Waste Management 101 Final

We are officially done with Waste Management 101. I’m surprised it went as smoothly as it did. Thank goodness for good neighbors. The Might Massey couldn’t stand up to the constant turning so we borrowed another tractor loader from our farmer friend to finish. We picked up the other tractor loader Friday night.

A coworker of Mike’s came out Saturday morning to help with the Waste Management while I attended a trail ride. I’m glad he came out otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten to it until Sunday. Neither Mike nor I want him working on the farm machinery by himself. It’s best to have someone around while he’s working on a machine.

I was really impressed. On Wednesday, Mike and Dad got the majority of the newer pile (from this past winter and some of last winter) out into the field. There was only a little bit left (a few loads) still in the horse pen. I was really impressed that it went as quickly as it did.

On Saturday, Mike tackled the bottom pile that has been there since we brought the horses to Borderlands in the spring of 2006. We didn’t have a manure spreader at the time so we just piled it up at the bottom of the hill and would figure out what to do with it later. Well, later came.

I figured that bottom pile would take a very long time. By the time Dad and I got back from the trail ride, the entire bottom pile was gone. I was shocked it didn’t take longer. I’m sure there were many loads involved but I figured it would take a few days to get threw everything.

On Sunday Mike and I did the finishing touches of hauling the rest out. We got the rest of the top pile out of the pens. We also got a bit of the lose piles that have disintegrated but still cover the ground. I’m so excited to see concrete again. We were also able to use the tractor loader to scoop out the leanto. I figured I would have to do it by hand but the tractor fit in there with no problems. It saved much time and effort (and blood, sweat, tears, and cursing) from me! I figured the leanto wouldn’t fill up the spreader but it did. I was a little surprised but still glad to see it go.

It was funny to see the horses last night when we let them back out of the barn. We left the leanto door open so that they have a better view of the place. Chaos and Dude hung out by the gate the entire time just watching everything going on. I suppose it’s something new so they were enjoying the view immensely. I guess I really should change up their routine more often.

Last night we took the tractor loader back. We are hoping to use the other little tractor that pulled the spreader and disc up the horse pens. We can use the Mighty Massey but it’s easier with the other tractor since it’s smaller and turns a bit better. I’m excited to see the ground tilled up. It’s getting a bit harder now that the horses are wandering around packing it down. I want a softer landing when I come off Chaos and Maverick.

I’m expecting a call any time this week from the trainer saying Maverick is ready. I need to get Sam and Brego introduced into the herd. I may just pull King and Dude out and put Sam and Brego in with Bob, Chaos, and Rain. Then when Maverick comes, just put Maverick in with Dude and King. King and Maverick are best buddies. I’m just worried what Dude will do to Maverick, Brego, and Sam. I guess I’ll have to do something soon.

I’m also hoping to put up some electric fence so that I can get the horses out on the lawn for a bit of grass in the later afternoons. I’d figured to have the horses out on the pasture already but haven’t done it yet. The pasture isn’t coming back as well as I’d hoped and I haven’t had a chance yet to mess with the horses. So hopefully I can get the horses adjusted to grass this week so I can let them out on pasture for a few hours every evening. I’m sure the minute I let them out into the pasture I’ll never be able to catch them. I’m planning on putting halters on when I let them out although I hate putting halters on when they aren’t tied up.

So that about wraps it up. I’m hoping we can do a bit of Waste Management in the fall so that in the spring it won’t be such an ordeal. Of course, we had three years worth of waste to deal with this go round and Mike was able to tackle it in about three days (and they weren’t even full days).

I guess we’ll see how things go. There’s always some new experience going on at Borderlands.

Koster Trail Ride

This year's Koster Trail Ride took place in a different location. It's always nice to get the opportunity to ride in a different location, although I do like the standard Koster ride.

That morning I did chores and put halters on Rain and King so that it would be easier for me to catch them. I think I must have taken them for suprise when I didn't require them to walk away from their breakfast.

When it was time, I caught both Rain and King and loaded them up for the quick half hour drive to Madison. Once to Mom and Dad's, we unloaded the horses and dad saddled up King so that we could hit the road again to get to the base of the trail head.

It was gorgeous riding. There was only 15 riders on this ride. Most were at graduation parties, etc. But having only 15 riders really did make for easy and fun riding. We didn't have to worry about people and their riding skills.

We actually ended up taking two trips. The first one we headed out and just road around a couple of pastures. I got lost a few times (lost as in not knowing where the trailers were at). We rode around for about an hour or so and then headed back to the trailers. Nothing too harry for riding purposes. I did hear one saddle club member talk about getting rid of his older mare that is going blind. And of course, stupid me didn't pipe up and ask more questions about the mare. This family has a tendance to get rid of any horse that isn't viable to them and will dump the horse at any loose horse sale without a care to the horse's next phase of life. I may just have to try and get ahold of them and ask what they want for the mare or if they would consider giving her to me for only a few bucks. I guess we'll see how it all pans out.

We sat around the trailers for about an hour just chit chatting and enjoying everyone's company. I enjoyed listening to everyone else talk. I'm rather quiet around big groups of people. It's just my nature. But it's always fun listening to others talk about horses.

We saddled up again and rode around again. The second trip out was much more difficult and more fun. I wish we could have ridden it backwards. It would have been completely different backwards than going the way we went. We had many ravins to cross and hills to climb. Unfortunately Rain thought that he should run up the hills instead of walk. I tried to run him around on Friday but apparently it wasn't enough to wear him down to stay calm. He always wants to be in the front and Saturday's ride really got him in a sweat when I made him stay at the back of the pack where it's safest.

But overall the second portion of the ride was very enjoyable. I wish we could have more rides like that. Just a few people to talk with and terrain that really makes you and the horse pay attention to your surroundings. Dont' get me wrong, riding gravel means we can really cover some ground but riding through hills and across ravins really makes for some breathtaking rides.

Once we got back to the trailers after the second trip out we hung out for quite awhile. I'd wanted to leave right away but ended up sitting around listening to people talk. We didn't get out of their until much later. Dad and I both wanted to get home sooner than we did. We missed seeing the Preakness Stakes but we did get to see the recap.

We won't attend another trail ride until the first weekend in June when we head up to Sinia. The Sinia ride is always pretty but it's a bit long without as many breaks as we are used to. I need to do a bit more riding before I'm ready for the Sinia ride.

We have a bunch of stuff going on in the next two weeks so hopefully I can squeeze in a few rides on Rain, King, Chaos, and soon Maverick. I'm expecting a call any time now that Maverick will be ready to come home. I'm a bit nervous. I've gotten used to him not being here. I have to figure out how to rearrange the herd so that I can mess with Maverick and not change the herd dynamics too much.

I was hoping to introduce Sam to Bob, Rain, and Chaos. Not sure we'll have time today or not. We still have to finish up getting the rest of the manure out of the horse pens. There's always something going on or something that needs to be done.

I like staying busy but I'd sure like a couple of days to finish up some of our major projects so that we can tackle the big fencing job. I think we are actually going to change our focus. After messing around in the horse pens, it's become very obvious that we have to do some serious fencing in the horse pens before we face dividing the big pasture. I'm also changing my perspective of where the girls will go this summer. If we can get some serious fencing done, I could have them on the backside of Borderlands instead of close to the road. Having a blind horse near a road is never a good thing, so if this other idea works out, we could have even more land for the girls to graze. All in due time I suppose.

Quick Update

Just a quick update. I'll post more later but for now too tired to think. Today we had a trail ride and Mike finished the major portion of the manure spreading. I owe him big time! Trail ride was good but I forgot sunscreen! ooops! I'll blog about the ride tomorrow.

We only have one more load of manure to haul out and we should be done with it for another year! Just in time for our farmer friend to get into his field on Monday. I'll blog a bit more about our final hours of Waste Management 101 tomorrow too.

Today also marked the one year anniversary of me having to put Blondie and Ten Man down. I'll blog about that soon. It was a sad day but also a day full of fun activities to keep my mind away from this anniversary.

Until then, I'm gonna go try and scrub off some of this dirt/grime and then put my feet up for a bit before I fall asleep on the couch!

40mph Wind and Patience of a Saint

I really do have to give Mike major credit and Dad for that matter. Mike decided, since work was slow, that he could take Wednesday afternoon off and start working on the manure pile. I unfortunately couldn’t take time off of work to help out. Luckily Dad came down and let Bob out and put the other horses in the barn. Luckily the big herd didn’t tear apart the barn like I was afraid. They were all pretty calm.

Unfortunately, the wind was blowing so strong yesterday. Mike had to fight it all day. After three hours of being outside my patience was gone. I can’t imagine how Mike handled the wind and the poo flying in his face every time he dumped a load into the manure spreader. The wind was about 40mph and Mike and Dad diligently worked on that pile all afternoon. I think Mike worked on it from about 1:30pm until 8:30pm. By the time he went in for the night, he was a total zombie. I would be too. I had to laugh. When I got home, Mike had a “tan” to his skin. At first I thought maybe it was wind burn but the more I think about it, the more I think it was just poo flakes.

Unfortunately the wind was out of the west and Mike had to drive the Massey up the hill, around the barn and dump the load. And the tractor was facing west with the wind blowing everything directly at the tractor and Mike. I owe him big time! I even mentioned it to him but I think he was in such a daze he couldn’t respond.

Mike would get on the Massey and scoop the poo up and drive it over to the waiting spreader. Once the spreader was full, Mike would climb down off the Massey, climb up on the Alis, and head out to the field, fighting the wind the entire time. I can’t imagine how exhausted he must have been by the end of the day.

By the end of the day both Mike and the Massey were done in. The Massey has always been hard to steer (so Mike says). Dad even got on the Massey to get the pile loosened up for scooping and said it was hard to steer. By the end of the night, the Massey steering was going completely out. I can’t imagine how Mike could even get the Massey to move. It’s way beyond my weenie arms.

Mike was able to get everything but about one last load out of the big pile. What’s left is stuff that is too close to the fence. So I guess I’ll spend my Friday, filling up either the Massey bucket or the actual manure spreader. I’m thinking the spreader would make life easier on Mike if the steering is gone on the tractor. I haven’t quite figured out how I’ll swing the shovel up and over the sides of the spreader but I’ll figure something out.

Mike was hoping to get the bottom poo pile out of there too but I’m not sure that we’ll have enough time. We only have until Sunday night to be done with everything. The farmer friend is going to get in the field I guess on Monday. I’m just happy that the fresher pile in the horse pen will be gone.

Now it means I’ll have to truck everything on down the hill. I guess I’ll get my exercise that way. I do still have to clean out the leanto portion but that should be fairly easy. I cleaned it out once before but again it got away from me.

I really do think Mike and Dad must have patience of a saint. There’s no way I could have spent as many hours as they did shovel, scooping, and fighting the vicious wind all afternoon. I big thank you goes out to Mike, Dad, and our farmer friend (for letting us use his tractor and field for this “experience”.) Hopefully next year we will be able to keep ahead of the piles and not have to go through so much pain and suffering to get the pens cleaned out.

Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain on Friday so that I can get the rest of the pen cleaned out and the leanto. I think with that bit, we’ll have the last load of poo ready to go out to the field. Mike can decide then if he wants to tackle the bottom pile. Dad and I will be gone on Saturday to a trail ride. I’m not sure if Mike will be able to rope a coworker into helping or not. I bribe of grilled steak might just be a good enough bribe. We’ll see.

Waste Management 101

Tonight we gathered up all the tractors and started our adventure on Waste Management 101. Mike prepared much of the tractors the night before but the true test came today.



I pulled Bob out so he could graze on the lawn. I then had to put the other horses, Dude, King, Chaos, and Rain into the barn so they couldn't escape. Normally I would just put them out to pasture but they aren't pasture ready yet.

We actually had to take down one of the gates. We'd been meaning to take it down for awhile now but never got around to it until today. We both thought it would be harder than it actually was. But that's usually the case for us.

Mike hooked the neighbor's tractor up to our manure spreader and used the Mighty Massey to scoop into the manure pile. Mike loaded the spreader up the first time fairly light to make sure that nothing broke. We'd only used the manure spreader one other time and that was more to test it out. We'd never really used it hard after rebuilding it so Mike wanted to take it easy for at least the first go round.

Luckily the farm entrance isn't too far away from our driveway. To be on the safe side I hopped into the Explorer and followed Mike down the road. We figured in case the tractor broke down or something else happened, it would be a wise idea to have me tag along. I'm always game for tagging along. I'm rather paranoid about farm machinery. I'd rather be too cautious than not cautious enough.

About the time Mike started loading up the manure spreader the skies clouded up even more and started to mist. Luckily it never opened up and rained but it made for a bit tricky work for Mike. I stayed in the Explorer and felt the wind rock the vehicle back and forth. I was rather spoiled staying inside protected from the wind while poor Mike had to deal with the wind and flying poo.

The below picture is Mike's first experience of using the manure spreader on the field. The first go round went ok. The second go round the one of the chains broke so Mike had to do some quick thinking to get it fixed. I think he's going in and getting a new chain just in case. Otherwise we might not get everything done in time before the farmer wants in his field next week.

Mike had to be careful which direction he turned. If he went the wrong way or kept the spreader paddles going when he turned he'd get nailed with flying poo. I think it only happened once. While I was sitting in the Explorer, Mike took the tractor up and over the hill. I lost track of him and couldn't tell exactly where he was. But then he appeared. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him. After the first go round, Mike came over the hill and raised his hands in victory. Of course I busted out laughing but I sure wish I could have gotten a picture of it.

The wind was blowing pretty strong but the rain held off to just a mist during our excursion. Surprisingly, everything went really well and nothing too majore happened. I always feel better when Mike rolls the tractor up the driveway. Mike got three loads out of the horse pen. There's still so much there but three loads is better than nothing. The manure spreader seems to be working just fine. It does depend on which pile Mike is working off of though. Some of the older pile is a bit more work for the poor manure spreader. It should be intersting to see how everything progresses.

I guess Mike is going to take a half day tomorrow since there's not much going on at work. He talked Dad into coming down and helping out too. I don't want Mike working on this project without someone there. It should work out just fine. Dad and Mike can work on Waste Management while I'm at work and then by the time I get home, Dad will have to get going for one of his many meetings. Hopefully the horses will behave for Mike and Dad. I'm so used to them that I don't think twice about asking the horses to do something out of the ordinary. I sort of take them for granted some days.

So that's our first experience of Waste Management 101. I'm sure I'll have more stories to tell. But for now, I think I need to go blow the stink off of me. I made Mike go take a shower right after he walked through the door. I don't want any of that "stuff" tracking through the house. As it is, the house is a pit because I've been working with the horses. Oh well, something has to give. Better it be housework than horsework.

Getting Ready for Waste Management Day

I haven’t hurt like this in years! I didn’t realize shoveling poo could make me hurt so much. I know trudging around with the wheelbarrow does make my wrists hurt but my arms and shoulders are feeling the workout from yesterday’s pen cleaning. Of course, had I not let it go all winter I probably wouldn’t be in this boat.

I’m hoping that the rain will hold off and Mike can get a load of poo out to our farmer friend’s field tonight. Our farmer friend is letting us use one of his tractors to pull the manure spreader. Thank goodness we found one and fixed it up last year. Mike took the snow bucket portion off the Massey so he can scoop the manure into the spreader. I’m afraid that it’ll get to a point where I’ll have to shovel it into the bucket. But at this point, I want that gigantic pile gone.

We only have until Sunday to get it done. Then our farmer friend is going to get into the field and we’ll be out of a place to spread the poo. So as long as the rain holds off or doesn’t rain too hard we’ll be out every night trying to get rid of that pile. I have the ponies in their night pen, I’ll leave Bob out so he can munch on the grass, and the rest of the herd will go into the barn. I don’t want the horses out on the pasture just yet and we’ll have the gates wide open.

I need to move some of the corral panels around so I can start letting the horse out onto the lawn for a bit of evening grass. I want to get them adjusted to the grass but I also want to be able to catch them and put them back into the drylot for awhile. I did that last year and it seemed to work out ok, although it did wreak havoc on my lawn. But it’s only grass and I’m tired of mowing. And to top it off, gas prices are going up so who wants to spend money on mowing the lawn when I need to find pasture for all the horses.

I’m hoping once we get the manure pile taken care of we can switch tractors with our farmer friend and borrow a different tractor for the auger. We absolutely have to get some fencing done. We are planning on dividing the big pasture. But if I want to bring the girls home, I need to extend one of the smaller pastures (and turn part of our lawn into a pasture, much to Mike’s dismay). I’m sure he’ll like the “new mare pasture” once he sees how good it’ll look and how happy it’ll make me. Haha

We also have a bunch of house remodel stuff to work on before Memorial Weekend. It sounds like we’ll have family stopping over so I want to make the house a bit more presentable. I don’t mind living in plastic but after a year it gets old. I’d like to show off a nice clean house instead of the mess that it is. So there might not be much riding time or grooming time in the next two weeks. We do have a trail ride this Saturday so I need to get King and Rain out. I’ve found that if I don’t take them out and run them around the day before the ride, they are a bit of a handful. Rain hates it when I ask him to slow down. If he’s pooped from the day before he’ll listen and actually walk slow. He prefers to be in the front of the pack while King refuses to be anywhere but the very last horse. So it’s a bit of a controversy Rain and I have. But Rain is going so well that he listens for the most part and we don’t argue during the rides.

I’ll hopefully get some pics of the Waste Management in progress and of Sam so that I can show off any weight gain. I’m afraid he might be losing more than gaining. I think I need to get him out on grass too. The problem is I’m not completely used to him so I don’t trust him enough to simply turn him out like I do Bob and walk away. I don’t have time right now to let him hand graze. I may have to put up some type of hookey fence to fool him into thinking that he can’t go past a certain spot for grazing. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll come up with something, I always do!

Waste Management

No new pics of Sam tonight like I'd wanted. Instead Mike and I worked on what dad calls, "Waste Management" aka pooper scooper duty. We are hoping to get the big pile of horse manure out inot the farmer's field before next week. Our farmer friend is letting us one of his tractors to haul our manure spreader so we don't have to hook and unhook the Massey.

But after what seemed like two hours of pooper scooping to get it ready for tomorrow's "big day" I'm beat. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow of our "Waste Management" if all goes well and doesn't rain. Until then, too pooped (no pun intended) to write more.