It’s not even five in the evening and the sun has already sunk below the horizon. My dog has been wanting dinner for the past hour. I am sure that he sees dinner time more in the sense of light than the clock. Only eight days until the solstice and the beginning of light! I so look forward to that annual shift. The darkness wears on me. I certainly would not survive in a more northerly location.
And it was snowing this morning! That’s quite unusual for us here at our 350 foot elevation. It has been raining quite a bit lately though. That is to be expected. In fact, we have not had enough. The snow didn’t stick at all, but it was fun driving with the flakes flying at the windshield. I guess I shouldn’t complain, as the mud has been navigable, unlike some other years.
Boot sucking mud - Last February
We might get there again. For now, this was the scene yesterday.
Hunkered down
I’ve been taking long lunches, instead of going to the barn after work. This way I get to see them in the light. I don’t ride, but I can check them over better and just hang out a bit after cleaning out their shelter, setting up feed and tidying. They also will get a flake of hay for lunch, when I’m there. I think that they like that!
Cirro is looking good now. I’ll share a photo. Yes, he is all wet. It’s muddy out and there were rain drops on the lens. NOT the best photo. In the spring, when he sheds out, I’ll get some pretty ones. Until then, this will have to do.
Cleaning up the alfalfa crumbs
He has gained some weight and settled into his new (old) home very well. He and Lily were not compatible sharing a paddock and shelter. She would eat all his food (he gets about four times what she does) and she tends to corner him and beat up on him. When they are separated, she is happy to hang out with him and share wither scratches over the divider. I haven’t quite figured her out yet, but for now, my set up is working. Cirro has Lily on one side and a weanling filly on the other. The filly LOVES him and they play over the gate.
Cirro is wonderful to work with. I play with him once or twice a week for short bits. I moved my small pedestal into his stall. I also moved my mats that were left in the shelter next door into his stall. He is a PIG, so the mats help quite a lot with cleaning. Lily politely goes outside, while Cirro poops and pees right in his hay, after spreading it all over the floor.
Watch for a post on the hay feeder that I plan to build tomorrow to try and fix the issue….
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Yikes!! It looks wet and cold there!!
We are suppose to have rain tomorrow, or at least a good freeze. I hope so… we still have flies… argh!
Cirro is looking good!
That’s one plus… no more flies here!
Makes me feel better to see someone else’s horses in mud. We have had a deluge here, perhaps the heaviest non hurricane rain in two years. Yesterday I stepped in what looked like pure beach sand and went in over the top of my hog house boots.
Frustrating part is that I find no matter how much time I spend hating mud it seems to have no effect on the over all volume of mud.
Really strange thing is that twice this weekend I have been told how beautiful my place is. City people must be really hard up to see some beauty.
That’s one thing that was hard on the horses when I still lived up north. Today here it’s 30 below with a windchill of 45 below.
Checked on my 3 mustangs out at the pasture yesterday, They’re doing fine. Ed Covey
The photo of my boots in mud was from last year. Since then, I bought some road fabric, about 70 linear feet, 15 feet wide. This filled the shelter that I had Lily in then (14 x 36) and all around for 15′ out. This was covered with 3-5″ of gravel, with rubber mats in the shelter. That made a really nice, mud free zone.
The problem is… now I use the shelter next door and really need to do the entire project over again. (sigh) Ah, the joys of boarding.
I really do like where I board, but I also really look forward to having my own place.
So far this year, the mud isn’t so bad. It is still firm enough to walk on without sinking. It’s just slippery. I’ve seen both horses take a dive, while out running. They just get up, check to see who saw them, and continue on.
(Hi, Ed! Nice to see you here.)
Hey Ed do you have a blog too? I’d love to add you.
Steve will add yours too.
No Susan I don’t have a blog. Can’t even pronounce it. HA Ha