home pony stories

Still muddy and the back pasture is still flooded. A couple nice days is starting to make things better. Of course, tomorrow's forecast is rain. The horses celebrated the new year with an apple in their breakfast and a nice day out in the pasture. It was a quiet day with no riding because of the footing. We will have our new year's ride on the 11th when we have a nice, dry indoor available.

Sounds like a plan......you could grow rice in that pasture if it stays flooded.

I could if the water weren't salty. It does look like a rice paddy.

The horses spent a lot of time inside in their blankets and hoods today. It was COLD and windy. They went out during the warmest part of the day, and now they're snuggled into their stalls with extra hay for the night. More frigid temps tomorrow. We are all over it.

Brace yourselves....this is supposed to be the coldest snap we've had in decades! And from the looks of the system it looks like your area will be hit with it too. Weatherman said we might break 100 year old records in IL for cold temps.   

It's supposed to warm up and rain AGAIN tomorrow. I son'r think our forecast calls for as much cold as you're getting. It will be cold but not like that. Still, this is plenty cold enough for these hot house flowers! The horses enjoyed temps in the 30s today, and kept their hoods and blankets on. I might have to take off a layer tomorrow since it's supposed to warm up. But, since it will be wet, they'll still have on at least sheets.

The horses are in multiple blankets with their hoods on. They will stay inside tomorrow with extra hay. I can't believe how cold we're going to get. It was 60 degrees when I left for work this morning. Now, it's 29 and dropping.

I hope the water buckets don't freeze solid. The kids can punch holes in the surface ice if they're thirsty. Solid ice is not good. I don't have bucket heaters (for inside) since we don't get this cold very often. The outside tub has a heater, and they might need some time out while we muck out after work. Hopefully, they will be okay.

I'm sure they'll be fine. Will the water lines to the barn freeze?

We only have one pump at the barn. It has a spigot that back drains so the water is forced back out of the pipe that sticks out above the ground. No problems in that regard. The buckets were frozen this morning, but just a little. I broke it and took the ice out of the buckets. It froze again since we only got to 20 degrees today. Fortunately, we'll be warmer tomorrow, and the horses will be able to go out. They were a bit "up" tonight.

I can imagine.

I can imagine they were getting a little cabin feverish, weren't they?

Today was a bit better. It was still damned cold, but it did break 30 degrees. It's supposed to warm up slowly until we're comfortable on Saturday.

Today, Envoy was rotten. When I got home and started cleaning his stall, I noticed that he had POOPED IN HIS WATER BUCKET and it was FROZEN!!!     Completely nasty cleanup time for me. I sure hope he is better tonight.

   

Better today, thank goodness!

OhMy....so glad he didn't repeat that.

Bad news for our tank heater. It melted! I think the really cold weather made it run too hot, and it met its end. More cold weather is due this week. Fortunately, the farm supply store has two in stock, and they're holding one for me to pick up tomorrow.

OUCH!! That can't be cheap.

Not too bad. $35 for a new one. It's worth every penny to make sure the horses drink in cold weather, and to relieve my frozen hands when I don't have to break ice at 5 AM.

That's well worth the price then, especially for the horses.

The home ponies have been blowing off their hay nets because they can get a couple mouthfuls of grass in the big pasture. We pulled them off the muddy winter one, and opened up the big and small one together. The small one is half flooded, but it provides access to the better pasture. I don't really mind that they're not eating as much outside. They are finishing all of their night time hay, so it must just be the nicer weather and better turnout.

Brace yourself....that new water heater is going to get a workout with round 2 of the polar vortex!

It's getting nasty now. The snow is falling and piling up. The wind is howling and the temperature plummeting. The horses are bundled up and in their stalls with a lot of hay. The outside tub has its new heater plugged in. We are as ready as we can be. I'm ready for spring!

So am I and I bet the furkids are past ready for spring to arrive.

Poor Casper and Cree. It's SO muddy and awful. I have plans to fence off the back pasture, but I can't do it until the drainage ditch in the big pasture goes down some. Right now, there's about 20 feet (wide) of water to cross between the paddock and pasture. Once that goes down to a wade-able width, I'll fence the access from the back pasture to let it recover. I guess there's a reason they call it a sacrifice pasture. It's really awful. I know it will recover nicely and be nice, green grass in the summer. But, every winter I despair at how awful low ground pastures look.