Tucked In

Christmas Eve and Christmas day had below zero temps for overnight. Both nights I put some of the big herd into the barn. With Bo and Babe under the cover of the Hospital Ward and in blankets, and no one allowed in the old mare pasture, I was able to put some of the other horses in for a change. Of course I have to put Rain, Zeke, and Jim in the barn as they are more "fair weather" horses. But I also decided to put Ivan and Brego in. More because they could share two stalls instead of me trying to man handle a corral panel as I have in the past. I also decided to put Dude in. I'm not sure if that's the best. I figure if he's in the barn, it'll be easier on his joints as he gets older. But after one night in the barn, I wasn't so sure. I put him in a second night and he seemed to do a little better. I did decide to change the stall arrangement so that Dude was the last in and first out Christmas day. It seemed to go better. Dude has to be the first at everything.

We pushed in round bales Saturday so that we could spend Sunday enjoying our family Christmas. The herd has done justice to both bales of course. Having six of the nine horses in the barn overnight for two nights did seem to make the bales go just that much farther. But we did start dipping in to the big squares.

I gave up using the rounds on the Rabbit, Mayhem, and the ponies. It's been so cold, I've been giving them extra even though Rabbit is in a blanket and protected from the elements. She seems ok with the blanket and the extra hay. The ponies and Mayhem were playing when we got home from visiting family this afternoon. It's good for Mayhem and the ponies. I need to find ways to keep them entertained during these cold winter days that seem to drag on forever.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Beings that this was the Bear's first Christmas I think I was more excited than I have been in years for Christmas to come. We are going to draw Christmas out at our house. It takes forever for a four and a half month old to open presents (and he got a lot of presents from his parents and Santa!)  :-)

The weatherman is calling for more snow in the forecast. Sounds like it'll start snowing tomorrow (of course because I have to go back to the paying job) and it won't stop until Friday sometime. I haven't caught how much snow we'll get but I'm sure it'll be enough to make chores a pain in the butt to do. But I would rather take snow over this fridged cold weather. My fingers can't take this cold. Some days I wonder why in the world we opened a sanctuary in South Dakota of all places. But this is where family is at so this is where home is.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and here's to looking forward to the New Year. I'll leave you with just a few pictures from this fall when Dude and King were staying with Mom and Dad.