We're Goin' for a Sleigh Ride!

A sleigh ride, for real? I thought these adventures were a thing of the past and something we just sang about when the holidays rolled around. Oh, not so my friends! Some folks up the street happen to raise and breed for large, beautiful work mules. They have a very handsome mammoth jack and some gorgeous work mares (not sure if they're shires or clydes dales, but I do know they are massive!).

Each winter, our neighbors hitch up their teams to some sleighs - complete with jingle bells - and invite friends to come join them in an old fashioned winter festivity. What a delight! I love our minis but I do have to say I get almost giddy when I'm around these massively majestic creatures. These animals are meant to do some hefty work and it's almost like they need to work to fulfill the measure of their creation. The energy you could feel was so invigorating!

As we took our turn going around the loop, the kids, along with their cousins, sang out with delightful gusto some familiar sleigh ride songs. "Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh (although ours had three). O're the fields we go, laughing all the way..." It takes on new meaning now!

The mule on the far side is the offspring of the mare that you see in the middle. These giants measure about 60+ hands, twice as tall as our little minis!

It's not just a thing of the past, thank goodness!

We are looking forward to this becoming a new annual tradition for our family. The simple joys that come from an old tradition of the past!