Gentle Giant

Bob

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The storm that hit yestarday was most definately a blizzard. The weatherman predicted that it would blow in about 4pm and it did. I stayed in until 5pm watching a horse race and then headed out to put all the horses in. I'm so glad that I'd had the forsight to get the stalls ready in the morning instead.

I woke up this morning thinking there would still be blowing snow and nasty weather. Nope. Gorgeous out! Absolutely gorgeous, minus the mud. The sun is out with a bit of a breeze but if you're up close to a building it's not a big deal. It's so bright out it hurts my eyes.

The snow is melting quickly now too. I can already see patches of grass showing through again. It just mean that the horse pens are going to be a muddy mess again. But at least it's moisture into the ground. I can't wait to get some fencing done so I can bring the girls back home.

It's so odd to think that yesterday was such a terrible day for weather and today it so clear.

Below are some pics from yesterday's blizzard.

The blizzard at 5:00pm

View from the driveway looking south.

View from the pasture.

The front lawn looking north.

View from the pasture.

Blizzard Warning

I hopped on the computer this morning about 9:00am and there was just one or two snowflakes in the air. When I went out to do morning chores (a little late), it was snowing like crazy! No one was thrilled with the weather. While on the computer I found out they upgraded the storm to a blizzard.

So that ended any chance of me getting to go to the horse sale. Probably better that way anyway. I shouldn't be bringing any more home until I have the two younger ones trained. But I'm still really bummed about not going. The more informed I am, the better. Really bummed.

After feeding everyone, I got the barns and boxstalls ready for tonight. I figure everyone is going to be wet and cranky so it's best I just put them in the barn and let them dry off. I'd rather they don't weather the storm outside.

The snow that fell this morning is wet, really wet. The ground is warm enough that it's not really accumulating but it's still enough to get a horse's back soggy wet. I'm not sure what the temps are going to be like, but what's the point of having a barn and box stalls if I can't use them. And the winds are terrible. When it was snowing, it was horizontal, like normal but still.

So everything is ready and waiting. The blizzard isn't supposed to go into effect until 4:00pm so I could have made it to the sale. But the weather is so iffy, I'd rather not risk getting stuck somewhere between the sale barn and home. And to top it off, Kramers is having a sale too but I don't think I want to risk it either. It's only about a half hour away but if this storm comes blowing in, I don't want to be on the roads. Call me paranoid, I'm fine with that.

Now we wait. There's so much to do but knowing that the weather is going to turn worse, I can't seem to get motivated. Am I weird?

I did put Bob's blanket on so that he wouldn't get wet. He wasn't too thrilled with being left outside in the snow. He decided after about a half hour of standing in the snow, to go stand in the leanto and pout. Hopefully he wont' get too depressed. Chaos doesn't help any. The weather simply needs to get better so I can ride Chaos and leave Bob out in the nice lush pasture.

I'll post more pics later. Figured I'd do a little venting about this darn weather. I could be at the sale barn right now if it wasn't for this darn weather. Go away snow!

Another One on the Way

Looks like another storm is headed our way Saturday night and Sunday. Earlier this morning they were saying rain starting tonight after midnight. I'm hoping we can work on the garage before the rains.

I'm also hoping the weather holds off long enough for me to attend the Worthing Horse Sale scheduled for tomorrow starting at 12:00pm. Loose horses to follow. Not sure how many horses will be there what with this predicted storm and it not being a catalog sale. So if the weather holds I'm hoping to go and document prices and conditions and if there's one in need, bring him/her home (and hopefully Mike won't shoot me for it!)

Sky Watch - South Dakota Sunsets

Thought I would post a couple sunset pictures from a few days ago. I did get the camera out tonight to get some pics of the horses but I'll save them for later.

Until then, hope you enjoy a gorgeous South Dakota spring sunset. I guess this is one reason why I love it here so much at Borderlands.

Lego my Brego

I was going to get some pictures of the horses last night but the card was full, so yet another post without any new pics.

Yesterday was such a nice day. The sun was out and I could hide behind the buildings to get away from the wind. I decided that I would work with Brego. I need to get some pictures of him to document how he's improved since coming into Borderlands.

I haltered Brego and pulled him out of his muddy pen. Hopefully with the wind and sun, all the horse pens will dry out. Brego at first didn't seem too thrilled, all he wanted to do was eat. I groomed him down, which is no easy feat. I'm not sure how he does it but his hair goes in every direction except the way I want. The massive direction changes makes it a little tough to make him look clean and crisp after a thorough grooming. I'm hoping this summer I can get his hair to go all in one direction.

Brego didn't really want to stand still very long. So we worked on leading and stopping. After watching Stacy Westfall at the South Dakota Horse Fair, I realized I was teaching Brego all wrong. But at this point, I'm only fiddling with him and not doing too many strenous thinking excercises with him. He's getting better ground manners just in the short time we walked around.

I did lead Brego over to the big herd so that they could touch noses. Chaos of course is always the curious one so he was there right away. King came over and wanted to do the whole stamping feet and squeeling deal. Unfortunately Brego doesn't like that and decided he'd rather continue walking than touch noses with King.

On the next pass all four horses came up, which made me uncomfortable. I'd rather not be squished between the hay barn and Brego when he meets all the horses. So we went for another pass around the hay barn.

On the next trip around Rain charged the fence. I think Rain is going to pick on Brego. I can't tell if they are the same size. But their heads are definately both very refined. I'd like to get them side by side to see how close they match in size. Rain wasn't too fond of Brego so I guess Rain won't be my "Walmart Greeter" for Brego.

On the next pass through Dude came up to sniff Brego. We didn't stay too long. Brego actually seemed more interested in looking around the hay barn and down the driveway. I'm not sure if he was looking at the ponies or what. But he picked his head up and stared intently in one direction. When he does that, you can really see he's starting to come into himself more each day.

I finally decided I'd better put a halter on Maverick and work with him just a little bit. We are both still uncomfortable with each other. So I tied Brego up (so he could dig me a hole to China and learn to stand still) and I pulled Maverick out. We only walked around in a few small circles and then I put him back. I really want Maverick to have better ground manners but I guess I'll be happy with him allowing me to put a halter on him and lead him around without flipping out.

I put Maverick back in the muddy pen after only about ten minutes of messing with him. I then put Brego back in. He's such a charmer. I'm hoping that if I continue to halter both Brego and Maverick, that they'll get used to me handling them more. I'm not sure how much handling they had when they were younger. I have a feeling not very much. If I continue to fiddle, maybe they'll get used to me messing around all the time. Messing with those two has really taught me to slow down and relax when I'm working with the horses.

I'm hoping I'll have a bit more energy tonight when I get home so that I can fiddle with Brego and Maverick a bit more. And I need to mess with Rain. I think he's getting very jealous. He's been off now for the past few months. Hopefully the weather will warm up so that we can go for a ride. I think he needs some one on one time. I think I've solved Bob's depression last year (he was depressed last year but I think I figured out what it was). But now Rain is a bit depressed so I need to find out what it is and fix it. Maybe some one on one time with a bit of hand grazing. The new green grass shoots are starting to pop out. And with Rain's sensitivity, I need to probably hand graze him anyway.

Hopefully tonight I can get some more good pics of the horses. They are really muddy and starting to shed. I'm either stuck with a mouthful of hay (like I was this morning thanks to Brego), or a mouthful of horse hair. I guess that's the price I pay for having horses. :-) But I'd say it's priceless.

Cry Wolf

So the big snow storm we were supposed to have missed us. Apparently there was some big protective bubble and the storm stalled out west of Borderlands. No snow is fine by me!

Last night I decided I would keep Bob and Rain in the barn. It was so windy and the air felt rather damp. I didn't want to rush Bob with his alfalfa. I also figured Rain would be the first one kicked out of the leanto and be forced to stand in the snow/rain. So into the barn they went.

Dude, King, and Chaos I decided could get in out of the rain/snow and wind if they so chose to. Dude was very much put out by not letting him into the barn. Even this morning when I went to let Bob and Rain out he gave me this very disgusted look. Sorry buddy. You just wanted to try and snitch some of Bob's alfalfa.

When I checked on Maverick and Brego last night, they were huddled up in a corner of their pen. When they saw me they came trudging through the mud to see me. I felt bad. They kept slipping and slidding all through the pen. The wind was blowing pretty strong so I decided that I would give them a break. So I haltered both and pulled them into their box stalls for the night. I was very surprised that neither of them really flipped out, what with all that wind. Brego is so easy to halter these days. I really do think he likes to be handled. I couldn't get a halter on Maverick right away so I simply pulled Brego out and tied him next to his box stall so he could get out of the wind, but still stay in view of each other. Maverick finally accepted the fact that he was going into his box stall. He's really not too fond of his stall.

This morning I put the halters on like normal. I did come to the realization that I think Maverick has some type of phobia towards ropes. I always throw the lead ropes over their backs and Maverick really gets upset. He tosses his head around until the lead rope is off his back, hanging over his neck, dragging on the ground. At one point, he had the lead rope dragging and he started acting even more upset because he kept standing on the rope. He's fine with the lead rope when it's in my hands, so he can naw on it. But if that lead rope is over his back he gets rather upset. Who knows what happened to him in his past. I know that when he was two he went to a trainer that insisted that leaving them tied long would teach them how to respect the lead rope, or some nonesense like that.

I finally got around to pulling Maverick out of his stall and into the pen. He was more than willing to get out. Brego only pawed once while Maverick and I were busy. Brego stood rather calmly the entire time I was messing with Maverick. I figure if I continue to tie Brego up, maybe he'll learn to stand patiently tied. Until then I guess he can dig me a whole to China.

So all in all, last night and this morning went pretty smoothly. The only one to be upset the entire time was Dude. Even Skippy and Tommy didn't really seem to care too much about the weather. Although I have to say, both Skippy and Tommy are rather opinionated and do like to tell me to hurry with their food.

Even Rain is starting to get more opinionated. I'm not sure if that's because of all the horses that ARE opinionated and like to talk to me or what. Dicatator and Ace never really talked too much unless their was grain involved. Rain is now starting to pick up that habit of nickering to me when I appear with grain. I absolutely love it and wish he would do it more.

I guess we are going to have to keep our eyes to the sky for this coming weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will be in another bubble and miss the next storm. I do believe this last storm was playing an April Fool's joke on us all. I'm fine with that!