the equine pantry is overflowing

I went by the feed store today to see if any of my orders had come in. She had two of my new items, and I was so eager to get them I piled the bags in the car (it's raining, so the truck was not an option) and headed home to unpack the equine groceries.

The laundry room and feed room are stuffed to the gills.

In the laundry room right now I have beet pulp pellets, alfalfa pellets (finally found the pure ones, no animal fat added!), vitamin E soft gels, l-carnitine powder, coconut oil, and something new I'm giving after de-worming called Ration Plus.

In the feed room there are more alfalfa pellets, whole oats, steam-flaked oats, whole flax seed, my mineral/vitamin mix, rice bran, wheat bran, iodized salt, and Quiessence.

I'm still waiting for the timothy balance cubes on order.

I'm fairly organized with all this stuff but it is not what I'd call convenient - when I head out to feed, I have two gallon-sized iced tea pitchers (the kind with lids that have strainers so I can rinse, soak, and then drain the beet pulp pellets), a loaf pan that serves as a deep tray for the l-carnitine powder, the coconut oil liquefying in its warm water bath, and the Vitamin E soft gels. During the winter when there's not much green out in the fields I give chopped apples and carrots with dinner, so usually the colander holds those. Now I'll be adding a container of alfalfa pellets to that, as I want them to soak a little before feeding too.

In the feed room, I have two large cans, one medium, and a number of smaller ones, so that the various items can be stored safely. I use masking tape and a black marker to label everything, and I have a small table for the very small containers and for the actual mixing.

This week I'll be adding a scale to the feed room, and a grinder for the flax.

I actually love making feed tubs, but sometimes I wish I had a dedicated space out there that had all the amenities:

A big double country kitchen sink with hot and cold water.

A refrigerator.

Airtight pull-out bins with the right size stainless steel scoops in each one.

A big white board with multi-colored markers.

A nice big island with clear space for mixing.

A smaller counter with scales and grinder.

XM radio and access to my iTunes library.

A big overstuffed chair so I could sit down.

As long as I'm dreaming, let's add a washer and dryer over in the corner.

May as well throw in a stove/oven because who knows when I might need to heat up something.

All that would be nice, but I suppose the way it is now, with Salina and the donkeys lining up outside the door, Keil Bay doing his most musical whinny across the aisle, and the quiet patience of Cody and the pony keeping the balance, is really not to be topped.

The best thing about the equines who live here is that they are very enthusiastic about mealtime, hang out with me while I prepare the tubs, and then the reward, the real music, is listening to them eat, and knowing they're each getting something they love that's also good for them, individually.