[haflingerfriends] Riding in the snow (was: Re: Marilyn & Dawn - thanks for both articles/posts!!)

Lovely, Kerstin! Thank you for sharing those photos and videos. The woman who owns the property where I live and have my horses is Swedish, and I adore her. We are very good friends. She's very active in the Swedish community and I've met so many of her friends. I also get to hear the language a lot, which I really enjoy hearing. Boy, now I know why she lives in California!

Take care!

Sue Holland
Shadow Hills, CA

--- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "kiolak" <kiolak@...> wrote:
>
> That was fun Kerstin! Thank you for taking us on the ride.
> I have to tell you, I love your language... so beautiful and melodic. Hearing your voice during the ride was a treat.
>
> Your Haffiefriend,
> ~Kiola~
> Brier, WA
> (no snow at all here, just rain and MUD)
>
> --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "kerstin_dreborg" <mb173801@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Marilyn,
> >
> > many Swedes nowadays DO indeed have access to covered arenas, my neighbours for example! :-) I don't use their riding hall though. I just ride out into the sparkling snow - it's absolutely wonderful, but for safety reasons I prefer to ride only when someone is here who'd miss me if the horse comes home alone ... Right now it's getting warmer, we're up to only about -10* Celsius, but we've had temperatures down to about -20* Celsius lately (wich means sub zero Fahrenheit).
> >
> > I especially like to start young horses when it's snowy outside, because IF you do fall off, the ground is so soft :-)
> >
> > This is a pic of my mom's young mare Knappekullas Cassiopeia, which I took when riding her for the first time ever. She's the coolest pony in the universe! http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/Christmas2009/20100102003.jpg
> >
> > And here's another "between the ears pic" from Christmas Eve 2009 when I rode my stallion Eldfuxens Wacker. He was walking so fast that his (dirty) mane was "blowing": http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/Christmas2009/Christmas_eve_2009004.jpg
> >
> > Riding in the snow is so nice. What is not so nice is if there's a lot of ice. But galloping over a snow covered field or on an "untouched" snowy path in the forest beats just about anything.
> >
> > What is also a bit annoying is when there's a lot of snow (especially with drifts) like last November, when we got several feet of snow in only two days. This may not look so bad http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/snowstorm010_liten.jpg but look closely at the barn and especially at the door, and you'll see how we had to dig through the snow drift to get into the barn. There was much more snow day 2, but then I didn't make any pics because I had a gastric flu (had to shovel anyway ... :-( )In this pic http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/snowstorm013_liten.jpg you can see how we had to dig through the drift to get the horses out into their paddock. On day 2 our neighbour's phone line broke and fell into the mare's paddock, so we had to move them down to the paddock where our then newly gelding Waradero used to stay, and poor Waradero was put into the paddock we keep for sick horses that have to be separated from the rest of the herd. The snow there was so deep he could only walk into the paddock and turn around! So he stayed in more or less the same spot all day, poor horse.
> >
> > Bonus picture of my house in the snow (before the real snowfall started ;-) http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/snowstorm009_liten.jpg
> >
> > From last winter I can also share these movies:
> >
> > http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/?action=view&current=training14march2009040.flv
> >
> > http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/?action=view&current=training14march2009041.flv
> >
> > http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z248/eldfuxen/?action=view&current=training14march2009042.flv
> >
> > In the last video, my little stallion has realized that I'm riding one handed, so he can run FAST he he. Ignore the horse's dirty mane and the silly girl (=me) speaking swedish to the horse ;-) )
> >
> > I hope you enjoyed "the ride" and didn't get too sea-sick! Ha ha.
> >
> > Best wishes from (snowy and cold) Sweden
> >
> > Kerstin
> >
> > --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, Marilyn Mitchell <marilynmitchell61@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, Kerstin,
> > >
> > > Is riding pretty much off-limits in Sweden in the winter, or do many people own/have access to covered arenas? Perhaps you just get out and do it like Denny in Canada. :)
> > >
> > > I'm in California and so am very spoiled. It rains and the ground gets mucky, but nothing like I experienced in Washington state when I lived there. It rained and rained and rained and rained and rained in the winter. Then the weather changed and we got even more rain. :) (Prior to that we got a little snow.)
> > >
> > > The fields were deep with mud. We could ride on asphalt, of course. Sometimes we even rode in the muddy fields. (I wonder how hard that is on a horse's joints and tendons. Just imagine the suction.)
> > >
> > > Marilyn
> >
>

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