Hrimfara is now 3 weeks and 4 days old. I was going to wait until she was four weeks before writing up this progress report, but I’m doing it now because she’s easily four weeks old physically and mentally. If she were a human – and she’s not—she’d be in the top percentile in her age group.

Last night I remarked to Pete that I had no idea having a foal around would be so much fun. I was, prior to her birth, getting out for walks, mainly around the loop. However, Hrimmi’s arrival coincided with spring, so I’m now out on the trails.

Pete’s response was that neither of us gave much thought to what we’d do with a foal after she was born. I was so caught up in getting Hrimfari here that I could not envision life with Hrimfara. Added bonuses—Rainbow is now getting out on the trails every day – and Pete and I are spending more time together. We’ve been spending a lot of time on the place, working, but that’s not the same as going for hikes.

And so the walks continue. Last night’s four-mile hike up and down the bench was rigorous. Hrimmi had to do some creek and bog leapfrogging. She never hesitated when taking on these challenges, and in fact really seemed to enjoy herself, as did Signy.

I kept a close eye on Hrimmi last night, for I feared that we may have inadvertently asked her to do too much. It was business as usual. She laid down for a short bit, got up and nursed, frolicked about her pen, nursed again, then laid down again.

We did a more leisurely hike this morning. I took the camera, and so we had many more grazing and rest stops.

Signy, who constantly reminds us that she’s a lactating momma (this by the way is the title of a Loudon Wainwright III song), appreciated getting more grazing time. We did do one short bushwack. There was a small creek crossing – one that was tactically and water wise, a bit more difficult than last night’s. Pete lead Signy across, and then Hrimmi followed, stopping beforehand to give the matter some serious consideration. Signy, who has become increasingly more relaxed about such matters then nickered softly. Hrimmi then launched herself off the near bank, into the water, and in a single bound, popped up onto the far bank.

I had no idea a little foal could do all that this one is doing. Of course, I still fret about Hrimmi, mainly at night when I’m tired. It then occurs to me that she’s so very young – things can still go majorly wrong. But as Karen said to me when I articulated this—was that the birth, the most dangerous time in a mare and foal’s life—was now behind us.

There were no complications at all. In fact, we got a wonderfoal. It feels right to be training her the way we are training her, so we’ll continue to take her for walks. If there’s a down side to this, I’m not going to have much to write about in the future. People like to read about hardship, and there isn’t any here.

Repeatedly, I keep asking myself, how is it I got so lucky? Not just with the foal, but in all aspects of my life.

Next: 175. 06/1/12: Then and Now