12.30.2019

a walk on the wild side ~ day two

We have continued having unseasonably warm temperatures in December, some days have been over 55F!! I love nice weather just as much as anyone, but it is truly odd to not have Winter in Wisconsin. We have had so many warm days, that the frost is coming out of the ground. Northern WI does have snow, but not the lower half. Central WI had snow, it's since turned into a muddy rainy mess. Of course the season isn't over yet. My 87 year old mother assures me Winter will arrive. She is usually right.  

With all the sunshine, we have enjoyed many hikes on our property. It also prompted another walk on the wild side with Koda, just three days after our first one...


our trio relaxing early in the day
December 22, 2019
We headed out mid afternoon this time. Koda was a-snorting again, so I hung back with the two labs. I overheard Brad talking to Koda "you were just here..." it didn't seem to matter much. 


Brad pausing with Koda
Nemo took to running the pasture towards them, and that's when I saw Koda start to do the "hot feet dance". I quickly mentioned that was way too much energy for my wild eyed boy! I could see he was about to explode. So glad Brad listened, and decided not to continue walking the newly created trail that borders the lower pasture. Instead, he headed the other direction... 



a familiar place

I thought Brad was going to repeat the short wooded walk, and come out by our newly planted apple trees again - but he didn't. He chose to continue walking Koda along the looong narrow path that we created. Gulp! It borders our largest field and leads to/from our pines. The path border is old fencing on one side and a treeline on the other. Single file on a horse. We walk it frequently, but it doesn't have the best footing and needs more work. couldn't even see them, until they took the first turn that brings you out of the pines...

just out of our pine woods


they are further away then it looks

I stayed put with the dogs in the middle of the field. They love to race and dodge everywhere up and down all the paths. We will all walk them together eventually, and hopefully even ride them. Some day.

my tall shadow


walking the open area
around old fencing


coming back across our largest field

heading towards the pasture


it was total craziness after re-entering the pasture
(Koda, Harmony then Nemo) 

Below is a 24 second video of Koda releasing energy *after* several rounds of pasture antics...







3 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

It would be good to get all that energy out before the walk! Maybe then he wouldn't have "happy feet". Good to get him out and about anyway. He looks good though. Love your property, it looks like heaven.

Glad you're having warm temps. We've got rain today with another possible ice storm on the way later this week. I hope not after the last one, all the walkways were a death trap until they were cleared.

Shirley said...

We have a similar winter going on here. The frost has completely come out of the ground twice. Snow in the forecast for this week though, good- maybe Drifter will roll in it and clean some of the mud off!
Taking them for walks is a great thing. Sure they get a little fresh and looky but Brad is big enough to handle that. More walks! and can he pony Koda off one of the other horses?

aurora said...

Ha ha, yes - releasing energy before heading out on the trail would be ideal. Glad Koda kept his nerves in check throughout the walk. The heated moment was a bad scenario. We are grateful to be caretakers of our property, thanks for the kind words. Seeing land photos gives me new perspective that can easily taken for granted.

Shirley, our other horses are in a similar wide-eyed place as Koda. They all need to be re-exposed to different/changing elements. It would be so much better if we could take Nemo at the same time, but that leaves Harmony to stress alone. The old girl would run herself into a lather. When we get to that point, we will have to put her in the barn. I do like the idea of ponying one of them in the open areas.