Exhausted

It's been a tough evening at Borderlands. After moving horses to the neighbor's this morning and making sure that everyone was settled, Mike and I took a much needed nap in the afternoon. The stress of moving horses is always pretty high for me. I'm not keen on keeping them in electric only. After last week's escapade I'm even more nervous. But we have to do what we can to make sure that they have pasture.

Our hay guy informed me yesterday that they were only able to get half of what we needed. It didn't look likely that we would get our full order so I was in a panic this evening trying to figure out where we could find enough hay.

After a nap, we started looking for hay. We found enough (I hope) but its' going to be a pain in the butt trying to get it home. It's a bit farther away than I wanted to go but we didn't really have a choice. So this Saturday Mike and J are going to Miller to pick up the 40 bales that we need to make sure we make it through the winter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we actually have enough. If anyone else has a big truck and trailer and is willing to haul, we'd greatly appreciate the help.

After getting the hay lined up, we decided to start in on chores. Mike suggested we go and check the herd at the neighbor's first. Thank goodness we did. We were still stumped on why the electric fence wasn't working right so we started walking the fenceline. All of a sudden, I heard a snap and the fenceline went slack. Bo decided to test the fence and take it down (and take Zeke with him). Luckily the rest of the herd was far enough away that they didn't realize the fence was down. Unfortunately we couldn't catch Zeke and Bo right away but the others stayed put. We were able to get the fence back up before the others decided they should go on another escape.

While Mike repaired the fence, I went after Bo and Zeke. Zeke, being the SOB that he is, will not let anyone catch him. Luckily they didn't go too far. Bo sprained an ankle (or at least that's what I figured) because he was lame two days after last week's "outting". But even with a bum leg, he could still move out. I jumped in the truck and tried to catch up to them. They did decide to turn around instead of head for the alfalfa field they ended up in last time.

Luckily the neighbor to the south of us has a few minis and a donkey. Zeke and Bo were sidetracked with those little guys so I was able to catch Bo (but not Zeke). It's probably better that I didn't catch Zeke. Because we were almost a mile from home, I knew I couldn't walk the boys home. I figured the next best thing was to drive them home. I lead Bo home through the truck window and Zeke followed along like he was tied to the truck. Unfortunately Bo had to hobble the entire way. If it would have been Zeke that I caught, we would have gone much faster. If the SOB can run away from me, he can go at a nice lope all the way home. But that wasn't the case. Instead, Zeke is now in the timeout pen to give him some time to think about behaving. We gave the neighbor's something to talk about.

As you can see, we are a bit "hick" in this part of the country. But you do what you have to do to get the job done.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the others stay in the pasture. I don't want to use up any more hay than I already have to. Our hay situation is going to be tight. We are going to have to start feeding hay early and what little we have left has to last. I don't want to dip into the new hay because then we won't have enough for the winter.

The hay supplier did say we'd probably get our half load sometime this week so now I need to scramble to get the hay shed and hay barn cleaned out before they get here.

Least to say, I'm exhausted after moving horses, fixing fence, chasing horses, and getting things lined up to get more hay. If I don't post again for a few days, it's probably because I'm too tired to think straight. Both Mike and I were struggling this evening. I couldn't figure out how to look at a picture on his phone and he couldn't figure out how to put the truck into reverse. It's a sign that we both need a break from all the stress. Now if the horses would just cooperate maybe then the stress would lessen just a little.

Please keep your fingers crossed that things get easier for us. And if anyone would like to donate to our hay supply, I'd greatly appreciate it. The price is going to be double what I was expecting. I just paid for last year's hay and now I have to come up with the cash to pay for this year's hay this week. It's going to be nip and tuck. Remember, it's just my paycheck taking care of the horses and I don't get paid a lot (we've simply learned how to go without).

Exhausted. Finally going to head to bed so we can do it all over again tomorrow.