Snow Ride, Take 1 Didn't Exactly Happen...

So the day before New Year's Eve, Chelsea and I had planned to go for our first real snow ride of the year (squeeeeee!).  :D

We got out to the barn and found that Ed had added a section onto one side of it, separate from the one the horses have always had available to go in.  Now all of them can fit into the barn at one time and get out of the snow.  The three female horses were in the original part of the barn, and we could see Woody and Orion in the other part, through the cracks between the boards.

I had just set my saddle and things down when I heard someone start throwing kicks on the other side of the wall.  Orion never challenges Woody because he knows he'll get the crap beat out of him, and he almost never stands up for himself.  I grabbed O's halter and lead off it's hook and ran out of the barn to get around to their side.  I could hear Orion squealing because Woody had him cornered and was just wailing on him over and over again. Orion was afraid to go around him and according to Chels, he only threw a couple of kicks at Woody in defense.  By the time I got almost to their part of the barn, Woody was trotting out, looking all proud of himself.  I saw Orion stick his head out and look around and start to walk toward me, limping.

D:

Woody stopped his victory trot halfway between us, and Orion stopped and looked at him.  He was afraid to walk past him thanks to the beating he'd just taken, so I chased Woody off.  I know it's just herd dynamics.  Woody's at the top. Orion's at the bottom.  But I have never been so angry at a horse in my life!

Orion limped his way over to me and proceeded to be extremely affectionate the entire time I was there.  He had a couple slightly swollen places on his left hind leg, so we didn't ride.  It was a TLC/play day instead.  I tried to get him to move around a bit while I was there to loosen him up a little because he was walking very stiffly.

We were out there for around four hours, and it was the best day I've had for a long time.  I loved every minute of it, aside from hearing Orion being hurt and not being able to do anything.  (No one other than Kit was allowed near him the rest of the time I was out there.)

We didn't really do any real work.  I did get him to follow me around without a lead, which was really more just play than work.  I ran around and zigzagged and switched direction a lot just to see if he'd keep up and stay with me, and he did the whole time.  He was extremely soft and in tune to everything I did, which was awesome to see!