Checking in

January got off to a bit of a rocky start...we had a family issue that took up some extra time.  Between that and work being very busy, I haven't had a chance for much else.  The past three weeks has had me running to work and then running home to the barn to throw hay and check water, but not much else.

Things are starting to look up a bit now as the days will be juuuussssst long enough for a bit of daylight after work.   I'm looking forward to taking a bit more time out at the barn and just hanging out with the horses while they eat their hay.   I'm also hoping to start working Fred a bit, just easy in-hand stuff when the weather allows. 

Copper says: hey, got treats?

We've also had some crazy weather - we've had two or three cycles of above freezing temps, rain, ice pellets and then snow, which is just a weird combo.  One day the paddock was just a skating rink - every inch of it was ice. I wish I had taken a picture to show you guys - it was raining and the water was just running off the ice - very weird.  My place is mostly flat, but the paddock had just enough slope to make it treacherous. I kept the horses in until the snow came back and improved the footing again.




Now we are on to straight snow, which is much, much better, imho.  We had a few inches last weekend and another few inches this weekend.   Fred has been busy wrecking his current blanket, which is always fun.  Somehow he ripped apart the neck cover on his blanket and I don't think I'll be able to salvage it.


Pre-blanket destruction: these two always look like they are up to something. 

 Now that we have some snow piling up, my boarder has been bringing over her snowmobile to help pack down the riding ring and a little loop out in the back pasture. Of course, it keeps snowing so she has to keep going over the trails.  She is trying to ride as much as she can throughout the winter, which is admirable, given the unpredictable weather we've had so far!


One of the many reasons I love having the horses at home is being able to fix issues right away.  Exhibit A:  Hubby looks out the window and tells me that Fred is "walking funny" and I'd better go check him. (his description). 


So, I went out to find the back end of the blanket all twisted and flipped up.  One of the stretchy leg straps was down below his hock, causing him to "walk funny".  lol *sigh*

Nice job, Fred!

He wasn't too concerned that his butt was getting wet and his leg was tangled - you can just see the black strap on his LH in the picture.  I have a feeling this blanket won't be around much longer. I'm not a fan of how it fits him, so it is probably time to let it go. 


Not much else is going on here for the moment, so I'm off to shop online for another blanket for Fred!

Monday - I got nuthin'

Man, Mondays are tough!  I'm still grounded by my physio, so very limited time doing anything but sitting around.  I did another round of "please let all of this winter hair shed out now omg" on each horse and then parked myself in a chair on the lawn while I hand-grazed Fred.  That was about the extent of horse-stuff!

I did catch Fred and Copper playing last week and got a few pics. I had to take the pictures from the house, because if I went outside they would immediately stop. 

These two play a lot  and it seems pretty fair. I'm always worried about the little guy getting hurt, but in reality, Fred is the one that gets picked on the most.  He has quite a few bite marks from this winter that are finally growing in new hair.

Sorry about the photo quality - I need a bigger zoom lens - put that on my shopping wish list!

The Great Escape of 2019

I'm having a hard time finding things to post, since I'm still not doing much horse stuff!! I'm now able to limp out to the barn to feed hay, so I'm hoping this weekend to be able to actually do something more with the horses - like maybe groom them??? Baby steps, Laura, baby steps!

While I was away on my trip, 2/3 sets of sliding barn doors were frozen.  The back door was frozen closed, the middle set is inside, so no problem and the front was (and still is) frozen open! We had all kinds of snow, rain and freezing rain and my Mom just couldn't keep on top of it.  My first priority was to get the back door open so I could get the horses in if needed.

*Editor's note: this all happened before I sprained my ankle!

I was able to chop away the snow and ice to get the back doors open and closed.  I usually have to latch that set of doors, as Spencer is a bit of a Houdini.  I figured just closing the doors would be fine, as it was really hard to slide it open with all of the snow.  That was my first mistake!

Spencer is good as gold 98% of the time - he is older and wiser and doesn't tend to get into trouble.

Except he is really good at opening doors. 

So, one afternoon, as I drove in the laneway, I was met with this:

Oh hai!  You're home!  We are just standin' here.

 It took my brain a minute to process that they were out front, instead of in the paddock!!!  I had to laugh, because they were clearly not worried about being out, but enjoying their day!  They also didn't go on the road, thankfully, as that could've been very bad.  I think having access to a hay buffet kept them from wandering too far.

Hai! I'm eating my special tasty hay! Fred, probably.  Spencer's look implies that Fred made all the mess...

Once I got into the barn, I found Fred happily munching away on 2nd cut hay - which is totally fine as it is for him anyway.  They had pulled all of the blankets onto the floor to get at the hay and trampled all over them.  I did have a mini panic when I saw that Fred was tangled up in a pile of horse blankets.  He seems to have a decent brain for a 4yr old, as he stood calmly while I untangled him.  It was a bit lucky that none of them got hurt, as my barn aisle has a lot of stuff lying around lately.

Mess.

 Needless to say, they had a fun day and nothing bad happened.  After I kicked them back out in the paddock, I made sure to clear away more snow and ice so I could fasten the latch!