This message is from: "Norsk Wood Works" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
This message is from Phillip Odden in Northwestern Wisconsin.
Late this afternoon the temperature was 28 degrees with a stiff wind when I
finished my carving for the day and I hitched a green pair of fjords to the
wagon for a training drive. The wind blew leaves around the yard and under
their feet as they stood to be hitched. Cats and dogs romped beside the wagon,
frisky in the cool wind. Out in the pasture the rest of the herd were
prancing, kicking up their heals and racing from one fence line to the other
energized by the change in weather. The heavy hoof falls of the racing herd
were easy to hear on the stiffening ground. As I left the yard, snow flakes
filled the air briefly then subsided.
The young pair listened to my voice and responded to the lines. We had an
uneventful drive with plenty transitions up and down from walk trot whoa and
stand. After three or four miles of pulling the bumpy hay wagon with five to
six hundred pounds we unhitched and retired.
Later when the snow comes to stay we will pull sleighs, logs, and sleds and it
might be a little windy and it might be below zero. There might be a frozen
crust on the snow that makes noise like broken glass with each stride as the
sled runners break the ice covered snow in frozen slivers. There will be
plastic toboggans pulled behind the bob-sled seated with noisy children
throwing snow balls and yelling at the top of their lungs.
We will sleigh through the woods and the wind might blow the fresh soft snow
off the branches onto the wooly fjord backs. Grouse that borough under the
snow to keep warm on the coldest days may and will come rocketing out
underfoot. Deer glide through the trees, stop and look back then take off for
good. We might get stuck in a snow drift where their feet don't touch the
ground and they have to swim and make a few lunges to find firm ground. It can
happen and they can do it.
Here on our farm the fjord horses are family horses and they are show horses.
We do lots of things with them. They trust us and we trust them and expect
them to take us out and bring us home even if the wind blows and the
temperatures drop. That is one of the reasons we have fjord horses. If the
fjords I have can't do that, I don't want them.
Looking forward to winter fun, Phillip Odden
The FjordHorse List archives can be found at:
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