Winter, Graining, and Yard Lights Oh My

Sorry for not posting lately. The days seem to fly by and by the time I put my feet up at night, my mind shuts off as well. The paying job has me hopping so I haven’t had much time to do anything outside with the horses.

I have noticed a change in the hard keepers, which I take as a blessing. I was so worried about Brego and Bo. I still need to get them in to the vet but for now, until I can find time to schedule an appointment, I think they are at the very least maintaining weight. I do think Bo might actually be gaining weight. I increased their grain ration and started Bo, Brego, Jim, and Zeke on an alfalfa pellet and beet pulp pellet regime as well. I need to start that same regime with Rabbit as well. I don’t think she’ll mind. Of course I soak everyone’s grain to be on the safe side but I’m not sure if that helps or not.

When Rain is done slurping up his grain, he typically has a brown mustache. I haven’t been feeding calf manna but when I was, Zeke would always have a pink mustache. I will probably increase everyone’s grain this winter to include calf manna but I want to wait until winter actually hits.

And speaking of winter, I think it’ll be here tomorrow. We are predicted to get one to three inches of snow and the low for Friday night is 7 and the low for Saturday night is either 2 or 0, depending on which weather channel you listen to. I’m going to have to do some fast work tonight to figure out what I want to do with certain horses (mostly Rabbit). If the weather gets down to single digits and there’s a wind chill, I may very well be putting horses into the barn and hay shed. It’ll mean more work in the dark, but it’ll be worth it.

We are still without a yard light but at least we have a full moon.  I’m getting used to doing chores in the dark. And in truth, it’s not really all that dark out. The other night I went out to do chores but I wasn’t out long enough and the moon was just coming up when I was finishing chores. It was like a spotlight was shining right on when the moon came out. Of course last night I was running late and the moon was hidden by clouds. Figures! The electric company DID come out  last week but we discovered that there’s something else wrong. It’s not just a burned out light bulb like we’d hoped. So our options were to replace the light for $400 or rent the stupid thing. Since we don’t have $400 extra cash laying around, we now have to do the silly thing and RENT a yard light. How ridiculous is that?!?! But if I want a light (and I do now that it gets do darn dark out so early), that’s the only option. So I guess I’ll start saving up and in four years, we’ll buy our own and have it installed and they can take their darn light and well…use it for someone else. Tehehehe

So the electric company came out early this week. I only know this because the light was off the windmill and sitting on the cattle chute. No note, no phone call, no nothing. So I have no idea if/when they will be back and I have a gigantic light that I have no idea if it’s new or not, sitting out waiting for someone to do something with. It does seem like that’s our typical luck these days.

I also keep seeing older horses that are in search of a retirement home. I wish we could offer them a permanent home but I’m worried about our hay supply. If we are going into some bitterly cold weather in the next couple of days, I can’t imagine how much hay we’ll go through when we get into the “true” winter season. I guess if you know of anyone selling decent (and cheap hay), please let me know. I am always on the lookout for hay these days. If we had more hay, we might not have to turn away horses that desperately need a soft place to land for the rest of their lives, be it a few years, a few months, or a few days.