We changed Rio's feed on Wednesday to Triple Crown Complete. I ran up to the feed store after work (they close at 6pm) and bought 2- 50 lb bags. Brenda has lent me her horse blanket and I am using that now as it is COLD outside (15 degrees as the high!).

We rode a bit in the arenda on Thursday and took the day off on Friday.

It was sunny and clear on Saturday, so we decided to change things up a bit and take a trail ride. We trailered the horses over to the Horseman's Camp at Alum Creek State Park. The gang at our barn thought we had lost our minds as the high temp for the day was forecasted to be 15 degrees. Yes, it was cold and yes, we had on about 10 layers. I had on four shirts, two pairs of long johns (and jeans), two pair of socks, ear warmers and my hat/ski mask combo..and my warmest gloves of course. It wasn't as bad as you would have thought, except for the part when we went over the Howard Road bridge...that was cold and very windy.

We rode for almost two hours. The last 15 minutes or so were the worst (cold-wise) as our fingers and toes were starting to get a bit chilly. Rio and Dancer were great as always...except for the 1/2 hour or so we spent trying to convince them to cross the icy creek. There was no way they were going over despite our best efforts. We tried everything in our trick bag, but to no avail. Later on down the trail, there was another (smaller) water crossing that posed no problem. We think it was the ice that made them worry. Normally, we would have stuck it out and tried everything we could to get them across...did I tell you how cold it was???