Planning

It's been awhile since I've blogged about the horses. The days seem to slip by faster and faster and I can't keep up. We are starting to thaw out so putting in hay is going to be tricky these days until the frost is out of the ground. It means timing is everything.


So the other day I was feeling sorry for myself, thinking about Lightening and how we dont' connect. Someone mentioned a horse for sale that would have fit the bill. But I can't bring myself to sell Lightening. He's my personal horse but the same rules apply to him as the Sanctuary horses so the dilemma didn't last long. He's here to stay but trying to find the time to connect with him is the big thing. But the other night, I went out to check the horses and he was the first to greet me. Everyone at some point will come up to see what I'm doing, except for Jim and King (and Lightening). Lightening has been a tough cookie to crack because he prefers to be aloof when it comes to me. But maybe if I can find the time now that the days are getting longer, I can work with him a bit. Again, it's all about timing.


We have about two more months of keeping the horses on hay. We typically don't put them out on pasture until Memorial Weekend. We may possibly have a pasture to put the big herd but I'm waiting to see if that comes through or not. If it does, that means we'll have the summer to restore our depleted pasture. If not, it means we'll be working extra hard to keep the pasture as well as we can. We need to start looking at re-fencing the perimeter now that the corner posts are all rotting off.


I realized today that we need a game plan for all the stuff we need to get done around the place. If we don't plan now, we'll be like we always are and scrambling to get stuff done in the fall. I'd rather be a bit more proactive this year and get a few extra things done so we arent' caught unprepared. Last year from about August until October I had this tight feeling in my chest and it was all due to the amount of work that needed to be done before winter set in.


We still need to get the garage roof done. I'm hoping that we can tackle that project in May. There's manure to haul but we need to get a skidloader and that will take coordination and money since I'm expecting we'll have to rent one. And it takes time and money to haul manure to the field. There's all the fencing, spraying, reseeding, and fertilizing in the pastures. We need to finish up putting the roofing on the hay barn. I went in the other day to grab a bale and it's such a different feeling knowing that there's no leaks. But I'd like to get it all wrapped up soon, at least once the weather warms. You can't work with Ondura when it's under 55 degrees. I'm sure there's a ton of other stuff. We need to get some work done on the trailers and tractors and there's always work on vehicles. I'd hoped to repaint another side of the barn but I dont' see that in the cards this year.  And we need to put the roof on the little shed in the big dry lot. It's been sitting like that for a good four to five years and it's starting to drive me insane looking at it all the time.


So there's lots to get done this summer.


I also need to get my poop in a group for our upcoming fundraiser, Light the Night, scheduled for Saturday, April 21st.  Unfortunately by the end of the day, I'm pretty well beat and cant' seem to function. It's been a struggle lately. I see all this stuff that I need to get done and I want to get done but when I finally have the time, I'm too exhausted and just can't function. I've been sick for the past couple of months so I'm just now getting over it. Talk about a wicked bug.


I'm hoping that with April rolling around, I'll be better at blogging and posting on Facebook but I'm not going to make any promises.


The horses are all fat and sassy. Junior has lost a bit of weight because I've slacked off here and there with his grain and I can tell. That disappoints me but I'm hoping that in another month, I can get him on the lawn to graze on grass and he'll pick the weight back up. I can't expect too much from him these days. I rarely have horses live into their 30s so I'm pretty tickled that he's lasted this long. I'm hoping we'll have him for another couple of years but we'll take it day-by-day.


So lots going on but my brain is going blank at the moment. I seem to be getting more and more scatterbrained. Hopefully I can get a few things done over the weekend. If I don't post again, I hope everyone has a fantastic Happy Easter!

Tip Tuesday - Vaccinations and Deworming

I'm going to try my best to get back into the swing of what I had hopped would be a consistent effort to provide some really good information about the Sannctuary in particular and for horses in general.


So today's #TipTuesday is about vaccinations and deworming. We should all be thinking about getting our vaccinations and deworming done soon. Now that spring is in the air, we need to think about our horse's health a little more.


And we have some good news to share about vaccinations at the Sanctuary but we'll save that for another post!

Happy Scavenger Hunting

We had a great time at the Tri-State Horse Expo this past weekend.

We ran a scavenger hunt for the kids. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids, the parents, or the vendors! I know I had a blast watching the kids hunt for all the hidden cartoon horses. I hope the vendors who participated in the scavenger hunt had fun as well. It's definitely something to do again next year!


We met a lot of great people and I definitely got my "horse fix" after talking with everyone about horses. The Tri State Horse Expo is a great way to kick off the riding season and I'm so thankful that we were able to be a part of it this year.


We had freezing rain Friday so I didn't get to blanket the horses like I had wanted to. We were running so late that everyone didn't seem to mind getting a little wet except for Brego and Zeke, and they ended up going into the barn for the night (but were ready to get out first thing in the morning).


Of course, the day-to-day care of the horses comes first so we had to get our morning chores done before heading in to the Expo. Unfortunately, we also needed to put hay in Sunday morning. Of course, we judged it wrong and waited until Sunday morning when we should have gotten up and put hay in Saturday morning when the ground was still frozen. Oh well, at least the tractor didn't get stuck.


I would have waited to put hay in for another couple of days but Mike headed to Fargo this morning so it's just me wrangling horses and kids. I also wanted to get the hay rings out of the mud and onto the concrete so that we don't have to worry about getting the tractor stuck the next time we put hay in. We'll be moving the mares and Junior once they polish off the bale we put in last week. They are tearing up the pasture. I hate to stick them in mud, but we need the pasture for them this spring and summer.


There's lots to catch up on but I am behind on everything so I'll have to post again later with all the thoughts rambling around in my head. But for now, I wanted to tell everyone thanks for stopping by the booth during the Tri-State Horse Expo. I had a lot of fun and am excited for spring to finally arrive!

Feeling Frazzled

So I'm slightly freaking out. I hate being unprepared. I'm a planner and like to be organized yet I seem to find myself in unorganized situations that I bring on myself.


The next few days are going to be a blur. We found out, a little last minute, that we will be attending the Tri-State Horse Expo and hosting a scavenger hunt that's happening this weekend. Should be an awesome time and I'm totally looking forward to it. However, I am unprepared for everything. I've been sick since Sunday and haven't been able to plan anything or prepare anything. I'll be lucky to have my wits about me by the time the Expo starts. I have no hope of having my wits by the end. Our booth may not look like very much I'm afraid.


It wouldn't be a big deal, but there's a storm rolling in, starting tonight and they are talking snow and ice. So now I need to prep the horses with blankets and possibly get stalls ready to make sure no one gets chilled. On top of that, the Expo runs later into the evening so I need to make arrangements for the kids. It's all typical parenting stuff really and living in South Dakota.


But...my car is apparently dying as well. Again, not a big deal. We'll look at some cars after the Expo. Wrongo. Mike leaves for Fargo Monday morning bright and early. So if I'm left with a dead car, I'll be left with no way to get to work, and no way to get the kids to daycare or school. I doubt that'll happen but now I have an unreliable car. I drive 45 miles/minutes every day just to get to work and an additional 40 miles/minutes to pick up the kids after daycare and another 20 miles/minutes just to get home. I put on the miles so if something were to happen out on the road with my kids while Mike is in Fargo, that doesn't really give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. I also heard rumors of another storm rolling in around Monday. Go figure. That's usually what happens. Mike leaves for training and we get a storm and I have to figure out how to care for all the horses and make sure the kids dont' get into trouble. :-)


And I just realized, we'll need to put hay in before Mike leaves so after we do the Expo probably Saturday night, we'll have to go in and put hay in. That'll mean a late night. Not a big deal really but I'm just now getting over whatever I had earlier this week so I'm a bit drained. I've been crashing by 8pm so that means NOTHING has been getting done.


So, as usual I am totally unprepared. So if you see me at the Tri State Horse Expo and I look frazzled, now you'll know why.

Seven Years Ago

Yesterday marked the seven year anniversary of when we pulled Bo from an auction, emaciated and near death. It also marked the two week loss of him leaving this Earth. It was bitter sweet and I couldn't seem to put words to anything that I was feeling.


It's so hard to not think of him. It's so hard not to think I need to go out and do chores and feed Bo. I've spent almost seven years worrying about Bo, feeding him, and wondering what to do right to make him gain weight and feel better.


I will cherish the time we had together. I'm still heartbroken over his loss. Gone too young.


The first three pictures are of Bo the day after we brought him home. It was late when we finally made it home that day and wanted to let him settle in (we weren't sure he'd make the night). The pictures don't show the extent of his condition but you can see the shell shock in his eyes.

The following is from Bo about two weeks after. I'd thrown a blanket on him to help ward off the chill so now you can actually see the devastation his body went through. Winter hair hides much weight loss.

This next one is of Bo two months into his recovery. Gaining slowly the weight he lost.

And sadly, this is Bo after his prognosis of heart failure back in October. The weight we'd worked so hard to put on and that would easily drop off was falling off and staying off.

And this is Bo during the winter. Already the blanket doesn't fit as nicely as it had (or should). He'd lived in that blanket this winter to try and keep the chill off of him. It was painful to watch his condition and know when to make the right decision to say goodbye.

So yesterday and today is bitter sweet. Others have come and gone and made an impact as well but for some reason Bo's loss leaves a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.


But as the saying goes, in death, life goes on. And we will continue moving forward to care for more senior horses and horses as deserving as Bo. God speed Bo.

Attending Tri-State Horse Expo

We have exciting news! We are attending the Tri-State Horse Expo this weekend (Fri-Sun). Not only are we there to represent senior horses and to talk to people about horses, we are also hosting a scavenger hunt for kids. I'm still working out the finer details on the hunt but it should still be fun for everyone involved.


I'm looking forward to getting my "horse fix" and chatting with others about horses. I shouldn't complain about the long winter as it was only on December 21st that true winter set in (not just winter solstice but the first snow storm). We've had other years that winter dragged on for much longer.


But I am happy to see the days getting longer and the weather warming. For now my focus needs to be getting ready for the Tri-State Horse Expo. I'm not very organized this year so we'll see how it goes.


So if you get a chance, swing over this weekend to the Tri-State Horse Expo at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds and stop over to say HI!

March Blizzard

We are finally getting over our March blizzard. I'd stayed home from the paying job Monday knowing full well that bad weather was on its way. I'd woken at midnight to thunder. We normally don't get thunder in March. We normally don't get rain in march either. We normally get snow.


So when I woke up at 5:30 and headed out at 6am to do chores and was faced with a full on rain storm, I knew we were in for  trouble as the weatherman was calling for it to switch to freezing rain and then snow.


I'd had the good sense to blanket everyone that I could Sunday. Although I did question myself Sunday afternoon as it was in the 40s but with a biting wind. But I was sure glad when Monday morning rolled around and everyone was snug in their blankets, even if they were wet (but still dry on the inside).


At one point I couldn't tell if we were getting sleet or hail but by 11am we were getting snow. And I was sure glad I was home because the winds had picked up as well! The wind was so bad that it was actually coming straight out of the west. Normally it's north west so we are a bit more protected but not Monday. The wind blew the snow so much, that it blew right into the barn and now I have a snowdrift IN my barn.


I went out at noon to let horses into the barn. I figured, even if they had to stand in their stall for 24 hours, that they might not mind. The first horse at the door was Jim and his blanket was actually frozen in place. He was snug but the outer edges were a sheet of ice. I ended up letting Jim, Rain, Brego, and Dude into the barn and left the others out. I also put in Mayhem, Lace, and Junior into their stalls in the hay shed.


When I went back out to do my actual chores, I put Zeke and Lightening into the barn as well. Of course Brego and Dude broke one of the stalls so I need to figure out how to fix it. We don't have nice stalls and if you watch any of our videos in the barn, you can tell. They were all supposed to be somewhat temporary but the temporary stalls have turned permanent. I'd love to have something different but until there's time and money available, they will simply have to work.


The wind was so bad that by noon, there was no travel advised everywhere and by nightfall there was no travel on all the roads. That continued into the morning. I let the horses out of the barn and they were more than ready to get out and stretch their legs. I also put Junior, Mayhem, and Lace back in their stalls but I don't think they were nearly as excited. Their stalls are slightly bigger but they all seem to go with the flow a little bit better than the bigger gelding herd.


By the afternoon everything was back to normal. I had planned on pulling blankets last night but the temps were still too chilly to do anything with the blankets. We'll see how the temps wand weather go. We are supposed to get another storm this weekend so we'll see.


We do have robins. Those first few are always here way too early but it is a nice sight to see and I love to hear them. It makes it feel as thought spring is right around the corner and any winter storms we get now will all be gone in a matter of days.


What little snow we did get has already melted to some degree. Although the bottom of the pasture is now flooded with all the rain. It floods every year but with all the rain we received Monday, I expect the pasture to flood and to even back up into the field that surrounds us.


I'm ok with the snow and the rain as long as the horses are happy and dry. The more moisture we get, the less likely we'll be in another drought. I barely survived the first drought in 2012 and the dry conditions last year so a full on drought this year would be detrimental to us. I say, bring on the March snowstorms!