Happy New Years Day

Welcome to the first day of 2011! Sounds like something out of a George Orwell novel, doesn't it?

We started off the morning like any other Saturday.....because there are still hungry horses, still horse manure piles to pick up, hay to sweep, things to fix......It is really cold this morning as it has been for the past several mornings.

There were fireworks last night much to my chagrin......I hate fireworks.....the dogs hate them and so do some of the horses. Seems like we cannot avoid them. Anyway, I was not totally surprised to find that Ollie had a deep gash in his face this morning, blood everywhere......he hates fireworks and I really should have tranquilized him...but he is in the new barn and it is not close to neighbors and is surrounded by woods.......so anyway, I was wrong!!!!!!! He needed stitches.....right over his eye. Poor guy....swollen eye and sweaty body.......he is very tired today.

Then back to the barn and chores to be done. Rebecca cleaned the barn and washed Beaver's tail. Beaver has chronic diarrhea.....and we have chronic tail washing....it will clear up in the spring...until then we wash away. We built a fire and burned up some of the extra scrap lumber from behind the barn....cleaned the chicken coop and collected eggs. Got a few things moved around in the barn for ease of working conditions....more hot chocolate in the cupboard. We made plans for our new building and developed a lumber list. I love to build things.....I can hardly wait.

We bought more gate openers......a better keypad and some tubing for water....defrosted hoses......hung up Chippy's feeder so the cat can't get him....we need to work on better water access at the far end of the barn so that we don't have to drag hoses all the time.

All horses had hot mashes this morning and psyllium......there is so much dirt in the new hay......I almost feel like sending it back. Hay is always fickle......good, bad, indifferent......stemmy, brown or green.....lush or lackluster......always something. I am sure prices will continue to go up and am considering buying some local stuff to allow daytime forage/fillage. These big horses eat a lot.

Because it is so dry out, I have allowed access to the large fields during the day. Tarbaby and Churchie played and bucked and kicked for several hours yesterday...it keeps their stalls cleaner too.

Enjoy your New Years day!

Pony UP fortune for tomorrow:

The same old routine becomes something new.