Last I left off, we were trundling through the cold temperatures just fine. I felt guilty about putting the heavier blanket on Gwyn and switched it for the sheet for the worst of the temperature drops. I don't clip her at this point in the season so I feel like I could do more harm by blanketing than not. Anyway. Keeping a horse at home is like a constant series of self doubt regarding your decision making for the health of your horse because you've got no one to blame but yourself.
Friday Jan 25
In preparation for the snow storm, and in anticipation that the horses wouldn't want to voluntarily leave their stalls, I pulled out my square bale hay net and stuck a full bale in Gwyn's stall (and eventually outside). She was a big fan of it and each time I checked on them they would always have hay. It made me feel better since I know that grazing is the best way to keep them warm and this was a slow feed tiny hole hay net.
Monday Jan 28
The snow arrived Monday afternoon. I went into work against my better judgement because I had a client that always sends samples every monday that I wanted to get done. I left early as reports were the roads were terrible. And they were.
I tossed some hay into the run just to get Gwyn out of my hair while I cleaned her stall
As suspected, the horses pretty much got out into the wind and went "NOPE" and hustled back to their stalls. They had the option to go anywhere in the pasture and footprints tell the whole story, lol
Tuesday Jan 29
Eric tried to go to work on Tuesday but got the Volt stuck in the drifts on the driveway. He pretty much gave up on working on location for the rest of the week, especially once other events happened later. His work told him to work from home anyway.
On tuesday, I opted to stay home. Our roads are notorious for not being cleared as well as the ones closer to metro Detroit. When one of our friends (who did try to get to work) reported that he had slowly spun out and landed in the opposing lane of traffic despite not going fast, I knew I was staying home. Sorry, not sorry, coworkers.
This meant I got to watch the horses cavorting in the snow, since the wind had died down and it was no longer snowing heavily.
Keep the volume down, there's children shrieking in the background.
The polar vortex was imminent. I bundled up to leave the house for chores.
Tuesday night was going to be the worst so far as windchill went. I loaded up their water and hay, with lots of extra loose hay and shut the stall doors.
Saffron was NOT amused. She wanted to hang out in the barn aisle, not her stall.
Best Spouse (TM) had hot tea waiting for me when I came inside.
Fri Feb 1
Thursday was another cold night but I left the barn open. It wasn't going to be as bad, more just plain cold temperatures rather than cold + wind. Again, lots of hay. On Friday I pulled off Gwyn's rain sheet as the temperatures were going to shoot up. Friday was mid teens but positive and felt amazing. Gwyn was fat, shiny and happy under her sheet.
Evidence of wind: Snow drifts over a foot deep
Saturday Feb 2
Temperatures rose above freezing on Saturday. When I went out to check the barn, I immediately stepped into ankle deep water. Water was everywhere. Gwyn's stall was totally flooded, ruining all of the bedding I'd had in there for the temperature drop.
Thankfully all of my hay was on high enough ground.
Sunday Feb 3
I took advantage of a second day of abnormally warm temperatures to pick up all the poop that had frozen to the ground during the temperature drop. The stalls I left alone except to pile the wasted bedding into one big mound to better facilitate water drainage.
Nosy mare
Meanwhile, Eric brought out our aquaponics pump and rigged it for the pond of water in the barn. It worked!
It just doesn't have anywhere to go thanks to the frozen ground
He did figure out part of the culprit was a rodent hole at the back of my grooming/storage stall. The water was coming in from off the hill and since it couldn't drain well, it was just backing up into the barn. We will be fixing that hole asap. I also want to regrade around the barn, trouble is we don't have a lot of elevation change to work with to facilitate drainage.
Now this evening the water has receded significantly from 24 hours previous. We're supposed to get rain tomorrow. -.-
Gwyn's stall
In front of Gwyn's stall
Grooming/Storage no longer under water!
Saffron's stall
Entry
My grain room has remained dry. My hay is dry. There is dry land for the horses to stand on so they don't get horridly thrushy. I hung Gwyn's hay in a dry spot outside since the weather is mild.
We will get through this. I wish it had just stayed cold. :/
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.
I came home from Costco shopping on Sunday to a terrifying sight. Gwyn was flat out on the ground in the pasture, with Saffron standing nearby (you can kind of see her white nose against the pine trees). I slammed to a stop in the driveway, with Kaylee in the back asking me if everything was okay. I rolled down the window...
"Gwwwwyyyyyynnnnnn!"
She didn't respond. I told Kaylee we were going to go make sure Gwyn was okay. Then, as I watched, Gwyn's hind feet twitched, like that twitch you get as you're falling asleep? Then I watched closer and I could see her belly rise and fall. Then I noticed that all four feet were twitching.
Fucking mare was passed out dreaming about running somewhere. She didn't actually 'sit up' until Kaylee and I were out of the car and into the pasture walking toward her.
So we took pictures. And all the while I hear just this faaaaaint groaning under her breath before she just gets up because we've interrupted her beauty sleep.
Later, I convinced Kaylee to go out and ride and she was super adorable and was practicing everything she's been learning in her riding lessons. She even rode bareback for No Stirrup November with me! And then she fell off Gwyn for the first time ever (she's okay) while trying to two point with no stirrups at the trot.
Birds Eye View of the Arena that Isn't Long Enough. It's barely a rectangle. I need good exercises to do that don't require length. Like legit there's not enough room for Gwyn to jump more than one jump at a canter without suddenly needing to turn. I really want to find a giant arena to ride in that I could trailer to.
I untacked Gwyn in the arena and she ground tied by the gate for no good reason while I pulled weeds because my arena is also the best nursery for baby trees and thistles.
For just the briefest of moments this weekend, we had warm(er) weather and it was sunny and clear Saturday and Sunday AND I didn't have to go into work. The stars were aligned, y'all.
It was a dead horse kind of day. Pink is Gwyn, flat out, and purple but blending in is Saffron, also down but not totally out.
"Mom, you have treats, right?"
Since shedding season has FINALLY begun (yay spring!) I took my time grooming Gwyn. In anticipation of ramping up some work with her, I also gave her the tracest of clips. My first time ever. No judging. This is where she sweats the most so it should help, especially at our endurance ride in April. I might do more for her in April depending on how much of her coat she's blown out.
After tacking up we took to the still sn*wy and wet arena for a 'what is your energy level like today' lunge.
Pokey pony was pokey. I didn't even bother lunging the other side. I could barely get her to trot without a lunge whip. She was of the "ewwww mom, my feet are splashing cold sand on my belly" opinion and just didn't wanna.
I figured that was a good mindset to have for a toodling kind of ride.
"Please can we be done?"
So I hopped on and we did lots of walking work with bending and walk halt transitions and some trotting but really the arena needed one more day of sun before I felt comfortable doing a lot of trot work in it. I need to go through and salt and drag it before the plants take hold.
I did set this up. We walked over it. Gwyn did not touch the poles. That's pretty big. She's usually very lazy with her feet.
We also did the first exercise from the Jumping Exercises book. I did a few extra stuff using this basic set up like a clover leaf pattern with smaller 10m circles.
So sunny!
Parked out, for her. Gwyn, you are not a Morgan or Saddlebred.
I think she was happy for the attention though. Now that she's shedding I'll be making sure to groom pretty much every day so we can keep the itchies at bay. Saffron won't shed for a while but will suddenly be sleek in July. That donkey is enigmatic. I also pulled blankets from them since the weather seems to be on the up and up with no precipitation forecast for a week.
It'll mean less clean horses but they'll be fine, the woolly beasts.
We got about a mile of work in 30 minutes. So we weren't particularly marching. But it was a rejuvenating, warm ride.
