home again home again

First day at home was a great success. The farrier came early, and everyone had a nice pedicure complete with lots of cookies from Mr. Joe. (They love him.) Kina got a special shoe on her bad leg, and Envoy got a little adjustment on his back hooves to help with his sore stifles. THEN, it was out to the grass. Envoy was so happy that he ran around and around the pasture before he settled down to start munching. He's so happy to see grass and friends.

First ride in the pasture. It's been wet, so we just walked around and got used to new surroundings. All is good. I hope the footing flattens out. It's a bit choppy from the winter mud.

Poor Kina had a tick on her tail. I saw her rubbing it on the wall of her stall after breakfast. Poor girl messed up her pretty tail, but I got the tick off and put some show sheen on it. Hopefully, she'll be sporting her pretty tail with NO TICKS when I bring her in tonight.

EEEWWW!! GROSSS!!!

Far far too wet to do much with the horses. They went out in the front pasture for the first day, and none too soon. The other two have lots of water in them. Things seem to be draining well, so I hope we'll be able to get into the big pasture soon to get rid of the stall stuff that's in the spreader.

It's still too squishy to ride in the pasture. Things look fine, but the ground is just soft and squishy. Envoy had a hard time negotiating some of the wetter areas. So, we rode on the road for a little while just to stretch things out. He was a good boy. We'll try again tomorrow I hope.

I got the "honey wagon" stuck today. I took it out to the pasture to spread the stall muck. It has been way too many days since I did that because we've had so much rain. Well... The gate was fine, and I made it in with no problems. Then I hit a soft spot. Ugh! Fortunately, my husband helped me push it out. It was just as hard as pushing a car. I chose a different spot to spread, and will not be using the spreader until we dry up more. There's more rain expected this week. We don't need it right now.

My brother says that they have ten days straight in Delaware. It's been rainy here but nothing like that.

I set up a lesson schedule with a friend I've known for years. She's one of the most dedicated horse people I know, and we totally agree that training is about more than ribbons. So, on Friday the 20th, Envoy and I go off to our first lesson in years. It's time to get back in shape!

YES!! Have fun.

YES!! Have fun.

Oh yes, have a ball!

We've had a lot of rain too lately....so depressing.

I decided that I was sick of waiting for a not rainy day, so Envoy and I went out for a short road ride in the afternoon. We had some sprinkles, but the rain wasn't too bad. I wore a raincoat that protects most of the saddle, so we could do some walk exercises back and forth in front of the soggy pasture. I didn't want to try riding farther because it was after work, and sometimes there's traffic. Envoy doesn't seem to care much, but I don't like it much.

At least you got a short ride in.

The weather today was wonderful, and amazingly, the pasture dried enough to ride at a walk. We had a nice long ride -- until the fly spray gave up. The flies weren't too bad, but Envoy gets really jumpy when they bite him "down there." So, we worked while all was quiet, and then I put on more spray and let him go out with his girls.

All came in for dinner and the storms, and will go back out tonight. We didn't get a lot of rain, just wind and thunder with a brief downpour.

Another nice ride in cooler, but beautiful weather. Envoy seemed to enjoy the drier footing. It isn't really good yet, but it's improving. I hope that Tuesday's forecast doesn't bring a lot of rain so we can keep drying. We have a lot of pasture maintenance that isn't getting done.

Another nice day for a ride, so we did our thing after work. We even got to trot since the pasture is drying nicely. Of course, that means it will rain tomorrow. Grumble...

After my ride, my husband and I went to pick up the bags of summer bedding. We ordered a pallet of corn cob pellets, which are the best stall bedding I've ever used. We had to stack 60 bags in the storage stall. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow.

I hear you. I use a corn cob based cat litter called World's Best for Trina's box.

Today, we discovered a leak in the barn roof. Since we can't caulk when it's wet, we just put a bucket on the loft so my friend's horse doesn't have inside rain. I'm so over the super wet weather.

Sue, are you okay in TX?

So far while it's been overcast but relatively dry. It's also been cool and with the moisture the fleas are just over the top.

Same here. Even with drops for GK and collars on Mouski and Bingo, we still have a few fleas. The horses have been getting bites from nasty flies even though I put the predators out to control them. There's no winning with all this rain.

I found a tick on my friend's mare this morning. My horses get a supplement to help keep flies off. It's garlic based, and has some other natural ingredients to help with that. I hardly ever see ticks on my horses. I wonder if the supplement helps with ticks too. I will have to tell my friend about it to see if it helps her mare. Poor girl was scratching her tail on the fence, and there was a tiny tick right near the hairline.

NASTY THINGS. Worse than fleas.

Glad I got a lot of barn chores done yesterday in the sun. Blankets washed (and hung on the fence for a second rinse), spreader emptied, hay nets rinsed and dried in the sun, etc., etc. Today is a miserable rainy day. The horses are out for now, but I'll probably bring them in early just so they can rest.

My friend is coming to visit her horse this afternoon. If the rain stops (will it ever?), we plan to take a road ride. It's bicycle weekend, but the weather has kept most cyclists off the roads so far. I don't think Envoy and Spring will care about bikes anyway. Envoy's seen plenty of them, and Spring is an old campaigner.