I actually can’t believe my last post was way back in November.  Winter has shown up and how.  We have had snow weekly, since mid December,  mostly it was ice at first.  On the day Sparkle and Dotz came back from their trial, my driveway was a skating rink, I had to meet my friend 1/2 mile up my drive and walk the ponies home thru the woods.  Its seems to me, its been cold all of December,  we had a white Christmas,  and it was cold, Then after Christmas it got colder… so cold.  I always expect a dip into the negatives, in January,  but this dip started just after Christmas, and went right into the second week of January.  I swear, frozen water buckets are heavier than liquid water.  I got so frustrated with it I took hammers to my water buckets, it is a skill to hit the bucket just hard enough to break the ice, but not hard enough to break the bucket.  I learned to start high and work my way down.  It amazes me, how I get acclimated every year,  to the bitter cold,  but the weather is more temperate now, and I am so grateful. Another thing I am grateful for is the snow, each storm has been light fluffy snow, not heavy and wet.  The worst thing though, is having to get outside really early in order to get to work,  the last couple of winters have been mild, and I didn’t take into consideration, how much work the horses can be in the weather, when the ice was here, I had to creep along everywhere, then in the extreme cold, there was snow cover on the ice, that gave me traction,  now we have had some warmth, there is ice under the snow again, but the footing is trecherous, and it takes me longer to get everyone in and out, and get everyone fed, so I am late to work almost everyday.  I have adjusted my hours so my days are 2 hours shorter… just so I have time to get done in the morning, and get home early enough to not be in the barn at 7 at night.  I have to admit, going outside at 7:30 in the morning, when its 10 degrees below 0 sucks.  Its refreshing, but it sucks.  Also, somedays it seems as if the barn doesn’t want me to go to work, every day there is something out there falling down, the horses run thru the fence, chew the fence down, a door comes off the track, the water is frozen, the horses get out and eat all the morning hay…… its always something… and it always leads to time to hay…..