Northern Dancer

I have found an interesting documentary about Northern Dancer - Juliano's great-great-grandfather. It's very interesting how his owners and handlers keep saying that he was a celebrity, he demanded attention and was very naughty. Well, Juliano is the same way, simply has to be in the center of attention. Hmm, how interesting...

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2FrZY4mjL4&feature=related

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsgkXi-xXQ&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtpKHpRPTY&feature=related

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyIPD161unw&feature=related

Skijoring - test run

Wow, what a weekend it has been! We finally had time and good weather to try skijoring. It was amazing fun. As it was our first attempt at skijoring we've decided to go: horse, rider and skier behind. In the future we want to teach Dum and Juliano driving from zone 5 and loose the rider part - just ski or snowboard behind the horse. But this weekend we wanted to see if our horses can handle pulling someone both mentally and physically.

On Saturday I went snowboarding behind Dum and Adam went skiing behind Zawieja. Dum was on fire, he cantered very fast and was happy with his new job. Zawieja did also well but got tired. After we have finished I saddled up Juliano for Pawel. Juliano struggled as Pawel is quite heavy and I guess his weight and mine combined was a bit too much for poor Juliano. The good thing is J always expresses his disapproval for certain things and started tossing his head and bucking in canter. This was a sign for me to stop. I didn't push him and decided not to use him for skijoring until I have the right equipment and he can pull me alone.



Next day we took Dum, Eparol and a trotter called Lulek. You could tell Lulek was bread for the job, he trotted with ease through the snow with Justyna skiing behind him. I went for few spins behind Eparol and Dum. All the time we were skiing and snowboarding Juliano and Lama were watching us from the next paddock. Later I rode Juliano bareback in snowboarding boots which was also fun but a bit extreme, the good thing was Juliano didn't mind.

Justyna behind Lulek
Me behind Eparol
Juliano relaxes after a day of snow fun

I'm very happy with the way all the horses handled skijoring and although for Juliano it was a bit hard now I know he doesn't mind pulling something he just minds the weight. This weekend gave us a green light to try driving in the next couple of weeks. Just need to buy a breast collar from a driving harness and of we go skijoring again :)

Magical winter scenery

Trail ride in the snow - night version

Today I woke up at 6AM to discover that last night's snow fall was quite intense. I went outside and there was fresh powder up to my knees. After a while I dug myself out and could drive to the stables. When I got there Juliano was waiting to go out and was very happy about the snow. As I was leading Juliano and Dum J got so excited that he started biting Dum's tail to harry him to the paddock. And in the paddock... boys had so much fun. Dum covered his whole head while rolling, Juliano run and bucked. Pure snow fun!





This is Juliano running to me when he got scared - one of the highlights of the day, my horse runs to me for safety :)

I went back to the stables after dark to go with Magda for a hack. We love out winter, evening rides in the woods. The snow and the moon made the forest bright and magical. I've decided to ride bareback with a savvy string and it was an excellent choice. Juliano was amazing, calm, focused and so happy. To tell you the truth I can't think of anything better than cantering through snow covered woods, the only noise is the snorting of horses and the moon reflecting on snow is truly magical. I have never felt so much in harmony with Juliano - we went together and stopped together.

Trail ride in the snow

Here is a short film from our last walk in the woods :)

First snow

Thing are very slow with Juliano, we have nothing to do due to very cold weather. With temperatures falling below -10C the ground both outside and in the indoor arena is frozen solid. Maybe today's snow will bring us some relief and we will at least have a chance to turn our horses into the paddock safely. I really hope so because the energy in Juliano is building up. Over past few days as he couldn't move his feet much he found another way to exercise - he is more mouthy than ever. He picks things up from the ground like lead-ropes, rugs etc and plays with them. The excess energy now comes out in a form of extreme mouthiness.