Crickhollow Farm

No Such Thing as a Pony-proof Blanket

Now that the weather is improved (no more rain/wretchedly cold wind/rain+wretchedly cold wind), I've taken Rocky's turnout sheet off on him.  In doing so, I discovered that somebody managed to tear a hole the size of my hand clean through the left hip of it.  The little bastards. 

That was 1200 denier rip-stop nylon, too.  I can only imagine what a less tough sheet would look like by now.  Rocky had also managed to liberally coat it in mud.  I have to find some way of cleaning it off without making the hole worse so that I can patch it.  With what, I have not yet decided.   I sense a trip to the fabric store in my future.

This is why I don't like leaving blankets on them for very long (or buying boys nice things).  They always seem to be determined to destroy them.

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.

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.

Melting

Things are melting again today.  Snow's packing down and getting slick.  There are icy patches sprouting wherever water drips, only to freeze again.  All this just in time for more snow tomorrow.  Joy.  I did manage to make a couple of trips down to the compost heap with wheelbarrows full of manure and a couple trips back up to the barn with hay this afternoon.  All without falling on my ass (or knees), though there were a couple of uncertain moments.

Bonni & I are going to try to go see War Horse this weekend sometime.  I will be sure to post my thoughts if we actually make it to the movie.

Oh Winter

Weather is verging, once again, on the miserable.  Air temp isn't super cold, but the wind is nasty.  Yesterday was an all-day drizzle/mist which coated everything with ice.  We got snow to top it last night/this morning, which actually helped a bit with the footing.  The snow's stopped falling, now, but the wind is driving it around, forming drifts. 

All of the horses have been divested of their blankets, save for Rocky, since he gets stuck out in the elements the most.  His is going to have to come off at some point, here, because the farrier is coming out this afternoon.  It seems to be a rule that the weather is nasty one way or another whenever the farrier's out.  Thankfully, the wind is coming mostly from the west, so it's not too bad in the barn itself.

It's supposed to be better tomorrow, particularly with regard to the wind, which I sincerely hope is true.  I need to go buy more feed and really don't fancy getting blown off the road in the process.  (I'd actually like to get my mother to take me in her van, since it holds so much more than my saloon car, but it's what you'd call "high profile" and not pleasant, or all that safe, to drive in high winds.)

Arctic Blast

It sounds like a band name, but it's actually how NOAA is describing the cold air that's slamming into us from Canada tonight.  They're talking 10 to 15 below zero.  ::shudder::  Time to put everybody's blankets back on.  Poor babies.  This cold air is particularly brutal given that none of us have had time to get used to it this year.  We get plunged into winter, then the temps pop back up, and then it's time for another plunge.  Ick.  Rocky & Gimli will be getting extra hay tonight for sure.