Thanks Strangechilde and Little Dragon, I have re-rendered the ground a couple more times (yup, remembering the sleigh rails) but the angle and alignment and the fact that I still have to 'bury' (ya, I can't spell;-) the hooves and rails just isn't working for me. Looks like the 'inner shadow and a couple other filters are going to have to do it....spent all afternoon looking for the old tutorial that I just can't remember (had to do with making footprints in the sand on a beach) and came up empty and blank....well, time to improvise! Thanks for the ideas!