Horizontal Snow

Oh how I dread the word.....

SNOW

It's an evil word around these parts because we are faced with it for six months out of the year (it feels like anyway). It's only October 27th and we have snow. It's not the light fluffy kind that gently falls from the sky. It's the hard pellets that hurt when it comes flying horizontally across the open plains and smacks you right in the face.

Luckily last night we had a reprieve from the rain. But the wind was terrible, terrible, terrible. Had there been snow at the time, it would have been horizontal (like it is this morning). The horses were happy to stay out in the pasture until I called Sam in for his evening grain. I need to start in with my winter routine instead of my summer routine. It gets dark so darn fast these days that I'm doing half my chores in the dark.

Luckily everyone behaved for the most part and were happy and willing to snarf down the grain and hay I threw out. Even Thor decided he'd hang out for a little while and eat some hay. I need to clean out the yards a little better so I have more places to throw hay.

A few weekends back we started building an open front. At the time we only had a skeleton frame for the building. Last night it was leaning pretty good. This morning it was in a heap on the ground. I was rather disappointed. I'd hoped to have it done by now. The fencing is contingent on the open front being done and now it's lying in a heap.

When I went to feed Rabbit, she was shivering like crazy. She still doesn't have enough weight on her since she's spending all her time feeding Mayhem. I did order some waterproof sheets but they didnt' come with leg straps. I've learned my lesson with putting a sheet with no leg straps on a horse that is not stalled. I decided that we'd go with a winter blanket instead. I know it's too early and she needs to get her coat on but I couldn't let her stand there and shiver the entire night. When I flopped her grain dish in front of her though, she did stop shivering. But I wanted to make her feel better so on went her winter blanket. She must have been pampered in her earlier years because she stood like a pro for me to put on the blanket. She didn't even spook, like the others do so I'm sure she's worn a blanket in the past. Mayhem wasn't so sure about the blanket but she checked it out to make sure "mom" was still under there.

This morning I woke to the roaring wind. The only problem with winter is that I can stay in bed listening to the wind howl and not realize that there is horizontal wind blowing. It's not until I step outside that the shock hits me. This morning was a shock to the system. I knew it was supposed to be nasty out but I didn't think it would be pelting snowballs at me. I was NOT impressed. Everyone but Thor was up by the barn. Poor Thor, I'm guessing he was out in the pasture somewhere. I may have to start stalling Sam (so he can eat his grain, alfalfa, and hay without being pestered) and throw Thor in too. Thor really likes being in the barn even if his stall is too small for him.

I've found that the older work horses love being in the barn. Dictator (my first horse who happened to be a Colorado ranch horse) loved being in the barn. I couldn't get Bob out of the barn. Sam hated the barn at first and now prefers to stand in there (of course the barn means food). And now Thor is loving the barn. So we'll see how it all plays out.

The weatherman is saying the wind won't die down until after 7pm tonight. So I'll have to deal with the wind for a little bit during chores. I can only hope that the weather gets better so I can scurry around and get some of my final projects done before the real snow hits. I'm starting to panic that I'll not get everything done that needs to be done before real winter sets in and we're dealing with a few feet of snow.

Snow....it's an evil word.