home again home again

Yes! They do enjoy the air moving and cooling them off and keeping the bugs away. The horses got to stay outside all day. It was very humid, but not really hot. We had some afternoon storms, but they weren't too bad.

It's been rainy here all weekend. Not complaining we need it desperately.

We don't, but I can live with some showers. The pastures are beautiful, which is a little unusual for the height of summer.

Look at it this way saves on hay bills.

Oh yeah... It's the highlight of my spring and summer. I need to go for some standby bales this week, but it will be a small load. The big winter load should come in October, and I'm already dreading the bill. I also have storage concerns if the barn roof isn't done by then. Might need to rent a Pod to put it in.

With out air circulating around it won't mold?

Probably not in the winter. Too cold. Besides... I wouldn't stack it real tight. I just hope that the roof replacement won't take too long and I can have a safe storage spot. Worse to worst, I can schlep the load across the yard to the other barn and then schlep bales to the big barn all winter. Sounds like a lot of schlepping.

I agree. I hope the roofing job doesn't take too long either. I just thought of something, make sure the roofers go over every inch with a fine tooth comb to make sure they don't leave nails behind.

Yup... And I have an industrial magnet to do a sweep. The guy putting up the roof is a horse guy and has said he's going to tarp the barn. I will also be putting mats in stalls/aisle when it's all done, so we should be good.

That's good. I had a horse get seriously injured because of careless roofers.

I'm hoping I have the money to re-do the floor and stalls, but might not. If I can't, the mats are the next best solution. And even if I do, the stalls and aisle will get mats.

I've always like mats especially if you have concrete floors.

No concrete, but it keeps our soft dirt from getting pits. Helps to conserve bedding. I've always liked mats too.

My timing stinks. I went to put the horses out at 9 PM. The weather has been wonderful - not too hot and not too humid for August. As soon as I took Envoy's halter off, I saw some lightening in the north. It was MILES away, but the wind was picking up. The radar says the storms will stay to the north and we might get rain. All the horses were staring at the lightening. Odd weather. I don't think I'll bring them in though. They marched off to the trees, so they will have good shelter if it gets silly. I really need more shavings, and having them in all night won't help that at all.

Since they marched off to the trees, it sounds like they may know more than the radar.

It turned out to be just a brief rain shower. They were fine, and were munching happily when I got up in the morning. I think they like being out on the grass as much as possible.

I was supposed to go buy some summer hay today to get us through until the big winter delivery. Turns out that our financing for the barn roof closed today, so no hay run. Oh well... I have enough to last a couple more weeks, and the roof is more important so the hay doesn't get wet.

Sorry about the hay run being cancelled but you're right the roof is more important.

Had a nice enough ride on Ruby today. The unfortunate thing is that our spray wore out about 1/2 a mile from home. I had to dismount so I could smack mosquitoes and flies on both of us. I was wiggling around so much trying to get them that she was getting a little flustered. Poor horse. Hopefully, the bugs will calm down soon.

I hope so too. That reminds me I need to start keeping track of the birdbaths again.

It's in the 70s with low humidity. Bugs have disappeared for the time being. They'll be back on Monday with the August weather. The horses are loving the break in heat/humidity. They even forgot about supper time until I called them.

I'm jealous.

I tried to ride Envoy today. We got about 20 minutes in with lovely weather. The deer flies and mosquitoes do not care about low humidity and great temps. So we rode around the pasture until the spray wore off. Then we hustled back to the yard. The mosquito magnet is great and there's a noticeable difference closer to where it is. If I had lots of money, I'd have a few set up around the property so we'd get rid of more, but no such luck. Money goes out faster than it comes in.

Glad you had a nice ride, even though it was short. I hear you about money.

Had a really great ride with Ruby today. We worked on walk/trot transitions. The bugs weren't too bad, so we got in 45 minutes. Later in the day, they bugs decided to swarm, so I guess it all depends on heat/light.