Crickhollow Farm

Ice is Not Nice

So yesterday we were supposed to get the start of a blizzard that was supposed to go all through today and leave us with something like 12 inches of snow.  "Supposed to" being the key words here.  What we actually got was rain, which turned into ice.  I hate ice.

As a consequence of this, it was a rather nerve-wracking morning, watching the boys sliding down the bit of a slope from the barn into their paddock.  I was desperately shoveling used shavings onto the ice to try to give them some traction, but there was more ice than stuff to shovel, so I had to just put their hay up in the stalls & close to the barn and hope no one did anything foolish and got hurt. (For some reason, the girls' paddock did not have this problem.  Possibly being on the south side meant that the ground wasn't as frozen & had absorbed more of the rain than on the north side.  Whatever the reason, I was grateful.)

The ice didn't melt until late this afternoon, but no one did themselves a mischief, so it's all good.  Of course, the whole thing will probably refreeze into a slick again now that the sun's gone down.  I just hope we actually get the sunny day tomorrow that they promised us to get a proper melt going and at least let the water drain off the slope so it's not so dangerous. 

Please bring me spring.  I am so ready for this wretched excuse for winter to be over.  Pretty sure the horses feel the same.

Fleet Farm Day

Today was a Fleet Farm day.  I needed to pick up some more 12%, which I was pleased to discover was on sale.  I got the last four bags (that were out on the floor, anyway).  Sometime, I need to borrow my dad's truck with my little flatbed trailer hooked up to it and buy a whole flat of feed at once.  It'd save one the number of trips I need to make.  I'm not sure if it's actually cheaper to buy it in bulk, or if the cost per bag is really the same, but I'd save money on fuel, at least.

I also got a bag of alfalfa cubes and a rather ridiculously large whiteboard.  I'm planning on mounting the whiteboard on the outer (barn aisle) wall of the tackroom.  The idea is to have a place where I can write out a schedule this summer for who I'm working with each day (on weekends, in what sequence I am working them).  The thing's big enough that I should have extra space for other items, as well.  I figure that the only way I have a hope of staying organised and not let inertia get the better of me will be to plot everything out.  Otherwise, it's too tempting to waste half (or more) of a day putzing on the computer or poking aimlessly at my gardens.

Here's hoping that both work and the weather cooperate with my plans well enough this year to not spoil my ambition like they did last summer.

Almost Like Spring

The weather here today is downright pleasant.  Sunny, with next to no wind (those who have visited the farm will understand what a rarity that is), it was a lovely day to be out doing barn chores.  I swapped into one of my not so heavy-duty winter barn jackets and still ended up taking it off for a while.

Yes, I was mucking in jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt for a while today and we're not yet out of February.  It's weird.

Annie is starting to shed now, not a day after I was telling Bonni that she hadn't started yet and that normally she would be doing so by now.   Animals do love making liars out of us.  I should try to go after them all with some grooming implements tonight.  Knock some mud off of them (for a brief time, anyway) and work the wind-knots out of Merry's mane.  He's terribly prone to them.  I should keep him in braids, but it just seems warmer to leave it loose in the winter.  He probably wouldn't notice the difference so long as I was consistent.

The horse all were being pests today whilst I was mucking.  Zahr kept trying to open the outer door to his stall and Myf was even poking at the outer door in Annie's stall.  I was using the Deere & spreader today (no snow!) and that was inciting Myf & Morgana to riot, the goofs.  It was entertaining to watch them tearing around the paddock as I'd drive past, though.  I think they're all getting a little stir-crazy.

I also took advantage of the weather & lack of snow to bring up a couple of loads of hay with the Deere.  It makes me feel all productive, even if it wasn't a lot.  Still, I should have enough up now that I won't have to go drag any up through the rain/snow mix they're predicting for most of next week.  I'm not looking forward to that.

Swans

We get our fair share of wildlife around here -- deer, eagles, coyote, cranes, turkeys, etc -- most of which go ignored by the horses.  Last week, though, a pair of swans landed in the field behind Crickhollow and the horses were quite perturbed.  Not sure what it was about them that what so horrifying, but the boys kept staring and snorting, and Morgana would trot over to the fence to stare over it at them and then book it back to the piles of hay I'd put out for their dinner.  (It was her really snappy, impressive trot, too.  Gorgeous.)

I hiked across my hay field with the camera to take pictures of them.  They're pretty difficult to see on the ground-shots, but I got some good ones once they took off.

Horses at Play

The horses were being quite wild & playful this afternoon.  As I was getting ready to go out to give them their evening hay, Myf & Morgana were being goofs on one side of the barn whilst Zahr and Rocky were being goofs on the other. 

Myf was on a rope twirling binge, which seemed to make Morgana jealous.  Myf would buck and run a bit, but mostly she just twirled and twirled...  Morgana stood nearby at one point, looking like she wanted to have the rope, but getting her face too close would have meant getting hit with it.  It was hilarious.  Myf did eventually drop the rope and they went careening around, bucking & hopping.  The jolly ball was even put into play at one point.

Zahr, meanwhile, was trying, semi-successfully, to get Rocky going.  He did run and buck a bit, but mostly it was Zahr hopping about, trying to harass him into action.  He had his tail flagged and was looking quite handsome, as he does when he gets revved.  He almost got Merry going good, but I think he was more concerned about his (woefully empty, just ask him) stomach than playing.  He kept going back towards the barn and poking around for any bits of hay that might've escaped from lunch.

I would have liked to get pictures but, as it was dinnertime, I knew that all action would stop as soon as I opened the back door.  I just stood and watched from inside for a while, until it looked like Rocky would appreciate the rescue.