Scheduling Nightmare

Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the subzero temperatures for a very long time. I know I’m sick of this weather and I’m starting to think that the horses are sick of it as well. Dude through a hissy fit this morning, kicking out at his stall, telling me to hurry up. But I think I know why all the horses were cranky with me this morning, at least sort of.

So we were supposed to have 15 below wind and were in a Wind Chill Warning, which  mean 20 to 30 below wind chills. We didn’t have a lot of wind but with the temps as cold as they are, any little bit of a breeze is a problem. Sure, when winter rolls around, a small breeze is terrible but in the summer when we desperately want even just a wisp of a breeze, we get nothing. But I digress.

For the past week plus I’ve been using an alfalfa hay mix bale. It’s an older bale but figured I might as well use it since it’s so cold (and I could get to it, otherwise I would have used it during the Polar Vortex). So now the horses are spoiled and enjoying the alfalfa hay mix. I personally despise this bale because it crumples in my  hands and practically disintegrates before I can get it into the hay wagon. And I tend to lose some of the  better alfalfa leaves as I drag along my hay wagon. But we finished off the first bale and started in on the second bale. I’ve been using these two bales now while it’s cold because hopefully we won’t have any more cold weather (and these bales are kinda in the way).

But because I needed to put the horses in the barn, there was no way I was going to deal with that alfalfa/hay mix that disintegrates in my hands. I wouldn’t be able to get it into the stalls before it all disappeared. So instead I broke open a new bale.  Unfortunately, that bale is mostly canary grass, and the horses HATE canary grass. They would rather not eat. Or because they’ve had the good stuff, they won’t touch this hay until they are “starving”.  So I threw the canary grass hay into the stalls and no one ate anything. They were excited to get out and I ended up throwing the good alfalfa/hay so they were pretty calm.

I was smart enough Saturday morning to prep the stalls but I ran out of time Sunday morning to prep stalls. I ended up having to do normal chores plus get everything situated for another night in the barn. The horses were not pleased with having to go into the barn. Had we not been in a Wind Chill Warming, I probably would have left them out. But no one wanted to go into the barn, which was weird. But I suppose they figured out that the stalls means they don’t’ get the really good alfalfa/hay and get the canary grass. But I figured that I can’t risk them not eating and losing weight so I broke open a different bale after I finally got everyone into their stalls. This second bale was a lot better quality but it’s older and also disintegrates when I try to pull a sliver off. But I made it work and the horses ate it all. But I think they were still disgruntled with me. This morning everyone bolted out of the barn.  We didn’t really even have any wind so I’m sure the horses thought I was being silly. But it was eleven below when I went out to do chores this morning. The barn is not heated but it was one or two degrees warmer. But I guess the horses didn’t care. Everyone charged out of the barn and made a bee line for the alfalfa/hay. They are going to be sorely disappointed when we finally run out of that hay. I expect we’ll be done with that alfalfa/hay bale by mid Wednesday and they’ll have to go back to boring hay. I’m not sure what to do with that canary grass bale. I’m disappointed that we have it.

I’ll be so happy when I can put horses out on the pasture. Although at this point, the horses can go out into the pasture. I left the gate open and it’s frozen to the ground. So the horses can come and go as they please. Hopefully it’ll warm up soon enough so I can start locking them in to the drylot when I need to. I don’t’ want them tearing up the pasture but I don’t’ think we are to that point of having to worry about it.

These next two weeks are going to be crazy busy. I’m already frantic about trying to make sure everything gets done on time and I’m at the right place at the right time. The Tri State Horse Expo is coming up next weekend and both drill teams are performing. This weekend is the Unwanted Horse Summit in St. Paul that I’m hopefully going to attend (weather permitting). And of course, next weekend is the start of daylight savings time. To top that trauma off, Mike is leaving next Monday for training for three days, and I’ll be home alone with a toddler starting a new daylight savings schedule. I’m not sure who’s going to be more upset with the schedule , the horses, the toddler, or me!

We did get three bales donated and picked up the other week. Hopefully on the Wednesday that Mike comes back from training, we’ll have time to push in a couple of the round bales so I wont’ have to rush around to do chores while trying to get ready for performances during the Tri State Horse Expo.

I also realized I didn’t do a horse of the month for February. But I’ll introduce you to one of our horses. Well, ponies. And it’s a bit of a two-fer deal anyway. I’ll write more about it later. And I was going to do a cheat sheet but I don’t’ have any new pictures of the horses. So I may very well just post some old pictures of the horses so you’ll at least know who I’m talking about, even if the pictures are outdated.

If I don’t post, it’s not because I’m not around. I’m just running around trying to get everything done. We are still frantically working on our upcoming fundraiser, april 12^th. If you want to volunteer, we’d be more than happy for the help!