Fencing, Winter Coats, and Cold Weather

Fencing during the week is very slow. By the time we get home from work and do some of the chores it's almost too dark to do anything extra exept more chores. I guess it's about time to change my work schedule so that I can be home to get all my chores done before dark.


We did however get some fencing done. Even if it's only a little, it's something. I put the clips on the bottom strand of the new fence. So now we have a secure west fence between the property and chicken coop. It looks so nice! I can't wait to put horses in that pasture.


While I was doing chores, Mike started putting a panel together. I got down to the bottom of the hill just in time to watch him finish. It was still so windy that instead of fighting the cold and wind in the north east corner, that he worked on the south east panel instead. The horses decided to stay out on the pasture last night instead of coming up to investigate. Every once in a while I would see a head pop up over the horizon and watch (mostly Chaos).


Mike was able to get the south east panel completely done. That leaves only two more panels to finish up and then we can start really getting serious about stringing wire. We can actually start stringing wire now but I'd rather wait until the weekend so we can spend the entire day instead of haphazardly getting some of it done during the week.


The cold weather is definately setting in. I checked all the horses that came up for feeding time last night to see how their winter coats are coming in.

• Babe has a good coat started. It's already fairly long.
• Queen has a decent coat but it's not as long or heavy as Babe's.
• Zeke has a really good coat started. Having never had him over winer I don't know what to expect with him. I hope he's an easy keeper.
• Maverick has the start of a decent coat. I can't seem to really tell with Maverick.
• Bob has the start of a decent coat. I know that I'm prolonging the inevitable with him but he looks so good standing out in the pasture. It's up close that you can tell he's thin.
• Sam has a good undercoat. His belly coat is really starting to thicken up. I've never wintered Sam over before but for the past two winters he'd only had an open front to keep him out of the wind. This year he'll have a barn and a warm stall.
• Skippy is really putting on a thick coat. I can't tell now if it's fur or fat that he has.
• Tommy has a good winter coat started too. It's not as thick as Skippy's but it's getting there.
  

I don't know about the other horses. They were stinkers last night and didn't come up. I've been graining King whenever I can get him in the barn (which seems to be every other night). I need to feed him his medicine. I still need to blog about his muscle problems but the medicine seems to be working although he's still sore and lame.


I desperately need to get my farrier out to trim up Tommy and Dude. Tommy's front feet grow so weird. I need to keep better tabs on his front feet so they don't get so long so quickly. I was thinking I would wait and see if we would "disappear" this weekend before scheduling a visit. But it's to the point I can't wait.


I also don't think that we'll be "sneaking away" this weekend. I really want to get the fencing done. I would feel so much better if I could put the mares in a pasture that still had grass and is away from the road. The back pasture would be perfect for Babe. I'm always worried that they will somehow escape and get on the road.

The weatherman is talking heavy rain for Thursday. So I'm guessing we won't get any fencing done Thursday or Friday. I'm also guessing it'll be too slick for me to ride on my Friday off. I guess maybe I can get some cleaning done in the hay barn.

I was hoping that my hay guy would deliver my hay. We've been trying to schedule it for the past three weeks. Unforutnately every time we even think about it, the skies open up and it rains. My hay guy won't haul in the rain or even leave the truck sitting out if there's a possibility of rain. They have to load the hay up and weight it one day and haul it down to me the next. So it's actually a two day deal for them.

With the weatherman calling for rain on Thursday and Friday my hay guy needs to get the beans out of the field before they can deliver. The rain will make our place too slick to manuver the semi and tractor around so I'm guessing they may wait another week before they deliver the hay.

I'm fine with that. I simply have to be at Borderlands to lock horses out, open gates, and make sure everything goes ok. Since I don't have a huge hay shed I have to stash the hay in several different spots. I'm betting I'll feel like a squirrell half way through winter, finding all my stashed hay!

The camera batteries are dead and I can't seem to find any more batteries. So no pictures yet of Zeke or the rest of the herd. I really need to get the batteries changed out. The fall leaves that are still hanging on after the last two days of wind are beautiful. The weatherman is calling for more wind tomorrow before the rain. Apparently wind is the sign of changing seasons.

So I guess I better prepare myself for colder weather when I do chores. No more running out in just my pjs to do chores. It gets a bit drafty in the morning. It's not yet coverall weather but it is heavy coat and boot weather.

Hopefully we won't have any more 35 degree mornings for at least a few more weeks. Maybe this weekend, inbetween fencing jobs I'll dig out some winter hats and gloves for my morning chores.