Planning

It's been awhile since I've blogged about the horses. The days seem to slip by faster and faster and I can't keep up. We are starting to thaw out so putting in hay is going to be tricky these days until the frost is out of the ground. It means timing is everything.


So the other day I was feeling sorry for myself, thinking about Lightening and how we dont' connect. Someone mentioned a horse for sale that would have fit the bill. But I can't bring myself to sell Lightening. He's my personal horse but the same rules apply to him as the Sanctuary horses so the dilemma didn't last long. He's here to stay but trying to find the time to connect with him is the big thing. But the other night, I went out to check the horses and he was the first to greet me. Everyone at some point will come up to see what I'm doing, except for Jim and King (and Lightening). Lightening has been a tough cookie to crack because he prefers to be aloof when it comes to me. But maybe if I can find the time now that the days are getting longer, I can work with him a bit. Again, it's all about timing.


We have about two more months of keeping the horses on hay. We typically don't put them out on pasture until Memorial Weekend. We may possibly have a pasture to put the big herd but I'm waiting to see if that comes through or not. If it does, that means we'll have the summer to restore our depleted pasture. If not, it means we'll be working extra hard to keep the pasture as well as we can. We need to start looking at re-fencing the perimeter now that the corner posts are all rotting off.


I realized today that we need a game plan for all the stuff we need to get done around the place. If we don't plan now, we'll be like we always are and scrambling to get stuff done in the fall. I'd rather be a bit more proactive this year and get a few extra things done so we arent' caught unprepared. Last year from about August until October I had this tight feeling in my chest and it was all due to the amount of work that needed to be done before winter set in.


We still need to get the garage roof done. I'm hoping that we can tackle that project in May. There's manure to haul but we need to get a skidloader and that will take coordination and money since I'm expecting we'll have to rent one. And it takes time and money to haul manure to the field. There's all the fencing, spraying, reseeding, and fertilizing in the pastures. We need to finish up putting the roofing on the hay barn. I went in the other day to grab a bale and it's such a different feeling knowing that there's no leaks. But I'd like to get it all wrapped up soon, at least once the weather warms. You can't work with Ondura when it's under 55 degrees. I'm sure there's a ton of other stuff. We need to get some work done on the trailers and tractors and there's always work on vehicles. I'd hoped to repaint another side of the barn but I dont' see that in the cards this year.  And we need to put the roof on the little shed in the big dry lot. It's been sitting like that for a good four to five years and it's starting to drive me insane looking at it all the time.


So there's lots to get done this summer.


I also need to get my poop in a group for our upcoming fundraiser, Light the Night, scheduled for Saturday, April 21st.  Unfortunately by the end of the day, I'm pretty well beat and cant' seem to function. It's been a struggle lately. I see all this stuff that I need to get done and I want to get done but when I finally have the time, I'm too exhausted and just can't function. I've been sick for the past couple of months so I'm just now getting over it. Talk about a wicked bug.


I'm hoping that with April rolling around, I'll be better at blogging and posting on Facebook but I'm not going to make any promises.


The horses are all fat and sassy. Junior has lost a bit of weight because I've slacked off here and there with his grain and I can tell. That disappoints me but I'm hoping that in another month, I can get him on the lawn to graze on grass and he'll pick the weight back up. I can't expect too much from him these days. I rarely have horses live into their 30s so I'm pretty tickled that he's lasted this long. I'm hoping we'll have him for another couple of years but we'll take it day-by-day.


So lots going on but my brain is going blank at the moment. I seem to be getting more and more scatterbrained. Hopefully I can get a few things done over the weekend. If I don't post again, I hope everyone has a fantastic Happy Easter!