Morning Raining Chores

I knew last night that I would have to get up early to get everyone situated in their respective mud pen or pasture. I was out the door by 5:10am. I felt bad for having to kick horses out of a nice dry barn. When I stepped out the door it felt damp out but not raining.

I let the ponies out and threw a bit of hay for them to munch on. Still no rain. When I went into the barn to grab a bit of hay, Zeke was curled up in the barn. No more white horse!

I put a halter on Zeke and stepped out of the barn. Light drizzle. Drat! Luckily Zeke was nice and quiet. I was worried that we would meet a skunk so we walked slow and checked out every shadow. Zeke behaved like a gentleman! Thank you Zeke!

I rushed back to the barn once I put Zeke in the pen. I'd already thrown hay out the night before, knowing that I wouldn't have much time to throw hay. I haltered Maverick and headed out of the barn. Light rain! Double Drat! I was afraid that Maverick would be full of himself like he was the night before. Luckily he behaved and never once did more than a slow walk. He wasn't spooky at all. Neither he or Zeke were thrilled to be in the mud again but they were patient with me.

I rushed back to the barn. I haltered Queen but noticed that her coat was still plastered . Her coat look like someone had used a lot of moose on her. I felt her back and was shocked to feel a wet back. Everyone else had a dry back and was warm. I didn't know really what to do. I felt bad that Queen never really dried out. We'd brushed her down to get rid of the extra water but I guess I should have toweled her off. I threw a blanket on her much to her dismay. I know she doesn't really like blanket but if she was STILL wet after almost 12 hours there's no way she could handle MORE rain, which was in the forcast. She'd come in the night before shivering. I guess I should have taken a closer look at her. She stopped shivering but I figured she would have dried off sooner. I lead her out of the barn and she didn't want to do anything but eat grass. I can't wait to get her into the new pasture.

I rushed back to the barn. I haltered Babe (checked to make sure she was dry, which she was) and lead her out of the barn. Rain. Double Drat! She patiently and willingly walked over to her pasture. I threw in a bit of hay for both mares and headed in to finish getting ready for work.

All of that took a half hour. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I have normal winter chores and more horses are in the barn. I'm going to have to get up earlier than 5am to get everything done.

I'm hoping that the weather will get better. I'd like to pull the blankets off Bob and Queen tonight. But the weather still doesn't look too conducive. I'm not sure what I'll do for everyone. I will feed Bob like normal but I'm not sure what to do with Babe, Queen, Maverick, and Zeke. If the weather is still icky I'll pull the mares back into the barn. I want to pull Maverick and Zeke so that they don't have to stand in six inches of mud. I'd prefer to put Maverick and Zeke in to those box stalls but they aren't ready yet. So it may be that I get to do this entire routine again tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I won't have to do tonight's chores and tomorrow's chores in the rain. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm also keeping my eye on the weather forcast. The weatherman is calling for a hard freeze Friday night (25 degrees!) BRRRRRR. I'm NOT ready for winter and all the extra chores involved. Guess I better start preparing myself for a long winter doing chores in the dark!