Catching Up

Talk about extremes! Last year we were going into the drought. Now we are dealing with extensive rain. Unfortunately the rain this weekend came down so quickly that I doubt it did much good in soaking into the ground.

We didn't do much with the horses over Memorial Weekend. Instead we spent quality time with family enjoying everyone's company. The weather wasn't as cooperative as I had hoped. We tried our hand at camping with a nine month old. Very interesting! We also had to deal with a major thunderstorm that dumped a lot of water. Luckily most of the rain went south of our campsite but ended up being closer to the Sanctuary. As we were driving home, you could tell water had run over the road and much of the land was covered in water. I won't complain. We lucked out and missed the eight inches of rain and only got three inches.

This is the first year we haven't put the horses out on the pasture during Memorial weekend. Unfortunately, they are locked in the drylot for another month until the new grass is established and can handle the horses. I may go and beg the neighbor but we'll see. I'm afraid my pride might get the better of me.  I also don't want to take advantage of our neighbors. After being taken advantage of with the neighbor's horse (a different neighbor, not the one with the pasture), I most definitely want to make sure I don't over step my welcome, unlike others.

I have been putting the big herd out on the lawn for a couple of hours every night. What I can't figure out is why the horses have taken to eating the hay instead of the grass. The round bale from the neighbor's horse is still sitting in the yard. The horses have taken to eating that instead of the grass. Is there no grass left or is it that poor quality that they would rather eat hay than grass? Or do I just have weird horses? I figure it's more the latter than the former.

Mayhem jumped the little divider gate I had to keep her out of Babe's pen. But Babe seems to be enjoying the company. But I  may separate them again for a few days as  Mayhem is getting bossy and pushing Babe around. Not Allowed. Poor Babe. I was hoping to put Babe and Mayhem out on pasture and then either put Rabbit in a pasture by herself or put her in with the ponies. I doubt the ponies or Rabbit would like that situation but I cant' have Rabbit in with Babe and I'm not sure I want to give up the east pasture just yet. I may put Rabbit in for a month and then give the pasture a break but we'll see. I need to get a plan going on how to manage the pastures a little better. No matter what, we will be pulling horses off the pasture at night so they aren't eating 24x7. We now have too many horses and not enough pasture to handle that type of setup (gone are those days).

I haven't done much with the horses as of late. My schedule hasnt' allowed it and it doesn't look like I'll get to do much with the horses in the coming weeks. Although we DID have a volunteer come out last Thursday. And oh what a godsend he was! K volunteered to come out and work on any project that we need finished. There's so many different projects but one of the projects high on the list was repairing a gate. We have three gates in the big drylot. One out to the pasture, one out to the lawn, and one out to the hay. The gate to the hay has been in some decline for awhile. The original owners had put up a nice fence and put concrete around the post. It worked wonderfully for him but after 30+ years, fence posts rot. We have been contending with a rotten fence post and a gate that was precariously attached to the post and the barn. K and Mike worked their magic last Thursday to redo the gate. The gate now hangs off the hay barn instead of the rotten fence post. We'll replace the fence post later when everything dries up. But  for now, there's no worry that a horse wont' take the gate down (and subsequently take half the fenceline down too!) The gate is also about two feet higher in the air! Now the horses can't lean over the gate (putting even more pressure on the rotten fence post). I was always afraid that a horse would get tired of standing in the drylot and simply jump the fence. I've seen it happen before! I can't tell you how giddy I was Thursday night climbing over that gate! It looked so nice. We haven't been able to do any repairs on the place due to my pregnancy and subsequent health problems (and Mike's health problems too). So it was nice to finally see some progress at the Sanctuary. Of course, I'm also very amused and entertained by simple things (including a fixed gate).

We are to get more rain. My fingers are crossed that the bottom part of the pasture doesn't flood out. All that grass seed will be for not if we get much  more rain and we can't afford a devastation like that. As it is, I'm going to be feeding hay for another month. Come on sunshine! We need the grass to GROW!