Crickhollow Farm

Good Day

It was a beautiful day today, fairly warm & sunny, though the breeze was a bit chill at times.  Bonni & I had conspired to have the day off (it was supposed to be vet day, but she had to cancel unexpectedly) and Diane was able to get it off, too, so I had a full day out in the barn. 

Diane came out in the morning & helped me get my whiteboard hung up in the barn.  We also pulled Morgana out to groom & I longed her a little (a very little -- her attention span is rather short & I don't want to make work a negative thing).  We also groomed Annie after we put Morgana back out.  By some miracle she has not rolled yet, so she's looking pretty clean for once.

Bonni came out later in the afternoon & we took Rocky & Merry into the back paddock for a ride.  Sadly, I didn't think to get anyone to take pictures.  Rocky was super good.   Merry's never been ridden with anyone else before, but other than a couple small snitty moments, he was quite good as well.  (During one snit-moment I asked Bonni how she liked having the well-behaved horse for a change.  She liked it just fine.)  Merry settled down fine and we ended quite relaxed. 

No idea how long we rode.  I didn't have my watch on & didn't think to check the clock in the barn as we went out.  We just did a bit of walk-trot until I started getting thirsty and both boys were behaving nicely so we could end on a good note.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend so we can try for a repeat performance (hopefully with fewer snits on Merry's part).

Summery Day

The last two days have been really lovely & summery here, with highs in the lower 70's.  It's not going to last, of course.  Temps should be headed back down tonight (because we are apparently not allowed to have a warm weekend for the Expo).  I've had the horses out on the grass in the evenings for a bit to enjoy it until it gets cold & wet again & they're not allowed out.

The girls were positively wild when I let them out into the north paddock tonight.  Myf leapt into the air on multiple occasions and gave me a scare by skidding to a halt in front of the fence and then limping away from it.  At a canter.  She just kept zinging along, that one back hoof never hitting the ground until she just started trotting, stepping out & putting weight on it just fine.  Must've only been a twinge. 

Annie even was launching herself into the air and charging around with a bit of a flagged tail, looking very fit & powerful.  Of course, she's in season right now.  Yes, that's right, my 26 year old mare, who has not been bred since '08, is in season.  I'm kind of impressed.

 

Green Grass

I have managed to get the horses out on grass a couple of times this past week.  They haven't been allowed out on it for very long -- we need no colic or founder here -- but they were very excited about getting out at all. 

Merry knew what was going on as soon as I started shifting the temp-fence panels around and got himself quite worked up.  It was particularly hilarious that first time, because Rocky had no idea what was going on.  Poor guy just stood up in the door to Zahr's stall and watch in confusion as the other boys went bolting out into the green as soon as I opened the gate.  I actually had to call him down and talk him through the gate.  He's an odd one, is Mr Rockmeteller.  (This is where I have to admit that, in my mind, he's not Rocky after the fictional boxer, but after Rockmeteller "Rocky" Todd of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster stories.  He's just that sort of hapless goof that populates those stories.)

Getting them back up off the grass is always a challenge -- I can usually get Merry & Zahr running & wound enough that they'll barrel up into the paddock & I can shut the gate behind them.  Rocky & Gimli I have to go fetch with a lead rope.

The girls all had to be fetched with the lead, too.  Although, I didn't nearly have the battle with Morgana that I sometimes have in the past.  Once I had the rope on her, she came along well enough.  No tricking her by backing her towards the gate this time.

Unfortunately, with all the rain we've had in the last day, & look to be getting over the next few, it'll probably be a while before I can get them back on the grass again.  I don't want them tearing it all up because the ground's too wet.

While I didn't have the camera when the boys went on their big tear their first day out, I did get some photos of them out grazing (and one of Rocky pacing the fenceline, looking forlorn after I locked them back in the paddock -- I won't post that one 'cause he'd just rolled in the mud and looks entirely too gross in it).  I'll post a few of the best here.

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.

Turnout Sheet

Annie's new turnout sheet fits!  After Diane & I finished mucking stalls this morning, I pulled Annie out so we could groom her & I could try the sheet on her.  It fits nicely (it's a Saxon 69") and the blackberry plaid colour looks lovely on her.  It's a 1200 denier, so it should stand up to Morgana's tugging a fair bit better than the old stable blanket.

Happy Autumn

Now that it's actually autumn, the weather is turning sunny again, just to be perverse.  We did get some rain for a few days, for which I am grateful, but it's nice to see the sun again.  It should be a good day to do some work in the barn.  It's cool enough that I'm hesitant to spent much time outside until my hair is at least mostly dry.  (By the time I'm done typing this, it should be close enough that I can braid it tightly and shove a hat on my head, at least.)

Barn agenda for today involves mucking stalls (big surprise there), washing everybody's blankets & hanging them to dry so they'll be fresh for the coming winter (I've had them hanging in the barn & then out under the overhang since their last use and they've become somewhat dusty.  I'm sure there are cobwebs, too.  Yuck.), and shifting a little more hay up.

Merry and Zahr (particularly Zahr) acquired some truly spectacular wind-knots in their manes during the recent windy, stormy days.  I made an attempt at untangling them last night whilst they ate their dinner, but more needs to be done.  Show Sheen or Cowboy Magic will definitely be needed on Zahr's.  I brushed Gimli a bit, too.  They all seemed to enjoy the attention, and Gimli would poke me in the back while I was working on Merry, looking for more attention.

I have a bad feeling that this is going to be a cold, cold winter.  It may be selective amnesia on my part, but it seems like the horses are all much fuzzier much earlier than usual this fall.  Myf isn't looking like a goat just yet, but Gimli's red beard is definitely in evidence already. 

I've been debating getting Annie a new turnout blanket or sheet for this winter.  The one I got her when she was pregnant ended up being too big for her otherwise, and is now Zahr's.  I've been using Toad's old stable blanket on her when it gets super cold, but it wasn't designed for turnout, and there are a couple of little tears.  She probably could use something a little more weather and Morgana-proof...  (Morgana is a pest and likes to tug on other people's blankets.)  I've been keeping an eye on the sale stuff in the tack catalogues.  Mostly, the ones I like are either expensive even on sale, or don't come small enough.  It won't be the end of the world if I can't find one for her, since she has the one blanket & it's not in tatters yet, but it'd be nice if I could.

Morgana herself has a turnout sheet for this winter.  Brand-new, I picked it up at the Expo tackswap for cheap.  Hopefully it will actually fit her considering I was pretty much guessing on how big she'd be by winter.  I should try it on her today/tonight just to see how close I was.  She and Annie don't need blankets much -- they hide in the stall when the weather is bad & get pretty fuzzy anyway.  Hardy ponies, don't ya know.

Hay Stacked

Here's what I accomplished today:

I also shifted around what's left in the shed so that the more alfalfa-rich bales from the second cutting would all be basically on one side of the shed.  This enabled me to uncover the rest of the stemmy first cutting so I can work on getting it up to the barn before third cutting.  I'd like to get the first cutting up so that I have mostly second & third for over the winter.  Save the best for last, what?

Riding Annie

I failed to ride yesterday (it ended up being mucking day, & I used my new-to-me manure spreader for the first time), but I did ride Annie today after I got done working.  I attempted to get a canter out of her and got several bucks and a couple canter strides for my trouble.  (She's perfectly capable of a canter when she gets wound up in the paddock, but doing it with a heavy stock saddle on her back, along with an even heavier person, is another matter entirely.)  She is old and rather out of shape; when all is said and done, I think she's earned the right to be a walk-trot pony.  But boy, can she trot!  We were going at quite a good clip for a while there.  She was walking out nicely, too.

While I was riding, some of the neighbours came down with branches that blew down in the storm last night to add them to our firewood pile.  Brought their little kids with, who were very excited to see the horses.  When I brought Annie back up to the barn to untack & groom, she had a couple of wee admirers.  After feeding her a couple of carrots, the little boy became her grass-boy, trotting in and out of the barn to bring her handfuls of grass, and the girl helped me brush her.  She was very patient with them and accepted the grass offerings as her due.  The boy wanted her to wear his John Deere cap at one point, which she suffered with good grace.  Sadly, the camera was in the house the whole time, so there are no pictures.

Having a Ball

So I have a couple of yoga balls, one of which is fairly large (meant for use by a very tall person) but, sadly, not large enough to actually use as a desk chair, which is why I'd bought it.  Since being rejected as a seating option, it has suffered attack by two wee kitties with tiny, needle-like claws.  It holds air ... for a time.  Since the holes in its skin make it totally useless to me, I decided that the equines might enjoy having it as a toy.

Took it to the girls first, who poked at it a bit, but kept abandoning it to try to get food out of me.

This is as much a Annie had to do with it.  She basically poked it once and then ignored it.  She's not much into toys.

 

ride, ver. uber lazy

I did manage to get enough ambition scraped together after working all day today to go for a ride.  It was a lazy sort of ride -- I didn't bother changing out of the sundress I'd been wearing all day, even.  Merry was feeling very lazy, too, so it was on okay ride, if not his best behaviour ever. 

Couple pics from it, here (hopefully ones where the dress and winter-white skin don't combine to make me look too fat):

We are actually going downhill here, that's why his hindquarters look so high.  The grass disguises the slope of the ground.

 

Actual Spring

The weather was gorgeous yesterday (52 and sunny!), and despite the fact that the main paddocks are absolute mud pits, the arena and north paddock were both relatively dry (not dry-dry, but not squishy & bog like, either).  I took advantage of this and let the boys out into the arena and the girls into the north paddock to get out of the mud & stretch their legs a bit.  There's no real grass in either area at this point (not that it stopped them from trying to graze), so they got their lunch hay taken out there for them.  They all seemed to enjoy it immensely.  I did have the camera with me, so there are pictures!

(Please forgive the muddy coats.  They were just in a lot of mud and certain individuals like to roll.  A lot.)

Frolic

I let the girls out into the north paddock for a chance at a short frolic before the storm hits us tonight/tomorrow and it's time to hunker down again.  I would have let the boys into the arena to run, too, but there are still ground poles etc buried in the snow out there & I didn't want anyone hurting themselves on hidden dangers.  Got a few pics worth sharing.

Annie's clean side...

 

and her not so clean side.  Bath season will be a blessing.

So very blurry, but such a cute pose.  Sadly, the camera chose to focus on dirty Annie in the background.

Wee Myfanwy.