Monday, January 5, 2009

Making the Best of It

Can you believe it? The snow melted. The sun shone bright and the sky was a sapphire blue. It was even warm enough for me to don a tank top hit the field for a ride.

Oh goodness, I guess that was just a mirage.

My horse might as well be stalled right now, as much standing around as he is doing. But I don't blame him. After trekking around his pasture on Friday, I realized how difficult it is to get around. The couple feet of snow Paint Girl got at her place has slowly melted down and condensed to an almost solid 5" of crusted snow. Under that is damp mud or ice. Covered in horse poo and scrap hay. I did my best to clean it up and break up ice chunks, but until a bigger thaw, it is what it is.

I am impressed with My Boy's ability to pick his way through the mess. He walks tenderly and slow on the unstable or icy spots. Unless he's running towards his grain bucket!

My Boy has a favorite tree he likes to stand under. Paint Girl's mares currently have access to the run between his and their pastures, so Fritzy, the black and white Paint mare, has been practicing some herd dynamics and standing next to the fence where My Boy often is.

I took some of the shavings out of My Boy's turnout shed and spread them around the tree base. It helped with some of the snow and slush and gave him at least a dry place to stand. At least until the rain begins.

Here he is investigating the new footing. He's probably confused as to why it's not white!

I looked out the window Saturday morning and caught him napping (actually laying down at one point) on this spot so I know my spotted pill appreciated my effort.

I've had to succumb to simply hand-walking my horse in these conditions. Walking was even more treacherous for me as it was icy, but those Muck boots sure have a decent grip, I didn't slip once! I walked my horse around on the gravel driveway and through the yard of snow, letting him graze a bit and stretch his legs. As I said, despite having a whole pasture to roam, with this current snowy footing my horse will stand in one spot all day if there is no reason for him to mosey along (meaning, no food or green grass in sight.)

It is finally supposed to warm up a bit this week. I debated on whether to take off his turnout blanket, which will probably get quite wet and mucky around the fringes as he rolls in melting mucky snow. I opted to leave it on for the week. I'll reevaluate next weekend. One thing I don't love about having a blanketed horse is pulling off the blanket and voila~ a completely clean horse!

Vacation is officially over and I'm back to work today. I love me some winter snow, but I have never looked forward to spring more as I do now!


20 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that your boy is surviving weather he isn't used to!

    Rusty and his pasture mates don't move around much either - the footing is really bad right now. I tried to walk around the pasture with him on Sunday and there was an inch of snow covering an ice rink, or so it seemed. No wonder they weren't venturing far from their shelter!

    Here's to spring! May it arrive soon! :-)

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  2. I bet MB did like having those shavings to lay on. I know that when the ground gets nasty around here the horses really appreciate me spreading extra hay out for them to lay on. Shooter loves to lay in the middle of the hay pile and make his momma eat around him...little stink.
    School started back up here too...As much as Meg and I enjoy the break...it's nice to get back to a regular schedule.

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  3. Oh you had me goin for a second! Oh I can't wait till it warms up either. We woke this morning to a blanket of snow.brrrr Back to work so soon? Shoot no more relaxing, enjoying the tank top weather. I hate when I have to work and it's so nice outside...hehehe
    Have a great day back at work.

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  4. I was about to say... "Are you in Texas too? 78 one day and 42 the next!!!" I am ready for spring so this see-saw weather stops!

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  5. Yup, all this snow is pretty dreadful. It's amazing how well the animals seem to adapt though. My Boy seems to be doing very well considering and it's nice of the neighbours to drop by and pay him a visit from time to time.

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  6. Glad your boy is weathering the winter well. It is difficult when they can't move around a lot. My pasture is mucky, wet, and muddy. Blah.

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  7. ROFL...I'm sitting here thinking what??? How on earth can she be riding in a tank and sunshine while I'm shivering and my teeth are chattering just looking outside???

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  8. Yes you had me goin'. My cousin has said it is snowing up at The Dalles again, so you are probably getting it too. BRRRRRRRRRR....
    You should be in Oklahoma...we had 75 degree weather one day then 42 degrees the next. Everyone is sick with colds here....(keep them away from me). Sorry vacation is over for you.

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  9. What warmed up! " I thought, she nuts" LOL then I kept reading LOL
    geez we got another 3 inches of snow last night! I think we have had the most snow on record! then I seen the news this am, we could be in Spokane, 6 freaken feet!!!!! oh my god, I will live with 3 inches LOL it was mostly gone here but now it is white again.

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  10. It's a lousy time of year to be a horse....mine told me so!! They've been stalled or let in the indoor to run around more than they've been out and they aren't happy about it.

    When I started reading your entry I thought "what the heck?? how did it get sooooo warm!" then I read on. LOL

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  11. I wanna know how you take off the blanket and have a perfectly clean horse underneath! Mine are so dirty all I can really do is knock the big chunks off before blanketing them. Poco hides the dirt but Jaz is crusty down to his skin.

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  12. I LOVE that top photo! It would make a beautiful painting!

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  13. It's so interesting to read the blogs of those who have to deal with snow. Winter is our prime riding season here in Florida. Being a voyeur in blog land helps me to understand the challenges that others go through in horsekeeping.

    My Boy is my favorite blog land Appy - I enjoy your updates and think he is a real cutie patootie.

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  14. {Jennifer}- I would love to have someone paint that photo! Also, I intend to post about your art on Saturday! :-)

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  15. Looks like My Boy is wondering why that dark stuff you spread there, isn't grain or something yummy to eat.

    lol!
    ~Lisa
    New Mexico

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  16. I love rugs! They keep the horse so clean! I keep Jack rugged most of the year because of the cold in Winter and because of the flies in Summer. He also fades quickly if he is un-covered in Summer.

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  17. You are in serious need of a desert visit! See you soon!
    Your Desert Rose Auntie!

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  18. {Lisa} - So true! I think he came over because I hauled the shavings over in a muck bucket and he totally thought he was getting an extra meal, LOL!

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  19. Ughhhh...we all went back to school today too!!! It was rather bittersweet after being able to do whatever we wanted for the past two weeks!!!

    Looks like you are sticking to your agenda so far...lol!!! I finally have the internet (after a week w/o it), and I am in the throes of playing catch-up on everyones's blog!!!

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  20. I can't say that I blame you for looking forward to better weather. I trucked into work today being careful to avoid any icy roads. Bleh!

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