Mid July.  And, this week its going to be hot.  Ugg. My horses prefer standing in the barn, to being outside, which really I can’t blame them. I have these enormous biting flies, and then this black deer fly shaped flies, that are wicked biters…  so our turn out schedule has altered, with everyone getting turned out, late after noon, usually after 3, to stretch their legs, and graze for a bit.  I also hate to ride in this heat, I find I am getting to be less or a rider, and more of just a horse keeper,  I find myself  just not up to getting out and getting on.  I need to change that… but, with temps going into the hight 80’s,  it won’t be today,,,, Off to hay… have a great day.

Finally, there is hay in the barn, only a small amount, but enough to get thru the next couple of weeks, until I get more, the weather has been wonderful, and dry, and the hay makers are working hard. Its such a feeling of gratitude, so see those bales being stacked in the barn.  I am worried about the cost this year, I haven’t had the energy to really draw in more business,  so my horses are mostly hanging out, eating hay.  I am at loose ends about teaching lessons, and not sure I want to do it anymore.  But Satin and my daughters pony are doing well. So, there is that….  Off to hay, and turn out..

So, most things have settled down on the veterinary front, Satin continues to do, Ok,  she is holding her weight, and seems to be comfortable, and not really showing me any signs that she is in excessive or crippling pain. I am content to let her be, and know that she is moving toward her end, and it makes me sad, and everyday she is with me makes me smile, but, with those emergencies over, back to when and how am I going to afford more hay.  I teach lessons in the Spring, Summer and Fall, but since last fall, I am loosing at least a lesson or two a week because of rain, seriously, its been raining since last August, mostly on Tuesdays.  But, Weather conditions affect my lesson business, and my tenuous income from said endeavor.  The last 4 years I have picked up a part time job, to help pay my hay off over the winter, my job this past fall/winter was in a pizza restaurant .  It was fun, but I didn’t make enough to cover my hay expenses, so I am behind and feeling the pressure.. its a bit of a sickening feeling.  I don’t like owing. On top of that, at the end of May, I only had 60 bales of hay, and with the addition of the recovering pony , 15 horses to feed. Facebook searches let me find hay, but, with the constant rain, it has become a valuable commodity. normally in our area, a bale of hay goes for $5.50 to 6.00 per bale, People who still had hay were selling it for $7.00 to $9.00 per bale, it kind of made me sad, to think of people taking advantage of fellow horse owners, and that’s how I feel , that they were taking advantage,  so not only was I searching for hay, I was searching for affordable hay. On top of that, I had to go pick up and load  this affordable hay myself, and I was feeling my age this year. Loading 15 bales of hay, and driving home and unloading it was exhausting. Plus, it took up 6 hours of my week,  😀 .  Usually the times, I would have had time to hop on and ride.  With the at least twice a week rains, the fields have been too wet to get into, and all the haymakers in my area are chomping at the edge of the fields, to get the haying started.  But, last week, Saturday was beautiful, and two more good drying days were predicted .  On Sunday when I went to pick up some hay at “my” hay guys, I saw that he had laid two fields down, and last night, my first shipment arrived. HAY!!!  I am both happy, and resigned, and looking for a job to help pay off my passion.  Happily this morning I am off to hay.

Somewhere I was reading recently, I remember a comment, that the equine species works Monday thru 5:00 pm Fridays. After that… its an equine emergency.  On a particularly cold filthy day in MAY no less, it was feed time, when I went to call in my old appy mare, she was no where to be seen, I panicked a little, and trudged thru the mud and down into her paddock, Everything, was a gray muddy color, and Satin wears a gray blanket, and yes, a few of my horses were still wearing their blankets into MAY, my eyes scanned the uneven ground and finally saw a gray shape laying on the ground… I approached slowly, not knowing if she was dead, or sleeping or stuck, when I got to her head, she was just staring into space, I checked that she wasn’t tangled in her blanket, and then began to talk to her, and rub on her blanket, her eye slowly rolled toward me, and I helped her lift her head… the ground didn’t look like she had been struggling, but I pulled her legs forward, then lifted her head again, that seemed to be enough to get her interested in getting up, She and I walked slowly to the barn, and into a stall, and I called the vet, .  A few days later she seemed to be slowly coming back to normal, although her gait was stiff, and she walked very slowly, she was eating, and drinking, but seemed sore.  But on a morning just about 8 days later, she could barely stand.. and I called the Vet again, when he arrived, he examined Satin, She was in so much pain, he seemed to feel, that maybe based on her history, that it may be her time, horses that have been down on their sides, can actually destroy their own muscle mass, and basically it begins to die inside,  The dr. told me to consider my options, we gave her some dex,and some banamine, and pulled some blood.  I knew she was old, but I wasn’t totally prepared to loose her.  While I was sitting with her, thinking of our time together, my mother texted me that she had just put her dog to sleep, and 10 minutes after that, my daughter called me to tell me that the very expensive pony she had purchased as a training project was colicing.. so putting sass to sleep, got set down for just a moment.  I texted some friends of mine, who had more experience with old horses, and downed horses, and the general feeling was that an old horse, that had been down, and wasn’t doing well, was ready to pass , another friend had told me a while back, when she had to put her old guy down, that the veterinarian told her, ” God, isn’t such a bad owner..” so their opinions helped me firm up my resolve.  All I had to do, was decide where she would rest,,, Except, that a few hours later, my daughter called me back, her pony wasn’t doing well, and she was having him trailered to the equine clinic we use in emergencies.. so I climbed in the car, with my credit card, and headed up to help.  The pony required surgery, on a Friday, after 5,  (I currently call him the 10,000 dollar man, )   By the time we were home, and Saturday rolled around, I had decided to just let Satin be.  When the time presented its self, I would have more resolve.  This morning, she cantered from her stall into her pasture, she is enjoying being in the first stall, and getting a bit more attention than before, and my daughter’s pony is recovering well, although, the resale lesson is a tough one to swallow.  They are our worlds these horses…. and they certainly keep us revolving around them..   off to hay…. second cut, which is easier to digest.

It feels to me as if Winter started in November, and hasn’t quite packed his bags yet.  It has rained and rained this spring, and its been cold, and raw, yesterday, it actually snowed here in Maine, a little north of me.  SNOWED.  Ugg.  That being said, its been nothing by one crisis after another here on my farm, I have two lame horses, my guess is pulled tendons, or sore joints, from slogging thru the mud, from the non stop rain, its hard to get the paddocks and run in area’s cleaned up because its nothing but slop.. Then, my ducks have started to die, they are exceptionally thin, and weak all of a sudden, my guess is some sort of respiratory aliment, my one remaining baby is now under a heat lamp, and on antibiotics,  and last night, when I went out to feed, Satin, my older appaloosa mare, didn’t come when I called, when I went to find her she was down, on her side, and not moving,  I approached her, calling her name, fearing the worst., as I got closer she flicked and ear.. she was cold, and I think just down, maybe she got down in the mud, and couldn’t get up, she is very good, if and when she is tangled up, or caught, about just waiting for me to come save her, and I think this may be what she did, she couldn’t get up, so she just laid there and waited.. I led her slowly to the barn, and wrapped her in warm dry blankets and called the veterinarian.  I didn’t have any idea how long she had been down, and I couldn’t hear any gut sounds, only the trembling and shaking she was doing. Once the vet arrived, she did an exam, and gave Sass, a big dose of steroids,  I gave her some pain meds, and by midnight she was doing much better, the shaking was gone, and so was her hay.   I didn’t get much sleep last night, and she is totally fine today… she is 28, so I worry about her.  well. off I go to hay…

Last summer I took in a boarder, since I was desperate for income, I agreed to charge less per day for this boarder, $6.00 per day for care instead of my usual $8.00 per day, Yes, I think the care I provide is worth $8 dollars a day.  Over the course of 1 week, I knew I had made a mistake, the owner and I were just not horse keeping compatible. She was frustrated with my time line daily, and I was just frustrated with her. After agreeing to a reduced board rate, she began to add things which cost me more time… I had to soak beet pulp, I have to apply fly spray, I had to dress her horse daily in his little fly protection leggings, I wasn’t feeding him enough hay, my fences weren’t right(well, that’s not fair,, actually because they weren’t really up to snuff)  and the footing in my ring wasn’t soft enough…  so I got grumpy, and she became progessively more and more unhappy… and the icing on the cake, was after she left, my hay person told me that the new load of hay was more expensive per bale, so all summer I had been feeding her horse hay, for less then I was paying for it….  I made a decision not to take any more boarders, and basically I was ok with that.  Late in the winter, I began to ask around for a teenage girl who might want to trade work for horse time.  Maya showed up, she had lessoned with me for a short time, was riding somewhere else, but was willing to help in the barn for extra riding time…  A short while ago, she was offered a horse from a barn that was switching from being a lesson barn to a sales barn, this horse was Maya’s favorite, and she shared a special bond with her.  So, now I have a working boarder…and I still get to ride more, and Maya has a wonderful horse, and is a super happy dreams come true kiddo.  So, welcome Bella, you beautiful mare… wishing long rides, and happy days ahead.   As for the hay situation, I had to buy round bales to feed from, the weather has been damp and cold, the  grass is coming in , but very slowly,  so we will be on tender hooks, until the sun comes out, and the grass starts to grow… am beginning wonder about feeding my pasture grass, and fixing my fencing… the never ending chore.. but, now I have help… Off to hay.  k

I am beginning to believe, that our seasons are shifting.  January and February seem to have become one 60 month, March seems to be a mix of February and maybe March, and I don’t even know what April wanted to be this year… cold, and Mapril….someone told me yesterday that we had had 22 days of rain in April,  all I know is, for an April it was cold.  This cold and wet will affect how the grass grows, when the hay will be cut, and there for will affect ME and my already limited supply of hay.  Keeping the horses off my limited supply of grazing areas.  It has been a slow start to lessons, and I waffle with keeping on, or getting an hourly, full time job, which would limit my horse time, but alleviate some of the stress of paying for dried grass tied up with strings.  My horses are happy, and we had a new arrival yesterday to board. She is actually a working boarder, so there is something in it for me I hope.  It was fun to take in the face of the young girl whose dream had just walked down the aisle way of my barn..   Today’s list of things to do….includes putting fences back together, hammers and nails, slogging thru the mud, along with my list of the usual.   The spring greens of leaves, and grass inspire me, in spite of the fact that it is raining… its a good thing I won’t melt.  Off to hay.  k

It seems as if the winter of 2018/2019 just wont leave, today is just about freezing, and that is by 1 degree.  Its a cross between mud season and snow, and the search for enough hay to tide me over is on. The blog fell by the wayside, I was feeling too angry and disappointed in my family, and I wanted this blog to be about horses, and caring for them. So, hopefully I can focus on the horses and my journey with them.

I actually can’t believe my last post was way back in November.  Winter has shown up and how.  We have had snow weekly, since mid December,  mostly it was ice at first.  On the day Sparkle and Dotz came back from their trial, my driveway was a skating rink, I had to meet my friend 1/2 mile up my drive and walk the ponies home thru the woods.  Its seems to me, its been cold all of December,  we had a white Christmas,  and it was cold, Then after Christmas it got colder… so cold.  I always expect a dip into the negatives, in January,  but this dip started just after Christmas, and went right into the second week of January.  I swear, frozen water buckets are heavier than liquid water.  I got so frustrated with it I took hammers to my water buckets, it is a skill to hit the bucket just hard enough to break the ice, but not hard enough to break the bucket.  I learned to start high and work my way down.  It amazes me, how I get acclimated every year,  to the bitter cold,  but the weather is more temperate now, and I am so grateful. Another thing I am grateful for is the snow, each storm has been light fluffy snow, not heavy and wet.  The worst thing though, is having to get outside really early in order to get to work,  the last couple of winters have been mild, and I didn’t take into consideration, how much work the horses can be in the weather, when the ice was here, I had to creep along everywhere, then in the extreme cold, there was snow cover on the ice, that gave me traction,  now we have had some warmth, there is ice under the snow again, but the footing is trecherous, and it takes me longer to get everyone in and out, and get everyone fed, so I am late to work almost everyday.  I have adjusted my hours so my days are 2 hours shorter… just so I have time to get done in the morning, and get home early enough to not be in the barn at 7 at night.  I have to admit, going outside at 7:30 in the morning, when its 10 degrees below 0 sucks.  Its refreshing, but it sucks.  Also, somedays it seems as if the barn doesn’t want me to go to work, every day there is something out there falling down, the horses run thru the fence, chew the fence down, a door comes off the track, the water is frozen, the horses get out and eat all the morning hay…… its always something… and it always leads to time to hay…..

Well, fall came for  a few days, anyway, it got below 32, there was ice, frozen ground and frost, today is windy and warm, and I know I should be doing yard prep, and dragging out winter water heaters and extension cords,  instead I am exhausted by the leak in my hayloft raining down into my tack room.  So far even after a foray onto the roof I haven’t found where the leak is coming in from.  My son and I did locate one suspect spot, and covered it with a tarp, but still after last nights rain there is more water coming thru my ceiling.   My lessons have slowed, my top two students, my most advanced, have been slowly drifting away and back, I am trying to re-label myself, Sparkle has gone out on trial, I hope they like her, she is bored beyond belief here with me, my other horses don’t care quite so much, but Sparkle does.. My ankle is still so sore, its been more than 5 months now.  The pain affects how much I have the energy to do, my eyes take in all that is undone, and all there is to do, sometimes I have the energy, and then I don’t. Today I have to go and clean up my tack room, I think I may just have to throw things away. This has certainly been an off season.  Soon snow will cover the flaws, and I can rest for the winter.  A friend of mine has a great belief in vision boards.  I am going to try one, although my only vision is when I can climb back into bed.