It seemed a simple enough plan. On Friday, December 18, our last workday before the holiday, we were to have had a graduation ceremony for two youth from our Running with Mustangs curricula, and I was going to hop in the car after to go visit my husband, Richard, who is attending an Externship program at the Parelli Ranch in Florida. He’s been gone since mid-November, so I was very excited!

As many of you also no doubt experienced, a snowstorm hit our area that morning, culminating in over 15 inches of snow, quite unusual for us. Graduation and the trip to Florida were both quickly cancelled due to road conditions. Both myself and Chrissy, the Horse Sense intern living on site, lost power and our ability to use our “gator” to feed by Friday night, and did not regain power until Christmas Day (7 days!!!). Our phones were out for a good portion of the time as well. It was quite a challenging time to be responsible for 15 horses on 90 acres!

Carrying grain & hay to the pastures each day, feeding on foot from pasture to pasture, made for very simple, clear days: the two main activities for us was feeding the horses and stoking the fire. What usually takes 35-40 minutes each day for one person now took 2 people several hours.

It occurred to me at one point that many folks (myself included) have paid to have retreats like this, with no phones, no TV’s, just a fire in the fireplace and a good book or two for days on end!

What remained crystal-clear, both before the storm, during & now after, was that if we managed to get all the horses fed and accounted for, it was a good day. We had a great opportunity to count blessings and be grateful for all we had: healthy horses, plenty of firewood, a pantry of canned food & gravity-fed water.

We are slowly working our way back to normal here at Horse Sense. We have had to cancel clients for this first week due to icy roads on the farm, and are still experiencing some internet challenges, but for the most part all is well. Most importantly, the horses are all happy & healthy, as are we.

Hoping you had a warm, happy and gratitude-filled holiday, and wishing you a wonderful 2010!