Weather Change Again

Where do I begin? This entire month has been a blur and the last few days have gone by so fast it’s hard for me to remember all that’s happened.

Saturday was beautiful! It was the nicest day we’ve had in a very long time. The temps were in the 40s! All the horses were enjoying the warm weather and not having to wear blankets. I know I enjoyed doing chores without having to deal with the bitter cold.

Gentle Spirits Horse (GSH) Rescue and Sanctuary hosted a Christmas party Saturday late afternoon that we were invited to. Of course we had to go! Oh what fun we had! It’s always so much fun getting to meet fellow horse rescuers and be in a place where we all have the same passion for helping horses. We met some of GSH’s volunteers and supporters so it was nice to put faces to names. We also had the opportunity to meet the current adoptables of GSH. I fell in love with Jackie, a 20 year old black solid paint mare. If we weren’t full and turning horses away, I’d be bringing her home. She reminds me so much of Queen that it almost hurts to think about it.  Oh don’t get me wrong, Butter and Flirt are drop dead gorgeous. I can’t tell the two apart but one of them has the most gorgeous golden dapples and amber eyes that are to die for. And to top it off, when they were both trotting around, I could see them in shows doing hunter, saddle seat or any other type of English. Those two saddlebred mares are going to be something else in the showring. I bet they’ll place every time with the right owner. They may be a little standoffish now but that’s because they hadn’t been handled until last year when GSH took them. They’ve come a long way and I bet with a dedicated owner, they’d be placing in shows by the end of the season. They have such a floating trot, it’s gorgeous. I had to wipe the drool off before it started to freeze to my face. Go check them out. You’ll not be disappointed. The pictures do not do these mares justice!

But I digress (as always when it comes to talking about horses!), after we met the horses, we went in to play games and hang out. When we arrived at GSH, the temps were almost 40 degrees. We were only able to stay for an hour (the Bear wouldn’t let us stay any longer). By the time we left, the temps had dropped 10 degrees. It took us only a half an hour to get home but in that time, the temps had dropped another 10 degrees.  I knew that cold front was going to come in but I didn’t realize it would come in that fast.  While we were at the party, the weatherman said that we were in a wind chill advisory! And by the time we got home, and I got bundled up to do chores, they were right! It was FREEZING out! I hadn’t wanted to blanket anyone before we left so I went about getting the mares and ponies out of the wind and bundled up first. Rabbit was very happy to get out of the wind and snug in her blanket. Of course, the evening meal of grain helped to keep her side tracked.

Once I got the mares and ponies settled, I started in with the big herd. Everyone was starting to get crabby so it took a bit more work convincing them that they needed to go where I wanted them to go. (Of course I hadn’t the foresight to get the stalls ready before hand!)  Luckily earlier in the day, Mike and the Bear had gone out and scraped the drylot so that walking was a lot easier and so that I could pull my hay cart with a little bit more ease (except when the horses go to grab a bite of hay and pull the entire wagon over).

Once I had everyone stalled, I went to work on getting them blanketed. I decided that Brego’s blanket didn’t fit him so he’d going back to the crappy Jeffers blanket and I’d put the new blanket on Jim instead. Jim’s canvas blanket is nice and heavy but it’s just not as good as the others that I prefer. So now Jim has his very own blanket that works fairly well. I’m not sure it’s 100 percent perfect but it’ll be better than nothing and shouldn’t annoy him like his old blanket. Out of the wind, the temps weren’t all that bad but walking back to the house, I was glad I’d put everyone in for the night.

Come Sunday morning, we were dealing with subzero temps again for the high. Let me just say, I am SO ready for spring to get here so we can get rid of these subzero temps. Anything that had melted and was slushy on Saturday is now a sheet of ice. If we get any more thawing and freezing temperatures like this weekend, the driveway is going to turn into a sheet of ice. As it is, in front of the barn is already a sheet of ice and I have to watch my step every time I come in and out of the barn (a bit tricky when hauling buckets of water back to the mare pen).

And now the weatherman says we are to get snow for the next three days. And following the snow is another arctic blast of cold air where the high is below zero. Oh I hate those types of days. It means extra hay, extra grain, freezing water buckets, and freezing fingers. I won’t complain about the snow. I’m hoping that the snow will help with the moisture and we won’t be in the middle of a drought any more. Oh how I loathe the word. But it’s so cold that the snow that falls now lacks any moisture so it’s more of a nuisance than anything else.  I’m sure hoping that the temps warm up and that what snow that does fall, is the nice heavy snow that is full of moisture!

I’m not sure what the next couple days will bring us other than more work because of the subzero temps. But I’m hoping to get caught up on a few things so that come 2014, I can focus my attention on the Sanctuary. 2014 is the year of the Horse so it’s imperative that we do something to celebrate it! Now, to come up with ideas. I’d love to hear your suggestions!