Good Blog

An interesting blog post.

http://rtfitchauthor.com/2014/04/29/summit-focuses-on-ending-export-for-slaughter/

Rain and Rain

This weather just seems to keep getting crazier and crazier. We had one beautiful day, followed by three days of gale force winds, and now rain, turning into sleet and soon….snow. It’s the end of April. I think the spring storms are almost worse than winter storms. Winter storms mean that we’ll have the bad weather for a long time but the spring storms seem to be almost more violent and harder on the animals.

When I went out to pull Rain for drill team and throw a little hay to the mares, Rabbit was shivering. I hadn’t expected it to really rain. The weatherman had been wrong all weekend so I wasn’t expecting a lot of rain. The wind was still strong and the rain had soaked Rabbit so I threw a blanket on her. So much for being done with blanketing season.

I pulled the hard keepers into the barn for their daily grain. When the weather warmed up, I cut back on their grain ration. That was a mistake. The hard keepers started dropping weight really fast. Lesson learned. Until the hard keepers are on grass, do not change their grain ration even if the weather is nice.

Brego takes FOREVER to eat so I figured that I would let the hard keepers stay in the barn out of the wind and rain while I was at drill team practice. I’ll have to write about Rain in a little bit. I try not to brag up my horses but this time I have to.

When I got home, I decided that I better put blankets on a few. I was really hoping to be done with blanket season. But I’m sure glad that we have blankets to keep the harder keepers dry. I ended up only putting blankets on Rabbit, Rain, Brego, and Bo. Jim and Zeke probably should have had one on but they didn’t seem to really want to cooperate.

When I went to let them all out of the barn last night, I’d forgotten to close the stall door on Rain while I ran to the house for a minute. Luckily Rain was more interested in the little bit of hay left over. But they all went out but weren’t impressed with the weather.

This morning I looked at everyone to see who all was wet. Those that are drenched are the ones that get stuck out of the leanto. Bo was drenched so I was really glad that he had a blanket on. Dude and Chaos were a little wet but I didn’t see Zeke or Rain. Rain walked out and his blanket was completely dry. He must have been standing in the shed from the time he finished eating hay last night until this morning. He really HATES bad weather. The damp weather is really hard on him (as is the hot weather). It was nice to know that at least some of the horses had stayed out of the wet weather and were dry.

To the west and north, they are getting snow. I’m not sure I can deal with snow. We’ve had beautiful weather and the grass is really starting to grow The only upside is that it’ll be gone with 24 hours. But this weather makes life difficult for everyone. I feel bad for the horses. If it’s still bad today with wind, I’ll probably stall horses just to give them a break. I’m glad that I can give the horses the opportunity to get in out of the wind and that I can spoil them just a little. I feel so bad for those horses standing in a feedlot in the open. But I can’t worry about that right now. It’ll only upset me.

On a bright note, I try not to toot my horse’s horns but I have to for Rain. We’ve had Rain now for nine years. Hard to believe. Oh we’ve had our ups and downs and I debated my choice in making him a riding horse but last night proved that he’s a really good horse.  It’s taken Rain and I a number of years to be comfortable with each other but in the past year or so, after getting back into riding after pregnancy and major health issues, Rain and I are really meshing. I’m using him for one of the drill teams but I was worried that he’s not neck reined so there would be difficulty in holding a flag.  The last time I rode him was drill team practice. That’s about the only riding time I get. So I hopped on last night and started asking Rain to turn just using the reins. He actually responded. I have to admit that I’m not a good rider nor a good teacher so I put all of Rain’s abilities in his knowledge and understanding of what I’m trying to ask. So we worked on neck reining during the entire practice. We carry flags at one point and I didn’t think we could. But I figured there’s no time like the present. I wasn’t worried about Rain spooking. I was worried about the neck reining but after messing with him, I figured I’d give it a shot. Rain only spooked once when I brought the flag down next to his face and he wasn’t expecting it. I even waked his butt a couple of times with the pole (on accident) and he stood like nothing touched him.  I decided that I would see would he would do and took him through his paces. We even loped around the arena with the flag and he could care less. I was amazed. I’ve been flying high on that realization ever since. Now of course we’ll get to a performance and the loud speaker will start and he’ll freak out but that’s something else we’ll have to work on. But for now, we can do flags!!! It all goes to show that it just takes time and patience and you can do anything. Of course, trust is a HUGE factor.   Time, patience and trust. It’s a beautiful thing.

And because we need color on this blog, I thought I would post a few pictures from the crab apple tree from, oh my, four years ago. Sad that it's been that long but I don't have any other cheery pictures on this not so cheery day. Come on spring, I'm ready to see some color (although I'm happy to see green!)

You Call This Blustery?

We had a fairly quiet weekend at the Sanctuary. The wind was so fierce, it made it hard to be outside for much of the day.

Friday was absolutely gorgeous. No wind, beautiful sunny skies, and just an overall gorgeous day. We woke Saturday morning to 30mph wind and gusts of up to 40mph, making life miserable. I had to do some fancy footwork to get the hay in piles that wouldn’t blow away. I’m glad we don’t have any mud because it would have made feeding time that much more difficult. I am NOT a fan of gale force wind.

Saturday I went to the HorsePower Horse Show to perform with the drill team. I opted to head home and get stuff done instead of staying and playing. I think I would have had more fun playing. It was too windy to do too much outside so I ended up doing a bunch of skirt work instead. Although, when I came home and parked the truck and trailer, I had a few moments of questioning.

The windmill is broken. It’s been mostly broken since we moved in. But over the past few weeks, the gear box that makes the windmill actually turn, broke and fell. It’s now resting on the wooden platform. I’d take a picture but I’m too lazy to wander out. The tail of the windmill is also jammed into the wooden platform. But with the wind from the east, I was worried that it would finally make it’s final decent and crash into the truck, either totaling the truck or causing a couple thousand dollars of damage. So instead, I pulled the truck a little farther to the south. I debated on doing that as well. We have two hog barns. One which we converted into the hay barn and then another hog barn that doesn’t have a hay loft. We would tear it down but it’s a good wind block so it stays. The previous owner put tin on the roof. And for the past year or so, small pieces of tin have been flying off. Well, with the winds we had yesterday, the rest of the tin decided to make a rapid decent. I was in the haybarn with a barn door open (actually it blew open and I hadn’t had time to close it yet). I was messing around with Bo and I heard a terrible CRASH! I didn’t hear the scraping noise of tin on metal or glass breaking so I thought maybe I was in the clear. I peeked out the door and saw that the tin had missed the truck by only a few feet. I thought I was safe from any more tin falling after that. But when I went in to do the skirtwork and Mike went out to play in the wind, he heard more of the same CRASHING and saw the tin fly off the roof and just miss the truck. We opted to move the truck (which I should have done immediately).  Of course, the windmill never moved an inch. That’ll teach me.

Because we had such terrible winds, instead of throwing hay from the big squares, I opted to pull the small squares out and feed that hay instead. The horses weren’t as pleased with me but they got over it in a hurry. The weatherman had called for a slight chance of severe storms, with a potential for hail. I decided I would pull Rabbit and Mayhem into their stalls so they could get a break from the wind. I also figured when it started raining and with the wind, that they might appreciate a bit of cozy stall time. Because of the chance for hail and rain, we opted to put the tractor and manure spreader away as well. Mike has been working on the manure spreader to get it ready for hopefully this coming weekend.

Of course, the weatherman is just jumpy because it’s the beginning of severe storm season. I’m going to have to be a bit more patient with the weatherman and his constant calling for potential hail. We didn’t get a drop of rain Saturday night, nor Sunday.

We were supposed to go on a trail ride Sunday but the wind was too fierce. I knew it wasn’t going to be any fun for either me or the horses so I opted to keep them at home where they could get out of the wind.  Instead we had family time in Madison (much needed and appreciated).  We still had gale force winds Sunday evening so out went the small squares instead of fighting the big squares and losing half the hay either in my clothes or into the next county.

I was so hoping that the wind would die down and we’d have another beautiful day like Friday. Nope, more wind. The wind out of the east hasn’t let up since Saturday morning.  At least there’s no snow with it. Although there is snow in the western part of the state and predicted slush in the northern part. We are only supposed to get rain. When I went to do chores this morning, I thought I felt a sprinkle but figured it was my imagination. Twenty minutes later when I left for the paying job, the skies had darkened and it was sprinkling/misting.  Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like we are supposed to get rain for the next three days.  The weatherman also mentioned that we’d get 2-3 inches of rain over the next five days. I’m afraid the next few days are going to be trying.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do before this coming weekend. We had someone graciously donate 60 small squares of hay. We were going to pick them up on Saturday but I had to go to the HorsePower Horse Show. So we made arrangements to pick the hay up this coming Saturday. I need to clean out the hay barn (I pulled Bo and Ivan in on Saturday to groom and they made a mess). So now I need to do some major cleaning. I’m also trying to do a bit of extra cleaning and keep up with my mess so we don’t have as many eye sores. We have a trailer full of junk that needs to go to the dump. I’m trying to figure out how to make it to the dump this week so that we can use the trailer again this weekend for another junk dump run. I guess we’ll have to see how things go.

I know there’s more going on and I’m sure to remember in a bit but the past few days have been a bit of a blur. I’m guessing the next few days are going to be an even bigger blur. Hopefully I’ll have more horse posts instead of weather posts in the very near future.

The grass is starting to grow and I’m getting anxious to get the horses out on the lawn to adjust to grass. I know they are all itching to get out on some grass. I pulled Bo out for a little bit on Saturday to eat grass and then decided to pull Brego out and put up a couple corral panels by the hay barn so he could eat the grass that’s coming up along the building. He did a pretty good job of trimming up the grass. My theory is that I’m trying to keep the place looking a little less dumpy. Not sure I’m succeeding.

Brego, Bo, and Rain have also lost a bit of weight so I’m anxious for them to get on grass. I thought with the warmer weather that I could cut back on their grain ration. I guess not.

I’m sure there’s more to write about but I’m drawing a blank all of a sudden. Here’s to hoping that the wind will die down and I won’t have to do some major work to keep the hay in THIS county, rather than three counties from here.

Gale Force Winds vs Soaker Rain

It felt like we had gale force winds all day yesterday, or at least while I was throwing hay. I woke yesterday to lightening and thunder and decided I'd hit snooze one extra time. No sense in going out to do chores in the rain. I did manage to luck out and avoided chores in the rain Wednesday morning but it was windy and cold. The horses were not pleased with the weather.

This morning, we had more rain but it was a beautiful, straight down rain that just soaks into the ground. No wind so the morning was beautiful. The weatherman is already talking about drought so having this bit of rain soak into the ground is a blessing. I'm very worried that we'll go into another drought. I'm afraid if we have another drought, that'll be the end of us. There's just so much more we need to do when there's a drought. And with a drought, comes more horses needing rehoming. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be enough rain to ward off any chances of another drought.

This morning I knew the horses were not happy with the rain. I even heard Rabbit call out, which she doesn't normally do until she sees me. I figured I'd better hurry and throw out a little bit extra hay just because. If Rabbit whinnies, you know she's not happy. She'll nicker, which I absolutely love but if she's whinnying, you know she's upset.

The yard light is still on the fritz but at least it worked this morning so I wasn't doing chores in the dark and rain. Hopefully the electric company will come out soon and get it serviced. I hate doing chores in the dark.

It's been fairly quiet at the Sanctuary as of late (knock on wood). I know we need to be gearing up for the next fundraiser, but I'm struggling to get through the day-to-day activities. Hopefully after this crappy weather passes this weekend, we'll have nice weather and I'll get motivated to tackle some major projects around the Sanctuary. Anyone want to come and help?

Horse Soccer and Maverick

Last night Maverick and I tried our hand at horse soccer. Least to say, Maverick (always the curious one) thought the gigantic soccer ball was a horse eating monster. So, we didn't really get to play. I got off once to let him investigate the ball but that's as close as we got.  I'm a little disappointed that he wasn't all crazy about it but I should have guessed. He's gotten to be a bit of a chicken.

I realized that I put him on the backburner for the past two years and haven't really done anything with him. I know some people would groan at my lack of consistency with Maverick. And they would be even more upset that I pulled him out of the pen, threw a saddle on, did two seconds with of round pen work, and then hopped on. Except, the minute I throw a saddle on and swing my leg over, he's pretty quiet. In fact, he's so quiet that I can't get him to do anything more than a trot. My own doing though. The trainer knew I was scared of him so he put the absolute slowest cue on Maverick he could get. I guess Maverick will make a perfect trail horse. He was content to follow along  behind the other horses even when the ball was in sight. But he didn't want to be the leader.

But if I recall correctly, Rain was the same way. We've ridden enough these past few years that now Rain is my go-to trail riding buddy (when it's not so blazing hot out) and he'll lead the group! He apparently has a lot of confidence as long as there's someone behind him. I just need to spend the same amount of time with Maverick and get him to the same spot.

I don't know why I get nervous about riding Maverick. After I rode him yesterday, I realized I really do LOVE riding him. I can't wait for trail riding season so I can pull Maverick out and hit the trails. I guess it's because there's not a lot of time between the two of us so there's no established bond. He knows his training and I know how to stay out of his space but there's no bond. I guess we'll work on it. I know he'll enjoy more activities once we have that bond. But it's nice to finally get out and ride a rescue horse to represent.

Now, to find a horse that DOES like horse soccer!

Super Crazy Busy

We've been crazy busy with non Sanctuary activities over the past few days. I hope everyone had a great Easter. Hard to believe that Easter has already come and gone. Although, this time of year reminds me of April 2011 when we attended the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Horse Sale and brought home Savanna and Sahara (and unbeknownst to us, Sir Prize, aka Jett). It was the last weekend in April and Easter to boot that we brought home the trio. So much has happened in such a short period of time. But I digress.

Thursday  night I decided that I would take Bo along with to drill team practice. I wanted to see how he would react to being hauled and possibly ridden in an indoor arena. He's such a champ. Although he did whinny when we were all standing still. But when we were riding, he kept an eye on Zeke and just watched. I think Bo may either want a job or want to participate in drill team. :-) He's such a trooper. Now to just get him over his bridling/headshy issue and reassure him that when we load into the trailer, that he'll always, ALWAYS come home! We will get there. It'll just take time. We also need to figure out how to bulk him up. Looking at him from a different view and a different eye, he's still too thin. He's going to stress me out worrying about how to gain weight on him.

Friday ended up being drill team practice with the other team. I contemplated taking Maverick but chickened out. I'll be using Maverick tonight to see what he's like playing "horse soccer". It should be interesting. But Maverick desperately needs a job. He is B.O.R.E.D.

Last week we were also contacted to see if we wanted some free hay. Why of course we do! We need to make arrangements to go pick it up. Our substitute road maintenance guy stopped out this past weekend and dropped off a small square bale. It's so nice to go out to do chores and have hay mysteriously appear. I know who it is so it just makes me giggle a little.

But I WASN'T giggling come Friday night. Our useless yard light quit AGAIN! It didn't quit exactly but it turns on for 1 minute and then goes out for 2 minutes. It's rather frustrating because I'm out in the DARK and not having a yard light this time of year is dangerous. Not only do I have crabby horses that want their food and are starting to feel frisky now that it's warm out, we also have varmints starting to come out. Luckily the only varmints we have right now are raccoons and they stay hidden away in the grain bin. They refuse to come out and I only know that they are there because when I walk by in the  morning and night I can hear them scurrying around. Creeps me out but nothing I can really do until they venture out. But I've had to deal with doing chores in the dark three nights in a row. This morning was just as irritating having the yard light go off while I'm out doing chores in the dark. Mornings are still dark. I'm very displeased with Sioux Valley Electric. We were forced into renting the yard light and this is the second time in as many months that we've had to deal with this ^@#$%@$%^!*$%^ yard light. Least to say, I'm not happy.

On the bright side, we scored a tractor. We already own a tractor but it can't do as much as we need it to do. The Massey just isn't up to all the hard work we need it to do. We found a tractor that will be able to life and move bales (or at least has the capacity to do it). We still need to buy a bale spear but we at least will now have a tractor that can lift a round bale. So instead of it taking us two hours to push in two round bales, it'll take us 20 minutes. I'm excited! And it'll be set up so that we can use it to scoop manure.

We are now starting to gear up to do some manure hauling. The only problem is, the new tractor isn't at our place yet, the Massey still needs a little bit of work, and the manure spreader (because it has a flat bottom), is completely full of other stuff. So now we need to find a new storage location for the stuff that the manure spreader is holding so we can actually use it. I'm looking forward to "waste management". It's been YEARS since we were able to do some serious cleaning. It's been at least three if not four years. I need to go back through the blog to see when. It was our first and only attempt at spreading manure but we are in desperate need to get rid of our current piles. Now that we won't have to ask to use someone else's tractor, I'm itching to do some serious "spring cleaning"

I'm also finally tackling the stalls. I have some serious work ahead of me to get everything back in order.  But the days are getting longer and we are able to get our son to go down for bed earlier in the night (and we won't fall asleep). So hopefully we can start getting our projects done in the evenings. We just have to make sure that we don't burn ourselves out. I swear I'm burning the candle at both ends. But I guess that'll be what it is for the summer and we can sleep and relax all winter!

Crazy Weather and Cabin Fever

I would say it's been a weird week in weather but not really. It's a typical spring in South Dakota.

Tuesday morning we woke to record lows. The horses were not impressed by this cold snap now that they are adjusting to the warmer temperatures. Wednesday we woke to much warmer weather in the morning. I would swear it was at least 10 degrees warmer when I went out to do chores in the  morning. But throughout the day, the temperatures dropped. We started getting rain and I could have kicked myself for not blanketing some of the horses. By the time I was able to leave the paying job, we were dealing with some serious snow (and wind). Least to say, I was not impressed. The horses weren't impressed with the weather either.

We were just starting to see some green and now all we see is white. But it'll all be gone by this afternoon I hope. I ended up putting a blanket on Rabbit. She got chilled so I figured she'd be happier over night with her warm blanket instead. She doesn't seem to complain too much when I put a blanket on (at least not last night).

This morning was a bit chilly. The slushy snow from last night was stiff. I'm guessing it'll take until late morning before it starts to melt away. Now we'll be dealing with a muddy mess. I won't complain though. We are starting to go into a drought again. I'd rather have a bit of mud and mess now and avoid another drought.

I think I'm finally recovered from the fundraiser on Saturday. Now we are on to planning the next fundraiser. No rest for the weary or is it wicked? The weather is supposed to improve over the weekend so I'm hoping to sneak out for a little while and ride.

I think the horses are even starting to get bored being cooped up in the drylot. I think a bit of exercise would do them all a bit of good. So hopefully the weather will improve and I can start taking each one of them out for a little stroll (at a minimum). I think Maverick and Ivan really need a bit of work. Those two are really starting to get naughty. Ivan, who doesn't take but three steps if he doesn't have to, was running around like a crazy horse last night. So I'm guessing he's starting to get a bit of cabin fever. We'll have to figure out a way to put him to work and get his mind and body in shape! Look out boys, I'm going to put you to work.