Continual Fencing

Mike played hookie from his paying job to get a few things done around the place before winter sets in. Luckily, he and Dad were able to get the gapping hole fixed in the house. Once that was done, he and Dad spent the afternoon digging holes and putting in wood fence posts. The big drylot (where the geldings stay all winter) now have all new fence posts.

There's still plenty of work to do. The posts are in but nothing else. This Sunday we'll be putting in the new fence (although we still have to figure out exactly what type of fencing we are going to do). I had hoped we could reuse some of the old fence but Dude successfully bent over half of the cattle panels when he stood on them to reach the grass this past spring.

I've come up with a better fencing method to keep those darn horses OFF the fence (which includes electric!) We still have more fence posts to put in but that'll mean we have to buy more posts. We have used up all the wooden posts we bought from the state when they were redoing the fenceline along the interstate. I think we have super tall fence posts still for the big drylot. Our drylot is goofy because on the west side, there's a two foot drop off from the concrete to the actual drylot. So now we have to find fence posts that are tall enough to go 4 feet into the ground, be tall enough to span the two foot drop off and still be tall enough to deter the horses from jumping (although we don't have any jumpers because they are all too lazy).

The small pen still needs a new fence line (it's on the west side as well). If we don't buy new posts or have time to put holes in, I'll have to go with Plan B, which is use corral panels and wire them up to t-posts. It'll be temporary but it'll at least hold until next year. I'm planning on only having the mares in the smaller pen for the winter. I'm also considering keeping the ponies in a separate pen so that the mares have more time to eat. Those ponies know how to snarf down the hay before Mayhem and Rabbit can get a mouthful!

I'm excited for the weekend so that we can see more results. The fencing is a bit irritating because we put in a new fenceline two years ago. I couldn't do anything because I was still recovering from complications from having our son. But now, having to redo everyone's hard work is a bit bittersweet. It was a hard lesson to learn but now I know what works and what doesn't work in that drylot.

And it's a good thing that we are getting these projects done. The forecast is calling for rain/snow Sunday night into Monday. I am NOT ready for winter, especially when it's only the first of November. I'm afraid it's going to be a very LONG winter and very tough.

So I guess while everyone else works on the fence,  I'll be working on tearing apart the roof of the run-in shed we built a couple years ago. I think when we are in town buying supplies for fencing, that we'll buy some hurricane straps for the roof! Lesson learned! We don't have hurricanes but we DO have tornados!!! I doubt we'll get the roof on the run-in shed but at least we'll be making progress. There's too many horses and not enough shelters if we don't have that one in use.

So for anyone that might be in the area and bored, come on out Sunday. We'll put you to work. Even if you don't want to do fencing or "roof" work, there's always grooming or other activities with the horses that needs to be done.