home again home again

UGH!!!

Yeah... It RAINED. We have our flood back. The horses got to graze with ducks and geese floating around them. The barn is high and dry, but 50 feet away it's deep enough for their feathered friends. Sigh... I thought we might get out of March without too much mud.

Double UGH!!!

I guess our long dry spell did some good. The mud isn't too bad and the water is retreating slowly. I moved the horses to the big pasture. They have to wade through some flooding from the ditch to get to the big part, but their paddock is dry. They are enjoying the bright, sunny day today.

COLD day for horses today. They've almost got their summer coats on. But, they really didn't want blankets with the beautiful sunshine. So, out they went with no jammies. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and be beautiful for the weekend. We are all ready for spring.

And here it is! Spring came in this afternoon with great sunshine and nice temperatures. The horses are going to spend the night outside. They are snoozing inside now, but will head out to hay nets and baby grass soon.

Ah, spring! How we've missed you.

Ah spring, you were only here for one day. When will you come back?

Glad you got to enjoy more than one day of spring. Ship some up here, will ya?

Another great riding day. We're getting used to more frequent rides, and actually do things besides sit around on our swelling backsides. We're tired.

It's almost time to move horses to the pasture that's been resting all winter. It isn't as green as it will be, but I need them to eat it a little so the weeds don't start in. I should seed, but who can afford that? So, on Saturday, they move to the new grass. It should be an exciting morning.

As long as it's not too exciting.

I don't think it will be after today's rain. The good thing is that the grass out there is greening up nicely. The horses stayed out all day through some of the hardest rain I've seen in a while. They will be good and tired even after a night in nice, dry stalls. (They were so happy to see me with the halters at supper time.)

New pasture move was totally unexciting. The horses were so happy to see new grass that they didn't run around at all. They went through the gate and were face down into the grass. It isn't even tall yet, but it's NEW.

The horses had visitors today. There is a building at the end that used to be the local post office. It's been closed up for years, and last year some very nice people bought it. They've fixed it up and are using it as a camping cabin. They kept all of the cool things inside, painted the outside, and put up a solar panel to run the well pump. They came back for their first spring visit, and the horses were fascinated. The man was working on his boat trailer that has a broken axle. Not exactly the way you want to begin your fishing weekend. But, the ponies were keeping him company while he worked.

So nice of them to greet him, supervise, and not try to 'help' him like our kitties do.

Such a nice day for a ride. The temperature is perfect. The wind isn't blowing too hard, but just enough to keep comfortable. THEN... there's the pollen. While we were trotting around the pasture, a small gust of wind came and a yellow CLOUD came out of one of the pine trees. It was amazing. I'm so glad I don't have allergies, but it's bothering me a little. The horses are saying that I need to skim their water tub a few times a day so they don't have to drink yellow water.

That sounds so gross.

It is amazingly nasty. There is a 1/2 inch of pollen in the corner of the front porch. I swept on Monday. Sigh...

The horses don't care about the pollen. They're outside as much as possible right now. They come in at dusk when the gnats start to get bad. We don't have the summer swarms, but Envoy is really sensitive, so I let him hide in his stall for a few hours. Unless it's going to rain/thunder, out they go for the night. I love summer turnout!

Everybody loves summer turnout.

Good day for a ride today. The pine pollen is settling down, and the weather is warm/breezy. Envoy is almost done shedding, so he didn't sweat too badly. We trotted around the pasture and did some fun geometry exercises. It's almost warm enough to have after-ride baths.

Sounds like fun. Happy to hear that pollen is backing off.