Posts Tagged ‘horse blankets’
Mia’s Resistance
It’s hard to help a horse that doesn’t want to be helped. In this case, it’s our sweet little mare Mia who repeatedly shunned our attempts to provide a little extra protection against the elements. For some undetermined reason, Mia is becoming something of a diva, despite continuing to be firmly established at the bottom of the herd hierarchy.
Last Friday, when we were haltering horses for their session with the farrier, Mia held out until the very end and even then, resisted with aggressive gestures of biting and posturing for a kick before Maddy got her haltered. Well, she behaved the same way again for us yesterday afternoon when we were attempting to put rain sheets on all of them.
With Cyndie gone, I asked Maddy for help figuring out which sheet would best fit each horse. She made short work of covering Light, Swings, and Mix, all of whom stood calmly while getting blanketed. Light even patiently allowed the process to happen twice, after Maddy changed her mind and switched to a different sheet.
Mia stands alone on the hill of the hay field while the others are eating the afternoon servings of feed under the overhang.
After those three were done, all we needed to do was convince Mia that she should be covered, too. Historically, she is the one most needing a blanket when conditions get wet. She emphatically resisted our every attempt.
Despite patiently trying to outwait her objections and ply her with treats to coax her cooperation, we ended up leaving her to fend for herself against the coming precipitation because she never ceased her aggression.
I wish I could understand what her gripe is.
Still feeling like there might be some hope, I tried on my own one last time after Maddy left. Mia’s attitude didn’t change a bit.
There was one more trick up my sleeve, though. I called our friend, Michelle, who lives relatively close and has a special relationship with Mia, thinking she might get through to the stubborn mare.
Nope. Michelle reported that she had briefly visited on Sunday to see Mia and was treated badly with those same aggressive behaviors —and she had no agenda at the time other than to say hello.
After dark, when I took Asher out for one last chance to pee for the night, I decided to give Mia one more opportunity to accept a rain sheet, more for my sake at that point than for hers. She immediately walked out into the hay field. I went so far as to walk through the muck of standing water at the bottom of the paddock to follow her, in case being out in the open, away from all the other horses, might soften her resistance.
It didn’t.
I hope she doesn’t suffer as a result of her decisions. It’s heartbreaking to be unable to help, even though I tried so many times.
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Storm Aftermath
A few days ago, we were putting rain sheets on the horses before the weather switched over to snow and made a mess of things. Cyndie had to battle hours of driving in the miserable conditions, and the horses have been clomping around in a mix of freezing and thawing slop ever since.
Their coverings were a frozen mess, so we pulled them off, and with no further falling precipitation to speak of, let their bare backs breathe. They seem fine with the situation for now, but it has made it nearly impossible to clean up their manure to my usual level of detail.
The conditions have been decidedly spring-like in the way the snow began melting the moment the storm was over. By afternoon in the area in front of the barn where I shoveled, the ground looked as dry as if it had never snowed.
Beyond that space where the snow remains are the tracks I made with multiple passes on the ATV. Instead of plowing over the gravel, I just drove back and forth a few times.
On the driveway where I did have the blade down, the pavement dried right up in minutes.
I’m happy the snow clearing didn’t take a lot of time because that allowed me to stay glued to the broadcasts of Olympic competition. The Gold Medal game in Men’s Hockey between the USA and Canada will be tomorrow morning. I don’t know what to expect, but I won’t be surprised if our luck runs out against such a formidable opponent.
On the other hand, I’m certainly hoping for the fairy tale success to continue for one more game.
When I haven’t been watching hockey or figure skating, the next on-ice competition that I find mesmerizing is curling, even though I know almost nothing about the intricacies of the sport. It seems an unlikely spectator sport to me, but when I stumble upon the stone sliding on the Olympic broadcasts, it interrupts my getting anything else accomplished.
I sure have enjoyed the sports distractions from all the malfeasance underway in our government. I sure wish I could wake up on Monday and find out someone has finally put a stop to it all. That would be even more rewarding than an Olympic Gold Medal.
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Horse Raincoats
While our thermometers were reading temperatures in the 50s (F) yesterday, the angry-sounding wind kept it from feeling nearly that warm. Still, snow melting continued throughout the day, as well as some melting of the ground beneath. Even with that, the meltwater isn’t able to soak into the deeper layers, so the resulting hydrostatic pressure is pushing up onto the dirt floor of the barn.
With a looming threat of a chance of rain, we decided to put raincoats on the horses. Three of them accepted it without a fuss.
Mia chose to be totally noncompliant. After a few objections, where Mia just moved away each time Cyndie approached, Cyndie got the sheet tossed over Mia’s back. Before we could connect any of the fasteners, Mia took off down the slope in the paddock, kicked the sheet off, stomped on it once for good measure, and took a few steps beyond it.
After retrieving the now-wet sheet, Cyndie came out with a different blanket and a lead rope to toss over Mia’s neck. While Cyndie held Mia in place with the lead rope, I draped the blanket over Mia’s back.
Mission accomplished. Let it rain.
It’ll be great. Most of the ground is still frozen, so the water will push up inside the barn and erode new pathways across surfaces toward the drainage swales.
The bigger drama while we were down there tending to the horses was the wind. Strong winds automatically ratchet up the horses’ anxiety level.
While Cyndie was filling feed buckets and I was scooping poop, a gust of wind pushed open one of the gates we had positioned to block the alleyway. I looked up to find Light about to walk inside the barn. That got the other horses worked up when they noticed Light was in unauthorized territory.
Cyndie emerged with hands busy holding feed buckets and met Light face-to-face. Light didn’t automatically want to back up, and I couldn’t swing the gate back until she did, so we had a moment of pre-catastrophe concern. We all remained almost calm. Ignoring the gusting wind for a moment, I took buckets for Mix and Mia and got them situated on their side while Cyndie coaxed Light to turn herself around and get back on her correct side of the fence.
It’s a little like Olympic figure skating. You never know what is going to happen, but don’t be surprised when the results don’t turn out as expected. In the end, everyone gets to take a big cleansing breath, accept the outcomes, and move on to the next challenge.
I’m looking forward to the Olympic men’s and women’s Ice Hockey elimination games for the next few days. You never know how that puck might bounce. I’m hoping it’s in our team’s favor.
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Softer Days
Winter has loosened its icy grip by about 35-40° (F) [think about going from 20-below to 20 above], providing the horses with a break from blankets for a little bit. Mia’s regular blanket went back on for a while because overnight temperatures were still dipping into the single digits. I’m guessing she might be able to go “au naturel” again later today.
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The last few mornings have been a lot less stressful without the body’s natural tendency to stiffen in defense against the wicked Arctic cold we were facing last week. The first minutes of sunshine not only painted the horses in a golden glow, but it also made the labyrinth look pretty grand, too.
The low angle of light made for quite a shadow show. The days around the full moon on the 1st were just begging for us to get out and do a moonlight circumnavigation of the labyrinth, but remaining warm beneath the layers of blankets on our bed won out every time.
When Cyndie stepped out to give Asher one last chance to pee before we all turned in, she captured a view of the evening sky and moon-illuminated landscape at 8:00 p.m. on Monday.
It’s hard to know for sure how long this softer version of winter will last, but we will not be taking it for granted. I got my car in for scheduled maintenance yesterday, and it was warm enough that they were able to include their complimentary car wash, which I always perceive as a cherry on top of an otherwise dreary responsibility.
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Chilly Bones
We have survived our second night in a row with temperatures reaching – 20°(F) outside, where wildlife and domestic livestock live and cope with whatever Mother Nature dishes out.
Despite how extremely frosty-looking Swings was this morning, the horses are faring impressively well against the elements. None of the other three was covered with as much frost as Swings, but they all had frozen eyelashes and ice in their noses.
It is damn cold. This far below zero is where tree trunks start splitting open. It sounds like a rifle shot when they do. We have been hearing it happen, but have yet to spot clear evidence of which trees have ruptured. Air this cold is also dry and thin. Sound waves travel to the degree that vehicle tires on the pavement a mile away sound like they are right next door, similar to the way voices carry across the surface of a lake.
Boots on snow squeak like a bearing needing lubricant.
It is startling to imagine that such brutal weather as this didn’t sway a sea of tens of thousands of concerned citizens from amassing on the streets of Minneapolis yesterday to voice their objections to the abuses being dished out by the fascist regime currently sh**ting all over our democracy.
Is there any possibility that the level of dissatisfaction it takes to drive this behavior will sink in with the powers that be? If not, I shudder to think what it will take.
We decided to try giving Mia the added protection of a neck covering, but the attachment that Cyndie found in the barn wasn’t a match for the blankets we have. Maddy, from This Old Horse, stopped by with another blanket for Mia that worked a little better.
It’s funny to think that it will be twenty degrees warmer in a day or two, and even though it will still be near zero, it will feel so much less stressful for the animals. It’s all relative!
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Freeze Dried
There are days when a walk outside on our property feels like we are living in a high school science lab. Whether it’s Physics or Chemistry, the atmospheric conditions pretty much dominate everything. We intimately witness the emphatic difference between dead calm and gale-force winds, a transition that can happen in a startlingly short span of time.
Evidence of cold contracting materials and heat expanding them becomes an auditory experience with our log home as it creaks and groans, snaps and pops as the wood reacts.
After our most recent January thaw, the air made a swift swing to a hard freeze. Snow that was mushy on top and soaking wet at the base became a solid block overnight.
Around the edges of anything icy, we get to see one of my favorite winter phenomena: sublimation. The H2O molecules skip the liquid phase and transition from solid to gas, expanding invisibly into the cold, dry air above. Surfaces that appeared to be soaking wet during Tuesday’s meltdown froze solid overnight. By yesterday afternoon, a majority of the driveway had been freeze-dried. The same applies to most of the shingles on the roof and the boards of the house’s deck.
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We put blankets on the other three horses yesterday afternoon in advance of expected precipitation today, to be followed by a reasonable cold snap.
Each blanket has straps on the inside that get routed around each of their back legs to hold the sides of the blanket in place. A week or two ago, Cyndie reported finding a stray strap lying in the snow. It looked like one of those side straps to me. We both assumed that one of the horses had managed to ‘toss’ it from their blanket.
Here is one of life’s little mysteries that keeps things interesting, and yes, it is related to “assuming.” The last blanket we put on was Swings’ and when I didn’t find a side strap on my side, I asked Cyndie to bring me the strap she had found in the snow, assuming the puzzle was solved.
Imagine my surprise when I reached up under the blanket, trying to locate the D-ring to clip the strap to, and found there was already a strap connected to it that I hadn’t noticed. The strap had gotten hung up over her back instead of hanging down like the rest of the straps to be attached.
So the question remains, where did the strap Cyndie found in the snow come from? We have no idea.
It’s a good thing we are only caring for 4 horses. I can’t imagine trying to keep track of things for a larger herd, given the number of times things get confusing with just our quartet of mares.
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Slippery Mess
Yesterday, the 13th of January, we endured another day of serious melting, having not dropped below freezing the previous night. Our trails in the woods look like a super-highway for deer traffic in some areas. There isn’t a single trail where at least one deer has left its hoof prints.
We found a spot where deer had lain down and melted the snow right in the middle of one of the trails. They must be well aware of Asher’s presence because, despite all the tracks, they are conspicuously nonexistent during the daytime hours.
The songbirds sounded pretty happy about the big thaw. The false echoes of spring floated in the air as we made our way among the leafless trees of our woods.
Mid-40s(F) in the middle of the day allowed for a stroll without my outer layer insulated shirt-jacket. My vest was perfectly adequate. Playing with Asher rendered my mitts soaked from the wet snow.
One of my favorite things is when Cyndie sends me pictures she took that look exactly like something I would capture. She knows me oh so well. At least the melting mess makes for interesting photos.
I have done some custom cropping of her images, but she gets all the credit for capturing these views for my entertainment.
Where was I while she was walking the dog and seeing all this beautiful scenery? In the house, finishing the jigsaw puzzle and reading more chapters of Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography.
At the afternoon feeding for the horses, Mia got covered with a blanket again, which she calmly accepted. I believe it helps our cause to remove the blankets when the temperatures warm up. They tend to fret less when the time comes to put them on again. We like to get them on before bad weather makes them cold and wet, but that can find them less interested, if you know what I mean.
Since I believe they are picking up information that we’re not always aware of sending, it’s on us to visualize the desire to keep them as warm and dry as possible when the weather is expected to change. Mia must have sensed this yesterday.
At this point, I’m hoping we can get some new snow on the ground soon to offer a little added traction. The paddocks are a ghastly, icy mess to navigate across until that happens. Twice yesterday, when Mia tried to execute her hurried escape from the reach of maneuvering horses, her hooves slipped dramatically.
That’s a rather nerve-wracking sound when it happens right next to where I’m standing.
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Transcendent Ambience
With our weather taking a mild turn, I took the blankets off three of the horses yesterday, leaving Mia covered because she doesn’t grow as thick a winter coat as the others. Blanketing horses is interesting in that it seems like they’d just as soon not have them on, but they appreciate the added protection against the elements when the weather gets crazy.
As such, they will cooperate by standing still while we put them on. It is a treat to be able to reward them by taking the blankets off again as soon as the conditions allow. Happily, Mia doesn’t fuss over keeping hers on.
She finished her feed and came down to where I was tying a freshly-filled hay net on a fence post. I did my best to read her intentions in case she preferred to get rid of the blanket, but she gave me no indication that was the case. She seemed more interested in gobbling bites of hay.
With the warm temperature, I was working without a hat and wearing uninsulated gloves. After finishing all the chores and collecting empty feed buckets, I paused to lean on the gate and enjoy the moment. It was a wonderfully quiet night. As darkness approached, Mia was wandering from one placemat after another to scrounge any remaining spilled feed pellets. The other three horses were each at a different hay net, munching away.
In the distance, across the road in a grove of pine trees, an owl started hooting, adding to the transcendent ambience.
It was the kind of solitary experience that wouldn’t have been as special if someone else were there, but as I was enjoying it, I found myself wishing everyone could have the same opportunity.
I don’t know how I ever got so lucky to live in this remarkable place and have a relationship with these precious horses.
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A Thursday
There was an unexpected Asher adventure as we were about to feed the horses yesterday morning, involving a raccoon. While Cyndie and I were focused on the usual chores, Asher vanished without our noticing. His telltale, excited barking in the distance instantly grabbed our attention.
Cyndie stopped what she was doing and hustled in the direction of the hay shed. In the perennial garden just beyond the shed, she found Asher and the raccoon in conflict with each other. I stayed with the horses, trying to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary was going on, despite the angry noises coming from the raccoon.
She reported that Asher had the butt end of the still-complaining raccoon in his mouth and took off running when she showed up. When she caught up to him again, across the road at the end of our driveway, she said he was in the process of burying the no longer living critter.
I don’t remember seeing coon hound in the 18 breeds identified in his DNA.
Our neighbor just south of us was pleased to hear he has some help in controlling the population of nuisance wildlife. When Cyndie stopped by to deliver some Christmas cookies, he told her he had dispatched 19 possums and 25 raccoons this year.
It’s comforting to know that we may have gained some tolerance for occasions when Asher might wander onto their property, now that he’s seen as contributing to pest control in the area.
After a couple of days above freezing, we are facing another Winter Weather Advisory from the National Weather Service, which predicts light snow, wind as high as 40-50 mph, and icy flash freezing conditions. Needless to say, the horse blankets are back on.
Mia needs the added protection more than the others, but she was the most uncooperative about letting us cover her up. She doesn’t grow as thick a winter coat and ends up shivering more quickly than the others, so one would think she’d welcome the blanket.
Instead of chasing her around in an attempt to force compliance, we are inclined to patiently invite her to come to us as we stand holding the blanket. Since they were all eating from their feed buckets while we were putting the blankets on, that just meant standing close to her bucket, and eventually she stayed put while we covered her up and hooked up all the clasps.
I have every confidence that they understand why we are covering them up again. We also move hay nets from out on fence posts to up underneath the overhang. Since we only do these things during periods of stormy weather and always return things to normal afterwards, I believe they read the signals and accept the changes without unwarranted stress.
Lousy weather is stressful enough on its own, especially when high winds are involved. The Weather Service is tossing out phrases like “a conveyor belt of Aleutian low-pressure systems” and “atmospheric rivers.”
To us, it just seems like a Thursday.
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Different Profiles
As Asher was trotting up the driveway the other day, his shadow on the pavement looked like an interesting silhouette. I pulled out my phone and tried to snap a photo, needing to wait for good sunlight through the tree branches while also trying to keep up with him.
The challenge of keeping up with him is that he speeds up as soon as he notices someone closing in on him.
The first shot had him looking rather moose-like to me. At jogging speed, I didn’t get the shadow framed as well as I wanted.
This one didn’t line up so well, either, but it captures a little more of a truer profile of him. I particularly like that it caught one of his front paws in the motion of his scampering.
Yesterday, before the rain really started falling, I took a picture of Mia in her muddy rain slicker.
Since our rain overnight was predicted to turn into snow, I think the horses will understand this morning why we subjected them to the nuisance of blankets again. At least I didn’t find any evidence yesterday that they were rubbing the mud onto the newly braided bale twine we wrapped around the post on Monday.
Cold and wetness are never a good combination for the girls. It would seem most logical to stay beneath the overhang and munch on the hay we hang under there for them. For some reason, at least three of them can’t seem to resist the adventure of exposing themselves to the elements.
Swings is the one who most often demonstrates the ability to remain dry by staying under the roof. She is the oldest of the bunch. Maybe the additional years have produced a more informed intellect.
She be older, so she be wiser.
This would be a good time to be able to tune in to their telepathic frequency to find out what they are thinking. At the very least, I hope they recognize we want what is best for them. We wouldn’t subject them to the rain sheets if we weren’t concerned about their exposure to wet snow and rain when temperatures are cold.
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Relative Something 