Winter was truly beginning to set in, large drifts of white rolling across the open areas of the bay, helped along by an icy breeze. In the shaded recesses of the forest, vegetation could still be found by digging down a little but the herd would soon come to rely on the less appetising tundra plants. Soon they may even begin to strip the bark of the trees for the nutritious sap underneath. The food source was not a concern to the tall mare however. She was more corncerned about the cold and the predators.

Despite the thicker coat she sported, she was still not entirely used to the cold. Her winter coat was not nearly as impressive as most of her herd mates, bar Cut Up Angel who was likely to suffer from the same troubles. They were both desert bred horses with little suitability for the harsh cold of Tinuvel. CUA had already survived on winter in the bay which had always eased the tall mare's mind. From a breeding standpoint, CUA was the least well equipped to survive the cold yet she seemed to make it fine the last winter, even birthing a healthy foal in the spring. Rattlebone would ask her what her secret was. Remaining in the shelter of the forest and caves was serving her well in the meantime but she had to wonder how things might change when her pregnancy started to progress. While it was still far too early for her to start showing visually  and the foal would not start moving for some time, she had carried enough foals to know the early signs. Looking at most of the other mares, they too would be having foals come spring and must be a good bit further along than her. Soon, it seemed the foals of the bay would outnumber the adults which brought it's own set of problems; Predators.

While the vast majority of the wolves had moved up the mountain and shadowed the caribou, that did not mean they would not return for the slower pregnant mares at the end of winter and the young foals come spring. The pale mare had observed the caribou carefully and it seemed they would have a high number of young too which was encouraging, though morbid. It was the snow leopard they had to be more wary of the wolves. The kill Soljor had found was close enough to the herd yo be worrying but if they stuck together and remained vigilant  they should be fine. Cats were more likely to ambush a stragglers than attempt to attack a tight knit herd.

The tall mare had been keeping to the forest and sticking close to the herd so she did not have far to go when Soljor called. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure whoever was close to her was coming to, she made her way over to the small group. It did not surprise her that Magnus and Fly were already there, as the second and most likely the new boss mare, respectively, they were the most concerned by the main issues of the herd.

The pale mare issued a nicker to announce her presence, halting near a mare she had not met before. She remained silent for the moment, aware that Fly had been in the middle of speaking to the unnamed mare when she arrived.