home again home again

I'm inclined to agree with you about the bugs.

At least the weather is dry. That means the mosquitoes are not as active. The humidity brings them out at dawn, but the rest of the time, the heat beats them into submission. The horses don't care though because they are hanging out under their fans for the heat of the day.

Same here.

Another hot day, but not as bad as yesterday. The horses stayed out until 2:30. I let them out at 8:00, and that's when the thunder started. No rain yet, but I think we'll get some before the night's done. The horses will stay out unless we get really bad weather warnings though. They're in a "new" pasture and will probably be hard to catch.

I went to the Crabbet Celebration today. It wasn't as big a show as I thought it was going to be. It's totally run by volunteers, so it was a little disorganized, but very casual and enjoyable. Everyone was extremely nice, and the facility was pretty great. It had nice stalls and rings, and some interesting trails surrounding it. There's even a POOL (for people). It was a HOT day, and my friend did 3 back-to-back classes, so we were all sweating like piggies. On the way home, I had to drive through a thunderstorm with pounding rain, hail, and lots of ponding water on the road. Not what I wanted, but at least it came after all the riders were finished and horses tucked into stalls.

That did sound like fun. Glad you are home safe though.

Had a nice early ride with Ruby today. She was a bit energetic, but she listens so well. I love her. Need to start working more seriously though. Time to direct that energy into training.

After our ride (and required coffee), the massage guy came and filmed his certification video with Envoy. It took about 45 minutes, and we have another short session on Thursday. Envoy was a happy pony, but I used about a quart of fly spray because the big ones have decided to celebrate the end of summer.

Well it's summer and who wants do serious work when it's hot.

As to the flies isn't that how it always is. It's like the last hurrah before they die.

They know the swimming pools are closing, so they are abandoning the little human kiddies and heading for the farms!

The worst casualty of the tropical scare is my tack. I took it to Williamsburg with Envoy, and it stayed safe in the barn where he was. But... The humidity is so high that everything molded in just 5 days. Looks like I'll be cleaning like crazy this week. No riding until it is rid of the nasty stuff. The only good thing is that horse people say that only healthy leather molds because it has enough moisture.

Look there is an upside to it. Cleaning tack is the only job in the barn that can be done sitting down.

LOL Tru nuf. So much other stuff to do. I guess I'll clean tack if the mosquitoes allow me to sit outside without draining me dry. They are insane. I swear the giant ones came over from Africa where they normally feed on elephants. I've never seen ones so big. Even though the weather is wonderful, I've been bringing the horses in for the night because the bugs are SO bad.

We've had lot's of rain here, so you know they're going to be fercious.

Settling a bit. I ordered a bunch of Mosquito Torpedos (like dunks but even better) to put in the standing water from all the rain the past couple weeks. It's going away slowly, but no reason to keep having the baby mosquitoes hatching out when we can do them in without hurting any other animals. (How does that stuff work anyway?)

Never heard of it. Though I had a friend who tried using goldfish in troughs. Mixed results.

They work really well if you get invasions. I've seen them at Walmart and on Amazon. I order them from the place I get my fly predators because they are so nice. They sent info for evacuating horses before the storm, and are sending a free batch of fly predators since the storm makes conditions right for extra flies. I think they deserve the business.

I agree.

Today was fall shots and Lu's final dental check. His mouth has healed nicely, and he looks much healthier. Still has a bunch of weight to gain, but he's working on it. I've never seen a horse chow down as much as he does. He's the littlest and eats the most.

Glad his mouth has healed up and he looks better. Hopefully he will pick up some more pounds over the winter.

He's working on it. He eats about 4 pounds of senior feed/day, and gets some rice bran and oil added at dinner. I wish I could eat that many calories.

The weather finally cooled down a bit, and the horses are loving life. The mosquitoes don't like cooler weather, so it's almost tolerable in the pastures.

WHOA!! That is some serious groceries. I had quarter horse/Arab cross that became a blimp if even so much as looked at any kind of grain.

Envoy and Ruby are that way. They eat 1/2 a pound of hay pellets with a ration balancer. That's just vitamins and minerals mixed with something tasty (I suspect some kind of fiber that just passes through). It's used for Cushings horses, so it can't have too many calories. They stay plump on hay, which is nice to the wallet. I can't imagine having more than one hard keeper.

I was always lucky I guess, all of mine were easy keepers.

My friend had to put her old horse down yesterday. He suddenly started bleeding into his abdomen, and was declining quickly. He has had gut issues for many years, so this isn't a surprise, but it is still sad. No one is ever ready for the time. The odd thing here is that I could swear I saw Sabi standing in the woods like he was waiting for his old friend to come. I hope Luke is enjoying the grass with Sabi and they are being mischievous together. They used to like whooping it up in the pasture being the old, feisty guys they were.

Becky, that is sad news. And you're right no one is ever ready for this, no matter what you tell yourself it's still heart wrenching. You did see Sabi, loved ones return to tell us that all will be well. Love to all.