Tip Tuesday - Sings of Stress

It's #TipTuesday and that means another informative infographic (that I've conveniently borrowed).


Today we are talking about signs of stress in our horses.


With the heat increases rapidly in our area, I thought it might be good to know the signs of stress. Granted this infographic is for general stress but it's a good idea to always know your signs. Each horse will be a little bit different and you'll know your horse better than anyone else but this infographic may help.

Happy Ponies

I let the ponies out for about an hour last night to start getting used to grass. They get the left over grass that the big herd didn't eat. Because they are ponies (and therefore super naught) and because one part of the pasture had "courtesy fence (i.e., please don't push on this fence because it's really not electric and it's really only there to detour you from actually going where I don't want you to go). I left lead ropes on which I absolutely hate doing but knowing the ponies are hard to catch and knowing that there was a "courtesy" fence, I figured it was the best move.


But with a little bit of grain, and a little bit of coaxing, they were happy to go in after an hour of running and grazing. We'll start getting the ponies and Mayhem used to grass and then we'll be on easy street.


For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures from the ponies enjoying their outing (I promise, there was some running, bucking, and farting going on earlier).

Little Helpers

The Night Before

Going in reverse order from this morning (to last night). After we finished up with fencing, and while the kids were still in tow, I needed to get out and throw hay to the big herd (much to everyone's dismay). The big herd wanted to be out on pasture and not wait until morning, but I'm mean and made them wait.


I love how my daughter is so excited to be around horses. It makes my heart sing!

Morning Pasture Time

Finally had the opportunity to finish fencing last night (not without a bit of a temper tantrum and throwing out the "mom card") but at least its' done and now the horses are enjoying a portion of the big pasture. I'll leave you with just a couple pictures from this morning. What I would have given to spend about an hour taking pictures instead of only a few rushed minutes, knowing that I'll be late for the paying job (but oh so worth it).

Fencing Time

Well I tried to get the big herd out on pasture this weekend but that didn't happen. Fingers crossed I can get the fencing done tonight. Otherwise I'm relegated to throwing hay and that makes me grumpy when we are finally into summer.


I also need to get Junior and Lace up to Madison so they can enjoy their "summer retreat" time. Junior is looking super tough. I just don't know. I really messed up with him. I can only hope that we pulls through and packs on the pounds. So stressful.


We ran to TSC last night to pick up some electric wire. We've been using the super thin wire with sort of rope stuff but Chaos knows that he can break it just by looking at it. So my hope is that I fool him into a false sense of security and when he touches the fence this time around, he'll be shocked (in more ways than one). That look of utter teenage naughtiness is not something I want to contend with this summer.


During the last blizzard back in April we had the top of a tree break off and wouldn't you know, it landed on the pasture fence. Well, I thought it was the fence but what's saving the fence from being completely torn down is that the tree landed on the gate. Which is the gate I need to get in and out to put in the temporary fencing. I struggled with it, swore at it, and even cried a little when it finally budged but all my temporary fence posts fell out of the wheelbarrow (twice).


Fingers crossed that fencing will go smoothly. Those typically aren't two words said in the same sentence. I felt so exhausted this past weekend I couldn't get much done. Lets hope the heat isn't too bad and the wind is still there to keep the mosquitoes at bay and to keep the temps down.

Summer Already

It's the first of June. How can it be summer already? Where in the world did May go?


Well, I sort of know where May went. I took a bit of a hiatus from posting on social media, blogging, that sort of thing. I think I just needed a break. I've had comments in the past about me "unplugging" from everything and how unnecessary that should be but for me, as an introvert, I need it.


We took two family vacations in May that took me away from the Sanctuary. Thanks to amazing friends and family, we were able to leave everything in good hands and not have to worry one bit. Of course, we left this last time over Memorial weekend when it was so stinking hot and Farley scared the bajeezes out of my good friend (thinking he was dead). We'll see how Farley does this summer and fall. He is 14 years old and I'm not sure he'll make another winter. Its' a day-by-day adventure with him.


The horses are currently out on the lawn enjoying grass. Hopefully we put in the last round bale of hay last week while we were on vacation and we wont' have to deal with round bales again until October.


I'm planning on hauling Junior and Lace to Madison this weekend for their "summer retreat". They'll be there for a month. Hopefully Junior picks up the weight by being on grass 24x7. With them gone, Mayhem will be by herself again. I'll probably put her out with the ponies and get those three used to grass again. But that will be after the big herd is out to pasture.


My plan is to get up early tomorrow morning and start dividing the pasture again. I don't want them to have the entire pasture because I have a feeling we'll be dealing with drought if the weather continues as it has with all the heat. As it is, my hay ground is not getting any rain so we will probably have to go with someone else again for hay. Not my preference but maybe its' best for King. Not sure it's best for the others though.


If we don't put any more hay in, we'll have 8 bales left over. Which is what we had left over from the year before. I like having a mini stock pile of hay but I'm having a hard time figuring out numbers. We lost two (Ivan and Bo) for part of the winter so I'm not sure what to put in for an order of hay this year. It might very well be get what you get and scrounge for the rest. I guess we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.


I'm still not looking at opening our doors yet. With all my health issues lately, I haven't been up to much. I guess that's why it took this long to get the horses used to grass. What I would have given to get them used to grass sooner. I need to go out to the pasture and dump vegetable oil into the standing water to hopefully kill mosquitoes. It's going to be bad now that all the water from the surrounding fields goes directly into my pasture...all without my approval. I'm still furious about that.


I'm hoping to be online more this month, not like last month when I didn't surface except for a few times. Thank you to everyone who as stuck around. I am sure to be more chatty this month. May was simply filled with too much other stuff going on and my brain just couldn't take it.


So thanks for putting up with my lack of posts, and lets see what good things June brings us.