It ( yesterday ) had all the makings of a bad day.....I went out to feed, there was a lovely snowfall, and I thought it would be a good chance to do some "snowing on horses" shots...the mares were not at the barn yet, and if I bet them there, I could get some lovely shots of them coming down the trail.

Well, that did not pan out...they were at the corner of the pasture, in a spot they like to stand, I waited, and waited and waited, they never budged,  seemed food was not the first thing on their mind. So, I finished chores and headed back  in for breakfast. As I sat down to breakfast, I noticed they had made their way to the barn, those darn girls!

I am here alone, Mike had to go up to our business property north of here, and shovel roofs. Usually, these types of days are enjoyable for me,  you know...eat breakfast at 10am,  dinner at 3 pm, you know,  no set rules. I usually also get alot done, but for some reason yesterday, I just felt a little out of sorts. We were getting a very hard snowfall, the inches just piled up quickly. Going anywhere was out of the question, not only was this snowfall heavy, it was very, very slick. We drive a Subaru, and it does a good job, but pushing 8 inches of fresh, slick, snow, on a very steep driveway was alot to ask. We had tried that earlier in the week at the neighbors, with not good results.

So, I spent most of the afternoon sorting pics in my picture files. A whole years worth of taking pics, spring foals, summer showing, fall colors, winter shots, I needed some sorting done.

About 4 pm, I headed out to do chores. I took my camera, to see if I might possibly get a nice pic or two.

By this time, the heavy snow had turned to rain, and it was quickly melting the barn roofs,  melting them so the snow would slide off.
The mares were already at the barn, so I fed and sat down to listen to them crunch their dinner, it seems I have had little time lately, to enjoy feeding time, and with no one worried about dinner time, it seemed like the perfect time.
I no more got sat down, than I heard a big comotion. A big hunk of snow slid off the roof, the mares scrambled to avoid it and in the comotion, Izzy got cornered. She took the "easy route" she made an attempt to jump out of the corral, over the corral panels. It looked easy enough from a horses viewpoint, our deep snow made it appear that the panel was only a few feet high....BUT...when her front feet landed on the other side, there was not ground, but rather fluffy, slick snow. Her back end never made it over, and she was high centered...her front feet fought for traction, but there was no traction to be had. Her back feet, tried to climb the panel ( doable in dry weather ) but the icy rain made them so slick she could not get traction...and there I stood, with a 1000lb horse high centered. She was not only high centered front to back,  but the panel was between her back legs, and...the panel was higher than her flank, so her back feet hung helplessly off the ground..for a lack of better words,  she was STUCK !

I thought if I disconnected the panels, they might lay down enough to free her. The cold temps we had earlier, and the amount of snow made that impossible, the panels were not only buried under feet of snow, they were froze solid to the ground....I knew I would need much more muscle and more brain power to get Izzy out of this one.

I hurried to the house, and called 2 neighbors,  Alice and Larry live close and are always telling me..."if you ever need help"  ...at this moment, that was an understatement. I also called Shannon's house, she has 3 men, husband Clark and 2 sons. They have cattle and live not far....all the men were out of the house, but Shannon assured me she would get them there soon.

I flew back down to Izzy, poor girl, she was being SO good and not struggling...but, she was starting to get jello legs...her front legs started to tremble, I tried to calm her with my voice, and we waited for what seemed like forever....Alice and Larry arrived first, we attempted to disconnect the panels, but as you might imagine they were in a bind. James and Cody came next...by that time it was dark, and it made the whole rescue a bit tougher, one of the boys did have a flashlight. I have a huge barn light over that area, but it had burnt out last week, and we had not replaced the bulb yet.  Clark arrived next. With the four men, we could finally make progress. They dug and pulled and pounded and finally go the panels disconnected.  So, we had the panels loose, but patient Izzy was still very high centered....so gently the men pushed and pulled and scooted Izzy over. Several times she placed a foot wrong, each time Cody would gently lift her foot and put it where it was needed so they could proceed.

In less than one hour after she high centered, Izzy was free...she seemed no worse for wear, though I am sure she will feel it for a few days, she kept her cool, and was not cut or worse. If she had struggled, she easily could have broken a leg.  Clark lead her up to our arena for me, it was so slick out I knew I needed help with this part too. Izzy was perfectly happy to be away from all the "mean" mares, I put her in with Princess and Krinkles and Tyler. Krinkles might boss you around, but she does it only a look, never any violence from her, I knew Izzy would be OK in her hands. Everyone of us, horses included were soaked!  Larry and Alice had a hard time getting back out of our driveway, it was slicker than words.

I checked on Izzy a couple times, she seemed perfectly fine, this morning she was in good spirits, waiting for breakfast with the others.

I have a bit of a stiff neck and sore shoulder this morning.....I am sure I used some muscles that had not been used for a bit.. I don't care to repeat that predicament any time soon.