Monday, December 17, 2018

Winter Thoughts

On Saturday, with one kid refusing to come outside and the other intent on 'hleping' (intended typo there...) the SO and I went out to deep clean the runs.

Full disclosure, I am a lazy horse owner and clean outside the barn the way I clean in the house, leaving little things until they're big things and then doing a major deep cleaning. The stalls stay good and the pasture stays good, it's just the dry lot that gets looking bad...

The runs needed a deep cleaning and this was the second day in a row of above freezing temperatures, so thawing manure had to go.

Gwyn and Saffron were taken to the spring pasture, much to their delight.







I hooked up my trailer to the ATV and just tackled the giant pile of poop with the gates wide open to facilitate moving things around.

My 'hleper'

I managed to get all of the not too frozen poop out of the run, and boy was it a HUGE improvement.
My 'helper'

Meanwhile, Eric determined that we needed a new manure pile spot because he apparently has something against using the trash service to haul away manure. So he raked in the old straw from the original manure pile that was there when we bought the property and then made a barrier using the T-posts and some of the pallets we had lying around.

After that, he fixed the stall liner that was coming off the wall for me and then helped me take down the electrobraid that gives me three runs so that the animals could have one giant dry lot. It's just Gwyn and Saffron so I don't really see a need to have three separate runs. It'll make replacing the footing, which needs to happen at some point, easier if it's one big space.

So now my dry run is much nicer and cleaner. And so every night since I've been making sure to pick up what new poo has acccumulated and you know what?

My fingers don't go numb when I do this.

This may sound like a strange revelation, but I have some poor circulation issues, a combination of Reynaud's and cold urticaria. Most nights in winter even the thickest gloves would leave my fingers like ice, and super painful.

If I do a brief poo sweep, and fill my manure bucket, not even the full wheelbarrow, all I need are my Back on Track liners and I come in with hot hands. Just adding that little bit of activity is enough to push me into blood moving versus normal barn chores and it's been lovely.  My barn is cleaner and my hands are happier each night when I go back inside.

I've also now used the Magic Brush twice in a row. I love how mud just disappears and how soft it leaves Gwyn's coat. Tonight I tried it on Saffron. If Gwyn is a sappy, loves any kind of attention that could be semi-related to grooming kind of horse, Saffron is the opposite. She is standoffish, she is not affectionate and she tolerates me grooming her (she'll stand still for the kids for hours though)

I think she likes the Magic Brush. Which means it's definitely magic. And bonus, Donkey winter coat is super wiry and thick. Normal horse brushes really don't work well on it unless they're super stiff and yet the Magic Brush cut through and lifted dirt off of her. I couldn't believe it.

So now I need to get Saffron her own. Maybe two for Saffron so the girls can brush her at the same time.

7 comments:

  1. Isn’t it amazing how much one project can improve the place. I tend to let things piles up too and then regret it when a small job has now become a large one.

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    1. I'm trying to commit to little bits every day. I know it will be better.

      But I also know that my barn sitter isn't going to pick up poo while we're off visiting my parents so having it as clean as possible is necessary.

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    2. OH! Also! The reins arrived yesterday! They are beautiful!

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  2. Glad you are liking the magic brush and yay for improvements. There's always something to do. I haven't tried the BOT glove liners but I swear by the socks for winter survival. Might need to do gloves next, my hands are always frozen.

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    1. I have brilliant winter muck boots. I can go out when it's below 0 F without socks, with shin deep snow and those boots keep my toes warm. They are the Best Thing Ever (and $$$)

      I like the glove liners because I keep my dexterity if I'm just using them and I don't have to keep pushing them up to stay on my hand AND my hand doesn't feel claustrophobic when I put them on. A lot of my gripe with gloves (the Ovation winter ones and just the general runner gloves you can get at Costco) is that it feels too tight getting my hand into them, even if it fits fine once on. I almost panic that I'm going to be stuck in them. It's ridiculous, but has also made winter adaptation hard.

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    2. My current favorite and almost dead gloves I got when I was a teenager, lol. They are knit with a fleece lining (ie don't touch hay) and have the flip back mitten. They are just so warm and I can get my fingers out to do things like use my phone without freezing my entire hand. Sadly they are getting holes in them at this point. I need to do some more searching but so far no suitable replacement has been found. Those waterproof gloves are all too bulky and the thin running ones seem to do nothing for me.
      I got some bogs boots for Xmas which I've been allowed to use already and I'm interested to see how those do. My sock layering is more for riding. I can't stand riding in winter boots, too bulky.

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  3. Ugh yeah when things pile up it can make things so overwhelming its hard to start, glad you guys were able to get that big project out of the way!

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