Crazy Busy

Now that I'm at the paying job, it's the first time I've gotten to put my feet up all weekend. It's been a whirlwind weekend of activities, and all horse related.

I'll post again but wanted to say that we had a very productive weekend and if the weather would stay this warm, we'd have even more productive weekends. Doing chores this morning was wonderful! It's currently 40 degees. If my tshirts and shorts weren't packed away, I'd probably do chores in that type of outfit!

Unfortunately we are supposed to get rain/snow starting tonight into tomorrow and we'll drop back to the normal weather for this time of year. So now I'm debating on if I should blanket anyone. The temps aren't the issue, it's the moisture. If they get wet, they'll get chilled. So tonight is going to be a balancing act of keepign everyone comfortable.

Warmer Weather Tease

Can it be, the low for tonight is in the single digits but after that, the lows are in the twenties?!?! I’ll believe it when I see it. But I am SO looking forward to Sunday and Monday’s warm temperatures.  My only fear is that I’ll get used to the better weather and will get grouchy when the cooler weather rolls back in. But for now, I’ll look forward to the 50 degree weather.

Blankets are coming OFF early Sunday morning. I am anxious to see a herd of color instead of a herd of green. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful to have the blankets but it’ll be nice to see the horses again in their true colors. I’m sure the horses will enjoy the warmer weather as well.

Just yesterday I noticed that Zeke is starting to shed. Hopefully everyone starts shedding soon. Now the hard part will be to keep myself from working on grooming and getting all their winter hair off before it’s actually warm out for long stretches of time.

Mike has been working on another horseshoe nail cross idea. He’s made a couple and it looks rather neat. We are always looking for new fundraiser ideas so if you happen to have any, I’d love to hear about them.

I have to remember that Sunday is the start of daylight savings time. It’ll be wonderful to have that extra hour in the evening but oh so difficult to wake a toddler up. I know the horses will be surprised when I go out to do chores earlier than they expect. And I just realized that five years ago this Sunday, I’ll have been blogging for five years. What a wild ride these past five years have been. Life in general has taught me a lot and given me a better perspective on different situations.  Let’s hope the next five years are a bit calmer.

Cheat Sheet 2014

I think if I don't post pictures now, even if they are ancient, I'll never get a cheat sheet done for 2014.  So here it goes. Some of these pictures are WAY outdated (like Rabbit and Mayhem).



Maverick

 Ivan

Jim

Skippy

Tommy

Chaos

Brego

Dude

Rain - personal horse

King - personal horse

Bo

Mayhem (she looks way different now but don't have any pictures of her on this computer)

Zeke - personal horse

Rabbit (before we brought her home)

Funk

I must be in some kind of funk. I’m afraid the stresses of juggling everything and dealing with the weather are finally getting to me. There’s no cabin fever here, I’m too tired. I was having an overly rough day on Thursday and by the time I went out to do chores, I knew I needed a hug. I am working on making Rabbit my “comfort” horse, which is odd because she was always a “touch-me-not” type until recently. But maybe that was only my perspective and I didn’t see the reality.

As I was breathing in Rabbit (and in between getting squished between Rabbit and Mayhem), I came to the realization that mares are “comfort” horses.  My heart horses are geldings because they give me their all but the mares are the ones that provide the comfort. I’m not sure if it’s the maternal instinct or what but I know the geldings don’t have that same comforting ability (or at least not the geldings at the Sanctuary).

Unfortunately while hanging on Rabbit, the overwhelming thought overcame me. I am responsible for the wellbeing of 14 horses.  As I watched the geldings wander around the pen waiting for me to feed them, I was overcome by that thought. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s a mix of exhaustion and stress.  I’m sure a good nap will solve a lot of it. But I did stand and watch the geldings, not so patiently waiting for me.  And although the idea that they must rely on me is overwhelming, watching them gave me peace. It’s such a mixed thought.

I was reading another person’s blog, who happens to be a barrel racer. She mentioned that as a barrel racer, you put these horses into an extreme sport and ask them to give it their all each run.  That these horses are putting their lives into their rider’s hands. The thought came to me that the horses at the Sanctuary are my responsibility and their lives and their wellbeing are in my hands. I know I’m not making much sense and I think it’s the exhaustion and stress getting to me but a lot of thoughts were running through my head last night. I want to ensure that I don’t let the Sanctuary horses down and that I don’t let our supporters down.

I think a good nap (and winning the lottery) would help me out of this weird funk.  I guess until either happens, I’ll simply remember the feel of Rabbit’s mane on my cheek and the smell of horse in my nose.

Unwanted Horse Summit

We are attending the Unwanted Horse Summit this weekend in St. Paul.



For a better blog post, check out:
http://gentlespirithorses.com/news-events/blog/gentle-spirit-horses-rescue-and-borderlands-horse-sanctuary-to-attend-mn-un

Horse of the Month - Tommy and Skippy

So it seems that I missed the February horse of the month so I’m lumping them both together. But that’s ok because when you say one, you automatically think the other. I’m talking Tommy and Skippy. These two ponies came to the Sanctuary in February 2009 as naughty little ponies.  Tommy is a Shetland pony. We are guessing at his age. Skippy on the other hand is a registered miniature horse. We did not acquire his papers but have a copy (somewhere).

Skippy thinks he rules the pen and will play/pick on the horses through the fence. Dude tolerates the behavior and Maverick adores the attention. Skippy also thinks he rules the roost in the mare pen and torments Mayhem as much as possible. Tommy on the other hand is the standoffish Shetland pony with an attitude. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a sweet pony, when he wants to be (yes I said sweet and pony in the same sentence).

We acquired Tommy and Skippy when his previous owner’s children outgrew them. Their options were that we take the ponies, or they would head to a local auction so we quickly said we would take the pair knowing that they would be separated. From what we know, these two have been together for nearly their entire lives so we’d like to keep it that way.

We let the ponies out on the lawn during the summer months to snack on grass and stretch their legs. Summer is most likely their favorite time of the year although I know they do love winter when they hang out with the mares. 

Tommy is a  healthy pony and is one of the few Sanctuary horses with no health issues. Skippy has a skin irritation that flares up during the summer months. We have to apply ointment and give him a powder supplement to try and keep the skin problems at bay. Skippy doesn’t let his health issue slow him down.

Tommy and Skippy have taught us a great deal about ponies and minis. They continue to teach us every day. It is an honor to have these two naughty ponies at the Sanctuary. If you would like to sponsor either Tommy or Skippy, please contact us at borderlandshorsesanctuary@yahoo.com.

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!