winter?

we've had a very easy winter.  i'm not complaining, but i admit i kinda missed the excessive amounts of cold and snow.  i love the winter season, and yet, i'm still feeling happy about the coming of spring.... and then summer! which means riding again. we have typically given the horses the winter off, which has it's advantages and disadvantages alike.  the advantages are that we have the winter off too, though obviously we still feed daily. it's a time intensive labor of love to take care of, and enjoy, our horses.  it's a nice time to let the horses just be horses in the pasture without work. the disadvantages are that once you get out of the routine, it's definitely more difficult to pick it back up again. for humans AND horses!  getting the horses back into shape and reminding them who the leader of the herd is (ME not them!) takes time and patience. but the outcome is always worth it! i love learning about life from my relationship with them.