Posts Tagged ‘horses’
Saturated Snow
The weather played out just like the forecasters predicted. Overnight Sunday into Monday the snowflakes flew with an unrelenting intensity. I woke in the middle of the night and saw it was piling up to an impressive depth on the deck railing out back.
It started to change over to a mixture of rain and snow a couple of hours before sunrise. I knew the moment I stepped outside yesterday morning the snow was the consistency of wet cement.
Two of the horses stayed totally dry. The other two looked totally wet. They all appeared to be coping just fine.
I grabbed a shovel and headed down toward the road. I wanted to see how deep the snow was on the driveway and check on the mailbox that usually gets blasted by snow shooting off the blade of the township plow truck.
Just as I stepped out of the barn, I heard the truck coming. I was not going to get there in time to save the mailbox. Luckily, it wasn’t an issue. The driver was working at a controlled speed to push the slop to the side, not throw it well off into the ditches. The mailbox was fine.
The snow depth on the driveway was borderline worth plowing. The challenge would be all the water saturating the bottom couple of inches.
I decided to try running the Grizzly ATV up and down the driveway to disrupt the sloppy covering of snow, half hoping it might be enough to make it easily navigable by cars.
The ATV tracks made it look easy enough to plow so I went for it and lowered the blade at its sharpest angle. I don’t know that it made it any easier but the pavement cleaned up nicely in just a handful of slip-sliding passes.
I wasn’t going to even try the plow blade around the hay shed. I made multiple passes to break up the snow and called it good enough. When we went down to feed the horses at dinner time, there was standing water in many of those tire tracks.
Based on evidence on the ground in the paddocks, several, if not all of the horses, did some lying down in that soaking wet mess with their blankets on. Well, blankets mostly on. Swings managed to fold hers over off her butt.
You can see her back foot standing on the dragging blanket making it hard to move forward. That area just beyond the overhang is even more like wet cement with the combination of sand and saturated snow. The back corner of Swings’ blanket is a mud-saster.
Too bad she’s not one to stand out in the rain. Some precipitation might help rinse off all the muck.
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Just Weather
When a long-duration storm is dishing out its worst, there doesn’t seem to be any other news that rises above it. I tried to keep one eye on NCAA March Madness Tournament basketball games yesterday but the other eye was darting between the snow out the window or the radar updates online.
It snowed most of the day but we didn’t get a lot of accumulation until the sun went down. The temperature hovered right around freezing and the line where snow changed to rain appeared to be slowly moving north as we turned in for the night.
Cyndie put blankets on the horses in the afternoon because Mix and Mia were shivering from the wetness and also because of the likelihood that the cold precipitation would change to rain and soak them even more. We leave it up to them to decide whether they want to stay under the overhang or stand in the rain.
I’m always surprised by how often they choose to walk away from the cover of a roof over their heads.
I’m anxious to get out there this morning to see what the conditions are like in the paddock. Muddy, wet, and snowy all at the same time, I suspect.
As they say, we need the moisture.
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Blowing In
When Asher and I set out on our routine morning walk today, the sky was filled with heavy-looking clouds that cast a dark mood over the landscape. The weather forecast warned of strong winds but we weren’t feeling that on the ground yet. The blanket of low clouds overhead, however, was moving past at a high rate of speed.
It was as if the blue sky was blowing in.
The horses radiated a deep calm as they consumed their feed from the buckets. That sharply contrasted with the barn pigeons that were cooing with an insistence that bordered on drastic urgency. Maybe it was egg-laying time.
The ground surface around the overhang is so dry I should be celebrating freedom from coping with massive levels of mud but the reality it reflects is the threat of drought that hovers near. I had time to contemplate the current conditions because Light and Mix were both taking their sweet time about emptying the feed buckets I was waiting to retrieve.
I treasure that we have settled into a routine that allows them to eat at their individually chosen leisurely paces as opposed to the racing randomness that was happening not that long ago. There are still moments when we need to convince one or two of the horses to get out of each other’s way to end up at what has become their designated positions, but once they get there, extra shenanigans rarely interfere.
The deep calm that materializes is something I don’t take for granted.
In the time it has taken me to finish my breakfast and write this, the wind has arrived at ground level and a fresh blanket of clouds has blown in. With a little luck, maybe it could blow some needed precipitation our way.
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Here Today
In moments of wondering about the ways of the world, my mind seamlessly bounces from comparing to the past and trying to imagine a future. I suppose my current need to select a version of Medicare insurance that suits me is contributing to my pondering how long I might live and what serious illnesses might force me into expensive services from doctors, clinics, medical labs, or hospitals.
It’s a crap shoot and I am not all that concerned about simply rolling some dice and maybe flipping a few coins for guidance.
More immediately, I’m aware that mass consumption of the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament games on television this weekend has me remembering what high school was like for me and how it compares and contrasts with the experiences of the kids in the stands and on the ice this year.
Plus, long-time play-by-play color commentator, Lou Nanne has announced this is his last tourney because he is retiring after 60 years in the booth, so the broadcasts are filled with flashbacks honoring him. It’s like looking at a scrapbook of how the world looked throughout my life. I remember that!
Campaigns for the 2024 U.S. Presidential election are cranked up and that has me wondering (and a little bit worried) about this country’s future. Top that off with the increasingly treacherous climate warming and my greater concern becomes the future of the entire planet.
I’ve contacted a local landscape company asking for a quote to address the settling of the earth around the foundation of our house. This is one of the recommendations that arose from the inspection visit by the neighbor I called last month. Taking care of that will remove at least one of the variety of possible contributing factors leading to the wet basement we experienced after it rained last December.
Seems like we’ve eliminated all the other causes we initially suspected. Updating the landscape around the house will not only be good for moving water away, but it should also make the place look sharper. If you can improve both function and appearance, it’s a win-win!
Who am I kidding? I know what really has my brain all muddled today. My least favorite weekend of the year is the one when the powers that be force the seasonal changing of our clocks and tonight we adjust one hour forward to Daylight Saving Time. That’s one less hour of sleep for humankind, one giant leap for our natural body clocks.
Cyndie and I have decided on this occasion, we will alter the time we reference for feeding the horses and Asher so that their internal clocks won’t experience any change. We have the luxury of adjusting our times because we are retired and don’t need to align our activities with jobs out of the home.
The times today or tomorrow are no different for animals. I wish I could say the same for me.
Especially Content
It is hard to ignore the precision I employ in cleaning up beneath the horses when comparing the area around the barn overhang after a weekend of someone else taking care of things. My obsessiveness becomes much more obvious after I find how much manure is scattered in places I normally clean up but the “real” horse people disregard.
I’ve seen no clear evidence that the horses care either way, but I tend to believe they appreciate my fastidiousness. It’s kind of cute when they make a clear gesture of walking over to stand and poop where I am working. They can be so helpful that way. However, the fact that they so often step in the piles and kick them around every which way when I’m not there makes it seem like they might be sending me a different message.
It was really great to have a few days away from horse duty but the amount of pleasure I’m finding from being back with them again tells me I might be more attached to them than I was aware.
Oddly, I had a rather extreme dream where I was rubbing my face against Mix (like I do when wrestling with Asher) and found myself having a too-close encounter with her teeth.
No close encounters in real life yesterday while I was moving amongst the herd before bringing out their rations. They seemed especially content. Like they were happy to have us home.
The un-winter-like weather may have had something to do with that, too, I suppose.
Not much seems to fail when nature serves up its finest versions of non-threatening conditions.
I’m feeling especially content to be able to enjoy the horses while they are all getting along and radiating the ultimate in equine peacefulness. It’s a pretty special thing to return to after a weekend away.
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Snowscape Again!
I got what I wanted! I’ve pared down the photos to seven from the many more pictures we couldn’t resist taking of the glorious snowy scenes that greeted us yesterday morning. What a difference a day makes.
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The snow won’t be around for long. By the end of the day yesterday, I bet we lost half of what fell. The driveway was clear and dry just a few hours after I plowed. Even though the air temperature never rose above freezing, the mid-February sun was at a high enough angle to have a big impact on surfaces.
We expect to be on the road before noon today on our way to Hayward for the weekend. Our newest horse volunteer will tend to the herd while we are gone. Here’s hoping they don’t give her a hard time. The mares were unusually rambunctious yesterday at feeding times.
Thankfully, they understand our routine enough to calm down quickly after a few mouthfuls of feed. The hanging buckets have been a good change in almost entirely eliminating their tendency to chase each other around like a game of musical chairs.
Tomorrow, I post from the lake place! Maybe I’ll take a picture or two.
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Herd Leaders
Ever since they arrived here, we’ve witnessed signs of complexity over which of the four rescued Thoroughbred mares is in charge of the herd. If we were to number them 1 through 4 in reflection of their most common order, it would be:
#1 – Swings
#2 – Mix
#3 – Light
#4 – Mia
The aspect that always complicated things was that #3 (Light) could push around #1 (Swings) but remained threatened by #2 (Mix). Thus far, Mix has never shown signs of having any sway over Swings. It’s been something of an ongoing stalemate.
Recently, we have seen growing signs that Swings is giving more and more control of space over to Light. I am curious about the likelihood we’ll see Light begin to stand up to Mix to “officially” challenge for the full authority of herd leader.
This morning during their feeding there was animal activity in the vicinity that was commanding their attention to the point of picking their heads up out of the buckets. For the first time that we have seen, Light was the one who took the initiative of moving her feet to turn straight toward the potential threat to the protection of the herd.
It took me a while to spot the movement in the distance that was making the horses wary. It was far enough away that I wasn’t sure what I was seeing beyond it being two shapes, low to the ground, moving along the edge of a large stand of pine trees across the road.
Using her phone camera, Cyndie zoomed in and saw that it was two small deer. Light soon satisfied herself there was no threat and returned to her bucket of feed. I don’t know if the other horses paid much attention to Light’s gesture but it sure made an impression on us, probably aided by the spectacle she seemed to be making earlier in moving Swings away before the buckets were served. Light sure looked like she wanted to be in charge.
I will not be surprised to see this trend continue but I have no idea how accepting Mix will be to Light’s increasing assertiveness. It’s also possible that Swings’ recent acquiescence will be only temporary.
At least we don’t need to wait for an election. Herd leadership is always an ongoing process of flexing roles. These four horses don’t have much else to worry about in the safe confines of their retirement home. Maybe they all decide to take turns on a constantly rotating basis. Or not.
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Fashion Forward
Someone made herself a new coat to go along with the unseasonably mild weather this week at Wintervale.
(Maybe the name of our place should be temporarily revised until normal returns. How about, NotevenclosetoWinter-vale?)
All of our horses like to lay down and roll around on the ground but Light has outdone herself with her latest dirty lime screenings fashion statement.
Light will be the envy of any well-dressed herd with her new self-made mottled pattern covering her from head to hoof on both sides. The expertly daubed design of the clay-like smudges highlights her bold features exquisitely. Light’s cheekbones are perfectly accentuated with just the right application of the freshly thawed lime screenings. Smartly blending her natural chestnut hues with the expansive palette of colors available on the snowless surface of both paddocks, Light is offering a proud tribute to her cousins of the painted breeds.
Her new look would serve her well whether running with wild herds on the open plains or when cozying up at home with her three herd mates.
If the weather stays like this long enough, Light and Mix will have a chance to completely swap coloring. Mix’s natural grey color is easily darkened by the black dirt she finds to roll in while Light has been choosing the slippery slurry of melting lime screenings to brighten her coat with each new added smear.
I’m pretty sure all the neighboring horses are just pretending they don’t feel spectacularly envious of Light’s brave new look.
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Blessed Calm
While it lasts, we are currently enjoying the blessings of calm serenity with the horses. The temperatures have softened, blankets have been removed, no illnesses or injuries to speak of, and all four have settled into a smooth routine of eating their feed out of hanging buckets.
Yesterday, they even got all of their hooves trimmed without incident. Cyndie was away for the day and I was responsible for getting each of them into their halters. For the first time in my experience, not one of them backed off and made me try multiple times for cooperation. Each horse stood firm and allowed me to fumble with straps, latches, and my limited reach around their tall necks.
I think they were being nice for my sake.
They have also been behaving surprisingly well at feeding times. The four of them take up positions in the spots they originally chose for their feed buckets, with only an occasional need for us to coax some relocating.
It is particularly rewarding on days when they step up in advance and calmly await their buckets. That usually coincides with no-fuss eating, devoid of shenanigans or excess spillage.
It’s a scenario where everyone wins.
While things are all well and good with the horses, our dog Asher has gotten himself into a little trouble at the doggie daycare place. We’ve been happy about him having somewhere to occasionally go where he could interact with other dogs and free us for a few hours. He has spoiled that with a second offense of not playing well with others at the place in Hudson.
As a result of his aggression against another dog yesterday, he has been banished for good from the facility.
Not everything was as calm as it seemed.
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Relative Something 