Taking a sleigh ride

This past month, Justin started a new job! 

One of our neighbors has work horses and does sleigh rides with them through the winter. 

He is busy logging right now, so he asked Justin if he would come take care of the horses each day and actually do the sleigh rides. 

Work with horses? Justin didn't need much convincing.

Justin goes over each morning for an hour or so, brushing the horses down, harnessing them up, exercising them, keeping the trail in good shape, and making sure things are all set up for the sleigh rides. 

Pigeon feet!

Pigeon wings

This is Ken, one of the horses Justin works with . He tends to be the calmer of the two, but he was worried about me. He kept a beady little eye on me the whole time I was there today. 

Curly Belgian legs. 

These are the logging horses, so they tend to do a bit more of the heavy work. 

Window sunlight and tack

The bridle 

These horses are not tiny!

Harnessing up requires quite a bit of gear. 

This picture cracks me up. I caught Justin just as he was lifting it up to slide onto Buck. But he looks like he is about to go into battle. 

First the red collar is put on, then the rest of the harness, with the hames sitting right on top of the collar. 

See? I know so many technical words now that I have watched this procedure once. 

Aren't they fancy?

Taking them out to hitch up to the sleigh

Hitching up

A horseshoe and a human shoe. 

The horses were just shod yesterday, so they had some fancy new shoes for the ride today.

Buck likes to make silly faces

Today's sleigh ride had been cancelled, due to the ice, lack of snow, and windy cold. 

We never had a January thaw, so it became a February thaw of two days and made a giant ice rink out of everything before getting back down to zero speedily.

So Jim told Justin to take us all out for a ride to get the horses exercised. 

We had the big sleigh. 

Excited kiddos!

Unfortunately, Hoyt was feeling sick, so Owen and Hoyt stayed home.  

Cody, reading Lily's book out loud just to bug her. 

Lily managed to remember a book (which she didn't have time to read, surprisingly), but left her gloves in the car. Hmm.....

Love the touches of red in their harnesses. 

Heading out

Into the woods

We had to stop a few times to pick up branches that had blown down in the crazy wind we have had for the past few days.

Our clever driver

Gilbert took the camera and took a few of Justin... 

....and me

On each sleigh ride, people can stop at the cabin and try out the skating/sliding pond. Justin tested the ice, just to be sure, since it was close to 50 for a day this week. 

The cabin that Owen built.

Abilene being too cool for words

It was a sweet and cozy little cabin

For a real sleigh ride, they come and start a fire in the woodstove an hour or so ahead of time so the cabin is toasty warm when the sleigh arrives. Then everyone warms up while playing games, reading books, making popcorn, and hot cocoa. Justin takes the team back to the barn and comes back to pick the people up after an hour or two, however long they want to hang out in the cabin, really. It is rather a charming set up!  

We all had fun sliding around! 

We didn't stay too long at the cabin, so Ken and Buck stood patiently for us while we took a quick look around.

Cutie patooties! 

The woods didn't melt as much as the fields, so we had good snow cover there!

Heading home

Unhitched

Walking to their stalls to be unharnessed

Aren't they beautiful horses? 

Ken, STILL not trusting me or my camera one little inch

Pigs hang out in the next section of the barn

After the horses get a good drink, some food, and a brushing down, Justin puts a light blanket on them so they don't cool off too quickly and he heads home. In a few hours, when they are all cooled down, Jim puts them back outside. 

It was fun to see what he does each morning and fun to get a chance of a sleigh ride!