Labor Day Weekend

What a weekend. It doesn't seem like much of a vacation or that we got much done but after looking at the weekend I see great accomplishments. This morning when I went out to let the horses onto the pasture, I realized Fall is here. Now, the question is, how long will it last. This morning was so chilly I was ready to crawl back into bed for a few more hours (at least until it was light out). But no matter how long fall stays and no matter when winter arrives, I'm half way prepared.

Saturday morning the tractor arrived that will be used to unload the years worth of hay. We had originally talked earlier in the week that the hay supplier (my uncle...thank god for family) would come on Monday. But as the week progressed, we paid closer attention to the weather and it looked like rain. So instead, they decided they would bring the hay down on Sunday.

Saturday we puttered and did some preparing for the hay. I apparently let some of my cleaning go a little bit over the year. But I had almost everything set come Sunday morning when they semi arrived. I didn't get any pictures this year but if I think of it, I'll post some pics from last year's adventure.

Unloading 70 big square bales of hay took about two hours. I still had extra hay from last year (apparently I rationed too much). So I had to find extra spots for the hay. Unfortunately the hay is only under a steal canopy and not tucked up under a building. Once I get through the old hay, I'll be working on the hay under the canopy. Every year seems to be different as far as feeding the horses.

While I was talking with my uncle and cousin about feeding hay, they asked how I fed the horses. They feed their big squares to cattle so it's a different method. I think their jaws about dropped when I told them, I feed the horses one sliver at a time and then I divide the slivers into quarters so there's extra piles of hay! After tarping the majority of the hay we ended up petering out for the rest of Sunday.

On Monday Mom and Dad came down to help around the place even though it rained most of the day. We aren't quite organized like we used to so it was a scramble to get things figured out to work on. There's so much to do but it all requires a large shopping trip into town, which hasn't been done in awhile. We aren't into preparing for fall just yet and the shopping required to get us there.

But we did get the extra stall built in the barn. The only thing left is to purchase a latch. With the extra stall built, it actually gave me two stalls. So now I have seven stalls in the barn. The hard part is trying to figure out who goes in which stall!

Since the new stall was originally used as storage, Mom and I cleaned it out the best we could. I rearranged my grain room. Awhile back we bought locking barrels and I decided I'd start using them. With the stalls built the way they are, I want to be triple sure that no one can break into the grain. There's a bit more tweaking I need to do, but I think I now have more room and the grain is stored much better. The barrels hold a lot more grain than the garbage cans do so now my big pile of grain bags on a pallet have dwindled.

Besides getting the stalls finished, Dad reattached the insulation around the automatic waterer. The horses dismantled it this past year. I'm not sure if it really helps any but I'm game to try anything to help cut down on costs. We still need to build some type of insulation box around the 100 gallon water trough. Last year we ran out of time and just left it standing like normal. We ran through about $100 more a month by having it plugged in and not protected from the elements. Hopefully this year we'll have time to buy the correct materials and build a box.

It doesn't feel like we got much accomplished but having the hay (delivered and tarped) and having the stalls built really makes me feel less stressed about fall being here.

I need to do a bit more evaluations on blankets to see what more we need. I'm hoping Jeffers will have another blowout clearance sale and I can purchase a few more blankets. If this winter is anything like last winter, I want to be prepared. Now the hard part is finding/building more stalls to keep everyone in.

With moving the barrels and using fence posts to keep the tarps down, I made a bit of extra room in the hay shed. I'm thinking if I do some wheeling and dealing, I might be able to get a permanent stall built to give me three permanent stalls in the hay shed. That way I can put one temporary stall in and when the old bales are gone, I can add an additional temporary stall by the first of the year (depending on how fast the horses go through the hay). If I have all the stalls planned that I want, I'll have 12 stalls. That still leaves me horses that I need to find places for but that number may change depending on if the ponies come home for the winter or not.

I'm still debating on purchasing the little filly. I told the owner of the mare that I definately want her but I'm undecided yet on the filly. At this point, I'm almost ready to just take the filly home too since apparently no one wants her. The owner said he'd be able to sell her but I'm betting he's going to have a time selling her come the first of November when he can wean her. I'm not sure what the prices are like at Kramers and I'm betting he'd either dump her there or sell her super cheap on Kelo or Craigs List. I'm stalling because I can't make up my mind. I still have to put Joe down and bringing in a two month old filly is beyond my knowledge. I was going to only bring in old horses so the filly sort of throws in a hitch. I already have a number of pasture pets (five at this very moment) and the filly would add to that number until she's three. But maybe it would be better since I'd be starting with a clean slate. I don't know. I hate not knowing. The mare was a definate yes but the filly is my issue. What do I do?

So that in a nutshell was my labor day weekend. No vacation for me and it looks like no vacation for me until next year around Memorial Weekend. I guess I better get my list figured out so I know what all needs to be done before the snow actually flies since fall is "unofficially" here.