The sun came out yesterday, and the winds died down, and horses and donkeys were quite happy to get out again. I ended up opening the front and back fields, spreading hay in both, and letting them march from one end to the other enjoying the nice weather.
It is not totally dry but the extreme mushiness is gone and we're back to the regular version. Hopefully today's full sun will continue the process of drying things out.
Yesterday afternoon we did an interesting thing. My daughter and son agreed to come up with meals for 3-4 days, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks, and do the shopping while I sat in the Starbucks with a Caffe Mocha.
I thought they would come back with questions, but they went through the store aisle by aisle, and ended up with a well-thought-out cart full of very good and healthy food. I was impressed.
Last night we had baked ham, mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, and a lovely salad. For dessert we dipped strawberries and butter cookies into melted chocolate. It was a wonderful way to transition back to colder nights. The horses are back in blankets and Salina is in her knee warmers. The wood stove is going, and I'll have to bundle up to feed breakfasts, but at least we have sunshine!
Last night I ordered a small mesh hay net for each stall. I'm hoping to keep horses stocked for the entire night, reduce mess and wastage of the loose hay, and keep them busy chewing. Best price for these nets is at Smith Brothers, if anyone needs one.
Good friend, writing mentor, and bold writer Peggy Payne has a birthday today. Go over and say happy birthday, and soak in some of her exuberance and boldness. One way she's celebrating her birthday this year is taking an apartment in NY for a month to write, an idea that makes my skin tingle with excitement. It's not something I could do at this point in my life, but isn't it grand that I'll get to anyway, vicariously, through Peggy?
I'm taking my bold full week of writing later this month, and I can't wait.
Today is full of laundry, feeding the wood stove, dashing to town for a lunch with H., and reminding myself to embrace the sunshine with each slightly less mushy step I take out at the barn.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Friday, January 09, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
assorted and sundry
We had sunshine this afternoon, lots of wind, reportedly a stunning double rainbow, and then a terrible hour of wind and rain that blew so hard and so steady I stood in the barn with the horses so I could deal with a crisis if one happened.
A lot of folks have had trees come down today, and I am never sure which is safer for the horses - pasture (with trees and electric lines and fences and blowing objects) or the barn, where they could be trapped if something fell in. Our vet says if the barn is solid, keep them in. I let the geldings have stall doors open, and I stood in with Salina and the donkeys.
They are all so good. The pony helped me hold the flashlight with his teeth. They stood quietly and the geldings watched the roaring wind out back. At one point, after dark, there was a big boom and the power went out. I had prepared for that by filling all the water buckets earlier, and I had the big flashlight. I discovered that I can hold the handle along with the rake handle while mucking, a sort of "muckrake headlight."
Fortunately the wind began to slow a bit and we had power back within two hours.
This was the odd light that came right before the dark skies, hardest wind, and rain blew in.
And while uploading that one, I found these from last week, that I'd forgotten all about. The stare down!
Salina modeling her new knee warmers. I highly recommend these - although a bit of an effort to get on and off, they are warm, can be easily doubled to make extra layers, and they stay where you put them w/o being too tight. They also wash and dry back to perfection. You can find them online by Googling Whinny Warmers.
And, more donkey play. Rafer likes to be the Boss Donkey. Redford seems to be just fine with it.
A lot of folks have had trees come down today, and I am never sure which is safer for the horses - pasture (with trees and electric lines and fences and blowing objects) or the barn, where they could be trapped if something fell in. Our vet says if the barn is solid, keep them in. I let the geldings have stall doors open, and I stood in with Salina and the donkeys.
They are all so good. The pony helped me hold the flashlight with his teeth. They stood quietly and the geldings watched the roaring wind out back. At one point, after dark, there was a big boom and the power went out. I had prepared for that by filling all the water buckets earlier, and I had the big flashlight. I discovered that I can hold the handle along with the rake handle while mucking, a sort of "muckrake headlight."
Fortunately the wind began to slow a bit and we had power back within two hours.
This was the odd light that came right before the dark skies, hardest wind, and rain blew in.
And while uploading that one, I found these from last week, that I'd forgotten all about. The stare down!
Salina modeling her new knee warmers. I highly recommend these - although a bit of an effort to get on and off, they are warm, can be easily doubled to make extra layers, and they stay where you put them w/o being too tight. They also wash and dry back to perfection. You can find them online by Googling Whinny Warmers.
And, more donkey play. Rafer likes to be the Boss Donkey. Redford seems to be just fine with it.
yesterday was so chaotic I thought it was monday!
It was Tuesday.
Today it's raining, still more, and the wind has blown in. I'm glad for the wind's help in drying things out as the rain clouds leave, but with the ground so saturated, I'm worrying about big trees coming down.
It looks like we'll have some sunshine by tomorrow morning, and hopefully on through the week.
It feels impossible that today is Wednesday, like time has gone out of whack completely.
The funny thing is, there are calendars everywhere here and I still don't know what day it is!
I'll try to add some photos later in the day.
Today it's raining, still more, and the wind has blown in. I'm glad for the wind's help in drying things out as the rain clouds leave, but with the ground so saturated, I'm worrying about big trees coming down.
It looks like we'll have some sunshine by tomorrow morning, and hopefully on through the week.
It feels impossible that today is Wednesday, like time has gone out of whack completely.
The funny thing is, there are calendars everywhere here and I still don't know what day it is!
I'll try to add some photos later in the day.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
slightly chaotic monday
It was raining. The back gate was left open by accident. All the geldings were soaked to the skin when I got outside to feed breakfast. Massage therapist was due in an hour.
I got them in, fed them breakfast, closed the stall doors, mucked while they ate hay, and then came in and got cleaned up to get my hot stone massage first, in hopes that they would dry out.
One Corgi climbed into H's hot stone case. The other one tried to leap onto the freshly made massage table. Mystic-kit played music on the table cords with his paw.
I was telling a story about Dickens E. Wickens when the door burst open. It was Dickens. H. shut the door back and continued. By this time there were two dogs and two cats in the room with us.
Mid-massage, I heard my kids. "Keats! What IS that?" Keats the cat had brought in a bird, which was upstairs in our tree. The rest of the cats ran up (H. had to open the door again to let Mystic and Keats out) and chaos ensued. H. asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Just keep massaging," I said.
The kids opened the upstairs windows and the bird eventually flew to safety.
After my massage, I went out to help get the horses set up. Cody was being very antsy, so I ended up holding him. The pony was nervous about the hot stones, as it was his first time with them. I ended up holding him.
Keil Bay stood at his stall door and quite literally begged for a massage the entire time. The donkeys propped their little velvet noses on the stall door across the aisle and begged to come out. Salina knew it was not her turn for massage and she munched hay and kept an eye on the donkeys.
Keil Bay eventually managed to let himself out of his stall and into the barn aisle, where he stood gazing at the big bowl of hot stones.
H. brought me a bitless bridle to borrow and we tried it on Keil Bay. All the buckles had to be put to the last holes, his head is so big. He loved modeling the bridle. He was somewhat upset when we removed the bridle and he did not get that massage he wanted so badly.
Alas, it was still raining so no trial ride today.
H. and I decided that our word for 2009 is "balance."
H. made the very astute statement that perhaps mine is "balance w/o symmetry."
H. sent me in to take a hot bath with epsom salts to get warmed up.
While I was in the bath, jets going full blast, the power went out. It came back on.
All chaos aside, though, it's been a great day.
I got them in, fed them breakfast, closed the stall doors, mucked while they ate hay, and then came in and got cleaned up to get my hot stone massage first, in hopes that they would dry out.
One Corgi climbed into H's hot stone case. The other one tried to leap onto the freshly made massage table. Mystic-kit played music on the table cords with his paw.
I was telling a story about Dickens E. Wickens when the door burst open. It was Dickens. H. shut the door back and continued. By this time there were two dogs and two cats in the room with us.
Mid-massage, I heard my kids. "Keats! What IS that?" Keats the cat had brought in a bird, which was upstairs in our tree. The rest of the cats ran up (H. had to open the door again to let Mystic and Keats out) and chaos ensued. H. asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Just keep massaging," I said.
The kids opened the upstairs windows and the bird eventually flew to safety.
After my massage, I went out to help get the horses set up. Cody was being very antsy, so I ended up holding him. The pony was nervous about the hot stones, as it was his first time with them. I ended up holding him.
Keil Bay stood at his stall door and quite literally begged for a massage the entire time. The donkeys propped their little velvet noses on the stall door across the aisle and begged to come out. Salina knew it was not her turn for massage and she munched hay and kept an eye on the donkeys.
Keil Bay eventually managed to let himself out of his stall and into the barn aisle, where he stood gazing at the big bowl of hot stones.
H. brought me a bitless bridle to borrow and we tried it on Keil Bay. All the buckles had to be put to the last holes, his head is so big. He loved modeling the bridle. He was somewhat upset when we removed the bridle and he did not get that massage he wanted so badly.
Alas, it was still raining so no trial ride today.
H. and I decided that our word for 2009 is "balance."
H. made the very astute statement that perhaps mine is "balance w/o symmetry."
H. sent me in to take a hot bath with epsom salts to get warmed up.
While I was in the bath, jets going full blast, the power went out. It came back on.
All chaos aside, though, it's been a great day.
more rain and barn improvements
We're having more rain. The ground never truly dried out from the last rain, so this morning when I looked out there is standing water everywhere. The only thing that saves us from total mudville is that the property slopes both in front and in back. The barn sits on the highest point, and the previous owners wisely made very slight "ditches" in the various paddocks so the water can drain away.
The riding arena drains like a dream, so it is nearly always rideable, and during times when we have lots of rain, I often use it as an exercise paddock for bored horses. The footing cleans and stimulates the horses' feet, they get a bit of activity, and the fact that Cody will almost always roll before I can stop him is a small price to pay for the satisfaction they feel coming back into the barn.
Yesterday I spent a little while thinking about improvements I'd like to make. Like a gardener pondering seed catalogs in the middle of winter, I'm sitting inside thinking of ways to make various areas better, while outdoors the rain keeps falling and horses munch hay.
Last night I found a site with photos of the exact thing I was thinking of - screen panels with pea gravel or crushed stone. My plan is to make a path from our back gate up to the barn door, where the stone area will extend maybe 5 feet out in a sort of box-shape. I'd like to do the entire small barnyard, at the other end of the barn, this same way, since I use that area for cleaning feed tubs and for hosing/bathing in the warmer months.
At every gate and water trough, I'd like more "squares" of screen/stone, so those areas don't get muddy and horrid when it rains a lot.
I'd never thought of using this system in stalls, but after the great putrid stall spot debacle of a few months ago, I think I might test this system out in one stall to see how it works. The stall base, then the panels, then the crushed stone screenings, then the stall mats, then the bedding. It seems the panels would keep things nice and level underneath.
I've also been thinking about feeding hay inside the barn. We have mangers built in at ground level in each stall and they do keep the hay contained quite nicely. However, unless we totally pack the hay in, the horses seem to run out at some point during the night. I've been reading about slow feeding hay nets and bags, which make the hay last, keep the horses chewing longer, and keep them occupied. None of ours are locked in stalls, but even so, to have the hay last and reduce waste would be a good thing.
The small mesh hay bags were my original choice, but then I couldn't quite figure out how to secure them in the mangers so they wouldn't be tossed all over the barn like beach balls.
These feeders look interesting. They would stand right inside the mangers, and should anyone ever need soaked hay, voila, they would do the job nicely.
I've also priced potable hoses, which I can get immediately. I've been reading about garden hoses and what happens in the sun to the plastic, and don't want to be adding that to my horses' water.
There was also a similar concern about the hard plastic water troughs sitting out in the sun, and someone suggested old porcelain bathtubs. Yikes. I actually thought the hard plastic Rubbermaid troughs with stainless steel inserts would be perfect, but to my knowledge, they do not exist. I'll keep looking and thinking about that.
I'm thinking about making a barn "wish book" where I cut and paste pictures and jot in ideas as I have them. Sometimes living with things a while changes my mind, so it's always good to let the ideas for change sit and simmer for a bit before I carry them out.
NOTE: The slow feeders are VERY expensive, but perhaps provide a model for designing your own, or worth the money if you need the soaking option for an IR horse. Obviously, nets are the cheapest way to go.
The riding arena drains like a dream, so it is nearly always rideable, and during times when we have lots of rain, I often use it as an exercise paddock for bored horses. The footing cleans and stimulates the horses' feet, they get a bit of activity, and the fact that Cody will almost always roll before I can stop him is a small price to pay for the satisfaction they feel coming back into the barn.
Yesterday I spent a little while thinking about improvements I'd like to make. Like a gardener pondering seed catalogs in the middle of winter, I'm sitting inside thinking of ways to make various areas better, while outdoors the rain keeps falling and horses munch hay.
Last night I found a site with photos of the exact thing I was thinking of - screen panels with pea gravel or crushed stone. My plan is to make a path from our back gate up to the barn door, where the stone area will extend maybe 5 feet out in a sort of box-shape. I'd like to do the entire small barnyard, at the other end of the barn, this same way, since I use that area for cleaning feed tubs and for hosing/bathing in the warmer months.
At every gate and water trough, I'd like more "squares" of screen/stone, so those areas don't get muddy and horrid when it rains a lot.
I'd never thought of using this system in stalls, but after the great putrid stall spot debacle of a few months ago, I think I might test this system out in one stall to see how it works. The stall base, then the panels, then the crushed stone screenings, then the stall mats, then the bedding. It seems the panels would keep things nice and level underneath.
I've also been thinking about feeding hay inside the barn. We have mangers built in at ground level in each stall and they do keep the hay contained quite nicely. However, unless we totally pack the hay in, the horses seem to run out at some point during the night. I've been reading about slow feeding hay nets and bags, which make the hay last, keep the horses chewing longer, and keep them occupied. None of ours are locked in stalls, but even so, to have the hay last and reduce waste would be a good thing.
The small mesh hay bags were my original choice, but then I couldn't quite figure out how to secure them in the mangers so they wouldn't be tossed all over the barn like beach balls.
These feeders look interesting. They would stand right inside the mangers, and should anyone ever need soaked hay, voila, they would do the job nicely.
I've also priced potable hoses, which I can get immediately. I've been reading about garden hoses and what happens in the sun to the plastic, and don't want to be adding that to my horses' water.
There was also a similar concern about the hard plastic water troughs sitting out in the sun, and someone suggested old porcelain bathtubs. Yikes. I actually thought the hard plastic Rubbermaid troughs with stainless steel inserts would be perfect, but to my knowledge, they do not exist. I'll keep looking and thinking about that.
I'm thinking about making a barn "wish book" where I cut and paste pictures and jot in ideas as I have them. Sometimes living with things a while changes my mind, so it's always good to let the ideas for change sit and simmer for a bit before I carry them out.
NOTE: The slow feeders are VERY expensive, but perhaps provide a model for designing your own, or worth the money if you need the soaking option for an IR horse. Obviously, nets are the cheapest way to go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)