Too much entertainment

Sunshine!

Fame is recovering well, even if she is a slimmer version of her old self.

I have been walking my large dog the last week, not without extra entertainment.

The first walk of the day has been in the morning before I drive to work, around 6.30 am.
At that time the horses still have not had their morning meal, so I have to move around quitely and lead my horse out from the stable in the dark.
Outside it is also completetly dark.
Coming out of the stable door on Wednesday morning, I walk out first, then my horse.
When I turn around to close the door after us Fame goes bananas at my side, stepping into the steel wheelbarrows standing at the side and turning them all over.
I can assure you all of the horses in the stable were now wide awake.
Turns out we had stepped into a party of two moose, standing right outside the door, munching away on the hay.
Party-party!
Scared by the noise from the wheelbarrows they fled by jumping in and out of the outdoors arenas, only to stop a bit further away and look at us.
*sigh*
I checked Fame over, but it seemed as if it had been more noise than anything that had hurt her, so we started our walk. In the opposite direction from the uninvited guests.
Suddenly she freezes again.
Turns out that there is a third moose, perched up on the snow heap at the short side of the arena,  eating on the hedge there.
Ok, not that direction either...

On Thursday, I was to ride Charlie, my daughter's pony,  and I had this super idea.
I could warm up Charlie on a short hack while ponying Fame.
They are good friends, so it should be ok, even if we had not tried it before.
I decided that maybe it was a good idea to put a saddle on, something I have scarcely done the last couple of months.
The halter rope would be too short, so I had to take the longe line - a nuisance really as it was far too long and I had to have several extra loops that I needed to keep un-entangled from the reins.
Anyway, after some initial confusion we straighten everybody out of the tangle and off we went.
Everything went just fine the first 10 minutes.
It was nice outside, not too cold and a beautiful full moon.
But.
I suppose you can guess what happened?
Suddenly a large, dark shadow materialised from the trees at the side of the path.
A moose, turning and walking towards us. Quite close too.
Oops.
Charlie has a slightly more sceptic view on mooses than Fame. He believes it is a good idea to walk home if one meets a moose. One cannot be too sure what happens.
So I just had to keep him under control, because if he turned I would entangle myself and Fame on the small path as the snow was quite deep beside it.
I steadied Charlie and started to tell the moose off in my deepest voice. Didn't mince my words either.
At least he stopped.
I tried to bark like a dog.
No reaction.
Barked like a larger dog.
The moose started to eat from the bushes, apparently enjoying the situation....hmm, wonder what she will try next???
Aaargh.
I could not turn, because then Charlie would have his suspisions confirmed, and also probably stress when turning. We just had to stand our ground.
I worked my mind hard to come up with some new interesting, scary sound to try out when the moose tires and turns around, leisurely walking off along the path. Not far though.
Time for a organised retreat.
Not much space to turn around, and neither of the horses really wanted to leave the path as the snow beside it was deep, but after some  pushing we manage to start on the way back - even with the right horse in the lead - hooray!
Charlie behaved well, some jogging to start with but he calmed down pretty quickly.

My parents were here this weekend, and they told a story about a 10 yo  in Sweden, when walking home from school suddenly met a pack of wolves.
They did not walk away, and he was very brave. He did not run, but picked up his cell phone and played some heavy rock, which did the trick!
I believe I have to download some music that creates an impact...any ideas?

On Sunday we had a lovely day, and I almost felt a tast of spring.
Lovely, lovely sunshine - and you could actually feel some warmth.
I rode Fame on a short and calm hack for the first time since she was sick, and we just had to stop to take a sun bath.
For the first time since autumn I rode without a jacket, only two pullovers.
Large improvements to -20C.

King of hunt is spending most of his time outdoors again