A new month......the farm is still busy, we are still busy, life goes on. Chores to do, lists to write and rewrite....sometimes I think I write them a million times.
The rescue is full! We took a new horse in last week, named him Dante and then promptly changed his name to Joe...or Joey.....a little chestnut quarter horse down on his luck with no place to go. Great manners and good disposition.....what's not to love? Joey will be available for adoption after an assessment ride this weekend...currently he is happy eating grass and hanging out. He has been dewormed and his feet will be trimmed this weekend.
We still have Baybee....and he is growing like a weed......so very tall and handsome and um.......spoiled. What did you expect from us? Manners? we forgot all the daily handling a baby horse needs. For two weeks he was quiet as a Mouse, meek and mild mannered......but now, he is comfortable with the routine, feels safe and he turned into a regular yearling...nippy and coltish. He may make the rest of my hair turn gray...baby horses...yikes. He also cannot give you his front foot to clean or handle.....he simply goes to his knees......you let him up and try again.......he lays down. Such drama.....we should have named him Hollywood.
We never got much of a summer but fall is definitely in the air now.......cool mornings, fog and of course it is dark earlier. Really brings to mind the fall chores and the winter chores that we need to get done.
We got most of our drainage ditch done or as we love to call it.."the bio swale"......sounds fancy huh? It really is just a ditch but we will call it whatever you like as long as it drains water. We have planted grass in it, made bridges across it........all is well with the ditch.
We say goodbye to Strohs Feed ......a long relationship with all of them and we will miss them and all they have done for us.....goodbye girls! We will see you around. Thank you for everything.....you are such good friends of ours!
Let's see .....the chore list goes on.......this weekend we will finish re-fencing the pony paddock, cut off fence posts along the bio swale, cement bridge placements, start on the manure shed, rock pick the arena, groom horses, clean out the big water tanks in preparation for winter...reset mats outside of stalls, buy more hay...go to the dump, clean out cat room, set out rat stations, cut brush along fence and take Joey for a test ride.
Our winter wish list for anyone who cares to see it:
Cement in the aisle way in barn......it gets slippery when it starts raining..it is really necessary for safety sake of horses and volunteers.
Gravel.....need to top off stall paddocks.
Sand...to top the gravel off in the stall paddocks.
Hogsfuel...for the paddocks at barn #2...to keep mud down and rocks out of hooves.
Hay fund.....we intend to store more hay for winter, we now have a second building and it provides more storage. We are full with inmates, so the hay goes fast. Local hay is great for the pony and the easy keepers but we also have to have timothy or orchard grass or a mix.
Railroad ties....to provide the back of the new manure bin
Three gates for the bottom of the long paddocks...this enables us to turn horses in or out easily.
Two gates for barn #2...to help seperate horses at feeding time.....stall kicking and fighting by two unnamed horses...ummm..just sayin....
Two mats for Iris' paddock, so that she has no mud at her doorway.
Two pallets of stall pellets......one at each barn. Iris will HAVE to have pellets as her feet cannot tolerate wet.
Psyllium pellets......we feed Psyllium pellets one week out of the month
Small amount of lumber to close in Beavers stall entrance...he currently has no wind break.
Salt holders for each stall...those little cheap ones.
We would love to have a sponsor for Iris... Iris has to have aluminum shoes about every six weeks, complete with pads in order to keep her feet healthy and pain free.
We could also use cleaning volunteers or morning or evening feeders. Some of the volunteers have full time jobs...and while we are grateful for their time...sometimes they could use a break.
Thank you to the people who have visited my mother or brought her food or flowers or cards......you will never know how much it has meant to her...but I promise you, it has meant the world. Please keep her in your prayers....such a rough time for all of us and we love her so much.
Pony Up fortune for tomorrow:
Life is exactly what you make it and then some.
Enjoy tomorrow.....tell you mother you love her.
No comments:
Post a Comment