surrounded by soy beans. 

I put the harness on Shy for the first time in a couple weeks. I grabbed her purple sled and loaded it up with bags of sawdust pellets, probably 80-100 lbs. I took it real slow with her and led her at her head so she could get used to the weight. Shy was perfectly fine with it. I led her out back and over the creek, then took the lines and asked Shy to walk on. 

In perfect Shy fashion, we had a little argument and Shy somehow ended up all tangled in the traces with the sled in front of her. Grrr. Good thing I kept the lead rope with us! I was able to tie her to something in the back and fix her. Then we tried again. This time was better, but Shy did manage to step over the trace and spent half the time around the field with the trace between her hind legs. She didn't care, so I didn't care. 

Shy was fabulous! I think this is what she needs. Harder work. More weight. Open field. Maybe she needs to plow? Maybe she needs more of a purpose? I don't know. . .but I am going to look into getting s sled or stone boat for us to use. I think Shy will do good with something like that. . . That is how I plan to spend our winter and hopefully it will prepare us for next spring and we will be ready for some wheels!

I had wrote this a week or so ago (I am trying to save some stories while I am not able to make it to the barn cause of my internship). Today's trip out back proved very different from this one. . .stay tuned!