Cob Jockey

Today was the last day I'll see Connor for a while (story of this winter.)  If you're keeping score, we have 5" of snow on the ground now, we're expecting 6-10" plus sleet tomorrow, then it's going to get colder that I've ever felt in my life - literally.  Brutal winds, and a high of -8F and low of -14F Monday, more of the same Tuesday.  All of this is really unusual for this area.  Oh and more snow coming on Wednesday.

So Connor looks like this:

Marshmallow!

Seriously, can you overblanket a fully clipped horse when the wind chill is projected to be -30F?  That's 400g of fill, (he's been in 300g most of the winter) plus he'll get a 100g hood.  He runs hot anyway, I'm not worried about him staying warm with all that on.

His clip is really growing out.

Connor and I had SO MUCH FUN today, hacking along the treeline in the snow in his new quarter sheet. The snow is over his fetlocks everywhere and drifted in many places to be over his knees, and he was so forward, happy, and safe.  He loved it!  He was really pushing from behind and using himself in the deep snow (we just walked), and I felt him get tired on the way back to the barn.  What a good boy.  I didn't take any pictures - it was one of those times when you just want to enjoy the moment rather than capture it for posterity.

Now we're preparing to be snowed in.  The police have asked us not to leave our homes from the start of the storm through the end of the Winter Storm Warning.  Wow.  All this for an area whose snow usually melts within a couple of days of falling.

Scenes from today:

Instigator!

Getting up from a roll.

The first time I saw snow on his blanket like this I thought stuffing was coming out of it.  I'd cry.

Looks like sunset, but it was actually 10am.