Today I actually experienced this phenomenon several times. I was working in my barn and would pop out to observe what the horses were up to and then back to the barn. Every time I came back in it took a couple of minutes to get my sight back.

We have an amazing amount of snow accumulation...well over 2 feet in a couple of weeks now of bad weather. We have been worried to let the horses out because they do not go to their waterer, maybe because of the snow drifts. So, we let them out for an hour or so and I rush out and muck so they can get back in quickly. Water is an important part of their healthy maintenance and especially warm water. We have surmised that they are eating snow and noticed they also eat less hay and instead, opt a backward stance to the wind. All of them standing motionless in a neat little clump, almost asleep, but not. My favorite part of the day is when they are all inside chomping happily
on their hay and drinking their warm water.
n.

Freedom to do as we please, when we please, within the confines of the law. Somehow "confines" and "freedom" clash. Our great Forefathers of this country, all brilliant minds, put together the most adequate example of how to run a democracy when they put to paper the Constitution of the United States of America. Don't you just love that word, "United", it always makes me feel a bucolic sense, that we, as a people are not alone. Right now I do not feel this way in our nation. I feel a lack of these freedoms we were granted. I feel decisions concerning this nation are being made in an Un-United way.

What do you think about this feeling? We need more brilliant citizens to come forward and help this ailing nation. Politics sucks but we've got to overcome and persevere in order to become the great nation we were meant to be.

n.

I hate to admit just how much I depend on this entire family. I have a few phobias and they have enabled me to go on with my life, relaxed, and not having to face them. Just the thought of my family going off in different directions has placed me into a slight panic mode. My son is going off to college in September and my daughter the next year, my husband is making some decisions himself. Ugh! I am praying that one of my daughters will attend a local college. I think I am experiencing Empty Nest Syndrome, this is what you experience before everyone splits the nest.

And, the issue of all these horses to attend to. Change is a tricky thing for many of us, especially if you are comfy, just the way things are. My stable hand has other full time jobs and in bad weather it is up to me to muck and haul in order to get the horses back inside. I know I can't handle things alone, for instance, just yesterday...I strolled on down to the barn to work and there was Elvis, my daughter's large Haflinger/pony running around on my side of the fence. Somehow he had escaped. Shock takes over because my instinct is to FREAK. Instead, I calmly call him into the barn, grab horse treats and show him he is about to indulge, if he will only follow me into a stall. I am all aglow, I can seduce a horse! I nearly dropped the entire bucket of treats, I am shaking so hard. I squeeze out the door, as his big head is bobbing about in the bucket...And, Aha! I slam shut the door with him safely inside. When a horse is lose, the gory scene from the movie "The Horse Whisperer" with Robert Redford, replays in my head.

Then I go back out to see if any other horse escaped. I count heads one thru six and all are on THEIR side of the fence. I was shaking so much I could barely dial my cell to reach my barn hand. We were trying to figure out how he escaped and we were thinking he climbed one of the 5' high snow drifts and hopped the fence. All the outdoor stall doors were seemingly closed, no gates ajar.

Well, I figured it all out while I was inside mucking. A wind gust blew open his stall door and out he trotted to his pasture. He just did it the other way around and the inside stall door had been left open. I am just so glad that no other horse followed him, as they often stick together. I was the only one home. Even my Old English Sheep herding dog disappeared mysteriously when he saw the horse on the wrong side of the fence. Coward!

It is bitterly cold here western NY. The dogs look at me like I am crazy when I ask them if they want to go out. I say to them, as if they understand, "Well, you aren't going to go in here!" So, out they trudge into the arctic, wind howling, snow flying every which way. My Golden loves to roll and roll to the amazement of the others who are quick to do their business. My young Yellow Lab who has the energy of a typical young breeding dog has the need to run, despite the weather and my Old English Sheepdog is always looking for work herding, he loves winter. We allow him his full thick coat for the winter and come summer we clip him to a cute short cut. You can't believe this is the same dog underneath all that hair. He can herd this Yellow Lab throughout eternity, throughout the yard, throughout the house...utter chaos sometimes. But, last night, as the wind howled and we all curled up in bed for warmth, it was a three dog night, no room to spare.

The horses are all inside the barn today with the windchill at a -24, even hardy horses struggle. The wind is unrelenting, we were hoping for a calming in the afternoon, but it never came. The hot water spigot froze up and I had to struggle getting warm water from a tiny bathroom sink to all seven horses. They slurped up the warm water before I could even hang them in the stall. On my way to the market (we live in the country, it's market here) I eyed all my fellow horse farms...not a horse in sight, they were all in. Sometimes you think you are being a wimp, especially with the sun shining, keeping a horse locked in a stall. Are we placing all our human necessities into our care of animals? Probably...if we could, we'd heat the barn, but it's not good for them, they overheat easily. Their seven bodies lined up in the barn today actually helped warm it up, even the water buckets didn't ice over.

So, as I was saying it was a three dog night last night and the extra warmth was appreciated by all. Hugs to you all and, oh, try to keep warm even in the balmy climates (envy of us all).
n.